The Catalina Foothills

the market goes up, the market goes down

4407 N Sabino Mountain Drive, a 2003 built southwest contemporary on Sabino Mountain sold for $660,000 in 2003. And just 3 years later, in February 2006, it sold again, this time for $1,060,000.  Whoopee!, same house, same views, but a vey different market.

In 2010, in yet another different market, it was listed for $1,125,000, but try as they might it failed to sell and they packed in after 5 months.

Then In April 2014, in yet another market, it was listed for $835,000 and eventually dropped to $750,000 and sold today for $695,000.

4407 N Sabino Mountain Drive , Tucson, AZ 85750

Zillow zestimates it at $754,403 and has not yet recorded the sale.

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same old, same old story

We have 3 markets here in the Catalina Foothills,

the under $600k market, which is on fire, the $600k to $999k market, which is putting up a pretty good fight to stay afloat, and the $1million+ market, which is doing practically nothing. 

Yet, oddly enough, there’ve been very few, very few, price cuts at $1million+. Sellers in that price are stickin’ to their guns, because, apparently, they can afford to and are in no rush. But it’s not January, it’s the end of March, there are 103 homes for sale at $1.0+, very few are moving and the temperatures are already creeping into the 90’s. Before you know it, kaput, the season will be over and done with.   

Check out the Market Snapshot for a snapshot of our 3 markets.

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to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home

what’s happening in Catalina Foothills subdivisions, part 2

Catalina Foothills Estates 10
Guard gated, homes on 1.3 acre or larger lots, built from the late 80’s into the 2000’s, many on private hilltops with city or/and mountain views.
10 for sale from $650,000 to $1,995,000 – with the avg/med list at $1,099,845/$1,032,500
just 1 in contract, but it’s a biggie, listed at $1,695,000 ($344/sf)
1 sold since January 1st at  $725,000 for a whopping 30 months of inventory along with a gaping gap in prices between listed & sold.

And this comes after a good 2014 when 11 homes sold from $682,000 to $1,560,000 at an avg/med of $988,409/$975,000. It’s only the end of March so there’s still time, but there’s no denying, this is slow start.

Villages of Ventana
Just east of Kolb Rd and south of Sunrise Dr, it’s a very family friendly community, and one of the very few with sidewalks, homes built in the 90’s on smaller lots but usually large enough for a decent size backyard and maybe even a pool. And 2 minutes to the retail plaza at Kolb & Sunrise to the west and to Sabino Canyon recreation area to the east. And District 16 schools. 4 for sale from $360,000 to $419,500 at avg/med of $387,100/$384,450
0 in contract
just 1 sold since Jan 1 for $350,700. Also off to a slow start, but being a family community the buying action tends to pick up toward the end of the school year. 

Sabino Mtn
Hilltop location, often with great views, a broad mix of homes priced from the $300’s to $1,500,000 or more, all built in the 2000’s, gated,
9 for sale from $325,000 to $1,499,000 avg/med $896,889/ $865,000
2 in contract at $750 & $875,000
3 sold since Jan 1 from $365 to $640,000 avg/med $502,500/$502,500
= 9 months inventory but with a strong preference for lower priced homes 

Pinnacle Ridge
all the homes built in the 2000’s, all built by A.F. Sterling, lots approx 1/2 acre +/-, one and two story homes, very popular with families, very convenient to the retail plaza at Swan & Sunrise and Catalina Foothills high school, some homes with good mountain views, gated.
1 for sale at $849,000
1 in contract at $779,000
1 sold since Jan 1 at $630,000
Except for during the worst of the RE bust Pinnacle has had high demand and low supply. Location, nicely built and appointed newer homes, district 16, the 21st century version of Shadow Hills

the Canyons
Ultra-luxe, guard gated, tucked away at the highest reaches of the Catalina Foothills and with some the highest prices too.
5 for sale from $2,245,000 to $7,900,000
0 in contract
0 sold this year.
Average cumulative days on the market for the 5 for sale is 781 days, tick-tock
but, 2 did sell last year at $2,175,000 & $3,700,000.

 La Paloma CC 
In the last 12 years La Paloma has spread its wings and been developed beyond its original borders, which included the subdivisions of La Paloma Ridge Estates, Las Palomitas, Paloma del Sol and Vista Serena on the north side of Sunrise Dr and La Paloma Estates on the south side. And that was it.

That is, until the early 2000’s when AF Sterling stepped in and developed La Paloma, a long single street, Placita Pajaro, that juts north just past the entrance to La P on the north side of Sunrise. And at about the same time, on a large tract of land on south side of Sunrise, they developed the Villages 1, 2, 4 & 5 at La Paloma. And they sold like wild fire. And for good reason, there was nothing else like it in the foothills. Nothing, with new, well built homes in a super convenient, central foothills location on small, easy care lots in a guard-gated community, and all with the name La Paloma, which couldn't hurt.

OK, big build up, let’s see if it lives up to it.
Looking at the more recently developed areas - La Paloma and the Villages 1,2, 4 & 5.
10 for sale from $399,000 to $734,999 at avg/med of $548,680/$539,450
2 in contract at $399,950 & $529,000
2 sold since Jan 1 at $460,000 & $530,000
= 15 months of inventory. Not so far, it doesn’t. But at least list & sold prices are fairly inline.

And the original sections of La P, the Ridge Estates, etc. on the north side and La Paloma Estates on the south.
15 for sale from $300,000 to $1,300,000  avg/med is $800,083/$799,000 
4 in contract from $495,000 to $965,000 avg/med is  $727,500/$725,000
4 sold since Jan 1 from OOOPS! $278,000 to $695,000 with an avg/med of $407,500/$328,500
= 11 months of inventory and, to boot, a gaping gap in list v. sold prices

Part 1 is HERE 

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in contract last week, 3/16 – 3/22

From Monday March 16th through Sunday March 22nd, finally a big fat week, 32 homes went to contract in the Catalina Foothills of Tucson, AZ.

22 were priced from $118,000 to $575,000 – a big jump here
9 from $650,000 to $975,000 – and a big jump here
1 at $1,695,000 – and one juicy contract here, but that’s it - while 104 remain for sale.

The biggest week in months, no, not months, make that the biggest week in years.
Just for the fun of it I checked the weekly numbers back to September 2013 and nothing comes close, so I gave up. 

The report for the previous week is HERE

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to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home

 

Open Houses today in the Catalina Foothills

There’s no better way to have an easy, pressure free look at some of the homes for sale than visiting an Open House

Click HERE to see all the Open Houses listed in the Tucson MLS

 

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to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home

the pedal to the metal in Foothills Clusters

The other day I noted that Foothills Clusters had “…a perfect 6 months inventory - which is going to quickly drop as the 7 homes in contract sell. This is the market that’s driving the foothills real estate bus. HONK HONK!! “

And since then three homes that were in contract have sold, leaving FC with a squeaky tight 2.4 months of inventory – an enviable record of  4 for sale, 5 in contract and 10 sold in the last 6 months.

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“…the top end of the luxury real estate market is boooming like never before”

The Race to the $100 Million Spec House
Developers aim for new highs—and high prices—for speculatively built homes

No not here, where we’re struggling to unload homes at $1 - $2 million, but in, where else, 
LA and Florida. Location, location …

From WSJ.com

When Shelly and Avi Osadon set out to build their dream house on a hillside lot in Beverly Hills, Calif., they commissioned a custom chandelier with 25 handblown glass balls for the entryway. They installed $5,000 “hands-free” toilets with heated seats in most of the home’s 10 bathrooms. They even bought $350 electric toothbrushes custom designed by “dentist to the stars” Jon Marashi.

Now all the Osadons need to do is find someone who wants to buy their dream—ideally for their $35 million asking price.

More developers and investors are racing to build increasingly lavish homes on spec. Built on prime lots with master suites larger than most homes and spas and entertainment spaces comparable with those in hotels, many of these homes are also attempting to break new price records.

This one is expected to be listed at $200 million.

In Hillsboro Beach, Fla.,north of Fort Lauderdale, a yet-to-be-built 30,000-square-foot estate with subterranean parking for 20 cars is seeking $45 million. That is nearly triple the cost of the most expensive sale in the town to date, a property nearby that sold for $17 million last year. Another home, listed for $36 million in Golden Beach, Fla., north of Miami, has a 5,000-square-foot spa and five kitchens. And in Los Angeles, a $55 million spec home with expansive city views includes an air-conditioned “auto gallery” with a spinning turntable and room for 15 cars.

“Everybody wants new,” says Carmen D’Angelo, the listing agent for the Hillsboro Beach home. “If I had five or six more of these, I’d sell six more.”

Real-estate agents say the surge reflects an ultraluxury housing market that is at an all-time high, fed in part by overseas buyers and house hunters looking to invest in trophy properties.

Read all about it; 
The Race to the $100 Million Spec House

 

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to find your very own Catalina Foothills Spec Home

big contract today in Cat 10

A spec home listed at $1,695,000 ($343/sf) - that I’d mentioned HERE  when it first hit the market last May – is now in contract.

And if you’re keeping score, which at this point is pretty easy, since this is just the 2nd contract since February 5th at $1million+,  2 down 105 to go

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in contract last week, 3/9 – 3/15

From Monday March 9th through Sunday March 15th just 17 single family homes went to contract in the Catalina Foothills of Tucson, AZ.

11 were priced from $165,000 to $525,000
5 from $625,000 to $875,000
1 at $1,295,000

While the overall number to contract is pretty puny, at least we’re seeing some activity above $600k, and one at $1.295, well, one is better than none.

The average/median list price of the 17 contracts is $515,112/$439,000
The average/median list price of the 495 homes still for sale is $827,283/$619,000
- at median list, the homes for sale are priced 40% higher than those going to contract

See the Market Snapshot figures for a glimpse of market activity broken down by price range.

The report for the previous week is HERE

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to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home

what’s happening in Catalina Foothills subdivisions, part 1

Let’s start with a classic, the ever popular Shadow Hills. Popular because of it’s excellent foothills location and larger lots with a variety of home sizes and styles and quiet meandering streets where kids and grownups feel safe walking, biking and gathering. And prices that aren’t off the charts. And it’s in District 16.
14 homes for sale at an avg/med list of $557,986/$542,000
3 in contract at $481,000/$499,000
7 sold in last 6 months at $512,429/$439,000
= a heavy load of 12 months inventory – good for buyers, difficult for sellers

And for something a little different, the Villages 2, 4 and 5 at the Villages of La Paloma, also a very popular spot, though newer homes on small lots and usually with a different clientele than Shadow Hills.
7 homes for sale at an avg/median list price of $532,971/$539,000
0 homes in contract
1 sold in the last 6 months at $530,000, which works out to a whopping 42 months of inventory. While last year at this time I wrote about the roaring market in the Villages – 5 sold in last 6 months and just 1 for sale - a complete flip/flop from where it is today. ??? I wish I knew.

Foothills Clusters, sorta like Shadow Hills, but generally smaller homes on smaller lots and lower priced. With a wonderful high-up in the foothills location,
5 for sale at an avg/med list of $331,700/$345,000
7 in contract at $316,329/$309,000
7 sold in last 6 months at $277,243/$260,000
for a perfect 6 months inventory - which is going to quickly drop as the 7 homes in contract sell. This is the market that’s driving the foothills real estate bus. HONK HONK!!

Sin Vacas, guard gated, middle to upper end $$, high in the foothills, views
3 for sale at $636,600/$585,000
2 in contract at $1,022,500/$1,022,500
6 sold in the last 6 at $813,667/$735,000
for a lean 3 months inventory, and a winner at that price range.

Skyline Bel Air, great central foothills location, location …with buyers putting $$ into renovating older homes and sellers who have already done so, selling them - most built in the 60’s and 70’s.
8 for sale at an avg/med list of $497,263/$424,950
4 in contract at $482,000/$427,000
6 sold in the last 6 months at $483,000/$442,500
for a slightly heavy 8 months inventory, but that’ll change as the 4 in contract sell. And look at the avg/med prices of the homes for sale, in contract and sold - a tight grouping of buyers and sellers in accord on prices. And this after a stellar year last year and the year before

Alta Vista, upper middle to upper $$, east foothills location, most homes built in the 90’s to 2000’s, styles run from SW contemporary, Mediterranean to Sante Fe and that pretty much covers it. Popular with families,
9 for sale at an avg/med of $843,444/$679,000
3 in contract at $886,000/$798,000
6 sold in the last 6 at $881,113/$883,839
also a slightly heavy 9 months inventory but, at least, with avg/med prices tightly aligned

Cimarron, lower to upper middle, east foothills location, homes built from the late 70’s into the 90’s
9 for sale at avg/med $715,889/$660,000
3 in contract at, OOOPs!, $336,267/$299,000
10 sold in last 6 months at $486,045/$482,475
so 6 months inventory but with a pretty wide price gap between the homes that are selling and those that remain for sale - making the 6 months inventory figure somewhat illusory,

Fairfield/Sunrise, you name it F/S has it. From 1500sf townhomes to 4000+sf SFR’s. In it’s various guises it’s attractive to empty nesters, snow birds, families and first time buyers. And it covers a lot of ground too, spreading from just west of Kolb Rd west to Craycroft, with homes built from the 70’s – 90’s. Sticking with Single family homes there are;
10 for sale at $520,500/$515,000
5 in contract at $448,600/$430,000
10 sold in the last 6 at $359,565/$347,500
and again, a perfect 6 months inventory but with a large gap between the price of homes selling and those for sale -  like two markets

Talk about covering a lot of ground, Ventana CC sure does.
there are 38 homes for sale from $279,000 up to $7,000,000 – avg/med is $1,199,971/$892,000
3 in contract (all in the $400’s) at $453,650/$449,950
15 sold in the last 6 months at an avg/med of $642,267/$490,000
which works out to 15 months inventory, but with buyers strongly favoring lower priced homes.

Pima Canyon, the newest upper-end gated community in the foothills with, of course, the newest homes - homes built from 2000 to 2014. Very popular with 2nd home owners, retirees, and also families with kids.
7 for sale at $1,537,714/$1,395,000
1 in contract at $999,999
3 sold in last 6 at $1,461,500/$1,400,000
= a fat 14 months of inventory at the current rate of sales,
Given PC’s track record of coming out at the top of the heap for high-end home sales I’m going to assume that this is just a temporary setback.

The Catalina Foothills real estate market is comprised of many different smaller markets, and the short list above barely scratches the surface of the many areas and subdivisions that makeup the foothills market. Make sure you know what’s going on in the individual areas where you may be looking to buy a home.

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to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home

Joesler Home Tour

Historic Home Tour 2015: Homes of Josias Joesler

Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation

Saturday 25 April 2015  |  9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Join the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation for an exceptional 2015 Historic Home Tour Featuring the Romantic and extraordinary design of Tucson’s most famous and celebrated architect of the 20th century: Josias Joesler.  This tour is a rare opportunity to venture inside some of Joesler’s best homes and experience the design that has defined Tucson style for generations.    Explore the legacy of Tucson’s architecture.

Tickets are $40.00 each.

Location:

Joesler’s homes are scattered throughout Tucson with concentration in the Old Catalina Foothills.  The tour starting point is St. Phillip’s In the Hills Church located at 4440 North Campbell (North east corner of River Road and Campbell Avenue)

The tour is self-directed with docents at each home.  You can go at your own pace anytime during the six hours between 9AM and 3PM. The tour ends at 3PM sharp.   Busses will depart from the St. Phillip;s parking lot every 15 min to the homes located in the Catalina Foothills – Maps and Driving Directions will be provided for the other homes.

Please wear comfortable walking shoes.

Tickets: If you purchased your tickets online your tickets/map will under your name at WILL CALL and are available anytime starting at 8:30AM until 2:00PM.  WILL CALL is located at the intersection in the parking lot St. Phillip’s In the Hills Church located at 4440 North Campbell. (Follow the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation Home Tour Signs)  If you purchased your ticket in person simply bring your ticket to the check in table at St. Phillip’s to pick up your map.  

Parking:   Free parking will be available at the St. Phillip’s In the Hills Church and at the various homes follow the signs.

Accessibility: There are steps, irregular surfaces, and narrow doorways resulting in limited handicap accessibility.

If you have additional questions please email the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation at [email protected]

TICKETS ARE LIMITED

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to find your very own Joesler Home

how’s the market doing this year compared to last year

The following is a summary of homes sales and sold prices for single family homes in the Catalina Foothills from January 1st thru March 10th for last year and this year.

	2014	2015	+/- %
# homes sold	118	121	+ 2.5%
average sold price	$489,325	$467,901	– 4.4%
median sold price	$405,000	$399,000	– 1.5%
avg $$/sf sold price	$174	$165	– 5%
CDOM	92	119	+ 29%

CDOM – cumulative days on market (lower is better)

The # of homes sold is up, barely, from last year, while average/median & $$/sf sold prices are down, and the time needed to sell is up appreciably. Not terribly worse than last year, but not terribly encouraging either, particularly since sales last year were down appreciably from the year before.

And breaking out sales at $1,000,000 or more for the same period we have:
6 sales last year
4 sales this year

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was it the view

The long stalemate is broken. A home listed at more than $1,000,000 went to contract this evening. It’s in Sin Vacas and listed at $1,295,000 ($294/sf), and has great views and went to contract after just 2 days on the market. And that’s just 2 days period, no re-listings, no price cuts.

See the homes for sale and in contract in Sin Vacas HERE including this one.

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to find your Catalina Foothills Home

in contract last week, 3/2 – 3/8

From Monday March 2nd through Sunday March 8th just 19 single family homes went to contract in the Catalina Foothills of Tucson, AZ.

16 were priced from $176,500 to $589,000 – the price range that is going gangbusters
  3 from $649,000 to $965,000 – the price range that is not going gangbusters
  0 at $1,000,000+ – the price range that is going nowhere – the last contract at $1,000,000+ was on February 5th,  tick-tock…

the average/median list price of the 19 homes that went to contract is $430,273/$419,000
the average/median list price of the 493 homes still for sale is $818,103/$622,500

The report for the previous week is HERE

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to find your Catalina Foothills Home

 

we reached a milestone today

We hit 500 single family homes listed for sale in the Catalina Foothills; we started the year with 423, but with new listings outpacing new contracts and sales, here we are.

We also hit 500 for sale last March 2014, and that’s about 125 more homes than we had during the same period in 2013.

What does that mean to you as a buyer;

More to choose from, which is nice. Which, if it continues, should translate into more bargaining power, which should translate into lower sale prices. Stay tuned.

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to find your Catalina Foothills Home

actual sale prices v. Zillow’s Zestimates

If for no other reason than the fact that they are very popular and many people refer to them, I like to keep track of how Zillow’s Zestimates are holding up against actual sold prices. Below is a small group homes that sold since March 1st in the Catalina Foothills along with the actual sale price, Zillow’s Zestimate of value and the list price at the time of sale.

I didn’t cherry pick these homes. I merely pulled everything sold since March 1st and started with the highest price sale and moved down the list. 

7200 E Little Savannah Lane Tucson, AZ 85750 sold for $925,000 on 3/2 –
Zillow’s Zestimate^®: $534,946  (list price at time of sale was $950,000) 

4954 N Camino Antonio Tucson, AZ 85718 sold for $912,500 on 3/6 –
Zillow’s Zestimate^®: $1,032,100  (list price at time of sale was $947,500)

2850 E Calle Sin Pecado Tucson, AZ 85718 sold for $735,000 on 3/5 – 
Zillow’s Zestimate^®: $726,412  (list price at time of sale was $735,000)

4210 E La Paloma Drive  Tucson, AZ 85718 sold for $680,000 on 3/3 – 
Zillow’s Zestimate^®:$1,056,870  (list price at time of sale was $735,000)

4161 N Quail Canyon Drive , Tucson, AZ 85750 sold $640,000 on 3/3 –
Zillow’s Zestimate^®: $639,981  (list price at time of sale was $659,950)

5080 N Calle Bujia , Tucson, AZ 85718 sold for $599,000 on 3/2 –
Zillow’s Zestimate^®: $551,375   (list price at time of sale was $599,000)

5956 N Campo Abierto , Tucson, AZ 85718 sold for $530,000 on 3/6 –
Zillows Zestimate^® was $510,954  (list price at time of sale was $539,000)

2745 E Camino La Brinca , Tucson, AZ 85718 sold for $520,000 on 3/1 -
Zillow’s Zestimate^® was $563,816 (list price at time of sale was $525,000)

 

It’s pretty clear with this batch of homes that the list price was a lot to closer to the selling price than the Zestimates. But it’s also true that some of these homes were first listed at a higher price and had one or more price cuts along to way to price discovery.

And other than two glaring misses (Savannah Lane & La Paloma Dr) I think it’s fair to say that the Zestimates were close enough to at least live up to Zillow’s claim that Zestimates are a good starting point to help determine a home’s value.

But from what I’ve seen and heard many people just quote Zillow’s Zestimate, “ ….Zillow says it’s worth …”, rather than using it as a starting point.

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to find your Catalina Foothills Home

take a guess, when was the last time a home listed at $1,000,000 or more went to contract in the Catalina Foothills? hmmm!

Helpful tips; there’s plenty to choose from, there are 103 homes listed for sale from $1,000,000 to $13,900,000. And we’re smack dab in the middle of our high season for high-end home sales. And we’re coming off a pretty good year, 47 homes sold for $1,000,000 or more last year – the 2nd best year since 2008. 

Go for it, Click the comments tab down below and let’s hear, and No Realtors® allowed,

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in contract last week, 2/23 – 3/1

From Monday February 23rd through Sunday March 1st just 18 single family homes went to contract in the Catalina Foothills of Tucson, AZ. And virtually all are huddled at the lower end.

17 were priced from $228,000 to $575,000
and just 1, listed at $725,000, managed to crack the $600k mark
and that’s it,

the average/median list price of the 18 homes that went to contract is $378,211/$342,000

while the average/median list price of the 488 homes still for sale is $818,103/$622,500

And this follows the rather limp performance of the previous week

I updated the Market Snapshot figures today and the poor performance shown above is reflected in the lengthy months of inventory figures for all but the lower end.

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to find your Catalina Foothills Home

another leg up for Phoenix/Scottsdale

Just the other day I mentioned, “the only problem with the economy in Tucson that I’m aware of - as it relates to high-end home sales - is that there is no big, strong and growing industry that pays really well and would therefore contribute to a more competitive and vibrant upper-end market. And that’s a pretty big problem”. “Phoenix has lots of jobs, high paying jobs. We don’t”.

And just to rub it in, today WSJ.com reports; 

Silicon Desert? Developer Bets on Scottsdale as a Tech Hub

Where will tech companies expand when they grow weary of soaring rents and prices in Silicon Valley and San Francisco?

At least one developer is hoping it will be 750 miles to the southeast in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Read all about it.
Silicon Desert? Developer Bets on Scottsdale as a Tech Hub

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Catalina Foothills Home Sales, February 2015

February Sales are up a bit from the previous 3 months, and that’s good news. But they’re almost 4% lower than Feb 2014’s numbers. And they’re 6 – 10% lower than February 2013, 2012 and 2011. So, so far, this year is trailing last year – which itself was not a bang up year. Not by a long shot. (except for sales at $1.0+, which rose 40% last year over 2013)

 

But despite tepid sales, sold prices recovered from last months lows and beat the pants off Feb 2014’s numbers. And while the average sold price for this Feb is in the range of averages for the last 12 months, the median hit a monthly high not seen in the last 4 years.

But it’s just one month, and as you can see from the last 12 months, monthly prices bop around, up and down.

 

The January report is HERE

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the other shoe is about to drop

I always imagined that one of these days Zillow would branch out and become a virtual real estate broker and get into the business of listing and selling homes online. But someone has beaten them to it and added a very appealing twist to the standard listing/selling formula.

Real estate startup Opendoor is expanding

A service that allows homeowners to instantly sell their home online has raised an additional $20 million in funding and is expanding to two new cities.

Opendoor, which debuted two months ago in metro Phoenix, is adding Dallas and Portland to its list of available cities this year, CEO Eric Wu said.

The startup, which is based in San Francisco, has raised a total of $30 million in funding from Khosla Ventures and GGV Capital, both of Menlo Park, Calif., and a number of angel investors.

Under the service, homeowners wanting to sell their house or condominium enter their address online and submit some basic information about it. Within minutes, Opendoor, opendoor.com, provides a obligation-free offer to buy the home.

Nearly all aspects of the transactions are conducted online, and homeowners can close and receive funding in as little as three days.

Opendoor currently purchases about a home a day in the Phoenix market, Wu said.

In looking to expand, Opendoor, which employs three full-time and 13 part-time workers in Phoenix, searched for markets with 10,000 or more real estate transactions annually , Wu said. The company also looked at the number of days houses were on the market and the number of deals that fell through, Wu said.

Dallas and Portland were the best fits for the service, he said.

The company, which made the announcement Thursday, also reported that Glenn Solomon, a managing partner at GGV Capital, who has led investments in Square, Pandora and others, will join the Opendoor board of directors.

When buying a home, Opendoor charges a 5.5 percent resale fee, plus adjusts the amount it pays for a home to account for market risk, home maintenance and repair costs. After purchasing a home, the company makes it move-in ready and then lists it for sale.

The service is designed to make selling a home simpler and frictionless, Wu said. "We're trying to be a retail outlet for homeowners," he said.

Wu, who grew up in Glendale, started buying houses while a college student at University of Arizona. He previously founded Movity.com, a location data analytics company that was acquired by Trulia.com in 2011. He still owns about 100 rental homes.

The idea for Opendoor came about after Wu realized that a house, which typically is a person's biggest asset, is one of the hardest things for an individual to sell. For-sale homes generally stay on the market for weeks — the national average for January was 103 days, according to Realtor.com. Many home sellers can't buy another home until they sell their current one, because they can't afford two mortgages, he said.

Because it buys homes outright, Opendoor gets rid of the time-crunch factor, he said. There is a three-day inspection contingency on all transactions.

Besides Wu, the Opendoor team also includes executive chairman Keith Rabois, senior partner at Khosla Ventures and a former executive at PayPal, Slide and Square.
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Since Opendoor.com debuted in Phoenix and the founder, Mr. Wu, attended the University of Arizona here in Tucson, how long can it before they start opening doors here in Tucson.

This may not work for everyone but I’ll bet they’re on to something. No muss, no fuss, and quick as can be you’re out the door with cash in hand.

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to find your Catalina Foothills Home

foothills luxury home sales still weak

In 2008, as the economy was teetering on the brink, some foothills sellers apparently believed that the value of their homes had gone Up.

 

 

A house in Alta Vista sold in 2004 for $1,200,000 and, get this, was listed for $1,795,000 in January 2009. By the end of 2010 it was still for sale and down to $1,100,000, but still no takers, so it left the market. But all’s well that ends well - it was relisted with a new LA in late 2013 for $1,150,000 and sold recently for $925,000.

 

 

Desert Garden Drive in Pima Canyon sold for $2,200,000 in 2003 and on October 6th, 2008 it was listed for $3,300,000 and eventually sold in November 2014 for $1,999,500.

 

 

Well, maybe so, just not this house

Ancient Indian Drive sold for $2,650,000 in 2005 and on October 6th 2008, yep, again with October 6th, with the economy in full meltdown, it was listed for $3,599,000.
It eventually sold in 2011 for $1.6 and sold again in 2014 for $1.4.  

So eventually those sellers with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads had a rude awakening. And when the dust finally settled, which it mostly has, prices for these upper-end homes were drastically re-set.

And there were dozens and dozens more homes that went through similar travails.

See more > HERE   HERE   HERE   HERE   HERE   HERE   HERE  ….

And today the economy is in much better shape, the stock market is booming, thank God, jumbo mortgages are cheap and upper-end prices are down. And sellers of upper-end homes, many of whom have been through the wringer, are much more flexible and reasonable than they were. They want out. Yet many high-end buyers continue to sit it out. And I don’t know why.

Upper-end sales peaked in 2006 – when prices were at their highest - and sales dropped dramatically after 06.  And they basically bumped along the bottom from 2009 into the first half of 2014. And then, suddenly, in the latter half of 2014, sales took off.

And of course we were expecting that that upward trend would continue into 2015.
But so far it’s not happening.

Here it is the end of February and what do have -  4 homes in contract listed at $1million+, but just barely at $1million+. They’re listed at $1.090, $1.195, $1.295 and a biggie at $2.495 – but $2.495 has been in contract since May 2014. So it is by no means a 2015 contract and the other 3 are at the very bottom end of the $million+ market.

And just 2 sales so far this year from 2015 contracts – one at $1,005,000 plus the steal in Cobo that went for $1,525,000 (which sold for $3.2 in 09) And that’s it.

In 05 – 06 - 226 homes sold at $1.0+ for an avg/med $/sf of $306/$317
In 13 – 14 - 80 homes sold at $1.0+ for an avg/med $/sf of $255/$267

In 05 – 06  31 homes sold from $2.0 to $3.650
In 13 – 14  we had a grand total of 5 sales in that price range.

But maybe we’re expecting too much. It’s been 8 long years since the upper-end market peaked and 5 years since it hit bottom.  And let’s face it, maybe this is it. Maybe this market is not destined to return to those glory days of yesteryear. (as many places in the US already have) Maybe 40 – 50 sales/year at $1.0+ is the new normal. Could be. We’ll see.

What got me on this jag was a reader of this blog who wrote in asking me about the doldrums of the upper-end market. Comparing the upper-end market in the Catalina Foothills to that in Phoenix, and wondering why Phoenix is doing so well while Tucson is not. He wondered if there is a problem with the politics or the economy in Tucson that is causing upper-end buyers to stay away.

Politics, no thank you, I’m not touching that. And the only problem with the economy in Tucson that I’m aware of - as it relates to high-end home sales - is that there is no big, strong and growing industry that pays really well and would therefore contribute to a more competitive and vibrant upper-end market. And that’s a pretty big problem. Because as it is the upper-end market is largely dependent on the whims of discretionary buyers - buyers of 2nd homes or retirement homes. Buyers who can afford to wait until everything is just so before they buy. Buyers who are aware that there is little competition for the many upper-end homes for sale, many of whom are waiting for even better deals to come along. 

Phoenix has lots of jobs, high paying jobs. We don’t. And on those occasions when someone relocates to Tucson or Phoenix for a high paying job they need to find a home in a reasonable amount of time. They can’t afford to dilly-dally and wait for everything to be just so. They need to get settled, get their family settled and hit the ground running.

In the lingo of real estate, they are motivated buyers.

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to find your Catalina Foothills Home