When you are watching the news and see those nightly national real estate stats, remember they are not relevant to you and your real estate market at all. When you hear only 31% of homes sold last month were distressed short sale or foreclosures, that doesn’t mean anything to you in Tempe and the East Valley where that number is closer to 62%.

In this week’s episode of Phoenix Real Estate FAQ Short Sales FAQ" href="http://deansellsaz.com/short-sale-faq/">Dean Ouellette and Kristin LaVanway answer the following questions:

* Is it a good time to buy a house?
* Do I need a home inspection if I am buying As-Is?
* Can my Realtor give me the lockbox codes so I can check out a house?
* Why do short sales take so long?

Thanks, Sasha (Speilberg) Lopez doing her part and keeping us on track and keeping us laughing.

Send us your questions…we’d love to hear from you…

February already? are you 1/12th of where you wanted to be this year?

1) Showing Homes to a Buyer: What They Want to See. – I feel like I could have written this post. I have said most of these words myself at one time or another. Another thing I would add is when showing them a home, show them what they want to see, not something that is priced 20% higher so maybe they will like it and spend more. That is one of the reasons I got into the business.

2) A Housing Fix or a Jobs Fix? Chicken or Egg? – I think we need to fix the housing market to fix the job market. We need to make it easier for people to be mobile again, to make it so they can pick up and travel to the new job if they need to. Now it is difficult because we do not have a mobile workforce who can quickly sell their home and just up and leave for a new job.

3) The Appraisal System Blows. Especially Non-Local Appraisers. – Oh the joys of HVCC and appraisers. I have been ranting about this since last June.

4) What will the FHA 90-Day Flip Rule Suspension Mean? – (and a related one FHA 90-Day Flip Rule Suspended: Lenders Hesitant To Change) – This is interesting to hear, I talked with the two lenders I most often use after reading this and they both said they are now doing loans on homes they did not do so before because of the 90-day rule.

5) It’s not what you say, it is how you say it – Wondering how to best help your client? Ask questions and listen, really listen.

6) How Can We Increase Our Closings From Our Sites? – If I were a betting man (oh wait I am) I would bet the answer for most people is in the 5th answer here.

7) Why You Shouldn’t Be Afraid of Sellers – If you are an investor there is not reason to be scared of sellers… well of course that assumes you are doing nothing illegal or unethical.

8) On the ethics of “strategic default”… – I understand where Scott is coming from, but I wonder if he lived in Arizona where is $600k house was now literally worth $350,000 if he would feel the same. And it is easy to say yes, until you are actually looking at the hard math. If you did a strategic default and sold it could literally save you more than $500k over the next 30 years. That is a lot of college education. I am not saying to stop paying your mortgage, I am just saying it took me a while, but now I understand.

9) How Long Do Short-Sales Take? – This is a great piece to show your buyers if they are looking for a short sale. It is one thing for you to tell them it is going to take months, it is another when they can read it themselves.

10) Effect of foreclosures on Arizona home prices – This is not a top 10 post because of how amazing the information is, this is a top 10 because of what he did with the information. Click the graph, watch the video. Well done John Wake.

1) Cloud CMA and the downfall of crappy real estate software – I have been excited to try this since I first heard the early rave reviews. Problem… if you are not in California you are out of luck.

2) Video: Price Differences Between Foreclosures and Non-Foreclosures – According to this Zillow video it appears even thought foreclosures control the market in many areas there is still a discount for them.

3) Obama’s State of the Union – Housing Gets Three Lines in 70 Minutes – This struck me too. The housing market is not going to recover until it is easy for someone to become more mobile and easily change jobs across the country. With three lines I wonder if either A) they do not understand the problem is as large as it is or B) They really drink their own juice and believe what they are doing is helping. Either way someone needs to talk to his teleprompter and get them it in line.

4) 10 Commercial Real Estate Blogs to Watch in 2010 – I get emails every now and then asking for more commercial real estate news. Here are some sites that could bring more content.

5) Tough Time For Listing Agents – Good subject, what are the duties of a listing agent, to market your house to other agents and people searching or to actually bring bodies through the door.

6) Marketing for Leads on a $100 Monthly Budget – A few inexpensive ways to get more buyers and sellers calling you.

7) What Is A Strategic Default – There has been a lot of talk recently about strategic defaults, here is a good post that explains them a little more.

8) Why Realtors are Like Rocket Scientists – Did you know we are like rocket scientists? I think you can compare real estate to many jobs because I often tell my friends that it is a lot like my former career of political consulting and running campaigns.

9) Loan Modifications Are They Worth It – An Overview In Simple English – Here is a long post that can be summed up with “depends.” But if you are considering a loan mod it is worth a read.

10) What Exactly Is A Short Sale? – We should all know by now, but if you are wondering what exactly a short sale is, here is a good explanation.

1) Two Companies Launching WordPress IDX Plugins into the Wild – Diverse Solutions isn’t the only IDX provider releasing an indexable solution for home searches. HomeQuest is jumping into the game too. @JBern recently gave me a walkthrough of the product and I think many of it’s features such as geotagging are very interesting.

2) Freddie Mac CEO Responds to Barney Frank’s Plan to Abolish Fannie & Freddie – I am surprised there is not more buzz about this subject. I cannot say I am a big Fannie and Freddie fan, but the idea of Barney Frank and the government coming up with a “better system,” no thank.

3) Milk? Eggs? House? Re/Max rolling out real estate offices in Stop & Shop supermarkets – This is an interesting new trend. Locally in the Phoenix area they are putting Walk In real estate offices in Wal-Marts, now RE/MAX offices in supermarkets?

4) Proposed Short Sale Guidelines (HAFA) – Part 3 – I have read all three parts, this is a good summary and I recommend everyone real all three.

5) Degrees Of Separation Between You And Your Competition? – Good short video, what are you doing different from your competition to market?

6) Tax Credit Ticking Away? – It is hard to believe we are talking about the tax credit expiring again already. Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that the excitement over the tax credit with buyers is not what it was 6 months ago.

7) Reviewing The FOMC Statement And What It Means For Mortgage Rates (January 27, 2010) – Feds Fund Rate unchanged, what does it mean to the market.

8) Shadow Inventory or Not? What’s Important Is Getting to Work! – Great post, don’t worry about what is coming or what could have been, just get out there and do something.

9) The Coming ARM Storm – With many of the 5-year ARM’s hitting over the next few years the market is going to be interesting to watch. These houses may delay a full recovery.

10) So Much For Real, Real Estate Recovery: Enormous Drop In Homes Sales – The real estate market took a beating in December. Based on the activity increase I have seen in December I personally think it has more to do with with the holidays and burnout from all the home shoppers in the fall. But time will tell.

1) Loan Modifications With Principal Cuts Attract Lenders Attention – Lenders are starting to look at loan modifications with a principle balance reduction as realistic alternatives, and they need to if they expect them to work. I personally predict that some form of principle reduction with a home equity fractional interest where the buyer needs to repay a portion of the reduction upon sale is most likely coming.

2) Foreclosures: Challenges FHA Buyers Face When Making Offers – It is true that FHA home buyers have a hard time competing with cash and conventional offers, but who can blame the seller? Much less likely a conventional or cash deal will fall through.

3) Conquering Your Fear When The Phone Rings – While this post is done from the point of view of an investor, it is relevant to anyone who is new to a business like real estate.

4) One Simple Strategy You Can Implement Immediately for More Referrals – The advice in this post is so true. When I first put up my site I had so much junk on there like everything about local schools and parks etc. Then my analytics showed me no one was going to those things.

5) 10 Cities For Home Bargains – Is your city among the best for bargains for home shopping? (Good blog material if so).

6) The People Have Spoken!… but are we listening? – People want more from agents, who is going to give it to them?

7) Is Your House Over-Priced? The Rule of Tens – A couple of basic rules for home sellers on figuring out if your house is overpriced.

8) Short Sale “Twists and Tail Spins”: Be Aware ! – I question this practice greatly! The bank is not a party to the real estate transaction and should be a RESPA violation for dictating terms. All they should be allowed to do is approve or deny the final transaction based on the HUD-1 number.

9) Here Come The 1099-Cs Turning YOUR Short Sale Into A Big Headache – Get ready for that 1099-c. I actually did a video with a local law firm on the short sale and 1099 issue yesterday.

10) FHA Cracks Down on Dubious Lenders – I heard about this yesterday while at lunch with a lender, they actually had a friend who got visited. Fun times!

Video 72: Tempe real estate agent Dean Ouellette does in a video less than two minutes long what the President and Congress have been unable to do with billions, if not trillions of dollars and over a year of work, solves the housing crisis. In a easy two step plan, that involves none of your money (it’s not the governments money) we make houses more affordable for those way upside down and put recent homeowners who suffered a foreclosure back on the market. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.

1) Virtual Real Estate Bar Camp – Don’t forget to sign up for Virtual Barcamp today.

2) Senate Bill Could Hurt Small Home Builders – I read about this and ranted about it right after the Senate Health Care Bill passed. Talk about an attack on one industry. My guess is they were not fans of the Democrats in the last election.

3) Short Sales, Are the Risks Worth the Effort? – Good breakdown of how houses end up needing to go to short sales. I greatly disagree with Kristal on the last paragraph though, short sales are getting approved when the agent negotiating them pushes hard enough and has the right tools to work with the banks.

4) Home Value Loss Now but Increased Pricing Expected in 2010 – Remember all real estate is local and your market may be different, but the latest Forbes numbers shows the housing market is pretty close to bottomed and will start recovering in 2010.

5) Short Sales Starting to Become Automated – Bank of America and a few other banks are moving their short sales into REOTrans or Equator as they are now calling it. As someone who was one of the first test subjects I warn real estate agents that you need to stay on top of the file even more as just because it is “automated” does not mean they do not lose paperwork. At times it seems it is just another way for them to say “sorry cannot help, it is in the system.” After 30 days do not accept that as an answer.

6) 2010: The American Real Estate Brokerage – Another year of change in the real estate brokerage world. Is your brokerage ready for the next big thing?

7) How to Find Real Estate Keywords That Will Help You Rank High In Search Engines – Do you know exactly what people are searching for? If you are blogger, you should.

8) Is the New GFE an Improvement? – It is 2010, the new GFE is here. Are you ready?

9) Fix & Flippers Stink! (an opinion piece) – Heather getting a “little” worked up about investors not doing proper disclosure. She has a great point though as the flipped inventory at least in Phoenix is continuing to grow.

10) Real Estate Tweets, Aggregated – If you are not using DeedStreet and the ^ yet, you should be.

This is the last Top 10 post of the year, we will return on January 4th, 2010.

1) Squat – Want to hear a great amazing story of someone totally scamming the system for personal gain? Fast forward to about 5:45

2) Surprise! Fannie & Freddie Get Blank Checks, Executive Bonuses Skyrocket – If there is anyone in America that should not be getting a bonus this year is the leaders of Fannie and Bank of America. Talk about two organizations that have their head completely up somewhere the sun don’t shine. Fannie is losing billions a quarter and they make it completely impossible to do a short sale which causes them billions more, they really need to get a hold of the situation before they deserve a paycheck never mind a bonus.

3) Are You Wearing Your Crash Helmet? Forecasting the Real Estate Market – Housing recovery still 2 years away?

4) Does the Mortgage Modification Program Lower Credit Scores? – How does the HAMP and loan modifications effect your credit score? Shouldn’t the real question be does it matter because who is getting them done successfully?

5) Dual Agency, Double Commission, and a Bad Idea For You. – Dual agency is always a hot topic around real estate agents. Just make sure if you are a buyer or seller that someone has your back.

6) Case-Shiller House Price Graphs for October – The Case-Shiller numbers for October are out, as always when I post these numbers remember, all real estate is local and your market may vary greatly.

7) There’s A Very Good Reason Why The New Home Sales Data Plunged In November 2009 – Did the threat of the home buyer tax credit expiring effect the November new home sales? Dan Green makes a good argument it did.

8) Don’t Take No For An Answer – Short Sale Power Hour 12-29-09 – Seen the new video blog for “Short Sale Power Hour?” They are putting out some very interesting content on a daily basis.

9) The Next Wave of Foreclosures – Another topic that seems to be a daily topic for the last 6-7 months, is a new wave of foreclosures coming? For every run for cover it’s coming, I can show you a contrasting piece. This is one of the rational posts, maybe I think that because we come to the same conclusions.

10) A Rebuttal to the RESPA Reform Poem – The last post on a the new GFE before they become law.

1) Anatomy of a government-abated fraud: Why Indymac/OneWest always forecloses – WOW… As someone who has recently been working on a short sale with Indymac this actually explains a lot!

2) Keys to Short Sale Success – A short but very informative post on the keys to a successful short sale.

3) Project WordPress: Preferred Plugins – You a WordPress blogging Realtor? Then you will want to check this out for some great plugin suggestions. I even learned about a few that I will be trying.

4) New real estate settlement HUD-1 on the way – Good news for home buyers and sellers, starting January 1 the new HUD statement is going to make things much clearer and protect you more.

5) Grey is Every Theory, Green is the Tree of Life – Proof you can never please everyone. Other things to consider with Case-Shiller is the numbers give a good review of the national housing market, but when it comes to buying or selling your house all real estate is local.

6) Do Cute E-Cards Really Work? – If the e-cards are successful and more people turn to them, then will they become less successful as our inboxes get full?

7) Five Ways to Use GeoMeme For Your Real Estate Business – Do you consider yourself a Realtor 2.0 type? Have you got comfortable with the word “Geo” yet? If not you may end up being behind the curve in the web 3.0 world coming next year.

8) Lend America Slapped by FHA, Closes Their Doors – As Justin McHood has been predicting for a while, another independent mortgage originator down the drain.

9) “Productizing” the Realtor mind – As always Brian Boero nails it on the head, accurate automated housing values, if can be made accurate that is, are bad news for Realtors.

10) Some Predict Recovery With News of Rising Pending Home Sales – Pending sales up 9 months in row, can it really continue in 2010?