OK, I’ll admit it. I like to help people, sometimes to the point where it takes a lot of my time and I feel like I have to play catch up. Here’s a post I think will help the overwhelming majority of FSBO’s AND new real estate agents (or those that have yet to realize what they should be doing). I am taking the time to write it because I see so very many horrible home pictures! It’s hard to believe that some people don’t seem to know they can and should do a better job. I am in no way pretending to be a professional photographer. However, a few common sense techniques will produce above-average pictures that will get people interested in a home. As a disclaimer, some homes are hard to photograph because of their layouts and other issues. But, lets start from the beginning.

The numbers are staggering when you look at the change from 2004, just less than four years ago. In 2004, only Yahoo had more than 2 billion dollars in web advertising revenue, with Google not far behind. By 2006, the numbers were up dramatically. Google came in close to $4 billion — a 350% increase in 2 years! Yahoo increased to just less than $3 billion, which was also a very large increase in just two years. Now the projections are out for 2008, courtesy of The Wall Street Journal (see chart below), and the numbers are mind boggling in terms of growth. Google looks to be ready to scoop just under $8 billion, and Yahoo $3 billion. Even AOL (which uses Google for its text ads) and MSN (currently trying to purchase Yahoo) look to be over the $1 billion mark. All this is in just 4 short years! I guarantee you these numbers will continue to increase exponentially for the next 20 years. There is no doubt in my mind about it. The Internet is becoming the preferred way to advertise due to the ease with which marketers can track and display ads to the precise target market for the product. How or where else can a person who wants to sell a product display advertisements directed only to those people who are actively searching for that exact thing? Furthermore, people are increasingly using the Internet every day for more complex things like watching videos, heavy research prior to making a purchase, and social activities that keep them glued to the computer all day. This makes it even more opportune for advertisers to get involved with the Internet and push their products to those looking for them online. This includes homes.

Senators agreed on a $15 billion bipartisan plan to help alleviate some issues the real estate markets across the nation — including Tucson AZ — are currently facing. The plan is intended to help the real estate market regain its footing. The first piece of the plan would permanently increase the amount of loans backed by the FHA to $550,000. The down payment would increase to 3.5% from its current requirement of 3%. A second boost for the market is that it will give a $6.1 billion tax break to homebuilders and other troubled firms. These companies can apply operating losses from this year and next year to past tax bills, giving homebuilders a little back to assist them in keeping their companies from dissolving over the next 2 years. Also part of this major bill is the availability of $10 billion of mortgage revenue bonds that states can issue for refinancing and first time homebuyers. The facet of the plan that will help the average person the most is the offering of incentives for the purchase of foreclosure properties rather than other available homes. To accomplish this, the federal government is offering a two-year $7,000 tax credit if the property the buyer is purchasing is facing foreclosure. This should have the effect of greatly reducing the number of foreclosed homes on the books. It will be a great help to banks and neighborhoods.

States across the country are seriously stepping up the effort to keep people in their homes. Along with the federal government, states are looking to try different ways to assist would-be foreclosure residents. One interesting idea under consideration is legislation requiring lenders to obtain an appraisal of a property’s value as a rental and then offering the borrower in default the option of renting the home from the lender for a maximum of ten years. An actual foreclosure would take place only if the borrower (potential tenant) did not earn enough to afford the rent. I seriously doubt that this type of legislation will be enacted, however. Do not ask me how the lender is supposed to afford all the property management and maintenance costs. The idea seems ridiculous to me, and as I listened to a 10-minute discussion about it on CNBC this morning, I could not get my head around it. However, it goes to show how badly states want to put a halt to the ongoing foreclosure epidemic that has been increasing every month since the beginning of 2006.

Homeowners’ Associations around Arizona, including Tucson Arizona, are being forced to make tough decisions about the services they can provide residents of their neighborhoods. An HOA is usually in charge of keeping common areas of the neighborhood free of weeds and graffiti, and enforcing bylaws of the association that it governs. Due to the unusually high rate of foreclosures around the state, many HOAs are running too low on funds to take care of the communities they were set up to serve. Most homeowner associations’ dues are billed to the individual or paid through escrow. When homeowners fall behind on mortgage payments, they rarely decide to keep making payments to the homeowners association! Without these payments, HOAs cannot function properly. Furthermore, when an owner does not maintain a foreclosed property and weeds and trash accumulate, residents that still live in the community suffer. The HOA will often service that home in order to keep the neighborhood from looking blighted. HOAs are not required to do this, but many try their best to keep neighborhoods in the best condition for residents.

Arizona is a major hotbed for what’s called “foreign nationals” — persons from another country residing in the United States. Most foreign nationals who come to Arizona to invest or purchase second homes are from either Canada or Mexico. However, I have also seen buyers from the United Kingdom, Europe, Latin America, and South America. Many foreign nationals would like to purchase property in the United States but find the process confusing. It does not have to be complex. In fact, it is simple, and I will walk you through it.

High-end foreclosures are starting to show up in the Tucson marketplace. Homes above $1 million are coming up as REO (Real Estate Owned Properties). The reasons for this are many, and I predict that these high-end foreclosures will continue to escalate in number. One reason that this is happening is that many would-be developers decided real estate was doing so well in 2005 that they were going to buy a parcel of land and develop a million dollar or multi-million dollar property. From point of decision to completion, development time is 9-18 months. Now in 2008, the market is severely depressed and the amount the developers thought they could sell the property for is not even possible, and the cost to build is more than the market value of the home. This leaves the developer in a tough situation unless they have major reserves to hold the property or pay out of pocket to get it sold. Many of these would-be high-end developers do not have reserves or did not anticipate cost overruns that pushed the costs up on their home, making them too expensive to sell and netting them a foreclosed property.

I have to give it to the Fed and Ben Bernanke. He made a major change in how the Fed operates. Many mortgage companies, banks, and investment companies are holding mortgage-backed securities that absolutely no one will buy in this turbulent real estate market. The Fed has stepped up big-time and said they will now accept these securities as collateral for treasuries that they then will lend to the institutions asking for the loans. Here’s a rundown:

From the executives who brought you the First Magnus disaster, please welcome their new endeavor called Stonewater Mortgage Corporation!

Seriously, the Arizona Corporation Commission approved Stonewater and three related corporations on Jan 31 and Feb 1, 2008. Some of the companies have ties to a Delaware holding company, and one lists the name of First Magnus Chief Operating Officer Karl F.W. Young. Also, a domain-registry database shows that the web address stonewatermortgage.com has been reserved by Gforce-1, a partnership formed by First Magnus President and CEO G.S. Jaggi and Young. The same people that ran First Magnus into massive problems are getting ready to start up a new entity.

Swiss drug giant Roche has virtually locked up smaller local Ventana Medical Systems, based in Oro Valley, Arizona. The deal was for $89.50 per share. Based in Basel, Switzerland, Roche tried persuasion with Ventana for over a year, then made a hostile bid in June of 2007. Finally after much negotiation, they came to terms for the company at the $89.50 per share level. Ventana Medical Systems has more than 800 employees worldwide, and 660 of those reside in Oro Valley, Arizona. Ventana develops medical equipment for cancer detection.