May 27, 2008 by Donna Anderson.

There are not too many listings in the two prime foothills zip codes of 85750 and 85718; however, there are not many bonafide buyers out there either.  As a result, most realtors are now spending much of their time with buyers who are not really sure if they want to buy now, and they are not sure if they want to buy here or Scottsdate or Santa Fe, etc.  So if a house listed for sale gets 5 showings in one month, 4 are probably not motivated buyers and they are likely not to buy any house in the immediate future.  In a hot market most real estate agents would not spend  much time with these unmotivated buyers.  Since many of the homes stay on the market for over six months, more than a few Sellers are leaving the marketplace since they know in order to sell they have to sell their homes at a lower price than the last comparable home sold for and that house sold for less than the one before, etc. The good news about this situation is that there has been too much supply and way too little demand, so those Sellers who vacate the market are doing a big favor to those who most relocate and must sell their homes. In most price ranges, only the “real plums” are selling and they better be priced aggressively. The one exception to this is the price range between 1.4 million and 2 million; this price range seems to have picked up lately with more than a few homes getting multiple offers.  Since inventory is dropping, 2008 should be the bottom  as far as prices for the Foothills. I doubt that the prices will go up in 2009, however. My guess is the market will move sideways.  The buyers who are looking for great deals ought to get off their duffs now, because there truly will be even less to choose from soon and the only good news is prices for buyers  will not be going up for at least a year and probably longer.

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May 17, 2008 by Donna Anderson.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are likely to lower the downpayment requirements in Tucson. Currently the minimum downpayment requirement for Tucson is 10%. That is likely to change to 5% downpayment with an effective date of June 1st.  Fannie and Freddie got a lot of criticism from the National Association of Realtors for chosing some areas as “declining” and therefore increasing the downpayment requirements. As a result, many realtors felt Fannie and Freddie were stigmatizing certain localities and leading to further downturns and problems in the local real estate markets that it noted were “declining”.  This should help homes that are listed for sale that are up to $438,000-where if one has excellent credit, excellent work history, etc, one can purchase a home with as little as 5% down.  Unfortunately this will not help  local purchasers who need jumbo mortgages (those over 417K). At the present time most lenders require a minimum of 15% down even with excellent credit scores.  If you would like me to refer you to an excellent mortgage consultant, give me a call at 520-918-2410.

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May 1, 2008 by Donna Anderson.

I will be holding open this Sunday (May 4) from 1-4 PM  my listing in Sabino Mountain at 4134 N Boulder Canyon Place (range priced from 825K-875K). To see more details about this gorgeous home located in the Foothills premier gated community of Sabino Mountain go to my website at www.DonnaAnderson.com to the bottom of the first page–you will see photos, features and a floorplan. Hope to see you there; call me at 603-8622 to get the gate code.

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