I was out looking at high-end luxury homes today in the Tucson Foothills, and most of the ones I saw were spec homes priced from about $1.0mil to $3.5mil. Vacant builder/investor spec homes.
My favorite ax to grind.
And depending on how you count, there are about 30 of them in Foothills. Plus another 100 or so re-sale homes priced from $1.0 to $6.450mil, that compete with these spec homes. And at the end of the day, it's difficult, impossible really, to come to any conclusion about these spec homes, except that because of the owners stubborn refusal to face the reality of the market, that in the end more of them will fail.
There are 137 homes for sale in the Foothills priced from $1million to $6 and a half million, and just 5 are (or were, in less difficult times) selling per month. That's the market. Period. And looking at the sign-in sheets, most of these homes are getting one showing a week if they're lucky, some, just one showing every two weeks. Talk about having your head in the sand.
There's no doubt that many of these spec homes will fall by the wayside, and end up as another short sale, another foreclosure, another million here - million there for us taxpayers to pay.
Why. Because these builders refuse to face reality and take their licks now, and are instead, however improbable it may be, holding out for a home run.
see my web site thefoothillsToday.com
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