Client Profile

Steven Randles: Tucson Real Estate

2004 Client Profile.............Jim and Barbara Barnes

As a real estate professional I occassionally get blessed with buying and selling homes with folks that are like family. Jim and Barbara are just like family. In November of 1996, they called me off of one of my signs on a property I had listed, which I showed them and a few other properties. They finally settled on a ridgetop home on 3.3 acres in the northeast part of Tucson that had sweeping 270 degree views of mountains and city.

I sold their patio home that they had bought a few years back when they came toTucson from San Jose, California. This year, Jim and Barbara decided to buy some investment homes and also do a 1031 tax exchange on their house in San Jose that they had been renting these past several years. In all, they bought and sold five homes this year alone! Here are their comments about their experience with me.

Jim Barnes: "We moved to Tucson because of the great climate, mountain views, less traffic, casual lifestyle, lots of wildlife and privacy. Steve listened well to us and understood clearly what we were looking for. Within a month, Steve had located our new dream ridgetop home. We spent about $100K remodeling and landscaping, and this home has doubled in value in only 7 years. We are extremely happy with our other investments that Steve found for us. We feel like Steve Randles gave
us exceptional service and advice which is why we have used him over and over again."

Barbara Barnes: " We liked the way Steve handled our 1031 tax exchange and got all of our questions answered. Things went very easy and we did not even have to travel back to San Jose. Steve demonstrated a lot of patience and showed skill in handling a few problems that arose. He worked directly with the real estate agent in California and the 1031 tax exchange company and the title company here to create a smooth transaction."

Jim and Barbara Barnes have invested in the Tucson real estate market because it has shown growth ranging from 7 to 15 percent per year. The current market is so strong in the north and northeast sections that many homes have sold for full price or over full price within a day or two. Due to strong demand for housing in the Tucson area, the number of homes available in the multiple listing service has dropped from an average of 5000 listings to 3800 listings as of September 2004. In July 2004 the average days on market dropped to 43 days from 52 days a year before that for all of Tucson. For the past month, new listings going into multiple listing service are outpaced by the "sold" listings and the "pending" listings combined. So.........what are you waiting for? Call Steven Randles today for a lifetime partnership in real estate.

Market Update to February 2006

Tucson has enjoyed one of the hottest real estate markets in its history from September 2004 through

September 2005 with the median priced home rising approximately 35.3 percent! Arizona was ranked

#1 in the nation for the median price escalation for that period. Sellers and investors enjoyed the

multiple offers on their homes usually exceeding thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of dollars over the asking price within a few hours..........a few days.........a week! It was a time of frenzy

and frustrated buyers who couldn't outbid others to get a property at times. Tucson homes inventory was very low during this time because investor demand added to the normal demand pushed sales to an all time record here.

The story is similiar to other southwest and northwest major cities.

Now, as of February 2006, most of this has changed dramatically and we now see that in most cases

it is a buyers market with a huge increase in homes for sale inventory throughout Tucson. Homes that are correctly priced are moving at a much slower pace due to a decrease in the number of buyers in the market and the now much higher prices for homes here. The average days on the market has now returned to what was more normal before the "hot" market of 2005. Now we are seeing homes move from 30 to 60 days on the market once they are priced appropriately. Sellers are now adjusting their expectations of future prices and there is a huge increase in price reductions daily on the market.

Because interest rates for long term mortgages at a fixed rate have remained relatively low by historical standards, this makes it still a great opportunity to buy or invest in Tucson. The experts on a national basis are predicting an overall increase in median priced homes to be around 5 percent for 2006. This is pretty much what is expected for the Tucson area and only time will tell.

If you are considering buying a larger home, shrinking down to a smaller home, or investing in property in Tucson, give me a call. I have worked with all kinds of buyers and sellers, large and small price ranges, for many years. Welcome to the city of Tucson and all of its cultural diversity!