New Life For Hayden Flour Mill

Part of the great view from the 11^th floor of Fidelity’s corporate office in Tempe is one of Tempe’s most iconic and important historical buildings, the Hayden Flour Mill.  It is among the primary reasons behind Tempe’s existence.

 The mill was one of Arizona’s oldest continuous working businesses, built in 1874 and operated until 1998, 124 years!  It functioned as a working mill, processing wheat, corn, and other grains, and producing about 100,000 lbs. of flour daily.

Since its operational demise in 1992, it’s been considered a blight on the city landscape by many.  But rightly so for such an important part of the city’s history, the mill has taken on a new life.  Today, the property fences are down, and recent improvements have turned it into a Tempe amenity.

The lower walls have been sandblasted, new lighting added, and interpretive signage of the building’s history adorns the building.  You can stroll and look through the ground floor windows and see some of the old flour grinding equipment.  The grounds are now open for picnics and casual entertainment, with a lush lawn, a concrete concert stage, and a grove of trees for shaded enjoyment.

Some construction will continue on the site until the grand opening on October 5^th.  Attend the grand opening for free, 5 – 10pm, with a dedication ceremony at 6pm.

To see a bit more history and tour of the old mill, by Bill Mitchell who worked at the mill from 1961 – 1982, watch this video:  http://youtu.be/TfLDcSfzaWU

Are You Getting A Piece of The Action From Foreign Buyers?

Foreign nationals accounted for $82.5 billion, or 8.9%, of the $928 billion spent on U.S. residential real estate from April 2011 through March 2012, according a June survey from the National Association of Realtors. That was up 24% from $66.4 billion the previous year.  More than 50% of sales over the past year occurred in just five states, including Arizona.  The sales are even more important considering that nearly 82 percent of all international sales were cash.

Foreign buyers have flooded the U.S. housing market, taking advantage of weaker prices, favorable exchange rates, and, in some cases, record-low mortgage rates.  International buyers came from all over the globe, but Canada, China (The People’s Republic of China including Hong Kong), Mexico, India, and the United Kingdom accounted for 55 percent of all international transactions, according to the survey. Canada and China remain the fastest-growing home countries. Canada accounted for 24 percent of international sales while China accounted for 11 percent, up from nine percent in 2011. Mexico was third with eight percent of sales and India and the U.K. both accounted for six percent.

Canadians in particular have become predominant buyers of rentals and second homes in the Arizona real estate market, attracted by Arizona’s mild climate and low home prices.

If you’re not marketing to the international buyer, you’re missing out on a big part of the current market.  So, what are you doing to get your share of this International market?  Do you know how much of the international market is using your website? If you’re running Google Analytics or similar tracking on your website, you do.

Are you networking with international agents and brokers?  Engage with them, build relationships with them on LinkedIn, ActiveRain, Facebook, Twitter; any of the social networking sites you’re using.  

Understand what draws these buyers to Arizona and be ready to reinforce their thinking.  And if you don’t speak the native language of a particular area you’re marketing too, it’s not a bad idea to try to learn the basics, enough to communicate and make them feel welcome.  Or have at the ready, in your arsenal of full service tools, translators you can call upon. 

Another Great Tool For Agents!

Since 1981, Fidelity-Arizona has helped close more sales and generate more money for clients in Metropolitan Phoenix with innovative marketing tools, industry experts and effective partner programs.  Our Tools are a "GPS" for your business - helping you define your course with strategic movements that get you to your end goal in the most direct route possible. 

One of these tools is VisualShows, your one click marketing solution for syndicating all your listings to over 300 sites, all social media platforms, first page Google results, single property websites, mobile text messaging, flyers branding and more!  There is no other platform as robust as VisualShows and the best part is that for those who are Fidelity partners, it's FREE… saving you hundreds of dollars and hours of time working with multiple services and platforms. Just some of the many great features of VisualShows:

• Go mobile - Get your own personal SMARTPHONE App and take your business to the next level. Your app includes a custom keyword, call capture and texting capability!
• Text messaging with call capture for your listings - Provide property information to potential buyers 24/7! In addition, we offer text capture and notify you with all the information needed to follow up!
• Syndication feeds with SEO - Your property information will feed directly into any email reader or send your feed link to your prospects for easy updating.
• Custom QR code - Get a custom QR code for all your listings and market them from your mobile phone.
• Marketing links for MLS - Links of your shows emailed to you instantly, both branded and unbranded, for MLS compliancy!
• Satellite views - Every property includes a satellite view which provides a unique way to research a home’s area and surrounding attractions!
• Video uploads - Include a marketing video on every Show and highlight an area or property features!
• Property widgets - Advertise your properties on any blog or website. Our marketing widgets will highlight one property or auto scroll through them all!
• Create online commercials - Advertise a listing, promote yourself, highlight a neighborhood, share special events!
• Realtor.com auto posting - Automatically upload your listing to Realtor.com with our easy once click posting option!
• ActiveRain auto posting - Post your listings on ActiveRain and generate unlimited exposure for your properties!
• Classified sites postings – Craigslist, Ebay, Trulia, Zillow, LiveDeal, Oodle and more

Contact your Fidelity sales executive today for more information! Twitter 

Market Update - Signs of a Slow Recovery?

In Arizona, where home prices dropped by nearly 50% during the housing collapse, it’s expected that median home value change will improve over the next five years, but will lag the national trend in the next year, according to Fiserv.

Phoenix-area home prices in July were up 19.9 percent from a year earlier, easily the largest percentage gain among major U.S. cities, according to a CoreLogic report.

Despite Arizona ranking first in the nation in home price improvement from July 2011 to July 2012, over the period from the first quarter of this year to the first quarter of 2017, the improvement is expected to be 2.5% per annum — 39th among all states.

Greater Phoenix REO sales dropped below 14% of the monthly total, the first time this has occurred since January 4, 2008. At their peak on February 11, 2009, they constituted 71.1% of monthly sales. Although it will take some time for them to disappear completely, REOs are no longer a major factor in the market. Contrary to the popular myth, there are not a lot of foreclosed homes in lenders’ possession, so we don’t expect this REO supply to increase.

In contrast, short sales comprised 31.4% of all sales in Greater Phoenix in July. This is even higher than the 29.3% for June 2012. With short sales selling for a lower average price per sq. ft. than REOs, this has a negative effect on average pricing over the last 2 months.

Normal sales have fallen from 56% to 54.6% of sales and their pricing is down from $116.82 to $115.62 per sq. ft.

The number of home refinance closings throughout the Valley in July -- roughly 11,500 total -- is a whopping 128 percent hike since January, and refinances have also steadily increased each month so far this year in metro Phoenix.

Sources: 24/7 Wall St.; CoreLogic