Here are some fun things to do around the Valley to kick off the New Year!

The S&P/Case-Shiller® Home Price Index® numbers have been released for the latest sales period (August through October).This home price indices are the leading measures of U.S. residential real estate prices, tracking changes in the value of residential real estate both nationally as well as in 20 metropolitan regions. The 20 focus cities fared as follows on a month to basis: Phoenix +0.70% New York +0.41% Las Vegas +0.33% Charlotte +0.30% Tampa +0.27% Atlanta +0.16% Miami +0.14% Boston +0.13% Los Angeles +0.11% Washington +0.02% Dallas +0.01% Detroit -0.02% San Diego -0.12% Minneapolis -0.13% Denver -0.28% Chicago -0.35% Cleveland -0.52% Portland -0.55% San Francisco -0.71% Seattle -1.05%

For Buyers: Remember when you would not eat your dinner as a kid and your parents would serve it to you for breakfast or lunch until it was gone? Okay even if you can’t relate, you can imagine a kid’s disappointment in having to see the same thing day after day until they reluctantly eat it. Buyers may be feeling the same way this month as existing inventory has gotten stale and very little new inventory has been added in the first weeks of December. It’s down a whopping 26% from last December with nearly every price range under $1.5M participating in the decline. This reluctance to list in December has offset the 16% decline in listings under contract and the market has managed to mainta

In recent weeks you may have read that the US Housing market is softening as we approach year-end. In our business we did see some slowing around election time; then an uptick after elections were over; and most recently the typical slowing as we near Christmas and New Year. This is a similar trend to what Cromford is reporting. Their analysis of cities throughout the Valley, 10 cities showed deterioration for sellers over the last month and 7 showed improvement, this is better for sellers than last week and a huge improvement from mid-November when every city was deteriorating. The overall picture is of a market stabilizing after a mild downturn. This does not bear much similarity to what

Page Spring Cellars is located Cornville, AZ just a short distance from Sedona and a little over an hour drive from North Phoenix. They are open year around and a visit to the winery makes for a great day trip or a nice stop after a day of hiking in Sedona. At Page Springs Cellars, they create wines that express the high desert character of Arizona landscape...from grape to bottle. Page Springs Cellars is a winery first and foremost. But it’s also a destination that encourages exploration. Visitors can pack a day full of authentic experiences, from the obvious—tasting wine—to strolling the vineyards on a tour, opening up the heart and mind during a yoga session, creating a private event or

All the fancy smart thermostats on the market look great and promise to save you money. But, are they really the energy misers that they claim to be? And, at a price that is several times more than a typical programmable thermostat, is it really worth it? How Much Is The Average Savings With A Smart Thermostat? A study by Nest concluded that customers saved an average of 10 to 12 percent on heating costs and 15 percent on air conditioning costs. This isn’t just some throwaway study done by Nest to make themselves look good either. In fact, there have been two more independent studies of Nest thermostat usage that found similar savings. Another leading smart thermostat, the Ecobee3, makes som

Starting with the basic ARMLS numbers for December 1, 2018 and comparing them with December 1, 2017 for all areas & types: Active Listings (excluding UCB): 18,563 versus 18,422 last year - up 0.8% - and up 3.4% from 17,953 last month Active Listings (including UCB): 21,736 versus 22,019 last year - down 1.3% - but up 2.0% compared with 21,311 last month Pending Listings: 4,562 versus 5,579 last year - down 18.2% - and down 4.4% from 4,770 last month Under Contract Listings (including Pending, CCBS & UCB): 7,735 versus 9,176 last year - down 15.7% - and down 4.8% from 8,128 last month Monthly Sales: 6,642 versus 7,202 last year - down 7.8% - and down 9.7% from 7,355 last month Monthly Average