Anthem Community Supports Katie Wagner recently diagnosed with cancer -Let's continue to pray & support this precious girl

Car Wash for Katie Wagner
Saturday, Oct. 29
10 a.m. (until the last car is washed)
CVS, 3610 W. Anthem Way

Fundraiser for 15-year-old Katie Wagner of Anthem, recently diagnosed with cancer. All proceeds go to Katie’s family to offset medical costs. Washing provided by Pop Warner volunteers.

For Donations:
A “We Care” Anthem account has been set up for Katie Wagner at Mid First Bank, acct number is  2033005575.

Dollyrockers Salon we want to do everything we can to help Katie Wagner and her family! We have set up a raffle to raise money for the Wagner family here in the salon! All of the proceeds with go to Katie Wagner & her family!Drawings will be held SATURDAY November 19th so PLEASE stop in and buy your ticket.


The Carroll Law Firm will be donating 10% of all proceeds from wills and estate planning documents during the holiday season to the Wagner Family. Please show your support for Katie and set up an appointment between November 15th and the New Year for your estate planning needs.


Saturday, Oct.29th @8 AM-Hands Across Anthem-Line up at Anthem and Gavilan Peak Parkway and join hands. Donations-$1.00. Tshirts will also be available at this event for $10. All money goes directly to Wagner family!

Sunday, Nov. 13th@ 2:00-Zumbathon at the Anthem community Center

Friday, Nov.18th-We Care Golf Tournament benefiting Katie Wagner

Here are things that have been established and taken care of for the family: Meals, Lawn Care, House Cleaning, House Painting, Hospital Meals while she is there (for the family) Family photo, Pool care veterinary services, plumbing/solar services I want to remind everyone that this will be a marathon, not a sprint.

HousingAZ.com to Help Struggling Homeowners complete Short Sales in Arizona

Are you a homeowner considering a short sale?  Apply online today http://www.housingaz.com/

The Arizona Department of Housing has $269 million in federal foreclosure-prevention funds.

The state agency is offering homeowners $4,500 and to pay their 3 percent closing costs if they work with their lender to complete a short sale instead of losing their home to foreclosure. But, of course, like the principal-reduction loan modifications, it's all up to the lenders whether the deals go through.


Housing Director Michael Trailor said the state agency will start taking applications for the short-sale program today. It's the same site that is taking applications for the principal reduction loan-modification program and unemployment mortgage aid, both of which also are being funded by federal money from the Hardest Hit Housing program.
The principal reduction loan program was launched a year ago, and Trailor said as many as 30,000 Arizona homeowners should qualify.He said the miserable results, because of the lender's reluctance to cut principal and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's policy not to reduce loan amounts, have been a frustrating and time-wasting effort for his agency during the past year.

So, to try to spend some of the money to help homeowners, the agency received approval from the U.S. Treasury Department to start the short-sale program.The Housing Department is also expanding its program to cover mortgage payments for more unemployed and underemployed homeowners who are eligible.

"We want to spend this money to help homeowners, but we need lenders' help," Trailor said. "Anyone who thinks they are eligible should immediately apply at our website."

Phoenix, AZ Trustee Sales becoming a Reality Show "Betting the House"

Phoenix will be the setting for a new reality show about one of the region's most competitive and heart-racing activities - bidding on foreclosure homes.Agents who work at Maricopa County's foreclosure auctions are in negotiations to appear on the show, which is planned to start airing on the Discovery Channel next year.

Filming for "Betting the House" is expected to begin in the next few weeks.New York-based Sharp Entertainment, producer of the show, also created "Punkin Chunkin" for the Discovery Channel, "Man vs. Food" for the Travel Channel and "Extreme Couponing" for TLC.

Now, cameras will be filming outside the county courthouse in downtown Phoenix.
Although the company did not comment on the details of the show it is planning, the daily auction scene is one of colorful characters and sometimes intense bidding on the region's foreclosure homes.

As many as three auctioneers may be taking bids at once, and the agents and buyers who try to land good deals rush from auction to auction, placing offers, talking to their offices by cellphone and trying to make sure they don't miss a deal in the process.

At its heart, the attraction of the auction scene is the promise of a house - to be a home, a rental or just a quick investment - for an amazing deal. Sharp picked three veteran bidders at Phoenix's foreclosure auctions to follow.

Lenders have been selling a record number of Phoenix-area homes at the foreclosure auctions known as trustee sales. In August, 1,500 foreclosure homes sold at auction.Trustee sales at the courthouse used to start at noon, but there are so many houses that lenders are trying to sell that the auctions have been moved up to 11 a.m. or earlier and still often go to 5 p.m.

But the frenzy can't last much longer.

Already, competition has driven bidding prices up too high for some investors. At the same time, foreclosures have been falling this year.Notices-of-trustee sales, or pre-foreclosures, are half of what they were a year ago. The number of pending foreclosures in Maricopa County is down to 19,000, half of what it was two years ago.

"I doubt reality TV will shine a positive light on our housing market, although it should be entertaining," said Tom Ruff, real-estate analyst with Information Market.His firm tracks foreclosures daily. "There are definitely some colorful personalities chasing foreclosure properties. Expect them to further Arizona's image as the Wild West."

Stay tuned.

Anthem, AZ Parkside Golfers can join the Anthem Country Club!

ANTHEM GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB
ANNOUNCES A NEW GOLF MEMBERSHIP CATEGORY

Anthem’s Golf Membership has been available to residents living outside the Country Club Community for nearly ten years. The Club has quickly become one of the top 5 Clubs that are a part of ClubCorp, World Leader in Private Clubs with over 130 golf and country clubs worldwide.

We are now offering a new category designed specifically for golfers who live in Anthem Parkside. The Club provides a premier golf experience with 36 holes
without the high cost of a comparable Scottsdale Golf Club.

PREFERRED MEMBERSHIP INVITATION
Corridor Golf Membership
$11,000 Initiation Fee
Act quickly as this Introductory Initiation Fee is only available for a limited time.The customary Initiation Fee is normally the same as our full golf requirement of $21,000 Annual dues are just $500 per month inclusive of your family

The Corridor Golf Membership is designed for golfers who live in Anthem Parkside, who desire access to great golf, superb dining, and fun social activities of a top private Country Club!

• Members have no capital assessments and no food and beverage minimums.

• Anthem Golf Members enjoy access to complimentary greens fees at over 130 golf and country clubs.

• Anthem has an active Men’s and Ladies Golf Association that each plays two days per week.

• Anthem has two Clubhouses, championship golf courses, golf practice facilities, and restaurants.

Mark Lewicki, Membership Director / 623-742-6202  or email: mark.lewicki@ourclub.com

A few answers to why the Phoenix Real Estate home values are so confusing today

Traditionally, a home's value could be estimated from its "comps," comparable sales of nearby homes. Those offer an idea of the going price in a neighborhood and the price per square foot.

Currently, metro Phoenix's overall median sales price is $124,000. But because many of the homes sold are foreclosure auctions - in which low-priced homes are common - that number could be seen as low. Other homes may be worth far more. But few of those homes are selling, so they're not represented in the median price.
Today, in the general Phoenix area, a regular home sells for about $112 a square foot. A house sold through short sale goes for an average of $72 a square foot. A bank-owned, Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae home sells for approx. $61.50 a square foot. And foreclosure homes selling at auction are averaging $57 a square foot.

"Everyone is trying to figure out Phoenix's housing market now, but there's no one set of data that truly tells the story. All the regular models for tracking the market are broken now," said Tom Ruff of the Information Market. "There is not just one market in metro Phoenix anymore."  Measures of the overall market are harder to trust today because Comparable properties are not consistent and can be confusing to a buyer or seller trying to determine a market value for a property in today's market.  Every area, every neighborhood is different.That confusion makes it especially hard for homeowners and homesellers to know what their houses are worth.

The different type of categories for home sales transactions in the market have each begun to work in their own ways, real-estate market watchers say. Some parts see a lot of sales but low prices; others, the opposite.

- Traditional resales: Fewer of these happen because of competition from cheaper foreclosures and short sales. The ones that sell best are in popular neighborhoods with good schools, near freeways and shopping centers. But the percentage of foreclosure homes listed for sale in metro Phoenix has dropped by 5 percent in the past year, so regular sellers have less competition and might soon find it more easy to sell.

- New-home sales: Homebuilding has slowed to a crawl in metro Phoenix as the market continues to sell the many houses built on speculation during the boom years. Even with low land prices, it's still hard for homebuilders to compete with the prices of foreclosure houses that were built less than five years ago.

- Foreclosure auctions: These have become very popular, and a large volume of homes sell at metro Phoenix trustee auction each month. But homes sell at auction for lower prices, and that makes the market's overall average sales price lower.

- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Homes owned by these entities now dominate the metro area's market. But the agencies often change their policies on appraising, maintaining, renting and selling their houses, so some buyers and real-estate agents steer clear of the hassles of these deals.

- Short sales: This type of sale was rare a decade ago. Banks were reluctant to agree to them in the early part of the crash, but they have now become common. Because they're not a foreclosure sale, but also are not a traditional sale, the value of a short-sale transaction skews the overall market in ways that are hard to measure.

"The one indicator we can still count on is location," Ruff said. "Homes in the right areas will continue to sell for the highest prices."

Phoenix, AZ Foreclosures are down - Home prices slightly rising upwards

"Foreclosures continue to be the dominant force in the market", states Jay Butler, professor at the W.P. Carey School of Business at ASU.  Butler feels the housing market is making a glacial pace recovery, but emphansizes that he has seen the same seasonal report in the past two years without a significant recovery in the home-resale market overall.

Median home prices for single family homes in Phoenix, AZ in June 2010 was around $143,000.  June 2011 shows a median price for a single family home to be around $126,500 for the Valley compared to a median price in May 2011 of  $125,000.  A slight increase is good news.

The number of foreclosure pre-filings has been declining for the last year.  The Phoenix-area housing market had 3,280 single-family foreclosures in June, down compared to June 2010 which had 3,835.

In general, available home inventory is low, a sudden increase in listings could cause another decline in prices, though.  Some areas of Phoenix, AZ are seeing a great improvement in housing prices.  New home building is rising too. 

The Arizona Housing department is administering federal funds for homeowners working towards a loan modification.  The department has agreed to match up to $50,000 in principal reductions IF, lenders will agree.  Only a few of these have been completed so far.  The Arizona Housing officials say they are close to working with Bank of America principal reduction loan modifications.  Let's hope this turns into hundreds :)

Tune into HGTV House Hunters today as Kathleen Mazzocco helps a couple relocate from Maryland to Phoenix, AZ

Check your ocal TV Guide listings for time Featuring ANTHEM, ARIZONA
"John and Kim Bojonny are making a mid-life change and are relocating to Phoenix. They are looking for a home with an open floor plan, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, large closets and lots of extra space. With a $350,000 budget, their realtor, Kathleen Mazzocco is determined to find them exactly what they want."


Show highlights:
http://www.kathleeninarizona.com/hgtv-c11568.html

Phoenix Housing- Shadow Market Inventory nearly 100,000 homes - What Buyers are doing now

The Shadow Market inventory are homes that are either in foreclosure or the homeowner is behind on their mortgage payments, showing signs hat these properties could eventually join the supply of homes offered by lenders for sale at a deep discount.But the Phoenix, AZ region is actually in much better shape than other parts of the U.S. hit hard by foreclosures, according to new analysis from a national real-estate group.Based on the region's long-term sales rate over the past 10 years, the number of homes in the shadows is about as many as would sell in a year. Thus, the firm calls it a 12month supply.

That puts the Valley in better shape than many similar markets.Based on their local 10-year average sales rates, according to Burns Real Estate's estimates:

- Orlando has a 23-month supply of shadow inventory
- the Bay Area, (in CA) has a 20-month supply
- Sacramento, CA has a 16-month supply

- Las Vegas has a 14-month supply

Homes are selling at foreclosure auctions at record-setting paces, with more than 1,300 sold in Maricopa County last month.The number of foreclosure and normal resale homes on the Arizona Multiple Listing Service is a five-month supply, based on the long-term rate of sales. These homes, because they're already listed,aren't part of the shadow inventory.So, Phoenix's combined supply of homes, including shadow inventory and current i nventory, should take 17 months to sell.

With the increase of Investment buyers: Many whom pay cash, helps to stablize the market.  A cash buyer owns a house free and clear and is less likely to walk away.
Many homeowners who abandoned their homes during the crash did so because they lost little in the process, forfeiting only their small down-payments.

"Shadow inventory isn't a big problem looming for the ( metro) Phoenix market," said real-estate analyst Tom Ruff with Information Market. "The numbers have to be put in perspective. When you look at everything that's going on with home sales in Phoenix, you see that shadow inventory isn't something to worry about."

How will Home Values be impacted?
In early 2009, after seeing mortgages fail in historic numbers, lenders tried to resell a record supply of foreclosure homes in the Phoenix area, all at once.Buyers saw the supply was huge and kept their offers low, believing there were even more homes to come. The region's median home price, already battered by two years of downturn and recession, sank to 2003's level.
What buyers are doing now - and what they expect to happen soon - is key to the direction of any market. The area's supply of homes for sale continues to shrink, even as more foreclosure homes are listed or put up for auction, metro Phoenix's shadow inventory now doesn't appear large enough to prompt a waiting game for buyers.

Last spring, some analysts estimated the Valley had 18 months of shadow inventory looming over its housing market.New estimates of a smaller supply could mean metro Phoenix's housing market is poised to recover sooner than other areas" ( Metro) Phoenix has seen an overcorrection in prices" said housing analyst John Burns. "There are vacancies and shadow inventory. But now is the most affordable time to buy in my lifetime."He said the number of pending foreclosures in Maricopa County is falling rapidly because new foreclosure filings are down and lenders are clearing out more of their foreclosure backlogs.  Inventory is low, homes are selling fast in the Phoenix, AZ real estate market.

Arizona Golf Club Memberships prices being slashed

Arizona Golf Clubs all over Arizona, from Superstition Mountain in Gold Canyon to Seven Canyons in Sedona, have been hurt by the economy and Country-club exit lists that are years-long as members choose to cut their discretionary spending and live without memberships that cost from $500 to more than $1,000 in monthly fees, plus other charges for carts,lockers, shoe-shining, food and drinks. But the economic fallout is especially noticeable in Scottsdale, the pinnacle of the Valley's sprawling golf landscape of close to 200 courses. There are just too many golf courses for the metropolitan Phoenix market, said Roger Garrett, an Insight Land and Investments partner who has sold golf courses for 25 years."This is about the low-water mark I've ever seen," he said.   Scottsdale's Sanctuary Golf Course was sold in the past month to Phil Mickelson and his agent, Steve Loy, for $2.2 million, a price far below its value of five years ago, Garrett said. Brad Klein, a GolfWeek magazine editor, said the problem at Phoenix and Scottsdale golf clubs is that real-estate development subsidizes the golf operations.

When members take over the golf cub from the real-estate developer, they are forced to cut operating costs or tax themselves to maintain the courses at a high level, he said."There is a statement in the industry that the third owner makes the money," Klein said.The third owner buys a course for $4 million that costs $20 million to build and $4 million to operate annually, he said.

Meanwhile, the value of memberships decline with the real-estate values."That's capitalism," said Klein, a retired political-science professor. "A golf-club membership is a commodity. It has no inherent value."

Membership fees that have been cut:
The Country Club at DC Ranch reduced its golf-membership cost to $75,000 from $135,000 in 2009 and has since gone to a market-based pricing system, with the average membership selling for $37,000.


The Boulders Club has non-equity memberships as low as $45,000, down from $55,000 two years ago, with monthly fees of $561.

Terravita Golf Club lowered its non-equitymembership fee a few weeks ago to $25,000 from $40,000, said Steve Mallory, Terravita's golf director.

Read more:
http://www.kathleeninarizona.com/archive_details.php?arch=1120

Anthem Arizona is showing signs of home values on the rise!

Anthem Arizona is certainly showing some signs of rising home values due to cash home buyers purchasing properties above market value. At the same time, we are seeing an increase of investors purchasing properties located in Anthem, AZ at the trustee sales.  Within days of the purchase, investors are putting dollars into making minor repairs, adding upgrades, and selling for a profit the newly upgraded home shortly after the original trustee sale.

Buyers are willing to pay more for homes that are move-in-ready. New carpet, paint, minor repairs fixed, filling pools with fresh water, are just some of the work that investors have done to bring up the property values for homes that have gone into foreclosure.

First quarter of 2011 Anthem Parkside had 111 homes sold, 42 were traditional or investor owned homes selling at an average price of about 16% above lender owned properties.

Contact me if you would like more information about the first quarter of 2011 home sales in Anthem, AZ. Send an email to: anthem@kathleeninaz.com or call 623.776.6217 today.

Anthem AZ Community Highlights and Homes for Sale in Anthem, AZ
http://anthemazhome.com/.