Tucson Real Estate News

This morning, on my way to meet a client from out of town, I saw something incredible! 

I thought I'd never, ever see this again...wondering if perhaps I was seeing somebody's mistake or cruel joke instead...

During a delightful day of showing my client some of the finest horse properties in their price range that the Tucson Real Estate Market has to offer, I saw the same thing in 2 other places!

"It can't be," my mind spoke, "things have been topsy-turvy lately...but not to this extent!"

Wanna see what I saw?

Here it is...

...careful now...

Oh the joys of putting in about 20 gallons...and having enough change to avoid the "Dollar Menu" at Mickey D's!
Better enjoy it while it lasts!

Yesterday while driving through the Picture Rocks area to the west of Tucson, I noticed some interesting things here & there.  One of which I wrote about last night, a whimsical Air Conditioner Repair sign featuring a mannequin "deep into his work" on an AC unit.

Another thing I saw made me turn around and drive back to see it again:

I easily recognized the "Private Property - No Trespassing" sign, and the symbol for rattlesnakes, but wanted to read the fine print below.

I guess this guy is serious about "No Trespassing" and wants to make sure he doesn't get sued, just in case!

However, it must be noted that this kind of signage heightened my curiousity instead of dampening it...ahh, life in rural areas of the desert...it certainly has its entertainment!

This morning, while checking my overnight email, I ran across a notice from Overstock.com that they now have a real estate section.

Curious, I visited their site and looked up my market:  Tucson, Arizona.  Their statistical breakdown comes up at the top of the page, but has some figures that are curious, to say the least:

One notable figure is the overal number of residential properties - their figures as of this morning show 9,669 residential listings available.  Is this a combination of FSBOs, "Make Me Move" type kites in the wind and MLS listings?  Unclear.  The latest official MLS stats show roughly 7700 properties of ALL types for sale, and numbers are declining.

They show 110 listings available for land, when the MLS shows over 1900 in just the immediate Tucson metro.

Another thing to note is that they have a listing feature called "O Hot Value" which is supposed to denote particularly good deals in the marketplace. 

With dubious statistics already shown, following the site's recommendations on what may be a good buy is of limited value to consumers. 

Overstock Real Estate offers a free MLS search to consumers, but only shows 74 properties this morning for residential listings, from a handful of member brokerages.  To satisfy my curiousity, I have written to the company to inquire as to what it costs to join, but see no real reason to pay anything to do so.

I think we will see more and more online retailers and "bargain" distributors getting into the Real Estate marketing business as a way to generate revenue from unused server space.  The biggest thing we professionals need to remember is that our customers will be doing their own research online also--and may be getting inaccurate or outdated statistics and information as a result.  Our role as educators is increasing all of the time--how to handle it and the manner in which we present accurate information to our clients may be what makes or breaks one's business!

(Photos are screenshots from Overstock.com Real Estate and their email announcement)