Kristin LaVanway and I teamed up for our third episode of Talking Phoenix Real Estate. We are playing with the format and would love to hear your feedback. Today we take a look at four common questions we get from people looking for foreclosures. Those questions included:

• Where do you find foreclosures?
• Do I need to sign that addendum?
• Do I need to offer the asking price?
• What is highest and best offer?

We are always looking for ideas for future shows so please leave us a comment if you have any topics you would like discussed. Thanks to Sasha Lopez for keeping us on track with the time.

Video 88: If I am looking at Tempe homes for sale will I get a better deal with a Tempe short sale or a Tempe foreclosure? First question you need to ask is when do you need to be in a house by? If the answer is less than 4 months, I would suggest skipping the short sale and focus on the foreclosure. If you have no time frame then a Tempe short sale may be a better buy than a Tempe foreclosure.

The reason a short sale can be had at less is because of carrying costs by the bank on a foreclosure. If they sell it at market value as a foreclosure, they may only be netting 70% of the market value when all is said and done. So if you purchased it at 90% of market value the bank would be making out better and you may get a better deal. Of course every situation is unique. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.

Video 15: I have been asked to show what different types of Tempe condos and townhouses can be purchased at different price ranges. So today we take a look at a $25,500 Tempe unit on Silk Oak Drive that you can see the listing here. This unit is about a mile from the Phoenix light rail and could make a good investment property. If you want any more information on this or other Tempe and Phoenix condos email me Dean Ouellette.

Video 12: Talking to an owner at the Northshore condominiums in Tempe by Tempe Town Lake a discussion arose on purchasing Tempe condos for investments. When purchasing foreclosures there are some strategies to getting the deal structured to put you in a good position. But with foreclosure buying strategies there are some dangers involved. Make sure you are working with a Realtor who has closed a lot these foreclosures this year. If you want to talk about buying a Tempe foreclosure condo or any foreclosure unit please e-mail Dean Ouellette. You can see a list of Northshore condo units for sale here.

The short sale market in the Phoenix area is changing quickly because of the low level of bank owned foreclosures on the market. It used to be when I met with a new buyer and we were talking about what they wanted I would explain to them the short sale process vs. the foreclosure process and they would almost always tell me to forget short sales. But times are changing.

Just a couple months ago there were so many foreclosures on the market in the Phoenix and Tempe area you would not need to look at the short sales, but that is no longer the case. Last week I started working with a new couple who contacted my via this site and they we talked about what they wanted. They wanted to stay in Tempe and were looking at either single family homes or possible Tempe condos.

If you look at the market today, there are 373 active single family detached homes in Tempe as I type this and 105 active Tempe condos. Of those single family homes that are active, only 23 are foreclosures and of the 105 Tempe condos only 5 are bank owned foreclosures.

No longer can the buyer looking in a limited area focus solely on bank owned foreclosures, they need to consider short sales, unless they need to be in a home within the next couple of months.

So what has this done to the short sale market in Tempe? If I called on a foreclosure property a couple of months ago there may have been a few offers on the property, but when I called on the short sale homes there were rarely offers. I just finished calling on three short sales properties in Tempe which had all been on the market for less than three weeks. The three properties had 2, 7 and 13 offers on them.

This is good news for the person who needs to sell their home via a short-sale, but not good news for buyers. If you are looking to sell your home or condo on a short-sale, and you price it right, there is little reason you should not have offers in the first few days. Of course that all depends on the price and condition of your home too.

So for buyers short sales have become a viable option. After bidding on multiple homes for the past six weeks they may have become frustrated about always being outbid and are thinking of the short sale side of the market. There is still less competition on the short sale side than the foreclosure side, but that gap is starting to close.