Chris Hallows

Dramatic irony – it’s one of my favorite terms to use to describe what I see regularly in the Flagstaff real state market. You know that moment in theater or movie when most people can see the cliff that the protagonist is heading for, but they don’t? Dramatic irony can be entertaining, it can be comedic but, it the real estate world, I’ve seen it be borderline tragic. When the average person may do five to eight real estate transactions in their life, we’ve helped thousands of buyers in the … [Read more...] about Buying a Home this Summer? You’re Likely Doing It Wrong

“May you live in interesting times” is a common ironic saying that seems to fit quite nicely for where we’ve been and where we could be headed in Northern Arizona real estate. Whipsawing from 70-year low rates and bidding wars to 30-year low housing sales has certainly been interesting. But the next big question is: “Where do we go from here?” Online searches will give you exactly what you expect when it comes to housing market predictions – clickbait-filled fear mongering and people trying to … [Read more...] about Interest Rates and Housing Forecasts

My father-in-law has a simple but somewhat discomforting statement he shares that “everyone wants to take your money; no one wants to give you any.” While it’s a bit pessimistic, it does ring true that self-advocacy while navigating your financial wellness is critical. In more layman’s terms, you need to look out for yourself and watch that bank account! This is especially true for homeowners. You may think that you just set it and forget it, but you could be losing not only hundreds but … [Read more...] about Silent Budget Killers for Homeowners

The state of the 2025 Housing Union has been a complex one. According to Redfin, only 28 homes out of 1,000 nationally changed hands. This is one of the slowest housing market shifts in 30 years. With record high home prices, many buyers remain sidelined. While sellers may then outweigh buyers in some markets, they aren’t as motivated given that 70% of mortgages remain below 5% and current rates remain at a 10 year high in the low 6% range as of the time of this article writing in late November. … [Read more...] about Exploring 50-Year, Assumable and Portable Mortgages

If you are reading this, my guess is you are either someone who bought a home in the last few years with these elevated rates OR you’re someone who has owned a home for some time and have additional financial goals you are looking to accomplish with your equity. Either way, the good news is that August bought a lot of very good data and sentiment with it and the outlook for mortgage rates in the next six to 12 months is very positive. Yes, I know, it seems like the boy who cried wolf, as many … [Read more...] about Defining the Perfect Refinance

This column offers some speculation on the market cycle, but the bottom line that I want to start with is that no one truly knows exactly where real estate is going to be next week, next month, next year, etc. Real Estate is Not a Day Trade We can look at historical trends and can draw some broad likelihoods, but they are not and cannot be pinpoint accurate. Why? Because there are too many variables. We have local market supply and demand dynamics – city, state, national, international … [Read more...] about Three Things Every Buyer and Seller Should Know Right Now

Let’s be honest – if you had to form an opinion RIGHT NOW on the housing market, you’d probably pull from the anecdotal evidence of your own or close contacts’ recent experience and from any brief cover stories from mainstream national media. Those are certainly data points to be considered but can be far from painting a full picture. Broad stroke statements and alarmist conclusions make much better headlines and clickbait when the reality is there is a lot of nuance in our current market. We … [Read more...] about Reality in Realty: Numbers Don’t Lie