Hot News - Jerry Wamsley - Arizona Best Real Estate

September 11, 2007

SEV housing market shows signs of improvement
Betty Beard
Arizona Republic

If you look closely enough, you can find hints of hope in the Southeast Valley's market for new homes. A little green is showing in the parched desert.

Chandler, Mesa and the city of Maricopa had more single-family permits taken out for the first half of this year than they did during the same period in 2006. Prices for new homes have dropped into the $130,000s in Maricopa, which will likely entice more buyers. And although Gilbert's permit numbers are down, it remains one of the busiest places in the Valley for housing construction.

June 3, 2007

Housing prices are flat, but that's definitely a plus
Catherine Reagor
Arizona Republic

California, Nevada, Florida and Arizona led the nation for housing-price jumps a few years ago. Now, home prices are down in all of the states except Arizona.

Figures released late last week show during the first quarter of this year housing appreciation fell 0.84 percent in California, 0.34 percent in Florida and 0.52 percent in Nevada.

Arizona housing appreciation eked out a hike of 0.13 percent, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's quarterly report based on repeat sales and refinancings on mortgages of $420,000 and less.

May 14, 2007

Realistic prices are beginning to help the ailing resale market
Catherine Reagor
Arizona Republic

The standoff between home buyers and sellers in metropolitan Phoenix could be nearing an end.

The wide gap between what a home is listed for and what it sells for is shrinking, which means Valley home sales could start to pick up if more buyers and sellers agree on prices.

Real estate analysts say it's an early sign the ailing housing market could be on the road to recovery.

"Both buyers and sellers are readjusting their expectations," said University of Arizona economist Marshall Vest. "Buyers are coming back into the market with reasonable offers. More homeowners are pricing their homes to sell."

April 15, 2007

Aura of Arizona
Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi
Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Historians believe the earliest indigenous people settled in the area we know as Arizona as early as 12500 B.C. By 1539 A.D, when the first Spanish explorers arrived, some 15 different Indian tribes were living there.

Today, Arizona is home to 250,000 Native Americans from 21 tribes, about half of whom live on 23 reservations scattered throughout the state. One third of its 114,006 square miles is federal reservation land, the largest parcel in the country designated for that purpose.

The state's terrain is varied and often spectacular. The 277-mile-long gorge that inspired Arizona's nickname, Grand Canyon State, drops 6,000 feet at its deepest point and extends 18 miles at its widest.

Arizona also boasts 100 lakes, the largest pine forest in the United States (in Prescott National Forest) and one of the highest peaks in the country (12,643-foot Mt. Humphreys near Flagstaff).

Many other surprises await visitors to Phoenix and Sedona, two of Arizona's top travel destinations.

April 10, 2007

Chandler home sales up 36 percent
Betty Beard
Arizona Republic

The annual home resale season appears to be off to its normally strong spring start, as the number of houses sold in the Southeast Valley increased an average of 28 percent from February to March, according to Realty Studies.

However, prices were down from the same month last year.

The number of sales increased from February to March in each community except Tempe, where the number fell from 135 to 125, or 7 percent.

Sales elsewhere increased: Mesa, 460 to 620, or 35 percent; Chandler, 280 to 380, or 36 percent; Gilbert, 230 to 290, or 26 percent, and Ahwatukee, 85 to 120, or 41 percent.

However, median prices fell throughout the Southeast Valley in March, compared to a year earlier, as the high number of homes for sale created competition among sellers.

April 9, 2007

It's a buyer's market - like never before
Glen Creno
Arizona Republic

Housing experts suggest reasons for record 50,000 listings in state

Dave and Karen Rysdam got a jolt when pricing their Glendale home to put on the market.

They wanted to sell in the low $600,000s, but their agent recommended an aggressive price in the low $500,000s.

Surprised, the couple consulted an appraiser, who offered similar advice. Reluctantly, they listed the house for $519,900.

"The initial reaction was, 'This is too low.' But when you take the emotions out and look at factual data, it feels like it is right given today's market conditions," Dave said.

April 8, 2007

Multiple projects key to downtown's revival
Ginger D. Richardson and Angela Cara Pancrazio
Arizona Republic

First it was the Phoenix Civic Plaza. Then it was the Arizona Center. Later it was the sporting venues - America West Arena and Bank One Ballpark - that were to provide the spark. More recently, it was a new Arizona State University campus that was ballyhooed.

It seems every few years - for the past three or four decades - city boosters anointed one venture or another as the savior of downtown Phoenix. But each time, the project's actual impact has fallen far short of the lofty projections.

Now it's 2007, and the hopes for downtown again are high. Private developers and city leaders are predicting that Phoenix's long-sleepy core may finally be on the verge of a great awakening. With 30 to 40 years of history and disappointment working against downtown, is it really fair - or even smart - to suggest that Phoenix may really be poised for an urban renewal?

People with experience in urban development say yes.

March 22, 2007

Census Reports Arizona County Still Has Biggest Growth
Sam Roberts
New York Times

Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and sprawls across 9,200 square miles, swelled by 100,000 people in the year ended last July 1, according to newly released census figures, retaining its title as the county with the biggest population increase in the country.

Maricopa, which is bigger than New Jersey, grew by nearly 700,000 people since 2000, or more than the population of all but 15 American cities. It is now home to 3.8 million.

Nine of the 10 counties that registered the biggest population gains since 2000 were in the South or the West. Half of those with the biggest gains since 2005 were in Texas.

March 16, 2007

Feeling hot, hot, hot
Brian Anderson
At Home Week

Arizona backyards are getting hot, hot, hot. But it's not so much the sole responsibility of Kool Deck anymore to keep the heat at bay.

Homeowners around the Valley are sprucing up patios, pools and landscaping with resort-style amenities and materials that not long ago were considered exotic.

Flagstone, bricks and pavers are in style while Kool Deck - the textured topping invented by Tucson's Mortex Manufacturing Co. more than four decades ago, is slowly falling out of favor - at least at the upper end of the economic spectrum.

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