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.

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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/.

Roosevelt Dam celebrates 100 years

Visitors celebrating the centennial of the Theodore Roosevelt Dam were able to walk across the crest of the structure for one day only, on March 19th.  The dam was built by farmers in 1911 to fill the need for a 100 yrs supply of water.  Arizona pioneered large-scale water banking, storing unused Colorado River water by pouring it into recharge basins to percolate into the ground for later use.  So far, the state has banked about 1.6 trillion gallons.  The philosphy behind the groundwater management laws are to use surface water and save the groundwater for a drought or other unexpected events.  Experts are stating that at the pace that Phoenix is going, it has another 30 years to run without using non-renewable groundwater supplies
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CantaMia in Estrella Living Certified Green! Grand Opening celebration

I attended a pre-Grand Opening of the newest community in Estrella - CantaMia last weekend.  WOW! As you drive into the community you are greeted with views of mountains full of saguaros, the sun beaming down on the lake, palm trees, a state of the art recreation center and model homes.  As I walked along the grounds viewing many inviting places to sit and just take in the beauty of the surroundings,  I felt like I was in an oasis in the middle of the desert.  It is a place worth considering to visit and live.
Contact me for additional information.  Home prices range from about $140k to $355k.
 
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Taxpayers will ultimately pay back losses of nearly $400 billion due to foreclosures

"Fannie and Freddie losses are passed onto taxpayers," said Anthony Sanders, a former professor of real estate and finance at Arizona State University, now with Virginia's George Mason University.

Most foreclosures now are on loans that were issued by banks but backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Created to boost U.S. homeownership, the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Mortgage Corp. buy from banks and now own half of all mortgages.
 
"I understand why some people want to walk away, but we should all understand who ultimately pays the bill for foreclosures," said Amy Swaney, former president of the Arizona Mortgage Lenders Association and Arizona manager of Citywide Home Loans. "Most foreclosures end up costing us all."

Those federal entities' losses are expected to near $400 billion before the foreclosure crisis ends, many of those losses could end up hitting taxpayers. Big investors included government pension funds and other public agencies.

"If the federal government begins bailing out pension funds," Sanders said, "then the taxpayer pays for that, too."
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Tune into HGTV House Hunters TODAY! Watch as I help a Maryland couple relocate to Anthem, AZ

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

"A Couple Relocates to Phoenix for a New Mid-Life AdventureJohn 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, Kathleen Mazzocco, their realtor, is determined to find them exactly what they want".

Brent White's seminar for homeowners underwater last Thursday sold out

I attended the sold-out webinar on January 27th. Brent White is a professor at the University of Arizona, attorney, and author of the "Underwater Home". Known as a controversial figure for his academic writings, and lectures on the topic of STRATEGIC DEFAULT. He does not advocate walking away, but does insists it is not a moral issue but rather a business decision. I am seeing this shift in the Luxury home market (whereas the negative equity is over $100k) and baby boomers whom are not too far away from retirement and don't have the years to invest in waiting for the market to recover. Rather they prefer to take their losses now and wait a few years to rebuild their credit to invest in real estate again. Most economists and market analysis predict it will be years before the Phoenix area housing future comes into full view. Zipcodes like 85009 which have had an 81% drop in market value may never recover. Even if homes were to double in value twice, it still would not be worth half as much as they used to be. High unemployment rates, increase in bankruptcies, economic hardships, and more home buyers becoming renters all impact the recovery process. Brent White demonstrated many different scenarios and formulas to help homeowners attending the seminar determine whether it is worth putting themselves, and their family through the stressful process of strategic default, in some cases it is just not worth it. One concern he pointed out was supplying lenders with current financial information that could be used against them later if a loan modification does not work out.

There is a lot of emotional feelings (ups and downs like a roller coaster) when a homeowner considers "walking away". This book walks homeowners through all the parts involved in the process of considering a STRATEGIC DEFAULT. Is it a moral obligation or a business decision? Obligations to society and to your neighbors (ch.1) Brent has some great analogies to convince homeowners to stay put (ch. 3 & 4) or do you need to move because of a job transfer? He covers a wide range of topics and questions most homeowners have on their minds like: tax consequences, fear of being pursued by their lender (ch.2), buying and bailing (ch.4).

I highly recommend reading this book today if some of these concerns and questions lay heavy on your heart and mind.

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