Thanks for stopping by. This is a sticky post! Check out the new articles below this one!

To see the best deals that I have found in the past month http://maricopa.postlets.com/

To see how I find the best deals http://maricopanewhomes.net/

To read a news article about Maricopa from the Arizona Republic http://maricopanewhomes.net/pdf/Maricopa.pdf

Subdivision map of Maricopa. Many folks ask about the locations of the subdivisions in town. This is the best map that I have found. http://www.vestar.com/newsite/Assets/PropertyAssets/MaricopaTC/MaricopaTC.pdf Please note: The brochure is that of a shopping center coming to town. It has 3 anchor stores and a movie theater.

To send me a request or a comment! Brian@MaricopaNewHomes.net  800.207.6919  

Thanks to my client John for this.

Good informationa, FAQ's about Canadians buying in the US.

Here is a link to it: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/p151/p151-07e.pdf   This actually is understandable.

As always, please seek advice from Attorneys and Accountants.

There are approx 10 subdivisions in town. here is the low down


Rancho El Dorado- The 1st subdivision built in Maricopa. The homes there are older (built in 2003). The subdivision has been completed for a couple of years. Rancho has a lake, nice playground, palm trees, parks and fountains. Rancho is home to the only public golf course in Maricopa. Many of the homes in the area are shortsales or foreclosures.

Villages at Rancho Eldorado- The subdivision has the only fitness center in town. Small gym, pool, lake, parks and more. The sub has been sold out for about 2 years (There were 2 builders there 2 months ago, but they went out of business)
Many of the homes there are short sales and foreclosures. Builders... DRHorton, Canterra, Hacienda, Centex and a few others.

The Lakes at Ranch El Dorado- Still new builds here. There were 2 builders, but hacienda builders closed their doors, so only 1 remains. The homes are built on a parcel that has a man made lake winding through the area. Bad news is to purchase a lot that backs to the lake will add $30,000-40,000 to the price. Builder... Meritage Homes

Cobblestone- The builder is still building here, but in my opinion, the builder hasn't gotten aggressive enough with the prices. The smallest homes start at $169,000 which is a little high for the market. Amenities include a pool, playgrounds, softball, basketball court. This subdivisions is the closest to Chandler and Phoenix. It is only 3-4 minutes closer, but if thats important to you... Builder- Fulton Homes


I will profile a few more subdivisons on the 5th!

IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS

June 2008

 

 

May ARMLS Reports

 

Resale Listings

 

The listing count reported in the May Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS)¹ Reports, which were released on June 16^th, was 54,161—down 1,565 listings from the April reports.  With the exception of December 2007, the listing count has been fairly flat for the last twelve months.  This current level, however, is substantially above the record level of listings prior to January 2005 which was 30,046 listings in February 2003. 

 

Resale Sales

 

ARMLS-reported sales for May rose about 15% from the April sales figure with an increase of 762.  On an annually adjusted basis sales were down 158 or less than 3% from May 2007.  May’s sales quantity is typically higher than April’s and seems to be following the normal calendar cycle.  In this normal calendar cycle, sales tend to be highest in the summer and then gradually taper off over the next few months before resuming the climb during the first quarter of each year.  The winter months are consistently the lowest in sales. 

 

Our sources of data for these displays are the ARMLS reports.  In these, there are three months, January – March 2005, for which we have not shown listing data because of apparent discrepancies.  Additionally, ARMLS notes that the listing information for March through August 2002 may contain errors, but we have chosen to display this reasonable data above.

 

A Two Year Perspective

 

The graph below displays the same data as above, but focuses on only the most recent 24 months.

 

 

 

 

Adjusted Monthly Sales Trend

 

Sales, when compared to one year ago, fell for the thirty-first consecutive month.  This drop of 158 is illustrated in the chart below.    

 

 

ARMLS REPORTED SALES

 

The chart is divided into market condition segments by comparing current sales activity to the sales activity during the same month in the previous year.  Orange reflects relatively normal conditions; Green shows higher than average sales; and Red indicates slowing market activity. 

 

Analysis of these figures clearly shows the following:

 

1.    Prior to thirty-two months ago, sales increased every month for the past four years when compared to that month in the year prior (from orange to green, then back to orange).

 

2.    The thirty-two most current months (red) clearly demonstrate that the hot market of March 2004 – September 2005 has totally disappeared.

 

3.    The collective increase in sales for the past thirty-eight months (orange and red) has been at a substantially slower rate than during the preceding thirteen months (green).

 

 

Our Assessment of the Resale Market

 

Supply and demand are interrelated variables in the Real Estate Market.  Currently both of these variables are driving the market.  Up until two years ago, demand was the primary driver.  Then for the past two years supply was the primary driver.  In the last few months demand has also fallen off substantially from what we had considered the norm - a pace similar to 2002 and 2003.

Because of the prolonged over-supply situation, appreciation in resale housing prices has totally disappeared.  The market has now entered a phase where we are seeing an overall price level decline.  A significant price adjustment will be necessary to realign the supply and demand variable.  It is difficult to tell how long that will take.

Copyright® 2008 - This information is compiled and written by Ultimate Information Systems, Inc. Use of this article, in part or in its entirety, is expressly prohibited without written permission.  Click here to request limited rights to reuse this information.

 

We welcome your comments, just click here.

 

 

¹ (ARMLS) Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service empasses most of Maricopa and Pinal Counties.

Out checking spec prices today, and it seems that DRHorton has adjusted their prices upward. Please keep in mind that DRHorton has approx 12 different product lines in Maricopa, which equals about 1/5 of the new home subdivisions.

The prices were raised across all product lines. The smallest homes (1050 sq ft) increased $5,000.

The largest homes (4400 sq ft) increased $20,000

Yes, we are still in a buyer's market, this is probably just a wobble in prices. Once upper management sees that they aren't selling many, they will re-adjust prices!

I found the plans for the shopping center being built at Porter & Casa Grande Highway in Maricopa.

As always, plans can change. Please don't shoot the messenger if they do!

Other than that, I am stoked about having a movie theater, car wash and some new stores coming to town.

Here is the link to the builder's brochure! Walmart, carwash & theater

No kiddin! It was 110 here today!

Deodorant company names Phoenix sweatiest city

 Jun. 25, 2008 09:20 AM
Associated Press

CINCINNATI - It may be a "dry heat" out there, but Phoenix still leads a list of America's sweatiest cities.

The annual ranking comes from Old Spice deodorant, made by Cincinnati-based Procter and Gamble. The company says its findings are based on computer simulations of the amount of sweat an average person would have produced walking around in cities for an hour during June, July and August of last year.

Las Vegas is America's second-sweatiest city, followed by Tallahassee, Florida.

P-and-G's hometown of Cincinnati is a relatively unsweaty Number 59. Other Ohio cities include Cleveland at Number 66, Dayton in 69th and Columbus in 72nd place on the list.

 

The Great American BBQ and Fireworks Extravaganza.

Friday July 4, 2008, 6:00 p.m., Pacana Park, Maricopa, Ariz.

This slice of Americana includes a pie eating contest, water zone, and movie in the park. Festivities include a fireworks show set off immediately following the movie, a whiffle ball tournament and a watermelon seed spitting contest. Now in its third year, Maricopa’s July 4 event is a celebration of American spirit. www.maricopa-az.gov.

Download flyer (pdf)

No Blogging for 1 week! It is my 10 yr anniversary, and taking the wife to Hawaii.
Still have email and phone though!

800.207.6919

Source: BIG BUILDER News
Publication date: June 12, 2008

By Lisa Brown

Foreclosures set record in first quarter

Economists expect defaults to keep rising as housing crisis deepens

The Associated Press

updated 3:29 p.m. MT, Thurs., June. 5, 2008

MSNBC.com

 

WASHINGTON - Home foreclosures and late payments set records over the first three months of the year and are expected to keep rising, stark signs of the housing crisis' mounting damage to homeowners and the economy.

The latest snapshot of the mortgage market showed that the proportion of mortgages that fell into foreclosure soared to 0.99 percent in the January-through-March period. That surpassed the previous high of 0.83 percent over the last three months in 2007.

The report by the Mortgage Bankers Association also found that more homeowners slipped behind on their monthly payments.

The delinquency rate jumped to 6.35 percent in the first quarter, compared with 5.82 percent for the three months earlier. Payments are considered delinquent if they are 30 or more days past due.

Both the rate of new foreclosures and late payments were the highest on record going back to 1979.

Jay Brinkmann, the association's vice president of research and economics, told The Associated Press that the slump in house prices was the biggest factor for rising foreclosures and late payments.

With prices expected to keep dropping, foreclosures and late payments "are going to continue to go up" in the months ahead, he said.

Homeowners with tarnished credit who have subprime adjustable-rate loans took the hardest hits. Foreclosures and late payments for these borrowers also swelled to all-time highs in the first quarter.

The percentage of subprime adjustable-rate mortgages that started the foreclosure process climbed to 6.35 percent. The rate was 5.29 percent in fourth quarter, the previous high.

Late payments rose to 22.07 percent from 20.02 percent, the previous high.

The association's survey covers just over 45 million home loans.

More problems also cropped up with loans to more creditworthy borrowers.

The percentage of such loans falling into foreclosure was 0.54 percent, compared with 0.41 percent at the end of last year. Late payment rose to 3.71 percent, compared with 3.24 percent.

The numbers were higher for prime borrowers with adjustable rate mortgages. The proportion of those loans falling into foreclosures jumped to 1.55 percent from 1.06 percent. The delinquency rate rose to 6.78 percent, compared with 5.51 percent.

"The number one problem is the drop in home prices," Brinkmann said. Declining prices, especially in newer built areas, "are hurting people's ability to recover when they run into trouble — a divorce or loss of job," he said. "In other days, you could sell the home. But because home prices have fallen so much, in many of those cases, the homes are going into foreclosure."

California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona accounted for 89 percent of the total increase in new home foreclosures, he said. Those are places where prices have fallen sharply and there was a lot of home building, creating too much supply, Brinkmann said.

The housing crisis is at the center of the country's economic troubles.

After a five-year boom, the market fell into a deep slump two years ago. That dragged down sales, and prices with it. As the value of homes plummeted, many newer homeowners found themselves owing more on their mortgages than their homes were worth.

Homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages were clobbered when their initially low rates reset to much higher ones. That made it difficult, if not impossible, to keep up with monthly mortgage payments.

As foreclosures and late payments climbed, financial companies took multibillion losses when their investments in mortgage-backed securities soured. A credit crisis erupted and spread, crimping other types of financing. The fallout plunged Wall Street in turmoil, disrupting the normal functioning of markets.

All those troubles have pushed the economy to the brink of a recession, if the country isn't already in one. Consumers and business have tightened their spending. Employers have cut more than a quarter-million jobs in the first four months of this year.

To bolster the economy, the Federal Reserve made aggressive interest rate cuts. That has helped homeowners facing rate resets on their adjustable-rate mortgages. But with inflation on the rise, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke this week sent his strongest signal yet that the central bank's rate-cutting campaign started that started in September is coming to an end.

The Bush administration has taken steps to help distressed homeowners. It has urged lenders to freeze rates for some homeowners and encouraged lenders to rework mortgage terms so troubled borrowers can stay in their homes.

Congress is considering giving government-backed mortgages to thousands of strapped borrowers. The White House has expressed some concerns.

Specifically for you

www.CanadiansInArizona.Net

 

This excerpt from Big Builder Online

By BB Staff

New movie theater, Burger King and so much more.
This info comes from the Builder/Management's website at http://www.gvsw.com/Content/News.aspx?NewsID=353&DocType=Doc

Finally! Seeing a movie without driving 20 miles!

Well, we know that sales in Maricopa have increased for the 3rd month in a row.

Lets look at the changes in the types of homes closed last month:

Foreclosures 107
New homes 35
Short sales 9
Resales 4
Relocation 1

Please note: There were more new homes closed than 35.
35 is only the number listed on the MLS. Many builders don't list all homes.

Although the numbers are accurate. There is a slight margin of error as all homes are not clearly labeled foreclosure and shortsales.

By the way, DU refers to desktop underwriter. Basically, DU determines if the lender is able to get a computerized approval for the loan. If the computer declines the application, it then goes to manual underwriting

Updates to Policy for Prior Foreclosure Actions

Selling Guide, Part X, Chapter 8, Section 803.02, Payment History

The presence of a prior foreclosure action in the borrower’s credit history is evidence of significant derogatory credit and increases the likelihood of future default. The lender should consider the presence of a foreclosure as an added risk element that represents a significantly higher level of default risk. The greater the number of such incidences and the more recently they occurred, the higher the credit risk.

We currently require four years to elapse after a foreclosure before we will consider the borrower to have a re-established credit history. With this Announcement, we are increasing that time period to five years. We will continue to allow a lesser time period to elapse (three years in lieu of the current two-year requirement) for borrowers who can demonstrate documented extenuating circumstances that resulted in the foreclosure action.

These policy changes apply to all mortgage loans delivered in accordance with the Selling Guide, loan casefiles underwritten with DU Version 7.0, or pursuant to any variance contained in the lender’s Master Agreement.
Manually Underwritten Mortgage Loans
•
Elapsed time is measured by comparing the application date of the new mortgage to the completion of the foreclosure action as reported on the credit report or other foreclosure documents provided by the borrower.
•
After the requisite five year elapsed time period
-
The borrower may obtain a new mortgage to purchase a principal residence with a minimum 10 percent down payment and a minimum credit score of 680.
-
The borrower may obtain a limited cash-out refinance mortgage pursuant to our eligibility requirements in effect at that time.
-
The borrower may not obtain a cash-out refinance or obtain a mortgage secured by a second home or investment property for seven years after the foreclosure action.
•
If the foreclosure was the result of documented extenuating circumstances (as defined in the Selling Guide) and the requisite three year elapsed time period has passed
-
The same requirements apply as outlined above, with the exception that the minimum credit score of 680 is not required.
Mortgage Loans Underwritten with DU
•
DU determines the elapsed time based on the credit report date and the length of time that has elapsed since the foreclosure was reported in the credit report.
•
If the foreclosure was reported within five years of the credit report date, the loan will receive a Refer with Caution/IV recommendation.

Announcement 08-08 Page 11
•
DU is unable to determine if there were extenuating circumstances that resulted in a foreclosure action. If lenders have the appropriate documentation that extenuating circumstances were the cause of the foreclosure and at least three years have elapsed since the foreclosure, lenders can manually underwrite a loan that otherwise received a Refer with Caution/IV recommendation. The loan must meet all requirements of the Selling Guide or this Announcement that pertain to manually underwritten loans, including full documentation, minimum credit scores, maximum LTV ratios, etc.
•
If DU is unable to determine the date of the foreclosure, the lender will receive an Underwriting Finding message requiring the lender to manually verify the filed and satisfied date of the foreclosure action and apply the policy accordingly.

Effective Date
These changes are effective for all manually underwritten mortgage loans with application dates on or after June 1, 2008 and for loan casefiles submitted to DU Version 7.0. Mortgage loans that conform to our existing foreclosure policy must be purchased by Fannie Mae on or before October 31, 2008 for whole loans, or delivered into MBS pools with issue dates on or before October 1, 2008.

Clients ask me all the time where builders find those incredible furnishings. I am not sure, but I know where you can get them now!

This won't make too much sense unless you have visited Maricopa, but there is a very deep wash/gulley on Honeycutt Road. Many homeowners have to take an alternate route after heavy rains. I have been telling folks that the bridge should be started soon. Here is the press release!

 

Santa Rosa Bridge to get underway.

Maricopa, Ariz. (June 3, 2008) - At tonight's City Council meeting, held at 7:00 p.m. at Global Water Center, the Council voted unanimously to award a contract to DBA Construction in the amount of $2,444,489.80 to construct a bridge over the Santa Rosa Wash on Honeycutt Road.   The bridge will be four lanes wide, include pedestrian sidewalks and is ADA compliant. Construction on the bridge is expected to begin in early July with an estimated completion date in January 2009.   "It is anticipated that Honeycutt Road will remain open during bridge development," stated Development Services Director Brent Billingsley. "The only exception would be a short closure for the construction of the temporary bypass road."   This will be the City's first major construction project. The bridge was originally stipulated to the Tortosa development, but in order to ensure citizen safety and move the completion date forward the City took over the project.   Funding is $1 million from transportation DIF, $750,000 from Pinal County half-cent road tax and the remaining $750,000 is from the general fund capital reserve.   # # #

I believe that we can call this a trend now. It is a small one, but still a trend!

May sales 153 homes

April sales 136 homes

March sales 108 homes

Please keep in mind that these are only homes listed on the MLS. Many builders don't list their spec homes there. There are undoubtedly more homes sold, but that has been constant the entire trend.

I think I have the answer!

It is because the listing realtor doesn't return call from the buyer broker.

If the buyer broker has clients that would like to make an offer, then feel free Mr. Lister to answer your phone and answer his questions.

If you aren't returnung calls asap, then you are not doing your fiduciary duty. If my clients buy another house, because you never communicated to me, then you have done a poor job...

You mister Realtor, get this!

IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS

May 2008

 

 

April ARMLS Reports

 

Resale Listings

 

The listing count reported in the April Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS)¹ Reports, which were released on May 14^th, was 55,726—down 1,355 listings from the March reports.  With the exception of December 2007, the listing count has been fairly flat for the last twelve months.  This current level, however, is substantially above the record level of listings prior to January 2005 which was 30,046 listings in February 2003. 

 

Resale Sales

 

ARMLS-reported sales for April rose about 13% from the March sales figure with an increase of 572.  On an annually adjusted basis sales were down 652 or around 12% from April 2007.  April’s sales quantity is typically higher than March’s and seems to be following the normal calendar cycle.  In this normal calendar cycle, sales tend to be highest in the summer and then gradually taper off over the next few months before resuming the climb during the first quarter of each year.  The winter months are consistently the lowest in sales. 

 

Our sources of data for these displays are the ARMLS reports.  In these, there are three months, January – March 2005, for which we have not shown listing data because of apparent discrepancies.  Additionally, ARMLS notes that the listing information for March through August 2002 may contain errors, but we have chosen to display this reasonable data above.

 

A Two Year Perspective

 

The graph below displays the same data as above, but focuses on only the most recent 24 months.

 

 

 

 

Adjusted Monthly Sales Trend

 

Sales, when compared to one year ago, fell for the thirty-first consecutive month.  This drop of 652 is illustrated in the chart below.    

 

 

ARMLS REPORTED SALES

 

The chart is divided into market condition segments by comparing current sales activity to the sales activity during the same month in the previous year.  Orange reflects relatively normal conditions; Green shows higher than average sales; and Red indicates slowing market activity. 

 

Analysis of these figures clearly shows the following:

 

1.      Prior to thirty-one months ago, sales increased every month for the past four years when compared to that month in the year prior (from orange to green, then back to orange).

 

2.      The thirty-one most current months (red) clearly demonstrate that the hot market of March 2004 – September 2005 has totally disappeared.

 

3.      The collective increase in sales for the past thirty-seven months (orange and red) has been at a substantially slower rate than during the preceding thirteen months (green).

 

 

Our Assessment of the Resale Market

 

Supply and demand are interrelated variables in the Real Estate Market.  Currently both of these variables are driving the market.  Up until two years ago, demand was the primary driver.  Then for the past two years supply was the primary driver.  In the last few months demand has also fallen off substantially from what we had considered the norm - a pace similar to 2002 and 2003.

Because of the prolonged over-supply situation, appreciation in resale housing prices has totally disappeared.  The market has now entered a phase where we are seeing an overall price level