Property Tax Scam

Terry Goddard Warns Consumers to Beware of Bogus Property Tax Offer
Attorney General Terry Goddard is warning Arizona homeowners to be wary of official-looking advertisements claiming that a homeowner’s property qualifies for a “property tax reduction review.” This solicitation appears to be an attempt to scam homeowners who are looking to reduce their property tax bill. The solicitation, which requests a $189 processing fee, is not affiliated with any government entity. The document attempts to appear official and contains a “notice number” and deadline for prompt processing. Assessed valuations for 2009 cannot be changed since the appeals process for 2009 has ended. In addition, there is no fee required to file a property valuation appeal with county treasurers’ or assessors’ offices in Arizona. If you believe you have been a victim of consumer fraud, please contact the Attorney General's Office in Phoenix at 602.542.5763, in Tucson at 520.628.6504, or outside the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas at 1.800.352.8431. Consumers can also file complaints online by visiting the Attorney General’s Web site . To file a complaint in person, the Attorney General’s Office has satellite offices throughout the state with volunteers available to help. Locations and hours of operation are posted on the Attorney General’s Web site .

Pamela J. Pearsall
Yavapai County Assessor
928 639-8121
Pam.Pearsall@co.yavapai.az.us

Mid-Year Market Update

Hi all,
I normally do not pass along stuff I have not created but since we do not have access to the Arizona MLS system that covers Phx. I am making an exception. This is very interesting stuff and please note that what effects the valley does in fact effect us. The numbers are telling! I got this information from a Phx. broker that really tracks it so I feel certain it is 100% accurate.

Please let us know what you think and any thoughts you might have,

Audra & Carolyn
hometeam2@cwbanker.com


Mid-Year Phoenix Real Estate Market Report by Jim Sexton
Posted: 22 Jul 2009 06:30 PM PDT

So the six month review of 2009 shows:
a) the Number of Sales up 50% from 2008 and 66% from 2007;b) average Sales Price down 33% from 2008 and 51% from 2007;c) Median Sales Price down 36% from 2008 and 52% from 2007;d) Foreclosure Notices are up 37% from 2008;e) Trustee Sales are up 23% from 2008. (Yes I left off the 2007 increase-You don’t want to see it)
Let’s look at our Mid Year trends- Sales increases are slowing down. Pending Sales are below 13,000 for the first time since March. Not a cause to panic as we started the year @ 6,500. Prices appear to be stabilizing for the past few months. A good sign for sellers, and an “Act Now” sign for buyers. Short Sale Active Listings, Pendings and Closings are trending up, while those same statuses for REO’s are dropping. Short Sales and Bank owned properties will continue to dominate the market for the balance of 2009. Why? The combined percentage for these 2 types is still 70% of all Pendings and Closings. And as REO’s have fallen recently, Short Sales have increased.

This is a small market update but we think it could be very powerful in what seems to be happening.

Snap-Shot

April 2008 had 19 closings with a median sales price of $225,000.00

April 2009 had 35 closings with a median sales price of $175,000.00

January-April 2008 had a total of 76 closing with a median sales price of $227,500.00

January-April 2009 had a total of 88 closing with a median sales price of $175,000.00

As you can see we are selling more homes but for approx. 23% less value. The silver lining in all this is that there are currently 85 homes in the Cottonwood-Clarkdale-Verde Village-Cornville area under contract. That is a great sign that we are starting a small form of recovery. It must start in the low $100's first, but the other markets will follow, we just are not sure how long it will take.

Let us know what you think,

Have we hit the bottom?

With the exception of the national media we believe we have reached a bottom on the entry level site built homes. We are seeing multiple offers and in some cases purchasers are paying over list price. For more information, give us a call.