The Holidays Are Here

Welcome back to our What's Up Southeast Valley for the month of December!

Since our last broadcast, there have been many changes within our community, environment, work life, home life and how we conduct our days, including kids going back to school in an online work environment, and now with the upcoming holidays - we face a whole new set of challenges.

We are in this together and are THRIVING together!

Thrive Into The New Year

We continue to face our daily challenges and uncertain times together and are thankful and grateful for our team and all of your support! We are looking forward to the holidays and beautiful Arizona weather and can't wait to see photos of your family enjoying them too. After all of this year's ups and downs, we are THRIVING through ALL OF IT. We have remained diligent in supporting our community through highlighting local businesses, giving back through food, water & clothing drives, helping families continue to move forward through weekly COVID-19 challenges and changes, pivoting our business model to meet the needs of our clients & business partners, offering more virtual services, growing our team, finding new ways to thank our current and past clients, reaching as many of you as possible and spreading the word that we are here for you no matter what! We're looking forward to spending the holidays and the coming new year with you!

👀 Watch Our LIVE! 

We Are Hiring

The Amy Jones Group is RAPIDLY growing! We are hiring Real Estate Sales Professionals, a Transaction Coordinator & for someone to fill our Client Care Role out of our Gilbert office. On pace to serve more than 165 families in 2020 alone, we are looking for EXPERIENCED agents to join our Southeast Valley team. Known for our excellent client care, exceptional negotiation skills, world class digital marketing, and being trusted advisors in the SE Valley for more than a decade - we are looking for hard working, ethical, creative, real estate professionals who love to learn and thrive in a team environment, where giving back and giving to each other is important to our overall success. For more information on who we are and how to apply, visit https://www.amyjonesgroup.com/careers or send your resume to [email protected]!

As we round the corner towards the end of 2020, we reflect on the year we had that literally no one could have expected. We started the year off making plans for one of the strongest economies in recent history and are ending the year in a sheer state of shock. Kids are home from school and learning a new virtual learning world, some industries will continue to face insurmountable challenges while others are thriving in unprecedented ways, and words like “zoom”, “pivot”, and “silver lining” have become buzzwords, drinking games, numbing.

At the Amy Jones Group, we have always focused on our clients but never have we dug into your personal circumstances, your challenges, your needs, your fears, OUR fears, the way that we have this year. Your home has never been more important to you than it has been this year - your security blanket, your safety net, your greatest asset, and at its most basic functionality - where you are spending more of your time. The population growth in Arizona has outpaced building for the last 10 years and in the year of Covid-19, we are bursting at the seams.

Sometimes, when the world seems so uncertain - the most natural response is to freeze, to hold off on creating more change, to wait and see how it all shakes out, to find the new normal. Sometimes, when the world seems so uncertain, all we can do is CREATE certainty in OUR world. With less than 4 weeks of inventory on the market and declining, countless stories of first time home buyers being given 30 days notice to move out by their landlords and new construction buyers building more than $50,000 in equity before they break ground, and nonprofits struggling to fill the gap for everyone in between - the time is NOW.

Our team continues to be committed to you, we are not expecting fairy dust to drop from the sky on January 1, we know things will continue to be challenging for our families. We also know that the opportunity to buy a home with federally subsidized rates under 3%, the opportunity to build wealth through real estate with the equity you ALREADY HAVE in your home, and the opportunity to sell your home in the most competitive environment in history will not last forever. We know that you don’t WANT to talk about it, and we know that you NEED to. 

We’ve put together a little overview of what we are expecting the market to look and feel like as we go into the new year but YOUR situation is different. Everyone’s situation is different. We can help. Let’s talk numbers and then let’s talk YOU.    

For Buyers:
Existing protections in place for homeowners during times of financial hardship have come to the forefront in 2020.  While both renters and homeowners alike were struck with unemployment and loss of income this year, homeowners in particular were provided with more immediate relief and a pathway to recovery than their renting counterparts.

Case in point, there are few experts in the field predicting a foreclosure crisis for homeowners; however there are many housing experts concerned about an eviction crisis for renters after the eviction moratorium ends December 31st.  Under normal circumstances in Arizona a homeowner typically has to miss multiple monthly payments before the lender files a Notice of Trustee Sale, which then provides another 90 days for the homeowner to remediate the situation prior to foreclosure.  However, a renter can be at risk of eviction within a few shorts weeks after missing a single rent payment depending on their landlord’s disposition and rental agreement.

The CARES Act extended another layer of protection for homeowners through forbearance, allowing them to postpone their payments in 3 month increments for up to a year without an effect on their credit. Many lenders have already put in place refinance options after forbearance for homeowners who have accumulated thousands of dollars in unpaid mortgage payments. There is no such plan for renters after the eviction moratorium.  Their rents will be due in full and if they haven’t received rental assistance or sufficient unemployment benefits to cover the amount owed, they will be facing eviction and their credit will be affected.

So for those questioning whether or not purchasing a home is a good financial decision, the answer is yes. The value of owning a home is not just in its market value, but in stabilizing monthly housing costs during a period of rising rents and the comfort of more protection during times of financial and job insecurity.  Losing one’s home, whether rented or owned, is one of the most stressful things a human being can endure.

For Sellers:
If you are one of the many homeowners facing the end of a forbearance period sometime in the next 3-4 months, you have at least 5 options to remediate your situation.  1) STAY IN YOUR HOME and consult your retirement plan administrator about tapping into your retirement account without penalty until December 31st to cover your unpaid payments; 2) STAY IN YOUR HOME and consult a lender about refinancing your unpaid payments into a new loan; 3) MOVE OUT and rent your home for more than your mortgage payment to cover missed payments or replenish your retirement account; 4) MOVE OUT and consult a lender about acquiring a new loan on a more affordable home; 5) MOVE OUT and sell your home for more than your mortgage balance, walk away with your equity and credit intact to purchase another day.

None of these options were viable solutions for homeowners facing the 2008 housing crash 12 years ago.  These options are why there is little risk of a foreclosure crisis and price crash in 2021. Because population growth has consistently outpaced housing growth every year over the past 10 years, rents and values are projected to continue rising through 2021 in Greater Phoenix unless builders are able and willing to ramp up production at ludicrous speed.  They are doing their best, but even 25,549 permits issued and 19,889 sales closed on brand new single family homes through October this year hasn’t proven to be enough to satisfy the level of demand for housing that has descended on Greater Phoenix.  Sellers need not worry about their home values declining anytime soon.

To schedule a consultation with our team, find out how this market update really impacts you, or to be notified if we start to see something that might CHANGE your situation, reach out to us below.

Schedule An Appointment | Amy Jones Group

In a digital world, it’s nice to connect in person. Schedule a time to talk with the...

READ MORE

Live.Love.Local - Connecting The Southeast Valley

Connecting with the community lights up our souls and we couldn't be more thrilled to get to know those who run our small businesses. It's so important that we support local, especially right now. Each business below is open, taking appointments, reserving parties and staying safe by following our state guidelines. Let's all do our part in keeping the economy alive, so that when it comes time to fully get back to life, we can all thrive once more.

Market of The Moment

Every week, our trusted Title partner, Don Czajkowski with Fidelity National Title has a meeting of the minds to talk about the ever changing real estate market, especially right now. This week, Mindy was a featured guest talking about inventory, new home builds, interest rates, tips to release the equity in your home, alternatives and options to give yourself more time to find a property to purchase when selling and what the Amy Jones Group has been up to this month. Check out all of the recent broadcasts below starting with the one from this week!

🙌 Hot on The Market 🙌

👏 Congratulations! Mazel Tov! ¡Felicidades!

None of this is possible without our amazing clients.
We'd love to help you or someone you love if we haven't already - or help you again!
Here are the buyers and sellers who made big moves last month...

 In Case You Missed It...