This house in the Tucson Foothills went under contract yesterday after just 29 days on the market with no price reductions.
And while that may be noteworthy given the current climate,
the real moral here is that you can't accurately value a property like this using arms length data. You need to understand the market.
I don't know the agreed contract price and we'll have to wait until it closes to find out, but I'll bet they got very close to the $725,000 asking price, which at just 2264 square feet, works out to a hefty $320.23/sq ft. (looking at the data for foothills homes sold in the last 90 days the average $/sq. ft. cost is $213.00)
So why so much for this one.
Because homes like this - older adobes, with style and charm that are also in good condition and in good locations - have become very scarce in the Foothills. Yet for many people they remain the epitome of a romantic vision of what Tucson living is all about.
And they're usually on good lots in the 'Old Foothills', which is a very desirable area, and even if they were building them like this today, which they're not, there are no good lots available to build in the 'Old Foothills'.
So looking at this on paper, or if you were unfamiliar with the strong demand/low supply for this type of home, you'd naturally think it was foolishly overpriced. But it's not. And it's a credit to Barbara Moylan the listing agent that she knows enough about the Foothills market, and also didn't allow the roar of gloom & doom to make her flinch, and price this home according to some statistic, rather than to the reality of the marketplace for this niche.
Because they're so scarce there's little current data available, so whether you're in the market to buy or sell a home like this, the garden variety sales data won't point to the real value.
I bought one similar to this about 18 months ago, and on paper, I paid through the nose. In reality, I own a very special piece of the 'Old Foothills' that can't be duplicated.
Update (a little while later) I couldn't help it, my curiosity got the better of me, so I went to Zillow for their zestimate of the value of this home. Zillow says it's worth $558,000, with a cover their butt value range of $468,720 - $591,480. Still no cigar.
see my web site thefoothillsToday.com
to search for and learn more about Tucson Foothills Homes
