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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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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April 28, 2008 by Donna Anderson.

Luxury Hotel rates drop on April 15th in Tucson. Try these hotels to get you started in your love affair with the beauty of the Sonoran Desert:  Westin LaPaloma, Hilton El Conquistor, Ventana Canyon Resort,  and the Star Pass Marriott.  And if you can spend the big bucks go to Canyon Ranch where rates will continue to drop through the Summer months. 

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April 26, 2008 by Donna Anderson.

Many have wondered why there is space for many open enrollees in Catalina Foothills -  District 16 since this school district is the most coveted in Pima County.  The reason there is so much space is that in 2005 many of the apartments in that school district converted to condominiums. Most developers made the foolhearty move to not renew leases because they thought their  newly converted condos would sell quickly. Of course they were wrong and there is a major glut of condos on the market for the past few years. The people who have bought these condos are mostly singles, young couples, and empty nesters;  therefore, most were without children that are school-age. District 16 also could not take open-enrollees from Tucson’s largest school district until this year, because TUSD would not let the children out because it incorrectly believed (and wanted to keep the tax revenue, no doubt) that the discrimination suit provisions it had to follow included not letting kids open enroll. Of course, TUSD knew that if open enrollment was allowed many would chose to go to Catalina Foothills schools since the test scores are higher and many of the schools are located closer to the children’s neighborhoods.

The question is if you do not open enroll your child to Catalina Foothills - District 16 this year, will you be able to do so in the future? The answer is yes,  if there is space available.  To the best of my knowledge there still is space at some schools such as Ventana Vista Elementary.  In years to come, there may be less space since there has been a mass exit out of TUSD of children from neighborhoods that are close to the District 16 schools.  Once your child is in District 16 schools,  it is most likely that he/she will be able to continue there until high school graduation.

To find out more about open enrollment, call Catalina Foothills Administrative offices at 577-5304 or drop by their offices on weekdays at 2101 E River Rd which is near the intersection of River and Campbell.

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April 23, 2008 by Donna Anderson.

It is apparent that the price range between $500,000 and $ 1 million is very soft in 2008. In fact, the number of sales has declined about 20% over the same period last year.  There are many reasons for this: Jumbo loans (those over 417K) are at least 1% higher than conforming loans (those under 417K); in the present tight mortgage market the minimun jumbo loan downpayment  has gone up to 15%; the self-employed who were used to low or no documentation loans in the past, now must give full documentation to get financing even when putting 20% or more down.   And perhaps the most important factors are:  those who can afford homes in this price range are tightening their belts since recession is either here or on the horizon, and there are those buyers that are still waiting for the perceived bottom of the market– they think it has not hit yet and are playing a wait- and- see game. 

However, homes priced lower than $500,000 are faring better.  FHA financing is becoming very popular with loan limits at $316,250 for Pima County; therefore, one can buy a home for approximately $326,000 and only put 3% down and credit scores do not have to be as high as those required for conventional financing.  Also up to approximately $460,000  home sales price, one does not have to pay the higher interest rate of a jumbo loan and one does not have to put down 15%–the minimum requirement is 10% for conforming conventional loans. 

This is a stressful time for Sellers, yet opportunity knocks for those motivated buyers out there.

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April 12, 2008 by Donna Anderson.

The active adult communities (usually planned for those age 55+) are outside the Tucson boundaries, however, there are some great alternatives within the Foothills area.  Right now you can buy a very nice patio home in La Paloma in the $300,000s. La Paloma is located next to the premier Westin LaPaloma Resort and the coveted LaPaloma Golf Course.  The scenery is spectacular and backs to the high Santa Catalina Mountains. The community is a 24 hour gated and guarded community and is right next door to the best restaurants and shopping in Tucson.  There are community pools and spas and for an additional fee you can belong to the LaPaloma Resort. If you are willing to spend in the $500,000s and up you might want to check out Ventana Canyon Golf Villas. These detached single family homes are nestled in the luxurious Ventana  Canyon Resort and Golf Course and also back to the Sonoran Desert and the high Santa Catalina Mountains and the location is minutes from Tucson’s # 1 attraction of Sabino Canyon and also minutes from the most sought after Foothills shopping, spas and restaurants. This community also has a 24 hour guarded and gated community.

 Both LaPaloma and Ventana Canyon are great places to actively enjoy your retirement years! Both these communites tend to be better investments than the  55+ active adult communities since there are no age requirements for those who purchase there; there are always fewer for sale and the location is closer to the best amenities in Tucson.

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