Welcome to the first episode of “The Phoenix and Scottsdale Real Estate Show!”It is our mission to keep you informed so that you can make smart decisions when buying or selling real estate and keep you connected with the community. We started this show to really connect buyers, sellers, and investors out there in the Phoenix area. We’ll provide localized content about what’s happening here in our area.When you hear national news about the national real estate market, it’s not at all applicable to our city, our ZIP codes, or your community or subdivision. That is what we’re here to do. If you have any questions about your specific area, go to our Facebook or Instagram and post your question. We’ll answer you in the next episode.That brings us to today’s episode.When you’re out looking at homes, it’s easy to fall in love with a property. Emotions run high, and it’s easy to get emotionally attached and overlook other important things as a homebuyer.As a buyer, there are three important things that you need to check before you move forward on a property:1. Crime rates. Crime rates are often overlooked, even though it’s public information. Again, when you fall in love with the house, you don’t want to see any flaws, so you ignore crime rates or don’t bother checking them. It’s important to check crime rates, though. I recommend sites like AreaVibes or NeighborhoodScout. These are both good sites that you can use to get data for the area you are looking in.“School districts will impact the resale value of your home.”2. School districts. Even if you don’t have kids, school districts are very important because of resale value. Chances are that part of your future buyer people will have new families and young kids, so they will really pay attention to school districts. For us personally, having three small kids ages six, four, and three, schools were very important when my wife and I purchased our home. To see how schools in the area are ranked, check out GreatSchools.org.3. Resale values. It’s important that you have a good agent who can really articulate property values. They can help you determine what the home sold for and how long the previous owners have been in the house. If you are looking for a place with more stability, look at the neighbors and see how long they have been in their houses. This is a very important thing to do. If you move into an area with a high turnover rate (north of 15% or 20%), that may not be the best for real estate value. Again, a good agent can articulate the value of the property you’re purchasing and the value of homes in the area.One of the benefits of working with us is that we have proprietary software called Market Snapshot that you can sign up for. If you are looking to purchase a home (and even after you purchase), we will send you a monthly email that shows you what’s going on with prices for homes in your area. That way, you can keep tabs on what’s going on and keep track of the market value of your property.I hope you found this information helpful. We helped 174 families meet their real estate goals last year, and we are hoping to help over 200 families this year. We want to be a resource for our past and prospective clients, so we look forward to seeing you in episode two. Follow #Phoenix&ScottsdaleRealEstateShow for updates.In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions. We would be happy to help you!