Bloodhound Realty 602•740•7531
type: channel
description: Better money sooner for Sun City sellers
date: 2025-03-25T16:11:59Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: The new SCREED is out. Plus which, there’s a whole library of ’em.
items: There’s no Screed like a new Screed. If it’s not in your driveway, download the latest edition here.
items: Bloodhound Rules: There are NO three-quarter bath homes in Sun City.
items: ‘The Screed’ hits the streets of Sun City for Christmas Eve.
items: The five stages of staging: Delivering that ‘new-in-box’ experience to Sun City home-buyers.
items: The Dirty Thirty: October’s very most awful Sun City home sales.
items: SCUBA: The name of the game for Sun City buyers? “What’s missing? What’s undone?”
items: The Dirty Thirty: Sun City’s worst closings for September.
items: Why subscribe – here and on Facebook? I am the best source of real estate information in Sun City.
items: Why does everything matter on a new Sun City listing – especially the list price? Because you never get a second chance at the first weekend.
items: The Dirty 30: The worst real estate sales in Sun City for August 2024.
items: The redemption of Hope? Whatever it takes.
items: Better thinking, better results: BINSR-whipping wholesalers back into negotiability.
items: How Sun City homes stack up in my custom MLS list view.
items: The Dirty 30: Sun City’s worst real estate sales for July 2024.
items: The Dirty 30: Sun City’s worst closings for June 2024.
items: Divorced? Depressed? Deceased? When you are selling your Sun City home, no one should be able to guess the state of your desperation.
items: Another piece of the home pricing puzzle: Fishing with your bait out of the water.
items: A sad Sun City real estate saga told five times over: List high, sell slowly, close low.
items: What’s the wisdom behind wise pricing? Your home will sell faster and for more money.
items: How one Sun City listing agent is using duct tape to repel insects – and buyers.
items: What’s the difference between houses and mudpies? If you waste a lot of time doing nothing productive with a mudpie, it’s not worth less than when you started…
items: Why won’t your Sun City home sell? Could the problem be stupid pricing?
items: The post-mortem lexicon: What all the acronyms mean and why they matter.
items: Listing Sun City real estate at Death’s Door: Representing your interests when you can no longer speak for yourself.

The new SCREED is out. Plus which, there’s a whole library of ’em.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2025-03-25T16:11:59Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: If you are blessed by a Sun City home address, the new edition of The SCREED should be in your driveway, tucked into this week’s Independent. If not, click the link and all will be revealed. Better yet, click this link to gain access to the vast and burgeoning library of past editions of The […]
encoded: <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="793" height="737" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screen-Shot-2025-03-25-at-8.57.40-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1631" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screen-Shot-2025-03-25-at-8.57.40-AM.png 793w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screen-Shot-2025-03-25-at-8.57.40-AM-300x279.png 300w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screen-Shot-2025-03-25-at-8.57.40-AM-768x714.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 793px) 100vw, 793px" /> If you are blessed by a Sun City home address, the new edition of The SCREED should be in your driveway, tucked into this week’s Independent. If not, click the link and all will be revealed. Better yet, click this link to gain access to the vast and burgeoning library of past editions of The SCREED. I noted to a client that almost no one in Phoenix real estate survives all the way through a complete market cycle. It’s a buyer’s market, sellers, and it will be for a while. The agents who will survive – ahem! – know how to sell.

There’s no Screed like a new Screed. If it’s not in your driveway, download the latest edition here.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2025-01-30T16:01:27Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Staging Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: The year’s first edition of The Screed hit the streets of Sun City this week. If you didn’t get yours, download it here.
encoded: <img decoding="async" width="832" height="598" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Screen-Shot-2025-01-30-at-8.54.44-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1615" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Screen-Shot-2025-01-30-at-8.54.44-AM.png 832w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Screen-Shot-2025-01-30-at-8.54.44-AM-300x216.png 300w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Screen-Shot-2025-01-30-at-8.54.44-AM-768x552.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 832px) 100vw, 832px" /> The year’s first edition of The Screed hit the streets of Sun City this week. If you didn’t get yours, download it here.

Bloodhound Rules: There are NO three-quarter bath homes in Sun City.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2025-01-02T17:11:22Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: From the end of World War II to the mid-70s and beyond, Phoenix built block ranch homes with beshingled rafters. Here and there was a split-ranch, very rarely a basement home. We had learned how to build on slab, which meant that all production homes needed was level lots – and we had a desert […]
encoded: <img decoding="async" width="470" height="1024" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/TraindancingDuck-470x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1609" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/TraindancingDuck-470x1024.jpg 470w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/TraindancingDuck-138x300.jpg 138w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/TraindancingDuck-768x1672.jpg 768w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/TraindancingDuck-706x1536.jpg 706w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/TraindancingDuck.jpg 792w" sizes="(max-width: 470px) 100vw, 470px" /> If you don’t have an inventory of rubber ducks, you may not have any use for a bathtub. From the end of World War II to the mid-70s and beyond, Phoenix built block ranch homes with beshingled rafters. Here and there was a split-ranch, very rarely a basement home. We had learned how to build on slab, which meant that all production homes needed was level lots – and we had a desert full of ’em. So: Two bedrooms, one bath. Very common at first. Even three bedrooms, one bath and an inadequate wall heater, all in 995 square feet. If you find half-baths in vintage ranch homes, they’re likely to be after-market additions. The big luxury upgrade was the three-quarter bathroom in the master bedroom – toilet, vanity and shower, often in a 6 x 8′ closet-sized space. Builders put up zillions of these homes, all across the Valley of the Ever-Fecund Sun: Three-quarter bath in the master, eventually with extra space and other luxury amenities, and a ‘full’ bathroom in the hall. What a full bathroom meant was a tub but not a shower. Babies, toddlers and children need bathtubs, so the kid- and guest-bedrooms have access to the tub. Del Webb built much of Sun City just this way, three-quarter in the master, sometimes with the vanity out in the bedroom, and a tub-bath in the hall. A very common after-mar…

‘The Screed’ hits the streets of Sun City for Christmas Eve.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-12-24T16:51:42Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: There is a new edition of The Screed out today. If you live in 85351, it’s in your driveway, as a pre-printed insert to The Sun City Independent. If you reside elsewhere, click here for a PDF version. As it says right there in black and white, I am your best resource for Sun City […]
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="747" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Screen-Shot-2024-12-24-at-9.25.06-AM-1024x747.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1604" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Screen-Shot-2024-12-24-at-9.25.06-AM-1024x747.png 1024w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Screen-Shot-2024-12-24-at-9.25.06-AM-300x219.png 300w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Screen-Shot-2024-12-24-at-9.25.06-AM-768x560.png 768w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Screen-Shot-2024-12-24-at-9.25.06-AM-1200x876.png 1200w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Screen-Shot-2024-12-24-at-9.25.06-AM.png 1228w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> There is a new edition of The Screed out today. If you live in 85351, it’s in your driveway, as a pre-printed insert to The Sun City Independent. If you reside elsewhere, click here for a PDF version. As it says right there in black and white, I am your best resource for Sun City real estate news. You should subscribe to this website, using the form at the bottom of this page, and to our facebook page. Working together, we’ll see what works, what doesn’t – and how to get your home sold ahead of its competition.

The five stages of staging: Delivering that ‘new-in-box’ experience to Sun City home-buyers.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-12-19T16:34:13Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: Looking for a question that answers itself? Try this one: Does staging work to sell homes? Does freshness move the goods down at the green-grocer’s? Is there really anything to the idea of a ‘new-car smell’? Delivering a house that is ready in every respect for its new residents definitely works, but it fell to […]
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="795" height="795" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/image-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1598" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/image-1.png 795w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/image-1-300x300.png 300w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/image-1-150x150.png 150w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/image-1-768x768.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 795px) 100vw, 795px" /> Home sweet home: There’s no place like it – for you and no one else… Looking for a question that answers itself? Try this one: Does staging work to sell homes? Does freshness move the goods down at the green-grocer’s? Is there really anything to the idea of a ‘new-car smell’? Delivering a house that is ready in every respect for its new residents definitely works, but it fell to Steve Jobs to show us why staging works: It expresses extreme respect for the buyer’s sagacity – and funding – by delivering a ‘new-in-box’ experience. As with the iPhone App Store, the unboxing video is an emergent phenomenon, engendered not by Apple but by its customers. But the solemn unboxing of a new toy, very-carefully-boxed, has become a key part of the marketing strategy of new toys. And new homes, too – big duh. There are no dirty clothes or toast crumbs cluttering up model homes – and they are serviced continuously and cleaned daily. If you’re looking for perfect staging, the ideal ‘new-in-box’ residence, they keep regular hours down at the new home subdivision. But our job is to deliver that ‘new-in-box’ experience with resale homes in Sun City, many of which are themselves already of retirement age. For the right sum of cash, you can swap in a whole lot of ‘wow-factor’, all without turning your home into a born-yesterday dentist’s office. But with the right kind of staging you can put your best foot forward from wherever you sta…

The Dirty Thirty: October’s very most awful Sun City home sales.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-11-23T19:07:06Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: My apologies for being late with the latest excoriations. The bad news is always bad, as above, 2167sf with three bathrooms thrown away as the inevitable consequence of starting sleazy and high. See for yourself, by chart and by way of this 30-day live link into the listings: The good news? The Snowbirds are back […]
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="960" height="640" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/image-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1589" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/image-1.png 960w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/image-1-300x200.png 300w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/image-1-768x512.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" /> I remarked on this property when it listed: No one should be able to guess what is going on in your home – or why you have it up for sale. 27 DOM, 74.50% SP/OLP. My apologies for being late with the latest excoriations. The bad news is always bad, as above, 2167sf with three bathrooms thrown away as the inevitable consequence of starting sleazy and high. See for yourself, by chart and by way of this 30-day live link into the listings: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="363" height="652" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Screenshot-2024-11-23-at-11.26.29 AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1590" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Screenshot-2024-11-23-at-11.26.29 AM.png 363w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Screenshot-2024-11-23-at-11.26.29 AM-167x300.png 167w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 363px) 100vw, 363px" /> The good news? The Snowbirds are back and buying. The other end of the chart has some impressive performances, and – huge surprise – homes that are priced wisely and to market are selling well. The cloud around that silver lining is that new listings are being added in Sun City much faster than closed listings are depleting the available inventory. That argues for profound pain when the Snowbirds go back home again. Plan accordingly…

SCUBA: The name of the game for Sun City buyers? “What’s missing? What’s undone?”
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-11-01T21:33:59Z
subject: Buying Your Home
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: Scio in Latin is ‘I know.’ It’s a beautiful as atoms – both ‘sc’ and ‘io’ denote beautiful ideas – but it’s ‘sc’ in English that lends so much ammunition to my cannonades of wit. We have already had The Screed – Sun City Real Estate Eviscerations and Dismay – and now I inaugurate SCUBA […]
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="960" height="640" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/image.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1582" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/image.png 960w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/image-300x200.png 300w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/image-768x512.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" /> Flippers are strippers: They throw away appliances, window treatments, shower bars, etc., on the way in, but don’t always replace them on the way out… Scio in Latin is ‘I know.’ It’s a beautiful as atoms – both ‘sc’ and ‘io’ denote beautiful ideas – but it’s ‘sc’ in English that lends so much ammunition to my cannonades of wit. We have already had The Screed – Sun City Real Estate Eviscerations and Dismay – and now I inaugurate SCUBA – the Sun City Underground Buyer’s Agenda. I don’t even represent Sun City home-buyers, but I’m not sure anyone else does, either. Luckily, Del Webb’s homes are the very best of ‘good bones’. If you stay on top of the roof, so to speak, the block home beneath it will last for centuries. And yet: A retirement home that is itself old enough to retire will have required successive updates to deliver on the promise of its good bones. The buyer’s agenda is to nail those issues down, discounting for anything that is either missing or undone. So here is my EZ punch list for every home, for every buyer in Sun City: 1. No fridge? 2. No window treatments? 3. No landscaping? 4. Popcorn ceilings? 5. Single-pane windows? 6. Two-prong wiring? The first two mean time, money and effort before you can move in. For the third, the neighbors are good and ready for you to stop looking like a rental. And if the home needs serious upgrades to remain competitive, you will do them on the way out if not on the way in. Only a plumber can tell you if the pipes need help, but you can see everything I’m tal…

The Dirty Thirty: Sun City’s worst closings for September.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-10-10T18:39:17Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: Do you know what is most interesting about real estate commissions? It’s entirely the wrong number to focus on. The metric I use – net-Sold Price / Original List Price – is far better. After all, what good does it do you to save 1.5% on commissions only to lose 10% or more of your […]
encoded: What happens to throwaway homes? They get thrown away… 88DOM, 73.48% SP/OLP. Do you know what is most interesting about real estate commissions? It’s entirely the wrong number to focus on. The metric I use – net-Sold Price / Original List Price – is far better. After all, what good does it do you to save 1.5% on commissions only to lose 10% or more of your equity by working with the wrong agent? Here are the 30 most-wrong marketing efforts for Sun City real estate in September: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="362" height="653" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-10-at-11.13.31-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1574" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-10-at-11.13.31-AM.png 362w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-10-at-11.13.31-AM-166x300.png 166w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 362px) 100vw, 362px" /> This link to the listings is live for 30 days. I can demonstrate every claim I make in these consistently dismal results. If you want to do better with your home, I can show you how to get at, near or above Fair Market Value in very few Days On Market.

Why subscribe – here and on Facebook? I am the best source of real estate information in Sun City.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-10-09T19:13:19Z
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: My apologies for not writing here more often. I intend for the posts on this weblog to be canonical – enduringly true for all Sun City home sellers. Whenever you come here, you should learn something important. For matters of lesser moment, or for the individual instances making up a trend, see me on Facebook. […]
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="716" height="768" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-09-at-11.48.02-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1567" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-09-at-11.48.02-AM.png 716w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-09-at-11.48.02-AM-280x300.png 280w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 716px) 100vw, 716px" /> My apologies for not writing here more often. I intend for the posts on this weblog to be canonical – enduringly true for all Sun City home sellers. Whenever you come here, you should learn something important. For matters of lesser moment, or for the individual instances making up a trend, see me on Facebook. I read the Sun City MLS every day, and I use what I see in every day’s new and closed listings to teach lessons great and small. And you should be subscribed to both resources. There is literally no one else telling you the truth about about Sun City real estate, so it’s lucky that I’m the best person to do that job. Here’s fun: Sun City sellers should definitely be following me, and, as above, I can be helpful to buyers. But the people who should be glued to their screens are the listing agents: I know all about what they’re getting wrong – and I know how to get this job right. If you subscribe to the weblog, using the form at the bottom of this page, you’ll get email notices when I post here, a few times a month. If you follow me on Facebook, you’ll see a few brief posts a day. Either way, I’ll show you everything that is and isn’t working in Sun City residential real estate.

Why does everything matter on a new Sun City listing – especially the list price? Because you never get a second chance at the first weekend.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-09-07T18:42:05Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: The emails go out Thursday morning, early, to catch your early-morning eyes. A search portal from your agent? An auto-search you set up yourself on a real estate website? However you arranged things, that email is there to help you plan your weekend home search. And, of utmost importance, the newer listings are flagged with […]
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="1024" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/bored-1024x1024.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-1557" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/bored-1024x1024.jpeg 1024w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/bored-300x300.jpeg 300w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/bored-150x150.jpeg 150w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/bored-768x768.jpeg 768w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/bored-1200x1200.jpeg 1200w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/bored.jpeg 1280w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> Is it rude to laugh? It takes a LOT more work for a listing agent to sell a house badly than it does to do the job right from Day Zero. It is pure luck that they have but two feet to shoot themselves in… The emails go out Thursday morning, early, to catch your early-morning eyes. A search portal from your agent? An auto-search you set up yourself on a real estate website? However you arranged things, that email is there to help you plan your weekend home search. And, of utmost importance, the newer listings are flagged with some form of eye-catching text like “NEW!” And the emails go out again Friday morning, and you pay special attention to the “NEW!” listings because you’re not enthralled with the list you made Thursday. And the emails go out again on Saturday morning – to go unread or to be set aside for later consideration. Come Saturday morning, you’re looking at houses, not listings. And if a home was newly listed after Friday’s emails went out? It has, just by that one false move, lost two-thirds or more of the selling power of the word “NEW!” If you jumped on the grenade while the general was golfing, you didn’t get the medal. And if you moved heaven and earth to list a property for sale on the wrong day, this error alone is…

The Dirty 30: The worst real estate sales in Sun City for August 2024.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-09-06T17:17:30Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: Ahem. It’s easy to look at a long list of failed, fractured listings and think, “Well, the agents are really dumb, after all.” That surely is true, but it doesn’t mean that they are not also cynical, craven, mercenary, deceptive and predatory: You can’t slash the list price on a listing you don’t have… So […]
encoded: Probably not a deal-killer, but no one would have missed this photo, had it been omitted. The listing started at $50k over FMV, finished at $40k under FMV. 278 DOM, 72.67% net-SP/OLP. Ahem. It’s easy to look at a long list of failed, fractured listings and think, “Well, the agents are really dumb, after all.” That surely is true, but it doesn’t mean that they are not also cynical, craven, mercenary, deceptive and predatory: You can’t slash the list price on a listing you don’t have… So here we have The Dirty 30 for August 2024 in a 30-day live look into the MLS, the worst closings in Sun City this month: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="363" height="655" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Screen-Shot-2024-09-06-at-9.57.24-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1547" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Screen-Shot-2024-09-06-at-9.57.24-AM.png 363w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Screen-Shot-2024-09-06-at-9.57.24-AM-166x300.png 166w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 363px) 100vw, 363px" /> When you’re giving away anywhere from 11% to 27% off the Original List Price, it’s not hard to figure out what the problem is. And whether or not agents are too dumb to learn better, I have every confidence that YOU are not. Pricing to market in wise numbers produces better, faster results. If, on the other hand, you would rather wait for months for your money, you can pocket a whole lot less of it for your trouble…

The redemption of Hope? Whatever it takes.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-08-28T18:04:17Z
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: When life hands you a lemon… make the most of it! I shot my mouth off about throwaway homes, so life handed me one and told me to put up or shut up. Well, it didn’t quite happen that way. Karen Mushier, a Sun City paralegal who handles wills, trusts, probates, etc., sat me down […]
encoded: When life hands you a lemon… make the most of it! I shot my mouth off about throwaway homes, so life handed me one and told me to put up or shut up. Well, it didn’t quite happen that way. Karen Mushier, a Sun City paralegal who handles wills, trusts, probates, etc., sat me down and explained to me how so many Sun City homes come to be thrown away: The last living resident dies with no heirs, and so it falls to the probate system to reckon with the estate’s assets and debts. And then she did me one better, referring a badly-neglected property to me to list for sale. The heirs had been identified, and one of the two, designated as the ‘personal representative’ (think executor) of the deceased, was to be my client. So: The owner had been old and ailing and her live-in paramour was a hoarder of the first water. He packed the house with stuff for around ten years, and then it was abandoned for another four. This is a view of the living room on the day I followed our locksmith – my nephew Tim Brannum of Lockology – into 10754 West Hope Drive: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-2-1024x768.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1531" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-2-1024x768.png 1024w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-2-300x225.png 300w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-2-768x576.png 768w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-2-1536x1152.png 1536w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-2-2048x1536.png 2048w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-2-1200x900.png 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> The water was off but the power was on, and had been on without interruption for the four years the house sat empty – there were still-frozen Klondike bars in the fridge. Every room w…

Better thinking, better results: BINSR-whipping wholesalers back into negotiability.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-08-24T17:25:36Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: What’s a home-buyer? Someone who wants to move up or to stop paying rent or to relocate from another city. Someone with stuff to be housed and who desires, periodically, to bathe and sleep in private. They want a specific, carefully-chosen home, and they don’t want to lose out on it. But then there are […]
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="1024" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/wolf1-1024x1024.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-1527" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/wolf1-1024x1024.jpeg 1024w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/wolf1-300x300.jpeg 300w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/wolf1-150x150.jpeg 150w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/wolf1-768x768.jpeg 768w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/wolf1-1200x1200.jpeg 1200w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/wolf1.jpeg 1280w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> “Have I got a deal for you…” What’s a home-buyer? Someone who wants to move up or to stop paying rent or to relocate from another city. Someone with stuff to be housed and who desires, periodically, to bathe and sleep in private. They want a specific, carefully-chosen home, and they don’t want to lose out on it. But then there are buy-and-hold and fix-and-flip investors. They want the home to invest in, but not quite as urgently: They keep their stuff in their own homes, and, at a certain point, other opportunities can seem more promising. And then there are wholesalers. They want the home, but only at an insanely low price, and they don’t particularly care which home they happen to be lily-padding on, provided the price is insanely low. So first, as a warning to Sun City homeowners: Zillow your address. I am Zillow.com’s first and harshest critic, but your home’s Zestimate is a much better reflection of its Fair Market Value than the number some fast-talker is quoting you over the phone. Unless you are beset by an insuperable emergency that brooks no possible delay, you have no interest in talking to pawn-brokers. But true pawn-brokers at least bear the risk of owning the merchandise. The self-idealized perfect wholesaler owns noth…

How Sun City homes stack up in my custom MLS list view.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-08-11T14:43:30Z
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: Now that is a W-I-D-E image. That’s a screenshot of my comps for Hope Drive, as seen in my custom list view in ARMLS. If you click on the picture, it will get bigger so you can actually read it. It’s called ‘Zesidential’. I started building it when I was a ‘pricing algorithm’ for Zillow’s […]
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="278" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screen-Shot-2024-08-10-at-12.24.55-PM-1024x278.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1519" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screen-Shot-2024-08-10-at-12.24.55-PM-1024x278.png 1024w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screen-Shot-2024-08-10-at-12.24.55-PM-300x81.png 300w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screen-Shot-2024-08-10-at-12.24.55-PM-768x209.png 768w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screen-Shot-2024-08-10-at-12.24.55-PM-1536x417.png 1536w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screen-Shot-2024-08-10-at-12.24.55-PM-1200x326.png 1200w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screen-Shot-2024-08-10-at-12.24.55-PM.png 1870w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> Now that is a W-I-D-E image. That’s a screenshot of my comps for Hope Drive, as seen in my custom list view in ARMLS. If you click on the picture, it will get bigger so you can actually read it. It’s called ‘Zesidential’. I started building it when I was a ‘pricing algorithm’ for Zillow’s iBuying spree. You’re seeing it in its ideal application: Stacking up comparable properties by their mission-critical features to make at-a-glance apples-to-apples comparisons. It literally creates a table of details, making it easy to select the most comparable/proximate/recent sales. I’ve talked about some of my other pricing tools. There are others: Custom data exports from ARMLS imported into Google Sheets and calculated and sorted thereupon. That’s how I make The Dirty Thirty, for example. I can write software, and I used to do things that way. But the customizable tools built into ARMLS coupled with the infinite, intricate elegance of Google Sheets, are giving me everything I need right now. If you are an ARMLS member, I can share t…

The Dirty 30: Sun City’s worst real estate sales for July 2024.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-08-09T15:47:14Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: My apologies for not writing here more. I wanted to reflect on the second quarter, and I have interesting things to say about 2-bedroom/1-bath floorplans generally. All still undone. But: As ever, we are graced with very bad closings in Sun City – 81 Days-on-Market on average for July, with and average of 6.51% clipped […]
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="960" height="640" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1513" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-1.png 960w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-1-300x200.png 300w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-1-768x512.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" /> Coulda, shoulda, woulda: Started at $335k – an erroneous entry – but that may have killed it. Corrected price was $235k, stupid but not egregious and clearly hinting at $220k, where it might have sold on the first weekend. Finally sold at $212k after 97 Days-on-Market. My apologies for not writing here more. I wanted to reflect on the second quarter, and I have interesting things to say about 2-bedroom/1-bath floorplans generally. All still undone. But: As ever, we are graced with very bad closings in Sun City – 81 Days-on-Market on average for July, with and average of 6.51% clipped off of the Original List Price. (Attention sales-commission shoppers: You’re focusing on the wrong metric.) This is a 30-day live link to the Dirty 30 listings for July 2024. And here they are summarized – concentrated catastrophes: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="359" height="651" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screen-Shot-2024-08-09-at-3.41.53-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1514" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screen-Shot-2024-08-09-at-3.41.53-AM.png 359w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screen-Shot-2024-08-09-at-3.41.53-AM-165x300.png 165w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 359px) 100vw, 359px" /> Thirteen of the 126 Closed listings for July finished at or above Original List Price with no concessions. Guess what they have in common…?

The Dirty 30: Sun City’s worst closings for June 2024.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-07-01T19:58:23Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: June has shuffled away, taking the second quarter with it. I’ll have more to say about both shortly, but for now I want to harp on a familiar theme: The unrelenting ineptitude besetting Sun City home sellers. Summarized above and linked for 30 days are The Dirty 30, June’s worst performers in terms of net […]
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="960" height="640" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1414" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image.png 960w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image-300x200.png 300w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image-768x512.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" /> None so dirty for June: It was worth $220,000 on the day it listed – for $350,000. After only 238 Days on Market, it sold for $205,000… June has shuffled away, taking the second quarter with it. I’ll have more to say about both shortly, but for now I want to harp on a familiar theme: The unrelenting ineptitude besetting Sun City home sellers. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="371" height="651" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Screen-Shot-2024-07-01-at-12.20.47-PM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1413" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Screen-Shot-2024-07-01-at-12.20.47-PM.png 371w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Screen-Shot-2024-07-01-at-12.20.47-PM-171x300.png 171w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 371px) 100vw, 371px" /> Summarized above and linked for 30 days are The Dirty 30, June’s worst performers in terms of net results – (Sold Price minus Concessions) / Original List Price – giving up 9% or more. Yes, that’s awful, but 64% of June’s 111 closings gave up 3% or more off of the Original List Price – typically taking forever to fail with a whimper. Of those 111 closings only lucky number 13 finished at or above Original List Price – and, of course, some of those are inflated FHA/VA transactions. There is a right way to sell real estate – at or above Fair Market Value in minimal Days on Market. Sadly, almost no one in Sun City works that way.

Divorced? Depressed? Deceased? When you are selling your Sun City home, no one should be able to guess the state of your desperation.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-06-22T17:16:34Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Staging Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: I am every day aghast at a class of homes-for-sale that I have never seen before, nowhere but here in Sun City. I call them ‘throwaway’ homes, since this seems to be the essence of their marketing appeal: The net effect if not the conscious intent is to repel all but the most rapacious of […]
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="360" height="480" alt="" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-1382" data-id="1382" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/m2.jpeg" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/m2.jpeg 360w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/m2-225x300.jpeg 225w" sizes="(max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="360" height="480" alt="" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-1381" data-id="1381" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/m3.jpeg" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/m3.jpeg 360w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/m3-225x300.jpeg 225w" sizes="(max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="360" height="480" alt="" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-1383" data-id="1383" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/m1.jpeg" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/m1.jpeg 360w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/m1-225x300.jpeg 225w" sizes="(max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="360" height="480" alt="" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-1380" data-id="1380" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/m4.jpeg" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/m4.jpeg 360w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/m4-225x300.jpeg 225w" sizes="(max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="720" height="480" alt="" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-1384" data-id="1384" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/kittch.jpeg" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/kittch.jpeg 720w, https://www.blood…

Another piece of the home pricing puzzle: Fishing with your bait out of the water.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-06-13T14:49:41Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: Every detail in an MLS listing carries marketing weight – everything counts – but nothing matters more than the price. If a house is priced wisely and well – if it is priced to market using a number that makes sense to the buyer – it should sell at, near or above list price in […]
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="489" height="547" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-13-at-4.38.38-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1353" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-13-at-4.38.38-AM.png 489w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-13-at-4.38.38-AM-268x300.png 268w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 489px) 100vw, 489px" /> Every detail in an MLS listing carries marketing weight – everything counts – but nothing matters more than the price. If a house is priced wisely and well – if it is priced to market using a number that makes sense to the buyer – it should sell at, near or above list price in single-digit Days-on-Market. I favor numbers that break evenly on $20k boundaries, because that’s the way six-figure homes tend to close in ARMLS – the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service, the Phoenix-area MLS. I call them wise numbers, because all other numbers – stupid or sleazy prices – induce delay, at a minimum, and are therefore inherently UNwise. But there is another piece to this puzzle: Lender pre-qualification tiers. How much is the buyer qualified for? Is it $344,850? Or is it more like $350k? Lenders like round numbers, too, but they often work in $25k increments. This matters why? If you’re priced at $305k, you might be missing some or all of the buyers who are qualified only to $300k – which you would gleefully take – since they are only searching to their pre-qualification number. If you then reduce the price to $279k, you’re still fishing with your bait out of the water with respect to the buyers qualified to $275k. That’s a sad but true story, as seen here: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="670" height="386" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-13-at-4.17.08-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1352" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/…

A sad Sun City real estate saga told five times over: List high, sell slowly, close low.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-06-05T14:55:56Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: Tell me if you’ve heard this story before… As always, the price of delay is FHA. 194 DOM, 91.34 net-SP/OLP. Started at a wise price, just much too high. The Sold Price looks like a counter to me: Buyer offered $220k, but the seller had had enough of this dagnabit discounting. 116 DOM, 88.42% SP/OLP. […]
encoded: It takes more than just an upright toilet seat to make a listing languish for months… Tell me if you’ve heard this story before… <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="815" height="215" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-05-at-3.23.10-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1335" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-05-at-3.23.10-AM.png 815w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-05-at-3.23.10-AM-300x79.png 300w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-05-at-3.23.10-AM-768x203.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 815px) 100vw, 815px" /> As always, the price of delay is FHA. 194 DOM, 91.34 net-SP/OLP. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="816" height="179" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-05-at-3.26.49-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1336" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-05-at-3.26.49-AM.png 816w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-05-at-3.26.49-AM-300x66.png 300w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-05-at-3.26.49-AM-768x168.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 816px) 100vw, 816px" /> Started at a wise price, just much too high. The Sold Price looks like a counter to me: Buyer offered $220k, but the seller had had enough of this dagnabit discounting. 116 DOM, 88.42% SP/OLP. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="816" height="179" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-05-at-3.30.44-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1337" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-05-at-3.30.44-AM.png 816w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-05-at-3.30.44-AM-300x66.png 300w, http…

What’s the wisdom behind wise pricing? Your home will sell faster and for more money.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-06-02T14:51:43Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: I am proud to say that I have had a salutary influence on real estate agents who live and work nowhere near me. Locally, no one has learned anything, but that’s their problem – and their clients’. This is me DM-ing in Facebook with an a team leader in Florida whom I’ve known for – […]
encoded: I am proud to say that I have had a salutary influence on real estate agents who live and work nowhere near me. Locally, no one has learned anything, but that’s their problem – and their clients’. This is me DM-ing in Facebook with an a team leader in Florida whom I’ve known for – could it be? – 17 years or so: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="717" height="368" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-02-at-5.18.36-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1313" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-02-at-5.18.36-AM.png 717w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-02-at-5.18.36-AM-300x154.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 717px) 100vw, 717px" /> We’re talking about pricing, of course. Nothing in residential real estate matters more. And specifically, we’re talking about my ideas about wise, stupid and sleazy prices. I’m telling my friend to look at thousands of prices, but we’re not going to do that. But there were nine Closed listings in my Hotsheet this Sunday morning – why? it’s a mystery – so we’ll use those to demonstrate my logic: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="318" height="418" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-02-at-5.13.40-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1314" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-02-at-5.13.40-AM.png 318w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-02-at-5.13.40-AM-228x300.png 228w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 318px) 100vw, 318px" /> But wait! Only four of the nine Closed prices are wise. Perhaps. Let’s post-mortem them one-by-one and count again at the end. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="815" height="215" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-02-at-5.34.52-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1315" srcset="h…

How one Sun City listing agent is using duct tape to repel insects – and buyers.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-06-01T15:13:37Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Staging Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: Me on Facebook: Hard to see what’s going on? Here are the three photos at full size: See the duct tape? Why is it there? Much as any buyer would, I read the worst possible portents into the mystery. My wife Cathleen, herself an exemplary lister, explained to me what’s going on. First: Sewer Roaches. […]
encoded: Me on Facebook: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="683" height="376" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-01-at-7.53.28-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1302" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-01-at-7.53.28-AM.png 683w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-01-at-7.53.28-AM-300x165.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /> Hard to see what’s going on? Here are the three photos at full size: See the duct tape? Why is it there? Much as any buyer would, I read the worst possible portents into the mystery. My wife Cathleen, herself an exemplary lister, explained to me what’s going on. First: Sewer Roaches. Big, red, ugly, crunchy when dead. They’re not an infestation but an accident: They live where the unmild things are, not in houses. But: When plumbing J-pipes dry out, as they will in the desert, dumb roaches climb up and get lost in houses, where they die of starvation, dehydration or ennui. They are NEVER found in occupied homes, where the drains are in steady use, but ONLY in vacant homes that are not being serviced. That last clause matters: The listing agent for an Active property should be in the home every day – if only to make sure it wasn’t left unlocked from the last showing. But for the entire time a vacant Sun City property is subject to the listing contract, the home should be serviced at least every-other-day. Why? To keep the Sewer Roaches out. All you have to do is run water down the drains. And that’s why the drains are taped over, Cathleen reveals: Either the seller or the lister doesn’t want to service the property and yet doesn’t want for it to be cemetery to a dozen red warriors. Hence it was truly inspired on the agent’s part not to remove the tape prior to taking the photos: The house should be safe from roaches and buyers, both.

What’s the difference between houses and mudpies? If you waste a lot of time doing nothing productive with a mudpie, it’s not worth less than when you started…
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-05-29T18:05:24Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: Me, on Facebook: Wisdom clearly eludes us: I did the same analysis yesterday: I won’t promise to do this daily, but clearly I don’t need to: For whatever reason, Sun City listing agents are committed to pricing tactics that incite either rancor or confusion – resulting in costly delays, either way. Here’s why this matters: […]
encoded: Me, on Facebook: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="632" height="792" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-29-at-8.38.20-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1292" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-29-at-8.38.20-AM.png 632w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-29-at-8.38.20-AM-239x300.png 239w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 632px) 100vw, 632px" /> Wisdom clearly eludes us: I did the same analysis yesterday: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="689" height="671" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-29-at-9.57.23-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1293" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-29-at-9.57.23-AM.png 689w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-29-at-9.57.23-AM-300x292.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 689px) 100vw, 689px" /> I won’t promise to do this daily, but clearly I don’t need to: For whatever reason, Sun City listing agents are committed to pricing tactics that incite either rancor or confusion – resulting in costly delays, either way. Here’s why this matters: While listers goof around playing theory-free, strategy-free pricing games, their sellers’ equity goes up in smoke. Witness: The buyers got the golf-course lot-premium for free: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="753" height="750" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-29-at-10.12.22-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1297" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-29-at-10.12.22-AM.png 753w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-29-at-10.12.22-AM-300x300.png 300w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-29-at-10.12.22-AM-150x150.png 15…

Why won’t your Sun City home sell? Could the problem be stupid pricing?
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-05-25T14:55:14Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: I classify list prices for real estate as being wise, stupid or sleazy. A house that is priced well – priced to market – and wisely should sell right away. Pricing stupidly causes delay, as we’ll see. And if the list price is sleazy – such as $449,999 – the buyer will be hostile to […]
encoded: I classify list prices for real estate as being wise, stupid or sleazy. A house that is priced well – priced to market – and wisely should sell right away. Pricing stupidly causes delay, as we’ll see. And if the list price is sleazy – such as $449,999 – the buyer will be hostile to the seller and the listing agent from first contact: Conniving people are connivers. Take a look at this Expired listing: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="822" height="125" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-25-at-2.08.17-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1283" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-25-at-2.08.17-AM.png 822w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-25-at-2.08.17-AM-300x46.png 300w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-25-at-2.08.17-AM-768x117.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 822px) 100vw, 822px" /> Both the listing agent and the seller knew on Day Zero that the market value of the home was $360k. The stupid Original List Price says so, as does the subsequent List Price reduction, also stupid: Both numbers are hinting at $360k, while simultaneously praying that buyer’s agents can’t comp and buyers can’t cope with so many confusing numbers. Had the home been priced to market – $360,000 – on Day Zero, it probably would have gone for full price – or more? – by Day Seven. Instead, by pricing the property stupidly, the listing expired at 89 DOM. But wait. There’s more. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="822" height="179" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-25-at-2.08.52-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1284" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-25-at-2.08.52-AM.png 822w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-25-at-2.08.52-AM-300x65.png 300w, h…

The post-mortem lexicon: What all the acronyms mean and why they matter.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-05-24T20:54:08Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: As I’ve noted, I will often post-mortem closed listings on Bloodhound Realty’s Facebook page. Yesterday, I did nine houses in bulk: Here’s a single closing from this morning, explicated in greater detail: I love those two little boxes of dates and numbers. Sometimes I have to read the full listing history to figure out what […]
encoded: As I’ve noted, I will often post-mortem closed listings on Bloodhound Realty’s Facebook page. Yesterday, I did nine houses in bulk: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="687" height="696" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-24-at-1.26.34-PM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1278" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-24-at-1.26.34-PM.png 687w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-24-at-1.26.34-PM-296x300.png 296w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 687px) 100vw, 687px" /> Here’s a single closing from this morning, explicated in greater detail: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="688" height="391" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-24-at-1.33.48-PM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1279" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-24-at-1.33.48-PM.png 688w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-24-at-1.33.48-PM-300x170.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 688px) 100vw, 688px" /> I love those two little boxes of dates and numbers. Sometimes I have to read the full listing history to figure out what happened, but 95% of real estate transactions are perfectly summarized by those two boxes. They are a residential real estate sale’s obituary, and my one-line summary – e.g., 190 DOM, 87.80% net-SP/OLP – is that transaction’s epitaph. That’s morbid, so don’t even get me started on Expired and Cancelled listings. Meanwhile, here’s a lexicon to explain all the acronyms: ADOM is Agent Days on Market, so it’s just DOM. There is a CDOM, Cumulative Days on Market, for exceptionally badly marketed properties. SP is Sales Price, what it sold for, excluding concessions – which many of these closings had. If I say net-SP/OLP, I’m subtracting the concessions. That is, I am arriving at the seller’s gross proceeds before co…

Listing Sun City real estate at Death’s Door: Representing your interests when you can no longer speak for yourself.
type: item
creator: Greg Swann
date: 2024-05-23T15:09:23Z
subject: Selling Your Home
subject: Sun City Real Estate
description: Allowing for linguistic infelicities, language like that appears in most Sun City real estate listings: “Welcome to Death’s Door. Try to stay out of the way.” That much is crass – and it is terrible as a real estate marketing strategy. But the underlying truth – the fact of our own mortality – remains, regardless […]
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="788" height="384" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-2024-04-26-at-12.07.19-PM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1179" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-2024-04-26-at-12.07.19-PM.png 788w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-2024-04-26-at-12.07.19-PM-300x146.png 300w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-2024-04-26-at-12.07.19-PM-768x374.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 788px) 100vw, 788px" /> Allowing for linguistic infelicities, language like that appears in most Sun City real estate listings: “Welcome to Death’s Door. Try to stay out of the way.” That much is crass – and it is terrible as a real estate marketing strategy. But the underlying truth – the fact of our own mortality – remains, regardless of how much we’d rather not think about it. So: To be much more blunt than that ham-handed send-up of senescence: I want to be your last real estate broker. I want to be the broker who represents your interests when you can no longer speak for yourself. That’s morbid, and I apologize for that. But fortune favors the prepared mind, and I want for you to be prepared to defend your legacy in full. So let’s talk about this now, long before it will matter. I want to meet your attorney and your kids – and I want my business card with each of them. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="584" src="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Screen-Shot-2024-03-24-at-4.18.48-PM-1024x584.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1122" srcset="https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Screen-Shot-2024-03-24-at-4.18.48-PM-1024x584.png 1024w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Screen-Shot-2024-03-24-at-4.18.48-PM-300x171.png 300w, https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Screen-Shot-2024-03-24-at-4.18.48…