HousingPANIC: There Goes the Neighborhood

Welcome to real estate hell - Phoenix Arizona has 20,000 empty homes for sale, with failed flippers unable to find renters now desperate to dump


But what about the 21 reasons to bank on the Phoenix Ponzi Scheme?

What about the year round golf and sports stars?

This story should remind everyone reading why you should NEVER listen to a realtor on commission. Especially the stupid ones.

Note in this article is by the Arizona Republic's "Rolodex-of-Realtors" Catherine Reagor (remember her and her incompetent bubble reporting?). And yes, she quotes a couple of ramen-eating-realtors desperately trying to spin. But now it's all just so laughable.

Of Valley homes for sale, a third sit empty - 20,000 vacant homes pushing prices lower

Vacant homes are a big reason why Valley home prices are falling.

At least one out of every three homes for sale across metropolitan Phoenix is empty, and owners are motivated to cut prices to sell.

Many empty houses are owned by investors who can't find renters and need to sell. Others are owned by people who moved to other houses in the Valley or elsewhere and can't afford two mortgages. Some empty homes for sale are new houses that home builders are offering deals on. And a growing number of vacant houses are owned by lenders that foreclosed on the properties and want to cut their losses by selling them quickly and often cheaply.

"There's a whole collection of must-sell sellers in the Valley's housing market now," said Jim Sexton, president of the Phoenix real-estate firm John Hall & Associates. "It's a great time to buy, but sellers have a lot of competition now."