The City of Tempe Community Attitude Survey for 2011 is a gold mine of information for those looking for an overview of the quality of Tempe city services, programs, and neighborhoods as perceived by it’s residents.  Here’s an excerpt regarding condition of neighborhoods:

Sixty-three percent (63%) of the residents surveyed rated the overall condition of their neighborhood as “excellent” or “good;” 29% rated it as “average,” only 6% rated it as poor and 2% did not provide a response. The highest levels of satisfaction with neighborhood services, based upon the combined percentage of “very satisfied” and “satisfied” responses among residents who had an opinion, were the condition of sidewalks in the neighborhood (80%), the condition of neighborhood streets (77%) and the quality of neighborhood parks (77%). Residents were least satisfied with the condition of alleys (52%).

For much more read the full report at this link:

City of Tempe 2011 Community Attitude Survey FINAL REPORT

Related posts:

1. October 2011 Southeast Valley Market Trends Click here for an October Southeast Valley market trend report,...

If you still don’t think the market has been improving lately, check out these median price charts (as of 2/20/2012):

Good news for sellers, not so much for buyers.

Check out the latest chart updates here:

Phoenix Area Median Price Charts

Related posts:

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

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.

Related posts:

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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