SONORAN DESERT LIFESTYLES2013 Fall/Winter Collection

Type to enter text

Finest Estates for those with Distinctive Tastes

Type to enter text

Distinctive Collection

The Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Sonoran Desert Lifestyles Distinctive Collection is our luxury real estate program. Catering to the most exclusive and high-end properties, Distinctive Collection represents only residential properties that are in the top 10% of the market. Each associate selected to represent this program must meet stringent requirements and have a proven record of strong negotiating skills with properties of this caliber.

Our Agents are provided with a full suite of sophisticated marketing and sales materials to provide both their buyers and sellers with the esteemed level of service that they expect and demand.

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Sonoran Desert Lifestyles is a proud independent real estate company servicing the greater Phoenix/Scottsdale/Carefree and Cave Creek areas. Thanks to a strong focus on technological innovation and impeccable customer service, our organization has become one of the premier real estate companies in The Valley of the Sun.

With an emphasis on service, negotiation, technology, tools, and the expertise of our associates, we offer our clients everything they need throughout the buying and selling experience.

Type to enter text

Serenity RidgeMLS # 4992046$1,275,000

• Bed: 4• Bath: 4.5• Pool: Yes• Spa: Yes• Sq. Ft.: 4530

• Acres: 1+• Sale Type: Traditional• Tax/Yr: $3648/2012• Gated: No• Bridge: Yes

• Location: North Scottsdale• Fireplace: 4• Garage: 3+• Views: Mountain, Desert

Type to enter text

7Type to enter text

This home has never been on market before, you can be the first to view and purchase this one of a kind North Scottsdale Property. Serenity Ridge's Bridge to somewhere is absolutely stunning, spanning nearly 50 feet to the beautiful, private Pool and Spa. The ability to sit at your pool and not have a soul around you, provides a rare piece of privacy in today's face paced life. Experience the 4 Bedrooms and 4 1/2 Bathrooms with so much space for you, your family and friends you will feel as though you are staying at a world class resort.

Type to enter text

Boulder VistasMLS # 4982067$1,099,000

• Bed: 4• Bath: 3.5• Pool: Yes• Spa: Yes• Sq. Ft.: 4738

• Acres: 1+• Sale Type: Traditional• Tax/Yr: $3023/2012• Gated: Yes• Bridge: No

• Location: North Scottsdale• Fireplace: 2• Garage: 4• Views: Mountain, Desert

Type to enter text

Type to enter text

Type to enter text

You have to see this beautiful 4,700+ sq ft home sitting on a Boulder studded 1+ acre lot with sweeping mountain views. Home features 4 bedrooms, plus office/Den with built-ins, and 3.5 bathrooms. The MasterSuite is huge with sitting room & sliders to patio. The Kitchen/Great room is one of the largest you will find. Kitchen has SS appliances, granite counters, copper backsplash, and two very large islands. Home also features new carpet, over-sized wet bar, fireplace in great room, and large windows affording lots of natural light. There is also a 4 car garage with lots of cabinets and storage. The back yard is amazing with sweeping mountain views, negative edge pebble tec pool, Spa with spillover to stream, gas beehive fireplace and lots of decking and seating areas.

Type to enter text

Winter’s SunMLS # 4992057$899,000

• Bed: 4• Bath: 4.5• Pool: Yes• Spa: Yes• Sq. Ft.: 4525

• Acres: 1+• Sale Type: Traditional• Tax/Yr: $2970/2012• Gated: Yes• Bridge: No

• Location: North Scottsdale• Fireplace: 2• Garage: 3• Views: Mountain, Desert

Type to enter text

Type to enter text

Type to enter text

This Stunning Cadiz Model by Toll Brothers is the most highly sought after model in all of Cresta Norte. And this particular one will not disappoint you. with more than 4400+ Sq. Ft. of gorgeous Sonoran Desert Living you will feel one with nature in this beautiful home. This home has so many options, could be a 5 Bedroom 4.5 Bath home, or a 4 Bedroom/4.5 Bath with full private Casita, or perhaps a 3 Bedroom/Den/Office/Exercise/4.5 Bath + Private Casita. No matter how you write about it, it is one of the most flexible homes on the market in North Scottsdale.

Type to enter text

Ivyglen ManorMLS # 4975606$749,000

• Bed: 5• Bath: 4.5• Pool: Yes• Spa: No• Sq. Ft.: 5059

• Acres: .5+• Sale Type: Traditional• Tax/Yr: $3185/2012• Gated: Yes• Bridge: No

• Location: Mesa• Fireplace: 1• Garage: 3+• Views: Mountain, Desert

Type to enter text

Type to enter text

Type to enter text

A custom home that has been remodeled and re-imagined for today's growing family. This home is a one of a kind jewel in Mesa. completely remodeled, and better than new. Located in the highly sought after gated community of The Estates at Annecy. Elegant formal living & dining areas, a grand entry with real hardwood cherry flooring, sweeping staircase with beautiful custom designed new wrought iron banisters. Gorgeous 2-way cantera stone fireplace enjoyable from the family room & a gourmet kitchen loaded with extras such as new stainless steel appliances, new built-in french door refrigerator, built-in wine cooler, convection microwave.

Type to enter text

Type to enter text

Quick, pretend to be a buyer, jump on the internet and begin a home search. Which website did you visit and what did you type in as your search parameters? Did the website contain fill in the blank boxes or did it feature a drop down box to choose a price range?

Either way, I bet your results were zero. Do you know why?

Homes priced for offline marketing do not translate properly to online search. Let me explain. I remember attending a real estate seminar several years ago where the instructor insisted on teaching agents (us) to price a home to catch the buyer’s eye.

If the buyer was looking at a printed list or a brochure, they would notice one house over another because of the way the numbers looked. For instance, instead of using the price $230,000, you would use $229,572 in order to draw attention. Many of us believed this was the key to getting our listing shown over others.

Now, with the popularity of online search, it is time to question whether this theory rings true anymore. How do you search? More importantly, how do buyers search? Simply put, they search in round numbers.

Today, a buyer could search from $200,000-$230,000 or from $230,000 to $250,000 (especially if it’s a pre-populated drop-down list).

Notice any similarities in the above example? $230,000 appears twice.Online Marketing isn’t new and it isn’t all about photos. As a listing agent, it’s important to regularly reinforce our value by doing everything we can to properly price a home for both offline and online marketing to ensure we get the most buyers’ eyes on the listing. In some instances, this could mean moving the price to a rounder number in order to double the views.

Why Your Online Listing Price is Wrong, and how to Fix It!by: Joanna Williams, reprinted from Clean Slate Blog

Type to enter text

The opinions reflected in this blog entry are those only of Gerri Willis and do not reflect the opinions of Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate.You may recognize Gerri Willis from Fox Business Network (FBN) as the host of “The Willis Report,” a primetime program that covers the leading financial and political stories of the day and their impact on consumers.Prior to joining FBN, Gerri served as the personal finance editor for CNN Business News and hosted the weekly half-hour program entitled “Your Bottom Line,” which focused on ways to save Americans money and the economy’s effects on personal finance.

5 Ways the Housing Market has Changed Since the Financial Crisis1. How has the housing market changed since the Financial Crisis in 2008? [FBN][Gerri] The housing market is changing – and for the better. Foreclosures have tanked, prices are up and, in some markets there are even bidding wars taking place. These days, the debate on business news channels like Fox Business is whether a new real estate bubble is forming, not whether the market is still going down.Low interest rates and low prices have encouraged buyers to line up. To be sure, a significant number of these buyers are investors and the market has yet to attract the usual proportion of first-time home buyers, but that may well be the next stage of this evolving market.

2. As we look back to the past five years, what have we learned from the financial collapse? [FBN][Gerri] That’s a big question. There were lessons from the collapse and lessons from the reaction to the collapse. The fall of Lehman Brothers Sept. 15, 2008, was a long time in coming but its roots can be traced to the easy money and profits from the housing bubble that seduced an entire country.Home buyers overloaded on mortgage debt in a market where anyone who could fog a mirror was granted entry. The nation’s largest investment banks and mortgage operators couldn’t believe their good luck in the collateralized mortgage market and sunk ever more money into ever more risky bets.In the end, greed on all sides dealt the fatal blow. But over the past five years, we’ve been driven by a different emotion – fear. People who might have been homebuyers were fearful to get in a marketplace where prices had cratered. If no one had confidence, why should they? Banks have been gun-shy too, mostly afraid of what regulator might Bigfoot them next.

That fear caused individual investors to miss out on the biggest opportunities in the stock and housing markets in 20 years. The lessons are not to listen to the herd, do your own research, and, for goodness sakes, don’t let emotions make your most important investing decisions.

3. What is the outlook on the housing market in the next five years to come? [FBN][Gerri] Five years is a long time to forecast, but I believe the market forces shaping up will be far different than the ones that shaped the financial crisis that started five years ago. The long period of super low interest rates is coming to an end. Rates have already moved 120 basis points higher in the past six months. Growth in the U.S. market has moderated. These days two percent to three percent GDP growth is considered by many to be expansive. Federal debt and higher taxes will continue to cap economic output.The good news is that demand for housing is building. Household formation is expanding. All of that is good news for the housing market. We can only hope that the cycle won’t contain the super highs and super lows of the last one. I don’t believe it will.Many years ago when the pain of the market crash was the deepest, a friend of mine told me that housing would never be a popular investment ever again because of the pain homeowners were feeling. I told him then and I still believe it now that the desire for homeownership is something many Americans feel and feel deeply – it is rooted in our communities and in our vision of us.

By Rebekah Radice, reprinted from Clean Slate Blog

Type to enter text

Patrick JonesDesignated Broker/Owner

www.sonorandesertlifestyles.com 480.682.3700 - Carefree, Arizona

For more information on these and other properties:

www.hiphomeseller.comwww.sonorandesertlifestyles.com

Scott W. Lehmann ~ Owner/ Realtorscott@sonorandesertlifestyles.com

480-437-1319

Patrick Jones ~ Owner/Realtor/Designated Brokerpatrick@sonorandesertlifestyles.com

480-251-2215