The Catalina Foothills

screwed by Verizon Wireless

I was trying to make calls this afternoon and I could hear everyone I was calling but no one could hear me. All they heard was a jumble of noise that was completely unintelligible.

So I ran over to the Verizon Wireless store on Oracle Rd & Wilmot and explained the situation. The customer service rep called my cell phone and verified that she couldn’t understand a single word I said. She couldn’t even make out words, just a jumble of noise.

So she smiled and said ‘well it’s under warranty’ .

Technorati Tags: Verizon Wireless

Yes it sure is it’s maybe 6 or 8 months old – an HTC Incredible – a $575 phone. 

Then she told me they don’t have any replacement phones in stock and they’d have to ship it from the warehouse. What! You mean to tell me you don’t have an HTC Incredible in stock and no other store in Tucson has one either. Well we don’t have replacement phones in stock.

No replacement phones. What does that mean. If I wanted to buy one, you’re saying I’d have to wait for it to be shipped from the warehouse.
Oh no, you could buy an HTC Incredible, those are new phones and they’re available.

Oh really.  So I had to do the old ‘let me speak to manager bit’ because I didn’t believe that what I was being told could actually be true. It couldn’t be.

But it is. The manager of the Oracle/Wilmot store said that’s the best they can do. They don’t stock replacement phones, that is used phones. And it doesn’t matter that you’ve been a customer for 6 years, that’s the best Verizon can do.

You see the replacement phones are factory refurbished phones – aka USED PHONES.  That’s right, you sign up with Verizon Wireless, you pay for the new phone along with signing a two year contract, and they smile and are nice, but if you need a replacement phone because yours broke down during the warranty period, you’re out of luck. You  have wait for a used phone to be shipped from the factory.
So now that they’ve got you for two years,  Verizon doesn’t give a damn about you. Is that slimy or what.

Can you hear me now,
_______________________________________________________________

The upshot,
I got up on Saturday morning and my phone worked just fine.  Clear as bell.
After all that!

at long last

it’s over and done with,

for sale for 7 years, 6959 N Javelina has finally sold.
After starting out in 04 at $4.9m it closed yesterday as a foreclosure for
$1,850,000 off a $2.2 list. Weirder yet, it last sold in 2001 for $2.8m, in one day

For Javelina Dr fans, I wrote about it (too) often - HERE – HERE & HERE & HERE too

6959 N Javelina Tucson, AZ 85718
(listed by Santa Maria Realty)

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to find your Foothills home

a much needed high-end sale

Listed on March 31st for $1,195,000 6371 N Whaleback Place closed today for $1,119,000 ($313/sf) – Whaleback was in contract just 5 days after being listed.
 6371 N Whaleback Place Tucson, AZ 85750 (listed by Long Realty)

it was also a shot in the arm for Ventana Country Club where high-end sales have been lackluster lately - to put it mildly.

At $800,000 and up there are 20 homes for sale in Ventana with an average list price of $1,627,020 ($331/sf) – and just 3 sales in the past 6 months at an average sale price of $1,096,333.

So, given the numbers, there’s about a 40 month supply of homes at $800k and up. But, not helping matters any, there’s also a 48% gap between the average price of homes listed for sale and the price of those that are selling. A double whammy.

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to find your Foothills home

more contracts

22 homes have gone to contract in the last 7 days and 22 in 7 days is a healthy amount

And  it’s only 7 days and just 22 contracts, so it’s not earth shattering, but the average price for those 22 contracts went up, not down, to $567,186 – 30% more than the measly $434,266 it was when I last looked 8 days ago – contracts

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bidding wars

These days they’re pretty rare, but I was involved in one this weekend while representing buyers in the purchase of a home in the old Foothills.

When we started out there were two of us making offers, which was bad enough. But then at the 11th hour along came a 3rd buyer to really complicate things. And as far as I know, and I’m fairly confident about this, we were all within a few bucks of each other on the purchase price. And the winner was chosen more on the terms of their offer and how straightforward and reasonable they were in presenting it, than on price.

And I’m pleased to say we won.  And that’s largely because my buyers not only offered a good price, but they let me write a squeaky clean no nonsense offer.
And they didn’t dilly-dally about it either, they just stepped up and did it.

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to find your Foothills home

3 strikes

strike 1, bad timing, 6710 N Longfellow Drive sold for $975,000 in August 08 – on the eve of destruction. strike 2, overpriced, it was listed in Feb 2010 for $939,000. But that, of course, didn’t fly. So it was reduced and reduced, eventually to $649,000, and became, strike 3 -  a short sale, ugh, no one likes short sales – and 
by late this Feb they were out. The listing was canceled.

But just one week later it was listed as a foreclosure- ahh, everyone likes foreclosures – for, $50 thou more, $699,000 and before you know it it was in contract and closed yesterday at $645,000 - 33% off its 08 price.

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to find your Foothills home

and another contract in PC

Just 95 days on the market and 7539 N Whisper Canyon Place, listed at $1,295,000 ($300/sf), accepted an offer yesterday.

Way to go! Then again they paid $1,625,000 4 years ago. 7539 N Whisper Canyon Place Tucson, AZ 85718 (listed by Keller Williams Southern AZ)

That makes 3 in contract, and 4 sold since Jan 1, leaving 14 for sale in Pima Cyn. And while they’re not out of the woods yet, it’s a giant step forward from where things were. A couple of years ago when I wrote > what's doin' in Pima Canyon  < there were 24 homes for sale – none in contract and none sold in the prior 3+ months.   Since then 20 homes have sold in PC

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to find your Foothills home

 

finally getting serious

6494 N Ventana Canyon Drive was first listed for $2,750,000 on August 8, 2007 – within days of the mortgage market meltdown  – so for a while, no mortgages.
And forget about jumbo mortgages. No Way.

Meanwhile they reduced the price  in dribs and drabs and it was  21/2 years before it got down to $2.0mil. But by then that was too too much. And then last month they announced a new pricing game, the price would be reduced $50k every two weeks until it sold. And they dropped it $50k in mid March and another $50k on 3/30 and that was it.  No more price cuts. It stood at $1.795.

But then yesterday the listing was canceled and today it was listed with a new agent and instead of 50 thou here and 50 thou there they dropped the price 300 thou in one swoop – to $1.495 ($190/sf). 
Game over,

6494 N Ventana Canyon Drive Tucson, AZ 85750
(listed by Long Realty)

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to find your Foothills home

OUCH!

3189 E Corte De Andalucia, which sold for $1,600,000 in August 2005 – when the market was white hot – is available today for $920,000 as a short sale.
That’s in Hacienda del Sol Estates.

3189 E Corte De Andalucia Tucson, AZ 85718

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to find your Foothills home

making a comeback

4733 N Camino Antonio N was listed about a month ago for $625,000 and already 
it’s in contract.

But last time round, in July 2006, when it was a brand new spec home, it was listed at – the guaranteed to go nowhere price of - $1,150,000

and it went nowhere, until Feb 2010 when it finally sold for $562,000 as a short sale.

I saw it back in its glory days and I remember it well because it was so obviously not a million $$ house, not even close. I wrote about here > clearing out the bargain bin

But now, at $625k or thereabouts, sure.

4733 N Camino Antonio N Tucson, AZ 85718
(listed by Tierra Antigua Realty)

contracts

31 homes went to contract in the last two weeks at an average list price of $434,266

31 in contract in two weeks isn’t bad, but the $434k average price is dismal

Including the 31 in contract in the last two weeks, there are 117 homes, total, in contract at an average list of $535,466

117 in contract is also good, really good – a month ago there were 101 in contract, see > more homes are going to contract, 3/16/2011 and two months ago there were 82 in contract, see > what’s selling

but the average prices are bopping all over the place and right now they’re bopping lower

the 31 homes that went to contract in the last two weeks went at an average of $434,266
the 117 total now in contract are at $535,466
the 101 in contract a month ago were at $590,514
and the 82 in contract two months ago were at $541,340.

Yesterday I wrote that the market seemed to be losing steam. But in fact, counting  overall contracts it is not. But what’s happened is that lower priced homes are carrying the day while contracts at the mid thru upper-end are petering out.

it feels to me like the market is losing steam

and not that it was going such great guns but it was doing pretty well.

and now it suddenly feels more like a mid July than a mid April market. does anyone else sense that, and I’m talking about during the last two weeks or so

And I can’t tell for sure, because while I can pull the number of homes gone to contract in the last two weeks, I’m can’t go back 4 or 6 or 8 weeks or more and pull the # of homes that went to contract back then. That info just isn’t available. And I want to know what’s happening now, and that means contracts, not sales. Sales, because they originated weeks or even months ago, are ancient history.

So what I should do is start pulling all the new contracts every two weeks and posting it here so I can always go back and see exactly how many homes went to contract during any two week period.

an agent pal of mine suggested that maybe the crunch at the end of tax season was the cause for the slowdown ??

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to find your Foothills home

gee I wonder why they went belly up

I saw that the short sale at 6033 N Indian Trail came back on the market today after sitting around in escrow for two months - life is too short for short sales.

Anyway, the house is listed for $835,00 so I looked back to see what it sold for last time. This is in Ventana Reserve, that little boutique community north of Sunrise on Indian Trail – maybe 10 or 12 homes in there, if that, built by AF Sterling during the boom.

So I see it sold directly from AF Sterling – not thru the MLS – for $1,054,679.
I also see the mortgage was from First Magnus. And that name may ring a bell.
They were one of the first, if not the first, Arizona mortgage bankers to go belly up during mortgage meltdown that kicked off in August 2007.

Following prudent & proven industry practices, I’m sure, FM lent $976,000 as a first  and $122,900 as a second on this house - so $1,098,900 – or 104% of the purchase price.

And those loans were made on August 13, 2007, within days of the collapse of First Magnus. So these had to have been one of the very last loans they handed out, maybe with the ink not even dry as the lights were turned off.

6033 N Indian Trail  Tucson, AZ 85750

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nothin to it

3739 E Windy Point Drive was listed 3 days ago for $500k and went to contract yesterday. It last sold in 01 for $430k.

3739 E Windy Point Drive Tucson, AZ 85718
(listed by Long Realty)

that is, as long as you price it right 
4289 N Via Bellas Catalinas, which also got a contract yesterday, has been at it since February 2008. Yes, 3 long years with the occasional break for good behavior.  And for what.
It was first listed for $1,150,000 and reduced in dribs and drabs, eventually getting relisted (new agent/new broker) just 2 weeks ago and reduced to the magic $725K and, bingo, a buyer came along and signed on the dotted line.

4289 N Via Bellas Catalinas Tucson, AZ 85718
(listed by Tierra Antigua Realty)

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to find your Foothills home

the high-end market in the Tucson Foothills

So far this year the high-end market (at a million & up) has done better than it has in the recent past. We’ve had more homes go to contract & more homes sell. And I have not been timid about pointing that out. And while most of those sales were at drastically reduced prices – either as straight sales or foreclosures – we’ve also had a few that sold for more than you might expect. (or, at least, for more than I expected) So it’s been a fairly good season so far.

but, nice as that may be, the bigger picture shows cause for concern ;

there are 11 upper-end homes in contract at an average list of $1,544,347

and 12 have sold since January 1 at an average sold of $1,366,988

and if all 11 in contract sell by the end of April, a very big if, we’ll have sold almost 6 upper end homes per month.

but there are still 83 for sale at an average list of $2,055,654 (that’s 50% more than the price of those sold) and while 83 high-end homes for sale is the fewest in memory - and that’s going back to 06 or before – many of them have been on the market for 1 or 2 or more years. And quite a few are spec homes.

And if they don’t sell this season, I mean, come on, how long can you hang on,
we may see a whole new wave of even higher end foreclosures. (currently there are NO high-end foreclosures for sale in the foothills, none).

And just as the upper-end was able to hold out longer, but not forever, against foreclosure than your average home owner, the higher end, which has hung on so far, may soon begin to topple. There are still about 20 homes for sale at $2.5 & up, with very little action in the last couple of years. And more than a few are specs too.

And it’s now April 15th, sorry to bring that up, and in 4 to 6 weeks the winter/spring
high-end season will unofficially close.

Does anyone really foresee 30 or 40 high-end homes selling in the next 4 to 6 weeks. Anyone. How about in the next 4 to 6 months.

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shadow hills is doing quite nicely

There are 9 homes for sale in Shadow Hills – average list price, $488,399

And 13 homes sold in the last 6 months – average sold price, $466,962

so shadow hills is down to a very lean 4 month supply of homes

and a key factor to a harmonious marketplace, the price of homes being offered for sale and the price of homes selling is in alignment in shadow hills.
-the average list price of all homes for sale  is $488,399 -
-the average sold price of all homes sold is $466,962 – just 4.3% less than those for sale

Whereas in the foothills overall there’s a gaping gap between the price of what’s for sale and what’s selling – the average list price is $795,623 while the average sold price is just $474,420 – a whopping 40% less. How can that be? Well, that’s because lower priced homes are selling very well, and, while many higher priced homes are available for sale, relatively few are selling – propping up the average list while holding down the average sold.

That’s not the case in shadow hills where, apparently, everything is selling.

And there are also 5 homes in contract in SH.

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the summit at finger rock is clawing its way back

Listed last July for $1,195,000, 4017 E Playa De Coronado, at the Summit, went to contract today from its current $999,500 ($277/sf) list. (listed by Tierra Antigua Realty)

But it hasn’t been all hats n’ horns in the summit. Nothing sold up there for all of 2009, nothing, and the first thing to sell in 2010 didn’t sell until the very end of June - and that was an el cheapo foreclosure that went for $574,900 ($206/sf) after having sold in 06 for $970,000 – I blogged it the day it was listed > this looks like a good deal < & a day later when it went to contract > gone in a flash <

And then, outa left field, two months later 4010 E Playa De Coronado listed at $1,195,000 sold for $993,500 ($307/sf). Those buyers were brave souls. And even more surprising, with no comparable sales for eons, they were able to get a $780,000 mortgage, and from BofA no less.

But that was the end of the party for 2010. Nothing else sold until this January when 4332 E Playa De Coronado, originally listed at $1,749,000 was reduced to $1,249,000 and sold for $1,100,000 ($232/sf) as a short sale – putting another crimp in the comps.

But now with 4017 E Playa De Coronado in contract – which is not a short sale or foreclosure – there are just two one left for sale at the summit – one at $749 another and at $1,150,000 ($337/sf). Just as I was finishing up with this post the listing for $749 was also reported under contract – Hurry! 

(and yes, almost everything in the summit is on the main drag, Playa de Coronado)

4017 E Playa De Coronado Tucson, AZ 85718

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to find your Foothills home

Monday, Monday

Plenty of action in the $350 to $600k range

6 homes went to contract today,

4601 N Paseo Tubutama - Tucson, AZ 85750 – off a $397,000 list
3842 N Camino Sinuoso , Tucson, AZ 85718 – $399,500
8191 E Sabino Drive , Tucson, AZ 85750 – $425,000
4071 E Bujia Primera , Tucson, AZ 85718 – $450,000 after just 21 days
6161 N Via Jaspeada , Tucson, AZ 85718 – $550,000
4519 N Via Bellas Catalinas , Tucson, AZ 85718 – $629,000, after just 7 days
6 to contract

+ 2 sales

4930 N Bonita Ridge Avenue , Tucson, AZ 85750 sold for $550K off a $599 list
2019 E Miraval Quinto , Tucson, AZ 85718 sold for $575 off a $625 list
Bonita Ridge/Miraval Quinto SOLD

& 2 new high-end listings

In Skyline Country Club, 6702 N Los Leones Drive  Tucson, AZ 85718, sold for $825k in 04 and is back today asking $1,175,000. (listed by long Realty)

and the crème de la crème,  7391 N Finger Rock Place Tucson, AZ 85718, (listed by Russ Lyon Sotheby's Int Realty) available today for the first time for $2,995,000, joins an impressive group up in the Canyons. With Finger Rock there are now 7 homes for sale priced $1,990,000 to $9,995,000. Yet nothing has sold since July 08. But there is 1 in escrow, a foreclosure, reduced from $5.0 to $2.2 and, word is, in contract at well under $2mil. Not a pretty picture.

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to find your Foothills home

checking in with Zillow

it’s that time again, time to have another look at Zillow’s zestimates vs. real world prices – the last time I looked was last August.  (it’s been awhile, (and things are slow) so let’s check in with Zillow) And in that time Zillow may have gotten better at this zestimate thing. So let’s see.

I used the following simple criteria in selecting the homes to use for comparison;
-single family homes in the North area (the foothills) of Tucson, sold for $400,000 or more in the last 30 days. Period, no further criteria, filtering or preferences.
And just to be sure there was no cheating or preferential treatment, rest assured,
I was blindfolded during the entire process.  33 homes met the criteria and starting with home # 1 I selected every other home for inclusion in the comparison – so a total of 17 homes. That seemed like plenty.

And to be crystal clear, here is Zillow’s explanation of their Zestimate and Value Range;  A Zestimate home valuation is Zillow's estimated market value. It is not an appraisal. Use it as a starting point to determine a home's value. Learn more
The Value Range is the high and low estimate market value for which Zillow values a home. The more information, the smaller the range, and the more accurate the Zestimate. See data coverage and accuracy table

Now, ta-da, the results;

Address	SOLD for	Zestimate	Value Range
4350 N Camino Ferreo Tucson, AZ 85750	$400,000	$340,000	$279K – $374K
5921 N Placita Tecolote Tucson, AZ 85718	$410,000	$414,000	$348K – $472K
7638 E CMO AMISTOSO Tucson, AZ 85750	$420,000	$394,500	$335K – $454K
5560 N Via Velazquez Tucson, AZ 85750	$425,000	$459,000	$386K – $519K
5288 N Sunset Shadows Place Tucson, AZ 85750	$445,000	$381,000	$312K – $423K
5771 N Camino De La Sombra Tucson, AZ 85718	$510,000	$504,000	$408K – $580K
4054 N Boulder Canyon Place Tucson, AZ 85750	$535,000	$440,500	$379K – $515K
6498 E Paseo Otono Tucson, AZ 85750	$540,000	$502,500	$412K – $568K
6269 N Paseo Valdear Tucson, AZ 85750	$555,000	$597,500	$490K – $687K
5151 E Mission Hill Drive Tucson, AZ 85718	$600,000	None	None
6334 N Pinnacle Ridge Drive Tucson, AZ 85718	$715,000	None	None
6079 E Red Cardinal Tucson, AZ 85750	$715,000	$655,000	$531K – $727K
4625 N Rocky Crest Place Tucson, AZ 85750	$872,500	$668,500	$541K – $749K
7827 N Ancient Indian Drive Tucson, AZ 85718	$1,200,000	None	None
5920 N Via Serena Tucson, AZ 85750	$950,000	$884,000	$716K – $972K
3271 E CAMINO JUAN PAISANO Tucson, AZ 85718	$1,640,000	$1,146,500	$871K – $1.26M
3252 E Camino Boscaje Escondido Tucson, AZ 85718	$1,750,000	$1,106,500	$797K – $1.31M

Like it or not it’s still hit or miss with zestimates - some nice hits, but some very big misses too. And in the past I only looked at homes in the $750 and up range. And that may not have been completely fair, because it’s obvious that Zillow is much more on their game at the lower end where, generally, the homes are more alike, even cookie cutter, and getting it right is about as tricky as hitting the broad side of a barn, than they are at the higher end where everything doesn’t stack up quite so neatly.

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to find your Foothills home

beware gmail hackers

I’ve had my fill of them lately. A few months ago my gmail account was hacked and I lost all my saved emails – a couple a thousand of them, both personal & business. But thankfully I was able to recover my gmail account.

Then more recently, and for no apparent reason, I had a bout where perfectly legitimate emails were ending up in my spam folder. Which of course I didn’t discover until way too long after the fact. So if you emailed to inquire about me representing you in a mega $$$$ deal and I didn’t reply, it wasn’t me, I swear.

And today this;

> Gmail [email protected] to
[email protected]
date Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 9:11 AM
subject Email Alert

Dear Email Client,
There was a failed attempt to login into your account from a blacklisted IP.
Kindly login below Click Here <

and when I clicked Click Here I landed here;

on a page that looks exactly like a legitimate Google sign in page,
except for the address in the address bar, which- you probably can’t read - reads ; http://www.clubvanvrijdenkers.nl/logo/gmail/signon.html 
(whatever the hell clubvanvrijdenkers.nl/… is)

instead of something like this;

https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=mail&passive=true&rm=false&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fmail.google.com%

be careful, it’s no fun getting hacked,

once upon a time

someone paid $1,399,500 ($312/sf) for 6019 N Pinchot Road. And they did not waste any time either. It was listed on June 7th 2004 for $1,400,000 and was in contract 8 days later and closed 30 days after that.

Today, thanks to Morgan Stanley Mortgage, it can be yours for $899,900 ($205/sf), as a foreclosure.

6019 N Pinchot Road Tucson, AZ 85750

This may be a bargain. I don’t know I haven’t seen it. But one thing to consider if you’re looking at this house or others on the west side of Pinchot Rd is that many of them, maybe all of them, have west facing backyards. And come June, July & August from about 4:30 on, west facing backyards do a slow broil in the late afternoon sun.

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to find your Foothills home

cha-ching cha-ching - Cat 10 comps get a big boost

In the last year the 8 homes that sold in Catalina Foothills Estates 10 sold for an average of $217/sf – (with the highest $/sf at $262, then $244, $236 …

And then today - 4655 N Placita Roca Blanca sold for $318/sf – and then – moments later, 3252 E Camino Boscaje Escondido sold for $315/sf. (both Listed by Long Realty)

So in addition to blowing the doors off existing $/sf sales, Roca Blanca, which  sold for $1,465,000, is now the 3rd highest sale in Cat 10 in the last year – and Camino Boscaje Escondido, sold for $1,750,000, is the highest $$ sale since Feb 08.

PS - the sellers of Roca Blanca, who I’d guess put at least $30K+ into it since they bought it (built-ins, landscaping, etc.), paid $1,693,000 for it in June 07 –@ $368/sf.  Not out of line, not at all, in Cat 10 in the good ole days. 

The sellers of Camino Boscaje Escondido had it custom built in 08 and listed in late 09 for $2,690,000.

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another home seller bites the bullet

6079 E Red Cardinal , Tucson, AZ 85750 sold in May 05 for $960,000 and for $715,000 today. (Listed by Long Realty)

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for what it’s worth

Each month I participate in a survey of real estate agents across the country sponsored by Credit Suisse. The stated purpose is to help CS stay on top of the RE market and hopefully get a jump on where it may be headed. And now, after more than 4 years of mostly negative responses, for the first time there seems to be a glimmer of hope. Here’s the Tucson page from the latest survey results,

 

looking for a recommendation

I wonder if anyone has a recommendation for a company that does state of the art electronic home automation, including audio/video & home theatre

I appreciate it, thank you
JS

more upper-end contracts & sales

6371 N Whaleback Place, that’s in Ventana Canyon, listed just 5 days ago for $1,195,000 ($335/sf) is in contract.

Built in 2001 for the current owners, this was the maiden voyage for Whaleback.
(listed by Long Realty)

And though it was a bit tougher going, 5254 E Mission Hill Drive in Skyline Country Club also found a buyer.

Mission Hill last sold for $1.1 in 2000 and was listed in November 09 for $1,750,000. At today’s contract the asking price was $1,250,000 ($232/sf).
(Listed by Long Realty)

And making quick work of it 4625 N Rocky Crest Place, up in Canyon Ridge, went to contract after just 24 days and sold today for $872,500 off a $900,000 list price. Cash. (listed by Long Realty) (it last sold in 05 for $985,000)

Bing Bang Boom!

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March home sales, sliced & diced

The other day I mentioned that 57 single family homes sold in the Tucson Foothills in March.

And that’s a reasonable amount of sales, nothing to write home about but not terrible. And those 57 sales go from a low of $110,000 to a high of $1,660,500 – so let’s see how they break down by price range;

46 sold from $0 to $599,999 – and with 269 still for sale in that price range we’re looking at a 5.8 month supply of homes for sale. And so we can now officially declare the $0 to $599 price range as being a nice normal, balanced market. YEAH!
(a 6 month supply of homes is commonly considered a normal, balanced market)
(6 of those sold were foreclosures/3 were short sales)

8 homes sold from $600,000 to $999,999 – and with 111 remaining for sale we’re looking at, oops, nearly a 14 month supply. Definitely not a normal market. And this price range had been improving – sales were up and months supply of homes were down. Were. (0 foreclosures or short sales in this group)

and dum-da-dum-dum, 3 homes sold at $1,000,000 or more – (and 2 of them were foreclosures) and with 85 still for sale we’re at about a 28 month supply in this upper price range.(5 homes listed at a million or more actually sold, but 2 of them sold for less than a mil)- if we were feeling charitable and counted all 5 that sold we’d be looking at 17 months inventory. But also, the sales above a million topped out at $1.665, well under $2 million. And there are 22 homes for sale above $2 million.

AND, there are 11 homes in contract that are list priced at a million or more.
And 4 of them are priced above $2 mil. But just above - at $2.100, $2.120, $2.150 and $2.200. And two of those are foreclosures and one has been on the market since 2003 – seriously – so they may well go for under $2mil. Maybe well under.

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head and shoulders above the rest

The AZ Star ran an article yesterday on the 13,350 sf house in the
Canyons that’s listed for $9,995,000 – 7582 N Secret Canyon Drive Tucson, AZ 85718. (Listed by Long Realty)

 At $10M, mansion could be tough sell

‘Opulence abounds inside the home, which has 24,000 square feet under its roof. Gold-leaf accents gleam in hallways and on doorways. Antique marble brought from Europe encases fireplaces. In the foyer, a scene depicting ruins, perhaps in an ancient Roman town, has been hand-painted onto walls. Marble columns, also European antiques, …’

At $9,995,000 it’s the highest priced listing in the Foothills and also the highest in the entire Tucson metro area. By a bunch. There are just 3 homes listed above 6 million – at $6.2, at $6.5 and Secret Canyon at $9,995,000 – and we have front row seats for all three – because they’re all in the foothills.

And this is a return engagement for Secret Canyon. It was originally listed in June 2009 for $13,500,000 and held there until July 2010, when it left the market.

One other fact not mentioned in the Star article – the highest sale ever in the Tucson Foothills for a single family home listed and sold thru the Tucson MLS is $3,800,000. And two homes sold at that exact price. But that’s it, nothing higher. (there were a few other higher priced sales elsewhere in the Tucson area – the highest was a $4.950 sale at Saguaro Ranch – which otherwise and despite all the hoopla, never got off the ground, at least not as planned)

And while I can’t be absolutely sure of the thinking and impetus for building Secret Canyon, or the other super-luxe homes for sale in the foothills, given the timing of their construction, it’s obvious the plans for many of them were hatched during the boom with the expectation of raising the bar ever higher. What’s the plan now.

see thefoothillsToday.com
to find your Foothills home

single family home sales in the Tucson Foothills

57 homes sold this March for an average of $489,556 ($162/sf)

Last March 71 sold for an average of $558,571 ($185/sf)

March 2009, 42 sold for an average of $522,964 ($181/sf)

March 2008, 51 sold for an average of $676,043 ($232/sf)

March 2007, 61 sold for an average of $729,407 ($235/sf)

So while sales are more or less holding their own, average sale prices are down
33% from 2007

 

And taking a longer view and looking at sales for this years 1st quarter -
145 homes sold in the Tucson Foothills for an average of $464,851

Jan thru March last year 143 sold for an average of $558,815

In 2009, 109 sold for an average of $530,765

2008, 124 sold for an average of $715,687

2007, 140 sold for an average of $683,288

So pretty much the same story, sales are doing fairly well, but only on the backs of drastically reduced home prices.

see thefoothillsToday.com
to find your Foothills home

Alta Vista spec – yet to be completed - goes to contract

On the market just 86 days, 6101 N Paseo Zaldivar is reported under contract from a 2,150,000 ($362/sf) list price. (listed by Long Realty)

On a 1.1 acre lot/5,935 sf/5 Beds-5.5 Baths/pool-spa/4 car/to be completed in late spring

That’s the first spec in many moons to go to contract prior to completion – Congratulations!

see thefoothillsToday.com
to find your Foothills home