Friday, March 29, 2013

Never a dull moment...

How many of you have had this conversation with your kids? My daughter lost her iPhone a couple of  days ago and in order to replace it she had two options–– replace it with the same phone or use our upgrade to improve the phone. I had to explain to her that the upgrade is mine to use on my phone since, after all, I am paying for the phones. Am I missing something here? Ok, I can only blame myself! I guess I can blame my wife also...
Thanks to many of you who attended our old nightclub reunion (the Jockey Club) the other night. We had more than 450 people and it was really cool to see old friends that I had not seen almost 20 years. My wife, Mary Ann, made her 20-year comeback playing disc jockey again and the floor was jumping. I also had Michael and Margo Reed along with Alice Tatum singing majically like only they can perform.
It really is great to see construction again in North Central. Rick Stark is building two custom homes on Lamar and Central and he hopes to get close to $300 per foot. I have been working with Magee Builders on remodeling sales and they also are building two new homes: one at 306 W Claremont, which will be almost 3,000 square feet and priced in the mid $700s, and another home at 6101 N. 2nd Street, which will be around 3,500 square feet priced in the high $700s. They have another remodel at 77 E Missouri, which is 3500 square feet that will be priced in the mid $500s and done by the end of April. Exciting times in our area.
Please let me know if you have a home that needs updating but you don’t want to spend the money on it because these guys would rather buy a home that has not been remodeled. I said last month that some of you are inheriting homes that need to be sold and that could be a perfect candidate. Either townhomes or single family will work.
I realize that we are all excited to see pricesgoing up but I still caution you that we still are having appraisal issues because the sales have not caught up with some of the comparable sales. We don’t have foreclosures to deal with but there still are short sales that are not allowing certain homes to appreciate so we are losing some sales out there. My biggest issue is that we get appraisers that do not know our area and they will use comps for the Butler Park area for homes that are south of Northern and east of 7th Street. Let me know if you are interested in listing your home and I would be honored to evaluate your home.
As always, thanks to my clients who allowed me to work with them so far in 2013. We have sold 24 homes this year and we have 20 in escrow, so the market continues to energize. We were fortunate to sell more than 110 homes in 2012 and I was named the top agent nationwide for HomeSmart for sales volume and units sold. HomeSmart continues to dominate the North Central area and our office now has 127 agents.
Have a Happy Easter and a Happy Passover. Happy Birthday to my wife, Mary Ann, whose birthday is April 3. I would love to buy her a present but I have to get my daughter her new phone. And, in adddition, my birthday is 15 days later and I need a new phone.


Bobby Lieb
The Lieb Group
Bobby Lieb
Associate Broker
HomeSmart Elite Group Manager
5225 N. Central Ave., Ste. 104
Phoenix, AZ 85012
Mobile: 602-376-1341
Fax: 602-996-9141
www.centralphx.com