August 20, 2008 by Donna Anderson.

My family vacationed in Coronado and Carlsbad, California last week.  The San Diego area seemed less congested than I expected it to be and with perfect weather, this 5 1/2 hour drive from Tucson was well worth the trip. Coronado home prices are still quite high and I can see why. What a great place to live with bic paths, pristine beaches, restaurants and shopping you can walk or bic to.  We opted to stay at the Marriott and all was fine although we did find the service was not exceptional and I thought the landscaping and exterior rather stark and bland.  We also travelled 45 miles north to Carlsbad and found the Hilton Garden Inn the perfect spot for us–it was right across the street from the locals’ favorite beach. We enjoyed the shopping at night and there is a very good Discount Mall minutes away from our hotel.  Carlsbad is the home to Legoland; we did not visit it since our daughter is almost 12 and seemed too old to enjoy most of it.  We did visit the San Diego Zoo and loved seeing the Mother and Baby Panda Bears, the Polar Bears and the Koala Bears.  We did not take the Zoo tram or the bus and much of the walking was uphill, but it really was not too bad. Another day trip took us to LaJolla; this ideal town reminded me of Cannes, France. We loved our lunch on the top deck of Georges on the Cove overlooking the gorgeous LaJolla Beach.  We are lucky that Tucson has great places to visit less than a one day car trip away.

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August 3, 2008 by Donna Anderson.

Many would-be-Tucson prime Foothills area buyers who usually buy in the 85718 or 85750 zip codes should take a look at Oro Valley.  The backdrop may offer incedible views of the Pusch Ridge of the Santa Catalina Mountains at a much more affordable price. Depending on where you live in Oro Valley, it could take only 20 minutes to visit the prime shopping and restaurant areas of the Tucson Foothills.  This is an especially good alternative for retirees that do not have to worry about a commute to work.  Northwest Hospital is a new state-of-the art facility and is right there on Tangerine Rd.  Why not enjoy the beauty of the Foothills at a more affordable price?

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July 25, 2008 by Donna Anderson.

Jumbo mortgage rates have been very high; some times up to 2% higher than conforming rates ( loans less than 417K).  Now you can get mortgage rates as good as conforming rates– with a catch.  The catch is you have to have a relationship with the lender.  You have to have a good chunk of money in one of their savings, IRAs, etc. This  required account amount usually is about 15% of the amount of the mortgage.  I am not a lender, but if you are interested in finding more about this special offering, I can refer you to a Long Mortgage consultant who can go into all the intricate details. 

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July 15, 2008 by Donna Anderson.

Yesterday I brought my daughter to the dentist and decided to sit out front of the dentist’s office at the shopping center next to Sierra Fitness and Garvi’s which is close to the corner of Sunrise and Kolb.  It was about 90 degrees on a bright day with about 40 % humidity since it is monsoon season.  I looked straight ahead and could see the beautiful high Santa Catalina Mountains and thought WOW, this place is heaven, even in Summer.  I live about 5 minutes away in Sabino Mountain and what area could be better? Utilities and taxes are more affordable here than most places;  there are great restaurants that offer summer specials and are almost never crowded; the streets are not congested; the air is crisp and clean; the stars show brightly at night….wow….Tucson in the Catalina Foothills area almost seems like a best kept secret. It seems like there should be more people striving to buy second homes here or retire here or just get jobs here and move here all year long, like my family and I did 4  1/2 years ago.  Since then I have not gone back to MD once and I do not miss it at all. I am amazed. What a great decision we made to become Southwesterners and pick the Catalina Foothills as our place to reside!

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July 14, 2008 by Donna Anderson.

More buyers are now scooping up Foothills properties at much lower prices than were seen the past two years.  Inventory is shrinking, but there are still some great choices.  Short sales are few and far between in luxury properties, so forget about looking for one of those. It is important that you have a seasoned realtor who is a good negotiator and who knows the market.  Give me a call if you want to explore some excellent purchasing choices.  My phone number is 520-918-2410; or email me at Donna@DonnaAnderson.com .

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June 28, 2008 by Donna Anderson.

I just listed a ridge-top custom (almost 3,400 square feet), 2003- built home in premier, gated Sabino Mountain which is minutes from Canyon Ranch and Sabino Canyon. Sabino Mountain was the last ridgetop community built in the Catalina Foothills. It is a rare opportunity to have a large, custom, ridge-top home with incredible city views.  Almost every room has a  spectacular city view or a high Catalina Mountain view. This is very aggressively priced at 795K and should not last long. Call me for your private viewing at 520-918-2410.

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June 16, 2008 by Donna Anderson.

No matter what I read, I am stuck by my own interpretation of the market, which I think is “flat”.  The prices probably have bottomed and it is still a “Buyer’s Market”, with signs that the market for Sellers is slightly improving, with less inventory and prices that are no longer declining. Clearly, this year is worse than last year as far as number of sales and final sales prices, except for houses that are priced over a million.  Those who purchase homes over a million are many times not so affected by the harsher economic times. So if you are thinking of selling you should wait, but you will have to sit on the fence for over a year for prices to go up, although homes will sell quicker than they have been selling in the past six months, as the market is slowly improving.  For buyers, the present time represents the greatest number of houses to view for sale at the bottom price. Soon the price will be the same, but with each month, there will be less to chose from.

Another good piece of advice for Buyers: get your loan pre-approval before you look for a home.  Unless you are buying a house for 326K or less (and can use FHA  financing  if you do not own another home and are not an investor) financing is tricky and demanding even for those with good credit. Make sure you work with an excellent, seasoned lender. If you need a recommendation, contact me at Donna@DonnaAnderson.com or call me at 520-615-2598.

 If you have the money to buy, GO FOR IT! Now is the time and it is not going to get better than this for buyers in the Tucson Foothills.

 If you have to sell, call me for a professional market analysis with no obligation.

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June 7, 2008 by Donna Anderson.

Jumbo interest rates are back to being at least one and one half percent higher than the conforming interest rates. What this means is if you are going to get a jumbo loan–one at over 417K, you will have to pay a much higher interest rate than if you are getting a conforming loan–at 417K or less.  Additionally you must put down 20% to obtain a jumbo loan.  So this is a double-whamy for those wishing to buy a luxury home.  Most people are staying away from the jumbo loans, and as a result,  when purchasing a luxury home they have to put down a huge down payment to get down to a loan amount of 417K. For instance, when purchasing a home for $800,000, one would have to put down $383,000 to obtain a conforming loan with interest rates that are currently lower than 6.5%.  There are other areas of the country where there are highly priced homes like in the the Foothills, but many have a larger conforming loan cap up to the $700,000s. Pima County properties have conforming loan caps that are all given the same loan limit cap, and  since the average Pima County home price is much lower than the average price of a Foothills home, the cap is still only $417,000.  This unfortunately is keeping down the appreciation of homes and contributing to the slow sales in the Foothills.  This makes it more unlikely for buyers under 45 to be able to afford move-up houses, since most have not had time to save that huge chunk of money.  Additionally, since appreciation and equity in homes is erroding, the traditional method of getting money from your home sale to buy a move-up home is becoming much more difficult.

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June 5, 2008 by Donna Anderson.

Many people call me to ask what are the present Foothills list prices.  My websites:  www.DonnaAnderson.com, www.TucsonHomesite.com  and www.CatalinaFoothillsHomes.com shows what homes are for sale.  It is also broken down into the most popular Foothills communities, gated or non-gated; pool or no pool, etc. It has tons of information - take a look see!

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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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