Good news for residents of Tempe living north of Broadway Rd!

Tempe has established an official Quite Zone for trains traveling through this area that prohibits the use of train horns except in emergency situations.  See the press release here:

http://www.tempe.gov/newsroom/Archive/201201/0B4E32E0-88BD-4942-BE15-BD5B8A9183AB

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Click here for an October Southeast Valley market trend report, courtesy of Fidelity National Title and the Cromford Report.

Key points:

• Active listings continue to fall, now 43% below last year
• As expected during the fall season, the monthly sales rate and pending sales count both declined by about 5.3%
• Annual sales continued to advance, now 15% higher than last year at this time
• Median sales price almost flat, average price per sq ft same as prior month (although it has been rising recently)
• Pending price per sq ft rose 0.8%
• “Normal” listings over 39% of sales, up from previous 36%
• Bank Owned (REO) sales just 34%, lowest for several years
• Short sales grew to 27% (progress has been made in improving the short sale process)
• Foreclosure notices fell 20%, completed trustee sales down by 26%
• The contract ratio (see report) indicates that demand for homes in Mesa 85202, 85207 and 85213 and Chandler 85226 is currently strengthening while Mesa 85201 and 85209  and Gilbert 85295 have cooled off
• Months supply is very low at 2.7, indicating a seller’s market (above 5-6 would be a buyer’s market); compare this to October last year of 6.2

There’s much more in the report covering specific Southeast Valley zip codes.

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1. Metro Phoenix Foreclosures Declining Today’s AZ Republic article: Foreclosures fall again in Phoenix …The...

Today’s AZ Republic article:

Foreclosures fall again in Phoenix

…The number of pending foreclosures for the area dipped to 23,300 last month, compared with 25,300 in June. A year ago, there were more than 40,000 pending foreclosures in metro Phoenix. The number is down because of fewer new foreclosures and also more trustee sales going through, particularly on the Maricopa County courthouse steps….

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So you thought Mesa, Arizona would be a good place to escape the winter cold, right?  Well, as this photo shows, it can get very chilly in Mesa.  It had gotten down in the 20′s overnight.

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The release of water to refill Tempe Town Lake will begin this Friday, 10/8/10 around 7am. Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman will speak in observance of the event.  Details at this link.

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The Centerpoint Condominium towers in downtown Tempe were originally envisioned as high end homes with a convenient downtown Tempe location.  Then the housing market collapsed and the original developer defaulted on the $135 million dollar loan.   A new owner, the Zaremba Group, recently purchased Centerpoint for $30 million.   The plan is now to rent out the units to “students and young professionals” as discussed in this azcentral.com article.  It’s great to finally have this project come back to life and hopefully make a significant contribution to the overall Tempe economy.

Here’s a press conference video from Tempe11 announcing the sale:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOSqEf5zGxA

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Someone recently came to my blog using the search phrase “what if i decide not to sign an addendum“.  I know this because I’m able to track various metrics about the usage of my blog site, including the search terms that bring people to it.

Now, it’s not entirely clear what specifically was meant by this question.  A home purchase contract may have several addenda attached for various reasons.  Some typical standard addenda include an HOA addendum, an “AS-IS” addendum, a Short Sale addendum, etc.  Sometimes an addendum is added due to subsequent negotiations after the contract was executed to indicate the buyer’s and seller’s agreement to new terms that may modify previously agreed contract terms.  For example, if the home appraisal indicates a lower price than the agreed purchase price, the parties may agree to lower the price.  The new price would be written up in an addendum to the contract and signed by both parties.

Another situation where an addendum comes into play is when purchasing a bank owned property.   Typically, the bank will verbally agree to the buyer’s offer then send a a lengthy addendum detailing the bank’s terms.  Usually, this addendum will supersede most if not all the terms in the original contract.  The buyer then signs the addendum which is then sent back to the bank.  The bank will then sign both the main contract and the addendum to fully execute the contract.

In all cases, if either the buyer or seller does not sign the addendum, then it has no effect and can’t be enforced.  In the case of the bank addendum, this would effectively cancel the proposed purchase since no contract has been executed.   In other cases, the original contract terms would remain in effect assuming the main contract was signed by both parties.  In my appraisal example above, the original purchase price would remain in effect and other contract terms may determine the options of the buyer and seller.  In this situation, the buyer may have a specific time frame to cancel or be obligated to the pay the original price.

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A Tempe 11 video on the Evolution of Mill Avenue, Tempe’s downtown business district:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHUnkZb3e0E

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From a recent Tempe press release:

For Immediate Release
8/18/2010

Denise Rentschler
City of Tempe
Community Outreach / Marketing – Community Services
(480) 350-5209  denise_rentschler@tempe.gov

Tempe recognized as one of 118 Playful City USA communities

TEMPE, Ariz. – Tempe has been recognized as a Playful City USA community by KaBOOM!, a national non-profit organization dedicated to promoting play in children’s lives. In the fourth year of this annual program, KaBOOM! awarded the title to 118 communities across the country, 33 of which were repeat honorees from 2009, including Tempe.

Tempe was selected for its outstanding dedication to play. “A notable aspect of its commitment to children – Tempe Parks and Recreation engages and empowers it residents to get involved in the creation of natural shade structures for its play spaces through the Trees for Tempe program,” said Darell Hammond, KaBOOM! CEO and Co-founder. “These 118 Playful City USA communities serve as beacons for the rest of our nation that an investment in children is an investment in our future.”

In keeping with its title of Playful City USA, Tempe will host its second Play Day on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010, so that Tempeans of all ages can celebrate play together and reap the benefits of being active. The free event will be held from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Kiwanis Park (Mill Avenue and All-America Way). Activities will include kayaking on Kiwanis Lake, open batting cages, tennis lessons, NFL Punt, Pass & Kick youth skills competition and other events for all ages. More information on PlayDay 2010 visit www.tempe.gov/events/playday or call 480.350.5200.

About KaBOOM!
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., KaBOOM! is a national non-profit organization dedicated to saving play. Through community building, the organization is focused on giving every child in America a great place to play within walking distance. Since 1996, KaBOOM! has used its innovative community-build model to bring together business and community interests to construct more than 1,800 new playgrounds, skate parks, sports fields and ice rinks across North America. KaBOOM! also offers a variety of resources, including an online community, free online trainings, grants, publications and the KaBOOM! National Campaign for Play, which includes Playful City USA and Playmakers – a national network of individual advocates for play. KaBOOM! also has offices in Chicago and San Mateo, Calif. For more information, visit www.kaboom.org.

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Months supply of inventory is an indicator of how long it will take to sell all homes available in the given price range at the current rate of sales. Typically,  6 months of inventory is considered a neutral or balanced market, where neither buyers or sellers have an advantage.  Under 6 months is a sellers’ market, and over 6  is considered a buyers’ market.

Below is a chart showing months of inventory for various price ranges as of August 1, 2010.  As indicated, homes priced under $75,000 are in a sellers’ market.  Many of these are bank owned homes with high demand, particularly from investors paying cash.

Generally speaking, the range from $75,000 to $400,000 is in the range of a balanced market, with some borderline variation.  It wasn’t long ago that anything up to about $150-$200K was considered firmly in the sellers’ market camp.   Possibly yet another impact of the loss of tax credit incentives and buyers that made that price range so popular.

Buyers have the upper hand in the market over $400,000, and particularly in the range over $800K.

Click chart for larger image.

Keep in mind that these ranges apply to the Greater Phoenix area.   The market segmentation will vary depending on the specific area of interest around Phoenix.

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