The Catalina Foothills

moving forward

I'm pleased to report that my new web site is up and running and available at the same address; > www.TheFoothillsToday.com <

All of the home searches, including the Custom Search, the Quick Searches and Search By Subdivision are working nicely, as are most of the other links.

 Just Listed/Sold & Reduced is not quite there yet and will come online early next week. And while I’m sure there are a few other, as yet, undiscovered glitches, all the important stuff is there and ready to go.

If you had searches saved on my  old site you can recreate them on the new site and receive email updates of newly listed homes and price reduced homes that meet your criteria.

I hope this new site works well for you and I look forward to your comments, questions and suggestions.

Thank you,

John Schneider

see the new - thefoothillsToday.com
to find your Tucson Foothills home

making a move

Today I’m moving from Long Realty to Tierra Antigua Realty. I've been with Long Realty for 10 very good years, but I now feel that Tierra Antigua will be a better fit for me going forward.

And because of the move my current web site - thefoothillstoday.com - will no longer function. However, a new web site is in the works and should be up and running later today or tomorrow. It will still be available at the same domain >  http://www.thefoothillstoday.com < and will continue to offer the easiest and most complete searches and information for Tucson Foothills homes. The searches and search results will come directly from the Tucson Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service (Flex MLS).

I’m sorry for the inconvenience this will undoubtedly cause you, and please don’t hesitate to contact me if you would like my help making the transition to the new site.

This blog will also continue to be available at > www.thetucsonfoothills.com < though it too will soon sport a new look.

I look forward to my association with Tierra Antigua and the resources and opportunities it offers to best serve my clients.

John Schneider

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out of the blue

It’s been 56 days since the last contract for a home listed at $1million+ and today we have not one but two $1million+ homes going to contract. And they couldn’t be more different.

In Pima Canyon, 2004 E DESERT GARDEN Drive, a sleek contemporary, listed at $1,349,000 found a buyer. 2004 E DESERT GARDEN Drive Tucson, AZ 85718 (listed by Long Realty)

And at the other end of the foothills, and the other end of the spectrum, on 19 acres near Sabino Cyn Rd and River Rd, ''Casas de las Rosas'', a 1954 built Tucson Classic at 3705 N Old Sabino Canyon Road, listed at $2,200,000, also found that certain someone.
3705 N Old Sabino Canyon Road Tucson, AZ 85750 (listed by  Russ Lyon Sotheby's Int Realty)

You never know,

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Required reading for buyers and sellers and their agents

From NYTimes.com
By ROBIN FINN

How Fights Over Fixtures Can Derail a Closing

Even at their smoothest, residential real estate closings are not for the faint of heart. At stake is nothing less than the roof over the buyer’s head, but the repercussions can be primal when, just before the culmination of a deal worth hundreds of thousands or, in many instances, millions of dollars, weeks of negotiations unravel when the buyer and seller suddenly squabble over who gets custody of something as inconsequential as a $150 ceiling fan. “It’s the real estate version of road rage,” said Paula Del Nunzio of Brown Harris Stevens.

There is a chronic dynamic at work here. Sellers are wary of having parted too cheaply with a profound investment, their residence. Buyers are leery of having paid too dearly and often are already punch-drunk from the trauma of the financial frisking endured during co-op board inquisitions or mortgage applications.

With the stage preset for regret and recrimination, and with lawyers at the ready to advocate in different directions at the drop of a dollar sign, nothing brings the process to a screeching standstill like a quibble over an inanimate item — a dusty chandelier, a sputtering air-conditioner, a wobbly Ikea shoe rack — that incomprehensibly assumes trophy status in the calculations of both buyer and seller.

“Closings are such a heightened emotional event,” said Lindsay Barton Barrett of the Corcoran Group. But their immediate prelude can be just as hazardous. “You can literally have a multimillion-dollar deal fall apart at the last minute, in my case over a dining-room table,” she recalled.

Read all about it,
How Fights Over Fixtures Can Derail a Closing 

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ta-da

It’s true, it’s finally over and done with, 6831 N Skyway Drive in Vista De Las Candelas has sold. On and off the market since 2008 when it debuted at $1,400,000 it sold today as a foreclosure for $745,000. And lucky to get that, in my  opinion, and also Zillow’s who predicted it would go for $689,718.

For the blow by blow, see > raising prices

6831 N Skyway Drive  Tucson, AZ 85718
(listed by Prudential Arizona Properties)

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in contract last week, 8/12 – 8/18

From Monday August 12th through Sunday August 18th 19 single family homes went to contract in the Tucson Foothills - an improvement from last week.

15 were priced from $249,500 to $599,000
4 went from $650,000 to $979,000
and, once again, that’s it.

The numbers for the previous week are HERE

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to find your Catalina Foothills home

another good sale on Sabino Mountain

though not quite as good as the sellers had hoped for.

4222 N Quail Canyon Drive sold in 2004 as a brand new spec home for $655,000 ($197/sf). And two years later they sold it (and made out like bandits) for $1,125,000 ($338/sf) – apparently, a 72% increase in two years didn’t seem out of line to the buyers -  though it wasn’t all pure profit, the sellers did put in a lovely pool and spa.

And having made that tidy investment, when it came time for them to sell – in October 2012 – they listed it for $1,185,000 – $60k more that they paid at the height of the market - and it sold yesterday for $844,000 ($231/sf). Which does seem about right. 4222 N Quail Canyon Drive , Tucson, AZ 85750 (listed by Long Realty) -

UPDATE; it has come to my attention that the owners who bought the house in 06 for $1,125,000 (and sold it yesterday for $844k) put more money into it by adding a casita and doing a full update of the interior, thereby justifying, they hoped, the 2012 list price of $1,185,000. Unfortunately, the market saw it differently. And Zillow, if it were up them it would have sold for $776,438

That aside, Sabino Mountain appears to be back in business > on the comeback trail

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not in the Tucson Foothills, not yet anyway

According to the following article in WSJ.com, national home prices are now just 7.3% off their 2006 peak.

From WSJ.com
By Josh Mitchell

Home prices are continuing to rise at a brisk pace. The median price of previously owned homes sold in July was $213,500, up 13.7% from a year ago, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. That leaves prices just 7.3% below their 2006 peak of $230,400. Prices have risen year over year for 17 consecutive months. The rise reflects stronger demand for homes thanks to low interest rates and tight inventory.

Read all about it,
Vital Signs: Median Home Price Just 7.3% Off 2006 Record

Their Chart,

Our Chart,

 

It’s true that home prices in the Tucson Foothills have also begun to recover, but it’s only just begun this year. And unlike the national figures quoted by WSJ, (just 7.3% off their 2006 peak) as of this July we are still well below our 2006 peak.
2006 – $547,500 vs. July 2013 - $410,000, 25% below.

But also consider that we’ve blown the doors off 2006 in the number of homes sold from 
Jan 1 – July 31.    532 sold 2006 – 601 this year.
So rejoice, and hurry, if you’re a buyer, but the future looks promising for sellers too.
Prices are not going rise everywhere else but not here in the foothills. Nah, not gonna happen.

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paving the way to an easy sale

In a reversal what often happens the most expensive house on the block has sold.
6250 N Via Jaspeada in Village 1 At the Villages of La Paloma sold today for $520,000 ($238/sf) after just 15 days, from a $574,600 list price - the only home sold in here this year. It’s 2181 sf, built in 2002 and like all the homes in Village 1 it was built by A.F Sterling.

And right up the street there are two other homes, same size, same or very similar floor plan, same age, also built by A.F Sterling, and they’re also for sale, and listed for quite a bit less. One is at $429,000 ($197/sf) and has been on the market for 58 days, the other is (now) at $487,500 ($226/sf) for 375 days – though until this month it had been at  $674,000 – dream on.

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one way to thin out the herd

In Pima Canyon 7598 N Mystic Canyon Drive, listed for $999,999, was canceled today after 137 DOM. It last sold in Feb 2010 for $875,000, so could that be it? (listed by Long Realty)

And 5453 N Camino Real, listed for $1,249,000, also called it quits today after 109 days. (listed by Long Realty)

Those are not extraordinarily long days on market, not for that price range anyway, so I wonder if it has something to do with a lack of activity, you know, hardly any showings. Sitting around with your house all prepped and tidy and ready for showings is no fun if you’re not getting any showings. And at that price range there are many others in the same boat, but now 2 fewer. 

The last contract for a home listed at $1million+ was June 30th.

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what’s the score

There’s lull in real estate activity at the moment, the moment being the month of August, so, to fill the gap, here’s a look at YTD sales for this year vs. the same period last year for single family homes sold in the Catalina Foothills.

Last Year;
529 total Sold at average/median - $461,152/$368,000 in an average of 128 days on market
425 sold from $0 to $599,999
72 sold from $600,000 to $999,999
32 sold from $1,000,000 & UP

This Year;
590 total Sold at average/median – $467,799/$396,350 in an average of 98 days on market
468 sold from $0 to $599,999
97 sold from $600,000 to $999,999
25 sold from $1,000,000 & UP

The Score;
sales are up 11.5% overall this year
sales from $0 to $599,999 are up 10%
sales at $600,000 to $999,999 are up 34%
and sales at $1,000,000+ are down 22%

average/median sold prices are up 1.4% & 7.7% respectively, and days on market are down 23%.

An improvement from last year, for sure, but not the frenzy and wildly escalating prices being tossed around by the national media either.

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something for everyone

more elegant, luxurious and formal than your usual foothills digs, 6580 N Regal Manor Drive was listed for $998,000 and sold for $998,000 in 33 days.

and the breakfast area,

And not a spec of saltillo, no hand carved wood beams or corbels and, God forbid, not a talavera tile to be found.

6580 N Regal Manor Drive , Tucson, AZ 85750
(listed by Long Realty)

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a tough sale

Update – forget about what I wrote down below, 7200 E Desert Moon Loop was in contract for all of 3 hours and 35 minutes and is now back on the market. Oy!

The other day I mentioned that 7200 E Desert Moon Loop was back on the market for $799,000, after having been on and off since it debuted in 08 at $1,695,000. And just like that, today it’s in contract.

The buyers made out. But having paid $1,280,000 for it in 03 the current owners are going to take a real beating. And I’m not sure why it’s been so tough to sell. It’s very well built, a Mike Wachs masonry stucco Sante Fe with oodles of handcrafted wood beams and cabinets.
It looked good on the internet and in the MLS, nice pictures, etc. And current prices in the foothills are well beyond where they were in 03, and the last time I saw it the house appeared to be in reasonably good shape, so it’s a mystery to me.

Are Sante Fe’s, or 2 story homes, less desirable now than they were then? It was on for a year from May 2012 to April 2013 at $899,000 and $875,000, and nothing. I give.

7200 E Desert Moon Loop , Tucson, AZ 85750
(listed by Long Realty)

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in contract last week, 8/5 – 8/11

From Monday August 5th through Sunday August 11th just 13 single family homes went to contract in the Tucson Foothills. A low for 2013, but it’s August and that’s how it goes.

10 were priced from $195,900 to $599,900
then 1 each at $600,000, $679,000 & $839,000
and that’s it!

The numbers for the previous week are HERE

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take a guess, what’s your home worth

go ahead, everyone else is

Here’s the list price (the listing agent and owners guess) vs. the actual sold price vs. Zillow’s Zestimate and Trulia’s estimate for homes that recently sold in the Tucson Foothills.

Priced from the not very high high to low;

7605 E Crested Saguaro Tucson, AZ 85750 a short sale listed at $900,000, it sold for $925,000 (after 5 years) Zillow - $1,037,476. Trulia - $1,098,000.

6083 N Pinnacle Ridge Drive Tucson, AZ 85718 sold for $851,000 (after 5 days from a  $849,000 list)  Zillow - $828,852 vs. Trulia - $758,000

6931 N Montezuma Drive Tucson, AZ 85718 sold for $815,000 ($825,000 list in 4 days)
The big Z low-balled it at  $695,003 & Trulia did them one worse at $656,000

4701 E Camino La Brinca , Tucson, AZ 85718 sold for $607,000 ($649,900 list in 107 days)
Zillow liked this house more than the market did, they called it at $682,380. And Trulia had nothing to say about La Brinca.

4672 N Via Zurburan Tucson, AZ 85750 sold for $520,000 off a $595,000 list in 282 days
Zillow was awfully close at  $506,623 and, once again, nothing from Trulia.

6620 N Catalina Avenue , Tucson, AZ 85718 sold for $497,000 (from a $497,000 list) in 4 days
Zillow pegged it at $450,212 vs. Trulia  at $467,000 (when I saw this house I guessed it would go for over list, and with a little more time I still think it would have)

6605 N Saint Andrews Drive , Tucson, AZ 85718 sold for $430,000 (list $500,000) in 38 days
Bingo! $438,575 from Z vs. $463,000 from T

6521 N Altos Tercero Tucson, AZ 85718 sold for $460,000 from a $489,000 list in 398 days
Zillow has the specs wrong on this house – they call it a 944 sf condo and price it at $127,914 ( it’s actually a 2911 sf single family) & Trulia had nothing to say about Altos Tercero.

5276 N Via Velazquez , Tucson, AZ 85750 sold for $443,000 from a $449,900 list in 93 days
Zillow - $453,411 vs. $436,000 for Trulia

5142 N Placita Solitaria , Tucson, AZ 85750 sold for $427,000 from a $439,000 list in 68 days Zillow called it at $382,759 & Trulia at $393,000

6307 E Paseo Otono , Tucson, AZ 85750 sold for $405,000 from a $419,000 list in 10 days
At $403,892 a bulls eye for Zillow vs. a low-low-ball of $337,000 from Trulia

7510 E Placita Ventana Hayes Tucson, AZ 85750 (a short sale) went for list price $415,000 in 33 days. Zillow jumped the gun and priced it as a foreclosure at $387,577 - $43,065 below zestimate of $430,642. And not a word from T.

It looks to me that , for this round anyway, the  owners and their listing agents were more on target than either Zillow or Trulia - with Zillow coming in 2nd and Trulia a distant 3rd.

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was $1,695,000, is now $799,000

7200 E Desert Moon Loop, a Mike Wachs Sante Fe, sold in 2003 for $1,280,000 and was listed in 2008 for $1,695,000. Needless to say, that didn’t fly and it’s been on and off the market ever since.

And it’s back on today, now asking $799,000 ($169/sf), definitely on the cheap side for Ventana Canyon Estates. And if you like that Sante Fe style this one has it in spades.

7200 E Desert Moon Loop Tucson, AZ 85750
(listed by Long Realty)

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on the comeback trail

4147 N Sabino Mountain Drive went to contract today listed at $979,000 after 60 days on the market. And that’s pretty quick for an almost $1,000,000 contract in the dregs of summer.

But Sabino Mountain has had a few good sales this year, which it sorely needed. Last week the short sale on Crested Saguaro, which had been on the market for an eternity, finally closed for $925,0000, and in April someone plunked down $1,374,000 for 4187 N Sabino Mountain Drive, more $$$ than anything sold up there since early 2008. Plus a couple of sales in the low $800’s. VS. all of 2012 when the highest sale was $610,000, and $675,000 in 2011.

4147 N Sabino Mountain Drive , Tucson, AZ 85750
(listed by Russ Lyon Sotheby's Int Realty)

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this house has seen it all

5441 E Corte Vista Montanosa first sold in 2003 as a brand new spec home for $529,000, 
and in 07, at the tail end of the boom, it sold for $800,000. Then in the depths of the bust, in June 2010, it sold as a short sale for $550,000.

And four days ago it was listed for $599,000, and it’s in contract.

3200 sf/5 beds/3.5 baths/pool/3 car/1 story/gated community/Dist 16 schools/ a lot of house for the $$.

5441 E Corte Vista Montanosa Tucson, AZ 85718
(listed by Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage)

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a slow weekend for Tucson Foothills real estate

and rather than try and make something of nothing, here are some links to what’s going on in the wider world of real estate.

Should Home Sellers Overprice or Underprice Real-Estate Listings?
WSJ.com

Mortgage Delinquencies Hit Five-Year Low
WSJ.com

The Baddest House on the Block
WSJ.com

Did You Miss Your Chance to Make a Real-Estate Killing?
WSJ.com

Rapid home price gains will slow
CNNMoney.com

Hip, Urban, Middle-Aged
WSJ.com

Homes are still getting scarcer relative to the number of people living here
ABC15.com

10 mortgage facts you may be wrong about
YahooHomes.com

85718 & 85750 Home Prices and Home Values
Zillow.com

Here's How To Win A Real Estate Bidding War
Business Insider

5 Real Estate Rules of Thumb: Fact or Fiction?
Business Insider

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it’s August

and August is usually the slowest of the slow summer months, and while this August is noticeably slower than June & July, it’s not dead.

Today’s just the 8th and already we’ve had 14 contracts, and they’re evenly spaced  from $195,000 to $979,000

and 15 sales for $173,000 to $925,000, though not quite as evenly spaced – 13 were from $173 to $520, then one each at $815 and $925. But still,

and two listings in the 7 figure dead zone, at $1,299,000 & $3,500,000, called it quits - I’m guessing because the silence of the 7 figure market has been so very loud and clear.

But it’s August, kids are back at school and most parents with school age kids have already made their moves. And empty nesters are off vacationing in cooler climes while the rest of us are stuck here with a dry monsoon season, in the foothills anyway, I hear it’s rained almost everywhere around us.

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in Shadow Hills

a new listing at 802 E Placita De Roberta, at 3800 sf a Sensational family home (as noted in the listing), and at $722,000 ($190/sf) - comfortably in the strike zone for Shadow Hills. Which continues to outsell much of the competition in the Foothills.

5 for sale in Shadow Hills

5 in contract

13 sold in the last 6 months

=  2.3 months MOI

Hurry!

802 E Placita De Roberta  Tucson, AZ 85718
(listed by Tierra Antigua Realty)

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in contract for the last 2 weeks, 7/22 – 8/4

I somehow missed the week of 7/22 – 7/28, so here it is along with last week 7/29 – 8/4

From Monday July 22nd through Sunday August 4th  37 single family homes went to contract
in the Tucson Foothills.

35 were priced from $179,900 to $570,000
then 1 each at $799,000 and $825,000
and that’s it!

happy times if you’re selling up to about $600k, but other than that …

Meanwhile, during that time there were 64 new or newly relisted listings , including 5 from $1,295,000 to $1,850,000. Hope springs eternal.

At $1.0+ we’re still where we were 2 weeks ago, nowhere - The last contract for $1.0 or more was in the week of June 24th, and that one just squeaked in at $1,085,000.

The numbers from 2 weeks ago are HERE

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extreme short sales

Up on Sabino Mountain 7605 E Crested Saguaro sold in 2004 as brand spanking new spec house for $1,030,543. And three years later it was listed for the ‘promise them anything’ price of $2,195,000.

And I can’t imagine why but no one jumped at that price and it’s been on and off, but mostly on, the market ever since, and dropping in price along the way. Then sometime in 2011 it became a short sale listed at $980,000 (tax records show a mortgage of $1,171,500) and went to contract a couple of times – once with a buyer I was representing – but after months of waiting and not a peep from mr lender buyers tend to lose interest and cancel their contracts. And they did.

Then it dropped to $900,000 and buyer #3 came along and put it in contract, and had the
stick-to-itiveness to hang in there. That was last March, March 2012, where it’s been ever since. And today, just 17 months later, it’s reported as Pending - indicating that everything has been agreed to and it’s on it’s way to COE. Any day now.

7605 E Crested Saguaro  Tucson, AZ 85750
(listed by Tierra Antigua Realty)

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July Home Sales in the Tucson Foothills are through the roof

96 homes sold in July, that’s more than any other month going back to January 2011, and it dwarfs last July’s 65 sales.

through the roof may sound like exaggeration, but we hit the roof in 2005 - the white hottest year for home sales in the foothills – and in July 05 93 homes sold. In July 06, 66 sold. 

And sold prices, they’re up there too, not a record but in the top 5 since January 2012. 

 

Let’s see where that puts us for January thru July, this year and last.

2012 – 502 sales @ $462,230/$367,500

2013 – 573 sales @ $467,761/$393,000

So YTD sales are up 14% and prices are up a teensy 1+ % average and a not so teensy 6.9% median. Not bad.

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it couldn’t last, and it didn’t

In June I wrote about 6620 N Catalina Avenue and, yes, said it couldn’t last.

Listed at $497,000, it was a super-duper deal, it went in 4 days and closed today for $497,000.

If you’re lucky enough to come across a house like this, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, you have to act quickly and make an impressive offer if you expect to have a chance of getting it. Or someone else will.

6620 N Catalina Avenue Tucson, AZ 85718
(listed by Long Realty)

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