by Paul Slaybaugh | Jul 2, 2010 | Market Data, Scottsdale Real Estate
Choose from the category links below for Real Estate market statistics from ARMLS (Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service) for the Greater Phoenix Area through June 2010. After studying the broad market trends, drill down to the latest stats below for select Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Cave Creek and Phoenix zip codes.
Arizona Regional MLS Statistics (General):
Inventory Levels – June ’10
Sold DOM vs Units Sold – June ’10
Sales Volumes & Average Prices – June ’10
Scottsdale Real Estate Statistics by Zip Code
85250| 85251 | 85254 | 85255 | 85257
85258 | 85259 | 85260 | 85262 | 85266
Paradise Valley Real Estate Statistics
85253
Northeast Phoenix Real Estate Statistics
85018 | 85020 | 85022
85028 | 85032 | 85050
Cave Creek Real Estate Statistics
85331
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Still too broad for your purposes? Drop us a line and we will provide you with the latest stats for the community or subdivision of your choice. Of course, while the numbers are a great place to start, there is far more involved than number-crunching in determining the marketability of a home. Curious how the trends relate to the value of your home, or to the property upon which you are keeping a watchful shopper’s eye? Call or email us today to schedule an in-depth analysis.
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by Paul Slaybaugh | Jun 28, 2010 | Scottsdale Neighborhoods, Scottsdale Real Estate
Greenery is at a premium here in Scottsdale. In the age of xeriscape, desertscape … moonscape, sometimes a front lawn is just what the house doctor ordered. In addition to the well known communities of Arcadia, McCormick Ranch and the Central corridor, there are a few scattered pockets that harken back to the mature, non-desert landscaping that many Scottsdale immigrants thought they left behind upon relocating to the Valley of the Sun. Aside from those name brand communities, however, they often lie just out of sight of the casual eye.
Vista Bonita in South Scottsdale is one such hidden gem. Secreted away in the 85250 zip code just East of the Scottsdale Road and Vista (just North of Chaparral Rd) intersection, few buyers I have encountered are aware of its existence. Originally comprised of 1960s era ranch style homes on larger than typical lots, some have been knocked down in favor of newer construction. Sitting at the gateway to downtown Scottsdale, it is easy to see why. The allure of modern architecture atop the prime central Scottsdale Real Estate makes for a “bucolic chic” neighborhood that few readily forget upon first encounter.
Though identifiable as one homogeneous neighborhood, Vista Bonita is actually made up of three legal subdivisions: VISTA BONITA LOT 9-19,VISTA BONITA 2 LOT 33-44 and VISTA BONITA 3A. For the purposes of this post, I will simply refer to these phases as Vista Bonita 1, Vista Bonita 2 and Vista Bonita 3, respectively.
Vista Bonita 1:
- 24 total properties, all single-level
- There are several commercial properties included in this subdivision in addition to the single-family homes
- 19 homes feature private swimming pools
- Average property size of 2555 square feet (includes both commercial and residential structures)
- Properties range in age from 1956-2004
- Mix of block / frame – wood construction & architectural styles
- Primarily zoned R1-10 for single-family residential on 10,000 sq ft lot minimums, many homes sit on approx. 1/2 acre lots. There is commercial zoning for several properties which sit on Vista Road at the entrance to the subdivision.
Vista Bonita 2:
- 22 total homes, all single-level
- 17 homes feature private swimming pools
- Average home size of 2295 sq ft
- Homes range in age from 1957-1992
- Mix of construction types & architectural styles
- Zoned R1-10 for residential lots of 10,000 square foot minimums, most homes sit on 1/3 – 1/2 acres.
Vista Bonita 3:
- 32 total homes, all single-level.
- 24 homes feature private swimming pools
- The average home size is 2360 square feet
- Homes range in age from 1961 – 2007
- Mix of construction types and architectural styles
- Zoned R1-10 for residential lots with 10,000 square foot minimums, most feature
All three phases of Vista Bonita fall in the Kiva Elementary / Mohave Middle / Saguaro High School districts
*Read More About the Scottsdale Unified School District
Homes on the extreme East of the Vista Bonita neighborhood back up to the canal / open area. Included in the few commercial structures in the neighborhood is the Lamar Day Spa. Nearby is the renowned Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall and the shops /restaraunts / art galleries / nightlife / etc of downtown Scottsdale. The Town of Paradise Valley lies just on the other side (West) of Scottsdale Road.
For those looking for the mature-landscaping and inviting feel of Arcadia and Paradise Valley Farms, but perhaps on a lesser budget, and with even more immediate access to Old Town Scottsdale, Vista Bonita bears a look.
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by Paul Slaybaugh | Jun 28, 2010 | Scottsdale Real Estate, This & That
“You mean, it’s ours? It’s really ours?”
They were so excited. Even after I handed them the keys, they were slow to believe that the modest Spanish bungalow was now in their adoptive custody. Over the course of four exasperating months, we must have seen and dismissed close to a hundred homes. This one needed too much work. That one had a poor kitchen layout. Yet another sat on the “t” of a subdivision’s entrance: bad feng shui, or so I was told. Before the market skies parted and yielded the seventeen hundred square foot, clay tile miracle that appeared to have met extinction in their price range, our flagging spirits were all but ready to pack it in. The May 5th, 2005 discovery saved them from another year of apartment living. A challenge, at best, with a ten year old daughter, let alone with a half-baked bun in the oven.
“Can we go in,” the wife asked in a small, cautious voice.
“Of course,” I responded. “It’s your house, Liz, you can do whatever you please.”
She ignored my extended hand and engulfed me in a fierce hug. Her husband clasped my shoulder in a vice grip which betrayed an adolescence spent laboring on the family farm in Iowa. His curt nod spoke volumes.
“You’re welcome, Mel,” I replied.
“Thank you both for hanging in there with me. I know it hasn’t been easy, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the patience and trust you’ve shown. It’s been a long, tough slog, but I think we got it right.”
“Yes, we did,” Mel said, breaking his silence for the first and only time that morning.
“We would like to have you and your wife over as soon as we get settled,” Liz added.
“I’d like that,” I told her.
I meant it, too. I like just about every client I take on, but felt a special kinship with this couple for reasons that surpassed the extended time spent in each other’s company. After bidding the happy couple farewell, I glanced in the rearview as I navigated my way down the tree-lined street. Instead of going inside, they remained rooted in place, holding hands and staring at their new home.
I received a phone call from Liz this morning. Turns out that Mel has been out of work for some time now, and they cannot afford to keep the house. Might have to move back to the Midwest and look for a position on the farm. See just what kind of life is left in those gnarled, old leather hands.
I hate this job sometimes.
by Paul Slaybaugh | Jun 22, 2010 | Home Buying, Home Selling, Scottsdale Real Estate
So you have 20% to put down for a single family home in Scottsdale AZ. Your FICO scores are higher than Willie Nelson on Bob Marley Day in Montego Bay. You have been gainfully employed in the same W2 position with the same company for years. The American Express card with a $124 balance and the $112 payment on your 2002 Honda Accord make up the sum total of your earthly debt. Congratulations, you are one of the few buyers in today’s market in a position to call your own shots.
Surely the right play is to go the conventional financing route, right?
No private mortgage insurance, the lowest possible rate, less red tape than government sponsored financing vehicles.
From a strictly cost-based approach, all signs point to a nice, vanilla 30 year fixed conventional loan at a microscopic rate as the biggest no-brainer in the history of money.
Of course, as we have learned all too well, there is more to your choice in financing than today’s consideration. In fact, there is more to your choice in financing than even the total cost to you over the life of the loan. While we may not know where the market and its attendant values are heading, one fact is indisputable:
Interest rates will rise.
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon. Inflationary pressure makes it inevitable that rates will take off at some point. All of the warning signs are there. It will happen. Rather than banging the tired gavel of “buy today, rates on the way up,” let’s steer the discussion in a less self-serving direction.
Q: What is today’s buyer?
A: Tomorrow’s seller.
If you are buying a home in 2010, you need to consider the market forces that may shape 2015 or 2020. When we agents prognosticate, we tend to focus exclusively on home values. This is a fool’s errand. What we really should be thinking about is the buyer pool’s (in)ability to buy.
If interest rates manage to climb into the double digits in several years’ time, the difficulty of selling the property you are buying today may be compounded by a further contraction of able buyers. How does one counteract the specter of such a looming boogeyman? By going back to the future for familiar, but forgotten solutions to a similar problem.
What saved home sellers in the era of 18-20% interest in the ‘70s and ‘80s? Owner financing and assumable loans. For the purpose of this post, I wish to focus on the latter.
With the low to zero down conventional financing options in the market for my first decade in the business, it was a rarity to consummate a transaction with anything other than non-assumable financing. Now that FHA loans have forcefully elbowed their way back into the marketplace, however, assumable financing has returned. Most borrowers are not considering this aspect of the financing in the least, mind you. They simply jump on whatever they can qualify for that provides the least cost and lowest rates. I maintain that the assumable nature of a loan will be incredibly important moving forward.
While a new buyer would have to qualify for the loan to assume it, imagine how much wider your future buyer pool will be with such an option in place. Your 30 year fixed at 4.75% may not look quite as good to you if you find yourself in a position in which you have to sell your home in the midst of 12% interest rates. Not to sound the bell of an alarmist, but it’s not difficult to foresee a future in which many buyers who have migrated to the security of 30 year fixed conventional mortgages in the wake of the mess spawned by more creative financing find themselves imprisoned within those non-assumable safety nets.
Moving forward, your mortgage might not just be your mortgage. It could potentially be your future buyer’s. As such, when shopping for financing, there is more to consider than just the nuts and bolts of your own cost. Your mortgage could eventually prove either an enticement or a hurdle to a sale.
Heady stuff.
I will close with that which should have served as a preface: I am not a mortgage professional. DO NOT rely on my speculation in any manner when making a choice in financing. The nuances and new rules/regulations in the financial world are changing so fast that even those who wade in those murky waters on a daily basis are having a hard time keeping their raft of sanity afloat. For some, the internal debate is academic anyway, as there are qualification constraints on all financing types. Only your lender, with a full view of your financial picture can provide competent advice as to which programs you may ultimately qualify for, and which is the best fit for you. I do, however, want you to add this question to the typical inquiries about rates, fees, penalties, etc when speaking with your chosen loan officer:
“Is this loan assumable?”
I expect it will matter more than the attention it is currently being afforded in most Real Estate circles.
by Paul Slaybaugh | Jun 18, 2010 | Home Buying, Scottsdale Real Estate
“What’s the deal with this house? Why so cheap?”
I field some derivation of this inquiry on a fairly routine basis from buyer clients. Typically, they have stumbled across a property listing online, or possibly in the ARMLS portal I have set up for them (provides for user log in and review of all homes currently for sale that fit their specific criteria, rating of the available homes, notes, price adjustment tracking, etc), that appears to be just the anomaly for which they have been hunting. That one desperate seller who has become so fed up with the Real Estate market that he is willing to hand over the keys to his castle for little more than a kind word and enough pocket change to cover the U-Haul.
“Paul, we HAVE to go see this house! It’s 2500 square feet, right in the McCormick Ranch area where we’ve been looking, and get this, only $299,000!”
“Wow,” I respond, though not I’m not really thinking, “wow.”
Truth of the matter is that my cynical little REALTOR mind is already trying to unravel the scam. You see, that property simply does not exist. Not now, nor even in the foreclosure jungle that was the tail end of the prior decade for that matter. Unless it is a typo, an opening bid at an auction, a money pit of epic proportions that would make Tom Hanks blanch, or …
“The name of the subdivision wouldn’t happen to be Briarwood, would it?”
“Yeah! How did you know? Whatever, it doesn’t matter. Can we go see this right now before somebody else snaps it up? I can stop by the house to grab the checkbook.”
Next comes the part where I break the bargain hunter’s heart. Built in the shadows of Gainey Ranch, McCormick Ranch, Palo Viento and Paradise Valley Farms, Briarwood is a picturesque little enclave of tile roof homes. Designed and built by local favorite Malouf, the architecture, front elevations, green lawns and killer location make for an outward appearance of grand larceny at the indescribably low prices they command.
So what’s the deal? Poor construction quality? Lawsuits? Was the community built upon ancient burial ground?
None of the above. Briarwood is nothing shy of Pleasantville on the Scottsdale map. The only element lying beneath the surface of this otherwise pleasing neighborhood that some buyers will find sinister is the unanticipated leasehold ownership. Essentially, Briarwood (there are actually several phases scattered throughout Scottsdale) and the neighboring Santo Tomas subdivisions are single-family residences with legal ownership rights that more closely resemble condominiums. It is a rare bird in these parts. While relatively common in some states where land is limited and owners are reluctant to part with it (Hawaii, for example), land lease subdivisions are uncommon to the greater Phoenix area.
With many land lease subdivisions controlled by local Real Estate magnate, the Herberger family, or smaller trusts, homeowners own the private residence and pay monthly rent for the dirt upon which they stand. The lease terms vary slightly from phase to phase. In Briarwood VI (the phase nearest McCormick Ranch in the 85258 zip code), the monthly land lease fee is 1/10th of 1% of the sales price. So that 400k house comes with a $400/month fee. The dues can run higher in other phases. This in addition to the monthly HOA fees.
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Homes For Sale in Briarwood of Scottsdale
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One thing that may be disconcerting to a potential home buyer is the uncertainty regarding someone else owning the land under his/her home. It can be a very large mental hurdle to overcome, as the premise runs somewhat contrary to what most find attractive in single-family fee-simple home ownership. Some trepidation is to be expected, even if not entirely rational, as to whether the lease will be extended at the time of expiration, or if terms will become untenable upon renegotiation. The fact that most have decades before such concerns come into play should not be discounted, but buyers don’t need much to fret about when making a decision so critical as the choice of housing.
When looking at properties that sit upon leased land, a buyer will have to weigh the potential cost savings of the home against the additional fees to see if it actually pencils as a bargain. Financial determinations aside, you have to ask yourself if you are truly okay with your lot having a landlord. This is a personal decision that supercedes the advice of your agent. If you are not comfortable with the setup, the financial consideration is moot. Lastly, financing options will be somewhat limited on leasehold properties. As challenging as the mortgage steeplechase has become, expect a few more tar pits and flaming hoops when shopping non-traditional ownership styles.
A property in a leased land subdivision might very well be a good fit for your particular needs, but I find most people only become hip to the presence of the land lease AFTER they have found the home of their dreams. The unwelcome news often pushes the property out of their price range, breaking hearts in the process.
So if you see something online that looks too good to be true, it very likely is. That doesn’t make a property with a land lease evil incarnate. It just means that more dollars are being extracted from your wallet than originally meets the eye.
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Curious if the home you saw online is in a leased land subdivision? Drop me a line. I’d be happy to let you know, whether you are working with me or not.
(480) 220-2337 | paul@scottsdalepropertyshop.com
by Paul Slaybaugh | Jun 17, 2010 | Scottsdale Neighborhoods, Scottsdale Real Estate
One of the more locally revered addresses in all of Scottsdale, Paradise Valley Farms is a subdivision that often escapes the notice of buyers from out of area. Buffeted by the well-known planned community meccas of McCormick Ranch and Gainey Ranch, as well as the actual Town of Paradise Valley which sits directly across Scottsdale Road, Paradise Valley Farms is a small niche of acre parcels with grandfathered horse privileges. Despite the rampant redevelopment that has seen massive new Tuscan style homes replace many of the older ranch style properties, horse set-ups and equestrian trails are still abundant in this community that sits just South of where the actual working Gainey Ranch once stood (North of Eastwood, where the Shops at Gainey Village and the Gainey Village subdivision now sit). I am still taken aback when I drive by the newer construction that now stands in place of the barbed wire enclosed cattle ranch that I knew as a youth, but I digress.
While luxury home buyers primarily think in terms of Paradise Valley, DC Ranch, Silverleaf, Ancala and other buzz name communities, few neighborhoods can rival the charm of Paradise Valley Farms. Boasting gorgeous tree-lined streets (rare outside of the Arcadia and central corridor areas) and a pleasing mix of architectural styles amongst the custom homes, a taste of a bygone era blends seamlessly with modern convenience and styling. And the location … is simply perfect. Central to virtually everything (shopping, schools, lakes, golf, resorts, etc), but tucked away from the major streets, Paradise Valley Farms is the end destination to which Scottsdale home buyers aspire. Not a move up or make do home, but that special place where they will plant roots that run as deep as the cypress and eucalyptus that guard the hidden paradise from interlopers.
A home in Paradise Valley Farms signifies your arrival, just without all of the guard-gated country club pretentiousness that some associate with high end Scottsdale housing. Neighbors don’t hide in their houses or retreat to their backyards. This is a neighborhood of walkers and wavers.
Given the radical difference from one property to the next, it almost seems disingenuous to roll out the subdivision statistics and averages. Nevertheless, here they are:
- Amongst the 56 homes in Paradise Valley Farms, the construction dates range from 1968 to 2007.
- The average home size is approximately 4125 square feet; the smallest being 2373 square feet, and the largest being 7374 square feet. The latter number will be unceremoniously trounced when the property at 8217 N 75th St turns over, however. Framed for approximately 14,000 livable square feet (no, that is not a typo!), the project was abandoned by the previous owner. It is currently on the market and awaiting an intrepid soul to finish Scottsdale’s version of the Taj Mahal.
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- All 56 properties are single-level, and 48 (86%) include private swimming pools.
- Zoned R-43 for residential lots with 43,000 square foot (1 acre) minimum lot sizes
- Cochise Elementary, Cocopah Middle and Chaparral High School Districts
- No HOA
- Horse Privileges
- Neighborhood Bridle Paths
Ready to start your Paradise Valley Farms Home Search?
Check the Live Feed Below for New Paradise Valley Farms Listings
Or Visit the Paradise Valley Farms Home Search Page
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Whether you are buying or selling, contact Ray & Paul Slaybaugh for all of your Scottsdale Real Estate needs. Put nearly 50 combined years of Scottsdale home sales to work for you! Contact us today for more information about the little piece of Sonoran paradise known as Paradise Valley Farms.
(480) 220-2337 | paul@scottsdalepropertyshop.com
