The article, January Valley home sales plunge from a year ago, from the East Valley Tribune, reports that a total of 1,848 new home closings occurred in January, down 51 percent from a year ago, according to the latest Phoenix Housing Market Letter from RL Brown. The lack of consumer confidence is perhaps the largest issue at this point, said Brown. "I think consumers are concerned about the direction of the economy," he said. They're confused about what to expect relative to their own security and employment." Money is available to borrowers with good credit, but they aren't biting, Brown said. Building permits for new homes also fell by 52 percent last month to 1,370, the lowest January total for permits in more than a decade. The median price of a new home fell to $231,771 in January, compared with $274,995 a year ago.

It will be interesting to see the February numbers. Based on sales or lack thereof as stated by many of the Realtors in our town of Fountain Hills, we are not predicting a strong finish. Although there seems to be more "lookers". However, the hesitation to go forward with a purchase is most prevalent. And for those "would be" purchasers that do decide to take the plunge do so with low ball offers often going nowhere. I will say that we are seeing more of those million dollar plus homes go under contract. The conclusion being that a percentage of buyers in the upper price range are clearly not affected by the current economic climate.

Well here I am (TJ Harris) looking out my front window of our Real Estate office, Assist2Sell, Buyers & Sellers 1^st Choice on a very sunny day at all the cars coming and going today to participate in what is a semi annual event in Fountain Hills, AZ, that being "The Great Fair". This fair goes on for three days, a Friday, Saturday and Sunday and I must say each year it continues to grow with visitors from the greater Phoenix area and folks that will drive from the neighboring states of California, Nevada, New Mexico and possibly further away. Having attended this show for the past five years myself, I can vouch for the quality of the arts and crafts that are represented at this fair. Some years back I owned and operated a high end arts and crafts gallery in Chicago as well as Sedona, AZ so I feel I have some expertise in this area. As with many of these type of fairs across the country many of the artists that do attend are represented year after year and have a steady clientele that return year after year to see "the latest and the greatest" creative innovations that they are bringing to the juried fair this year. You always hope for good weather especially for the artists, as this is how many of them make a living and the time, effort and expense that they put forth to succesfully market their crafts is often dependent on the weather. Then there are the new artists that are doing the fair for the first time and don't know what to expect, only that they have waited for a long time to be granted a booth and have heard through the artist grapevine that "The Great Fair" is really great! I am working today, with all these visitors, you never know who may want to stop in the office to check out the Fountain Hills real estate market. I do have plans to go with some out of town guests on Sunday and am hoping that the weather is as beautiful tomorrow as it is today. Tomorrow is especially a good day to go, since the events start out at our beautiful Fountain Park around 7:30 AM where you will get to see (provided mother nature cooperates) some fifty air balloons lift off and strut their glorious palettes across our beautiful blue skies. It is as they say "a sight to behold". The fair opens at 8:00 am on Sunday and goes to 5:00 pm. We will spend a few hours there stopping at most of the booths to visit with the artists, wonder how they came up with an idea and executed it in such a skillful manner, all the while wishing I had just a smitten of their creative talent. Oh and of course there are all the food venues that I will stop and think "I better not", but then do. I just have a really hard time passing up the fry bread with the powdered sugar and honey, or bringing home a package of the homeade rasberry ruggalah. Oh well tomorrow morning I'll be doing my three miles on the treadmill.