From WSJ.com
By ANYA MARTIN
Jumbo Mortgage Rates Lower Than Expected
Experts predicted a big upswing in jumbo interest rates this spring, but rates have remained fairly low.
For jumbo borrowers, April hasn't been the cruelest month after all.
Six months ago, some mortgage experts were predicting a tougher spring for borrowers of jumbo mortgages—loans above $417,000 in most parts of the country and $625,500 in some high-price areas. After record-low jumbo interest rates last spring, rates were expected to climb this year.
But the reality has been brighter: Interest rates for jumbo mortgages remain lower than previously expected for 2014 and are likely to stay stable for the next few months, experts say.
Jumbo rates for 30-year fixed loans averaged 4.46% between March 21 and April 18, according to HSH.com, a publisher of mortgage and consumer loan information. That is higher than a historic low of 3.95% for the same period a year ago, but the second-lowest average rate in the past 10 years. Rates in this spring period skyrocketed as high as 7.23% in 2008.
Low, stable rates are an especially bright spot for high-end home buyers, as prices have continued to climb, says Mike Fratantoni, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Continue reading - Jumbo Mortgage Rates Lower
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From WSJ.com
By SANETTE TANAKA
Discounts for Homes Above $20 Million
There's often a big gap between asking price and sale price at the highest end of the real-estate market.
**(reduce the $20mil figure to $2mil+ to reflect our Catalina Foothills highest-end of the market)
Want to find a home at a big discount? Look for one priced above $20 million.
At the top echelon of the market, agents struggle to pinpoint the right listing price when the usual pricing methods—using comparable properties and assessing land and space—fall short. The result: Pricing at the top tier can be a guessing game, and often sellers ultimately settle for far less than their asking price.
An enormous amount of discounting occurs in the $20 million-and-above listings market. The median sale-to-list price ratio is 0.72—a steep drop from the sale-to-list ratio of homes nationwide, which hasn't dropped below 0.95 since January 2009, according to an analysis by real-estate website Zillow. Zillow examined homes originally listed for more than $20 million that eventually sold. Since January 2008, only 210 homes fit the bill.
"You're in this rarefied space at this price point—one where fundamental value is really hard to ascertain so agents and homeowners are left to put a marker in the sand and see who comes," says Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow.
Continue reading - Discounts for Homes Above $20 Million
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OK, so now we know that we’re not alone, that pie-in-the-sky prices are in vogue in other cool places too, like NY, LA, …
So just for the fun of it let’s see how our %’s stack up against their %’s.
Looking at all the homes that were listed for $2mil and UP and sold since Jan 1, 2013
(all 5, that is) in the foothills, here’s what our %’s look like.
This is not exactly apples/apples since theirs are median #’s for many homes and ours are exact #’s for individual homes. Nevertheless, the takeaway is loud and clear.
| Property | Original List $$ | Sold $$ | %/Sold to List price |
| 3705 Old Sabino Cyn Rd | $3,300,000 | $1,700,000 | 52% |
| 6921 E Rock Ledge Pl | $2,495,000 | $1,900,000 | 76% |
| 2102 E Desert Garden Dr | $4,199,000 | $2,500,000 | 59% |
| 7557 N Secret Canyon Dr | $5,500,000 | $3,700,000 | 67% ** |
| 8375 E Canyon Side Rd | $6,900,000 | $3,411,450 | 49% |
**list price at time of sale was $3.5 and the final sale included an additional 3 acre parcel that was not included in the listing – hence the over list price sale and a higher %SP/LP than would have been the case.
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And finally, a little lite reading to relieve the strain and stress as you plot and peruse the listings for a weekend of house looking in the Foothills.
From NYTimes.com
By MICHELLE HIGGINS
The Million-Dollar Manhattan Apartment
(in a nutshell)
“Below a million is like a dying breed,” said Jonathan J. Miller, the author of Elliman’s report and the president of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel.
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see TheFoothillsToday.com
to find your Catalina Foothills Home
