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Green Homes for Sales with RV Garages in Goodyear and Arizona

admin — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:43:16 +0000

Sedella Pricing and Floorplans – Green Homes for Sale by Meritage Homes are at Luce Signature. Each of these homes have the capacity for RV garages and homesites of .25 acres! Imaging storing your RV in addition to all the benefits that net zero energy efficient living brings! Call Robert Luce at 623-521-6647 today to learn more. Green RV homes for sale now in Goodyear and Verrado!

PRICING

FLOORPLANS

Sedella Desert Lily Floorplan in Goodyear and Verrado

Sedella Cliffrose Floorplan in Goodyear and Verrado

Sedella Desert Sunflower Floorplan in Goodyear and Verrado

Sedella Mariposa Floorplan in Goodyear and Verrado

Sedella Sweet Clover Floorplan in Goodyear and Verrado

Sedella Arizona Poppy Floorplan in Goodyear and Verrado

Phoenix Home Sales Up in March 2011

admin — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 14:41:54 +0000

March home sales in Phoenix area the most in 66 months

Good news on the residential real estate front. The 9,933 Phoenix-area sales transactions that closed in March marks the most sales in 66 months, according to the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service Inc. monthly statistics report. It’s also the fifth highest sales month since 2001.

“Clearly buyers are taking advantage of the phenomenal affordability of Valley housing,” the report states.

The ARMLS Pending Price Index isn’t as sunny, however.

The median price is expected to be $113,000 in April as compared with $110,000 in March, but it’s expected to drop to $103,000 in May and then rise to $109,000 in June. The projections are based on pending sales transactions.

The average sales prices follow a similar pattern. The average sales price in March was $157,800. It’s expected to be $163,000 in April, $150,000 in May and $152,000 in June.

“While the declines in pricing signal good news for buyers who want to take advantage of the lowest pricing of the decade, they are unwelcome news for sellers who endure the ill effects on their equity,” the report states.

West Valley Pros and Verrado Real Estate

admin — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 14:05:32 +0000

Verrado Community Celebrates Founders Day

Residents of Verrado planned community were out in full force for the 6th Annual Founder’s Day celebration on April 1-3, 2011. One of the west valley’s premier communities, the Founders Day celebration highlights participation by the Verrado residential and business community to make the Founders Day event a memorable one. This year, The Romantics played and made it a special occasion for all that attended. West Valley Pros was out in full force to support the local Verrado real estate community that they specialize in while making an impact for sellers and buyers in the surrounding region.

Homes for Sale in Estrella Mountain Ranch

admin — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 14:03:43 +0000

Estrella Offers New Home Buyers a Whole Lot of Green

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Spring is a wonderful time for friends and family to consider making Estrella their next home or their new winter home.

Nestled in the Sierra Estrella Mountains, Estrella offers home buyers ten neighborhoods and seven builders to choose from with prices starting in the $100’s. From March 15 through June 30, Estrella new home buyers have a choice of receiving either a one-year annual golf pass to the Golf Club of Estrella or paying no Home Owners Association fees for one year.* Additionally, special builder move-in packages will also be offered to all home buyers.

Arizona boasts an enviable year-round climate, allowing Estrella to offer resort-style living at its best. Community amenities include the Golf Club of Estrella, a Nicklaus-designed course managed by Troon Golf, Starpointe Residents Club, Estrella Yacht Club, two lakes and over 20 miles of desert trails and parks. Three onsite schools, year-round community events and Mountain Ranch Marketplace featuring Safeway offer everything you need right at home at Estrella.

In 2010 Estrella’s developer, Newland Communities, was recognized as the ‘Developer of the Year’ by prominent real estate publication Builder & Developer, which highlighted Newland’s “impressive, successful portfolio.” Newland has achieved solid business results with five of its communities ranked in the top 15-selling master planned communities.

Estrella’s friendly community with over 3,700 homes, resort-styled amenities, good schools, open space and mountain trails continues to attract families and couples of all ages. Home sales in Estrella for 2011 are already 26% higher than this time last year.

*Currently CantaMia by Avatar is not included in the Spring Promotion.

About Newland Communities and Estrella

Newland Communities actively owns, operates and develops premier residential master-planned, commercial, retail, and urban mixed-use real estate across the U.S. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif.

Estrella provides a lakeside mountain oasis nestled in the Sierra Estrella Mountains, approximately 17 miles from downtown Phoenix on Estrella Parkway in Goodyear, in the Sonoran Desert Valley. Estrella currently offers more than 500 acres of parks and open space including 72 acres of lakes for boating and fishing. Estrella’s sense of seclusion is enhanced by the adjacent 19,840-acre Estrella Mountain Regional Park.

Vistancia Homes for Sale

admin — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:09:22 +0000

Vistancia Car Show 2011

Start:: February 12, 2011 12:00 pm
End:: February 12, 2011 5:00 pm
Cost:: FREE

Venue:: Vistancia Marketplace
Phone:: 623 215 8646
Address: Google Map: 28620 N. El Mirage Rd., Peoria, AZ, United States, 85383

Vistancia is hosting its Third Annual Car show showcasing cars from the 1920’s to the 1990’s on Saturday, February 12, noon to 4:00 p.m. at Vistancia Marketplace in Peoria.

From a 1929 Ford Sedan to a 1998 Ford SVT Cobra, classic, competition and collector cars will highlight the Vistancia Car Show.

Live entertainment will take place on the Car Show Stage and free entertainment for the kids will feature bounce houses, face painters, a balloon sculptor and stilt walker. Vistancia Marketplace businesses will sponsor several prize drawings throughout the day.

The event is free to the public, but visitors are asked to bring donations of canned food for St. Mary’s Food Bank.

For more information call 623.215.8646.

Vistancia Realtor | Vistancia Real Estate | Vistancia Short Sales | Vistancia Foreclosures

Phoenix Real Estate

admin — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:59:25 +0000

Phoenix-area real-estate market may face new reality

More renters, foreclosures, blight to mark next phase

115 comments by J. Craig Anderson – Jan. 30, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

As the Phoenix-area housing market’s shift from boom to bust approaches its fifth anniversary, a number of real-estate analysts have replaced optimistic terms such as “recovery” with sobering talk of a new market reality.

The landscape of tomorrow’s housing market, as depicted in recent research papers and forecast meetings, is only a rough sketch, but three notable features have taken shape.

Foremost among them is a much higher ratio of renters to homeowners than the Phoenix area has seen in recent decades.

Another long-term problem, they said, is the large number of struggling borrowers trapped in high-end homes for which there are virtually no eligible buyers.

Perhaps the most troubling long-term prediction is that certain pockets of less-desirable residential development simply will not recover.

Trouble by the numbers

Home sales and prices began to stall in mid-2006, but the collapse of the metro Phoenix market gained momentum in the latter half of 2007, when a disturbing trend emerged among recent homebuyers.

There was a sudden jump in mortgage-loan defaults, which came as no surprise to those aware that constant home-value appreciation had been essential to the viability of certain loans being approved for first-time buyers.

Popular mortgages issued during the housing boom were adjustable-rate loans structured to start off with lower monthly payments that would increase over time.

Loans were approved based on borrowers’ ability to make the lower, initial payments. It was assumed that by the time those payments increased, the home would have appreciated enough to allow the borrower to either sell or refinance.

But when home values stopped going up, that exit strategy evaporated.

Sales began to slow, then stall.

When the number of pre-foreclosure notices issued to single-family homeowners in Maricopa County nearly doubled to 16,911 notices during the last six months of 2007 from 9,319 notices during the first six months of the year, the problem loan products were yanked from the market, but the damage was done. Home foreclosures skyrocketed to record levels.

Home values plummeted, leaving about half of all mortgage-holders owing more than their homes’ market value. Many now find themselves thousands of dollars underwater.

Big questions remain about how much of the fallout is yet to come and what Phoenix-area neighborhoods are going to look like when the economy stabilizes.

Analysts say they do know this much: The housing market will not simply go back to the way it was before the boom.

Renter’s mecca

One fundamental change, according to housing-market analyst Mike Orr, is that more metro Phoenix homes will be occupied by renters than ever before. Foreclosure properties are being bought overwhelmingly by investors; other potential buyers simply haven’t materialized.

Orr said the ratio is changing rapidly, especially at the lower end of the market.

“There is a big swing from ownership to rental,” Orr said.

The overwhelming majority of homes priced at or below $100,000 are being purchased by investors, he said, and nearly every investor has adopted a strategy that includes renting out the homes for a period of years.

“If it wasn’t for the investors, this market would be dead,” said the Mesa-based Orr, who publishes the Cromford Report, a housing-market update read by many real-estate investors. “There’s very weak demand from ordinary people.”

What’s not yet known, according to Orr, is how large a segment of the population will remain renters in the years to come. Still, he said the shift from a buyer-dominated housing market to one dominated by renters will continue, at least for the foreseeable future.

Long way down

Homes at the high end of the market, those above the Federal Housing Administration’s $346,250 loan-guarantee limit for a single-family residence, are proving difficult to sell.

That is expected to be a long-term problem, as well.

As a result, Orr said, many high-end housing submarkets are in the midst of a long, slow slide.

Financially stressed borrowers in luxury homes face a much more difficult challenge than their counterparts with homes priced under the FHA limit, according to Arizona State University professor Jay Butler.

Investors generally aren’t interested in high-end homes, Butler said, in large part because they understand how shallow the buyer pool is for homes above the FHA limit.

While banks do still offer higher-value “conventional” loans, which do not come with a federal guarantee of repayment to the lender if the borrower defaults, such loans are expensive, difficult to obtain and require a much higher down payment, usually about 20 percent as opposed to 3.5 percent for FHA-backed loans.

Without a willing buyer, struggling high-end homeowners cannot short-sell the home. Short-selling, in which the home is sold for less than the loan’s outstanding balance, has become a popular way for homeowners to escape suffocating mortgage debt without suffering too much credit damage.

Meanwhile, Butler said, it appears that many high-end homeowners are running out of time, siphoning off critical savings and retirement funds to stay current on their mortgages.

“We might see more people give up in the coming year,” he said. “I don’t see it getting any better (this) year.”

Long-term downturn

Local analysts are predicting another long-term problem at the neighborhood level. Metro Phoenix residents most likely will have to live with pockets of persistent blight in areas where ill-fated residential subdivisions will not recover, some analysts said.

One of the areas facing the greatest risk of a long-term slump is west-central Phoenix, where in some areas home values have plummeted almost down to nothing.

Orr said no area has been dealt as hard a blow as Maryvale.

“It’s almost unbelievable what actually has happened,” he said.

Orr said it’s difficult to envision how a recovery would occur in ZIP codes such as 85009, where the median home price has dropped more than 80 percent from the market’s peak.

“That means (homes) could double in price, twice, and still not be worth half as much as they used to be,” Orr said.

According to The Arizona Republic’s most recent Valley Home Values report, the median home-sale price in ZIP code 85009 fell to $30,000 in 2010 from $160,000 in 2007, a decline of about 81 percent.

Other areas at risk of non-recovery include some of the more remote subdivisions in northern Pinal County and the southwest Valley, analysts said.

The new market reality is still being shaped: After a few months of uptick, Arizona State University has reported five straight months of home-price declines.

It could be years before the Phoenix-area housing market of the future comes into full view.

Reach the reporter at craig.anderson@arizonarepublic.com.

Verrado Realty

admin — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 16:01:35 +0000

Verrado Realty – Foreclosure Mess Easing

Metro Phoenix’s foreclosure activity likely peaked in 2010.

The 2010 tally for pre-foreclosures, or notice of trustee sales, in the region is 79,637. That’s an 18 percent drop from 2009, when a record 97,141 were filed, according to Information Market, a real-estate analysis firm.

Foreclosures, known as trustee sales in Arizona, did tick up slightly in metro Phoenix to 49,808 from 47,992 in 2009. Last year’s foreclosure number is artificially low because of Bank of America’s two-month moratorium during October and November.

But the drop in pre-foreclosures is a positive sign for metro Phoenix’s housing market. Pre-foreclosures have been dropping steadily since July. December’s count of 5,475 is the lowest level for notice of trustee sales in the region since March 2008.

Lenders typically file a notice to foreclose after a homeowner is at least three months behind on payments.

The span between the trustee-sale notice being filed and the trustee-sale foreclosure has lengthened to several months because of loan modifications and lender issues.

Housing experts believe foreclosures will climb during the next few months as BofA works through its moratorium backlog.

But that shouldn’t impact pre-foreclosures and could inflate foreclosures for only a few months.

To declare 2010 the peak for foreclosures, notice of trustee sales need to keep falling during the next few months, and then foreclosures must follow with similar declines this summer.

Chase agreement

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office and Chase Home Finance have worked out an agreement that will help homeowners.

Chase has agreed to adopt a “borrower’s bill of rights” and pay $600,000 toward the state prosecutor’s efforts in helping homeowners in foreclosure.

The deal, reached late last week, calls for Chase to provide clear information on how to obtain a modification and avoid foreclosure; make decisions on borrowers’ modification requests within 30 days; stop home foreclosures during active loan-modification negotiations; and appoint one contact for each borrower seeking modification.

Former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard had been negotiating with BofA to commit to the borrower bill of rights, among other things, before suing the lender for mortgage fraud last month.

Reach the reporter at catherine.reagor@arizonarepublic.com.

Phoenix Housing Market News

admin — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 04:18:34 +0000

Banner Health Announces New Health Care in Verrado

admin — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 23:11:04 +0000

Banner Health announced Tuesday that it will build an 8,000-square-foot primary care health center in Verrado, just off Interstate 10 on the west side of Verrado Way, in Phoenix’s far west suburbs.

An architect and general contractor have yet to be selected for the center, which will occupy a 60-acre site. The health center is projected to open during the second quarter of 2012.

“We’ll open the health center with up to four primary care providers and, as the population increases, the number of providers and services will grow as well,” said Jim Brannon, CEO of the Banner Medical Group.

Drastic Home-Value Declines Slowing in West Valley

admin — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 23:08:39 +0000

Peoria Homes for Sale Value Holds Steady

A few areas even had a slight increase in values compared with 2009, according to an Arizona Republic analysis of data from the Information Market.

Sun City West and El Mirage – along with the southwest cities of Goodyear and Tolleson – saw slight upticks in overall median home values, the first time any ZIP codes in Maricopa County have had a year to year increase since 2007.

“There is a sort of strip of the northwest that is in reasonable shape,” said analyst Mike Orr, who publishes the “Cromford Report,” a housing-market update. “If we look at Peoria, in the 85381 and 85382 ZIP codes, and at Sun City West and Surprise in the 85387 ZIP code – those are the areas which have had the least amount of impact from foreclosures. They stand out from the rest of the area. El Mirage stands out and so does south Glendale.”

‘Declining, tough’ market

Real-estate agents generally are not predicting that the market has reached bottom, but the kind of drastic declines that cut property values in some Glendale neighborhoods by 50 percent or more in past years have slowed.

“I think we’ve got a ways to go,” said Linda Booker, who has been a real-estate agent in Glendale for more than 20 years. “We’re in a declining market. The reality is it’s a tough market.”

Tightening loan restrictions and appraisals that low ball values because of nearby foreclosures and short sales continue to drive down values, analysts said.

Data show that areas on the lower end of the economic scale went through foreclosures early and now are seeing a slight upswing. The median home value in Phoenix, for example, is up by more than 21 percent over last year.

In south Glendale, the 85301 ZIP code had a 10.8 percent increase in median value compared with 2009. Farther north, in the 85310 ZIP code, homeowners saw a drop of more than 8 percent in median value.

High-end homes in for a hit

Agents across the West Valley are seeing a wave of problems starting to hit the higher-end neighborhoods.

Booker said she has seen homes on custom lots in Arrowhead and Lake Pleasant that originally sold for $1.2 million going for $700,000.

“There are lots of people suffering out there,” Booker said.

Only three of the Northwest Valley’s 26 ZIP codes listed median home prices greater than $200,000 in 2010 and the majority of ZIP codes saw decreases in overall median values.

Peoria claimed the highest overall median value in the Northwest Valley at $239,000 in the 85383 ZIP code.

But the higher-end homes are the ones that may come in for a hit later since the higher-income homeowners were able to hold on longer, agents said.

Shadow inventory, or those homes owned by people who are in trouble but not yet facing foreclosure or short-sale, is more of an issue in north Peoria and the higher-end homes of the Northwest Valley.

Sun City West saw a slight rise in median value – by 0.6 percent – but buyers tend to be from the Midwest and Canada, which has not gone through a housing bust.

Homes in the older Sun City saw median home values drop by 9.4 percent compared with 2009.

Investors flood the market

Investors apparently are not waiting for the market to bottom out. In contrast to the boom years, when investors bought and flipped homes quickly, buyers today are going into the rental business.

Analysts said that they can make an 8 to 10 percent profit by buying low-priced homes and renting them to people who have lost their own properties.

“Quite frankly, if you’re an investor and you have means to buy a property, the West Valley is on sale,” said Eric Sanchez, a Surprise agent with Keller Williams. “You can make money right off the bat, especially if you don’t mind tenants with credit issues from foreclosures or short sale.”

Surprise is holding steady

Surprise overall had a drop of 5.2 percent in median value compared with 2009, but the inventory of homes on the market is dropping.

Sanchez is taking that as a good sign that the bottom might be near.

“I personally think we’re pretty close,” he said. “Two years ago, it was dropping super, super fast. I’m not going to say we’re at the bottom, but personally, I’m investing in the market. I don’t think we can go much farther down in the Surprise area.”

In Surprise’s 85374 ZIP code, for instance, home values slid by nearly 30 percent in 2009. In 2010, the slide halted at 1.4 percent.

And homes are still going up in the prestigious Marley Park development, where builders market the “green” amenities that help new homes compete with the low-cost foreclosures. Buyers even have the option of a garage already wired for a plug-in electric car.

“The real value proposition is about the cost savings,” said Tracy Simmons, Marley Park’s marketing director. “Even though you can get a resale home at a great price, the utility bills won’t be up to the standards of today.”