Phoenix Urban Real Estate Blog

Downtown Phoenix and many new Restaurants!!!

There are more and more reasons that Downtown Phoenix is a desirable place to live and work, like Restaurants!  Many of these are new in the last year or so.  Most are in Downtown Phoenix or up Central Ave but we did go out just a bit to 7th St and 7th Ave.  There are more and more reasons why it's great to live in Downtown. 

Check out the list and then post your comments on our blog.  You can find any of these fine restaurants by doing a search on the Internet. 

We'd love to see what you think about the restuarants you try.

Restaurant

Bar Smith

Bistro on 3rd

Breadfruit

Carmine’s Little Italy Pizza & Pasta

Cheuvront’s

Cibo’s

City Central Coffee

Crust Italian American Fusion

District American Kitchen & Wine Bar

Fair Trade Coffee

FEZ

Fresh Gourmet to Go

Hanny’s

Hero Factory

La Piccola Cucina

Lisa G’s

Local Breeze

Lola’s Tapas

Lux Coffee Bar

Maizies Café & Bistro

Maria’s Mexican Grill

Matt’s Big Breakfast

Moira

New York NY Fresh Deli

Pasta Bar

Portland’s

Postinos

Roosevelt Tavern

Sens

Sonoma Grill

Stoudemires Downtown

Switch Bakery & Bar

Tammie Coe’s

Taylor Place Residential Dining Hall

That’s a Wrap

The Art of Soup

The Drip Coffee Lounge

The Tuck Shop

Tortillas

Turf

Two Hippies Breakfast Joint

Urban Cookies

Urban Wok

Vinery Two Fourteen

Zoe’s

ZPizza

You can also contact us at www.AZNatvieProperties.com or www.PhxAZUrban.com

1st Time Home Buyers Tax Credit Heads Up!

If you’re planning on cashing in on the First Time Home Buyers Federal $8000 Tax Credit you better start looking now.  You MUST close escrow no later than November 31^st, 2009.  Million’s of First Time buyers want to take advantage of the program and that means, Title Company’s, Mortgage Company’s and even Realtors will be busy trying to get everyone into a contract and close escrow by the due date.  Throw in Thanksgiving the week before and that will create a back log of sales.  The Tax Credit isn’t for those who TRIED to close by November 31^st, you have to BE closed on or before November 31^st.  Also, I don’t suggest making an offer on Short Sales at this time.  If you’re not already in a contract for a short sale, I suggest not looking at them now.  They can take up to 3 months just to get the approval from the bank, that puts you at November 1^st and then you’re in the middle of trying to close with millions of others by the end of the month with Thanksgiving interrupting everything.  There’s talk in Congress about extending the date but don’t count on it.  Check with your accountant to make sure you qualify for the tax credit then give me a call and let’s start looking, there’s no time to loose.  Contact me at Chris@RooPhoRealty.com or go to my website at www.PhoenixAZUrban.com or www.AZNativeProperties.com . You can also call me at 602-224-0554

Becareful if you're thinking about letting a 2nd home or investment property go back to the bank because it's worth less than you owe.  AZ Legislators passed a law that could make you liable for the difference of what you owe at foreclosure and what the bank gets for the property.  Read the attached story.

Full Story

Contact me for more information.  Chris@RooPhoRealty.com

www.PhoenixAZUrban.com

www.AZNativeProperties.com

Foreclosures are setting the values

AZCentral reports that foreclosures are setting the values of home prices.  NO KIDDING!  They also tell us investors are buying a lot of the foreclosed homes.  What they fail to mention is hopfully this combination will level out the values where they are.  There's no crystal ball but let's hope this logic plays out.

Here's the whole story.  http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2009/07/10/20090710biz-resales0711.html 

E-mail me at Chris@RooPhoRealty.com or check out my website http://www.phoenixazurban.com/ 

Are we at the bottom yet?

Reports are out that we may be at the bottom.  The Phoenix Real Estate market is certainly heating up.  Investors and back and bidding up asking prices.  And why should they with asking prices 53% below 2006.  The difference this time is they aren't flipping them, they are renting them.  That's good for the resale market but what will that do to the rental market?  Many people believe when the monthly rents equals the same price it would cost to buy the same property we are at the bottom.  Not only does that make sense but why should someone rent?  The only real reason is they can't get a mortgage and with lending tighter than in 2006, there could be a lot of renters.  This sounds like a good  mix for the bottom but don't expect values to go up quickly.  They never have before in a housing past housing recessions and this one was worse.  Expect values to stay low for a while but not interest rates, they might start climbing slowly. 

Check out this story from AZCentral.com

Contact me for more information or to look at property.

Chris@RooPhoRealty.com or 602.224.0554

http://www.phoenixazurban.com/

Excerpt from CNN.com about Phoenix

Prices have dropped in Phoenix more than any other Metropolitan area.  Read this excerpt from CNN.com.

PHOENIX (Fortune) -- Did you happen to see the latest home-price stats from S&P/Case-Shiller, or did you avert your eyes? Here's what struck me: As of March 2009, every metro area in Case-Shiller's 20-city index, without exception, has fallen double digits from its peak. Ten are down more than 30%. Eight have dropped more than 40%. Las Vegas is down 50%. Phoenix? It doesn't get any worse than Phoenix. According to Case-Shiller, between June 2006 and March 2009 the average house in Phoenix lost a staggering 53% of its value. Possibly during the Great Depression, but almost certainly at no time since then, have house prices in a major metropolitan area fallen by more than half. It's almost unbelievable. Brother, tell me you didn't buy a house during the boom in Phoenix!

It's hard to say if we're at the bottom yet but prices are really really low all over the valley.  Interest rates are starting to go up a bit so you might not want to wait too long.  Contact me and I'll help you determine if this is the right time for you to buy.  You can contact me at www.RooPhoRealty.com or Chris@RooPhoRealty.com

Be careful where you buy.

Many of the apartment-to-condo conversions did not completely sell out and the developer has returned to renting.  There are still condos for sale by developers but also are for sale by owners who are selling them as a short sale or Banks that have foreclosed on them.  I believe it’s a bad investment to buy a condo in an apartment complex.  With the future economy uncertain, there’s no telling when the rest of the apartments will be sold as condos or for how much.  You could buy one today for $75k and the developer could start selling them next hear for $50k.  It’s hard to say and very risky.  I’m doing the best I can to keep track of these so if you’re interested in buying, please contact me at Chris@RooPhoRealty.com or go to www.PhoenixAZUrban.com

Some interesting numbers

There have been 58 homes in the Anthem Country Club that are over 2500 square feet that have sold since the first of the year.  12 were Short Sales and 31 were Bank Owned and 15 were regular sellers.  There are currently 57 homes in the country club over 2500 square feet that are active, 17 are Short Sales, 4 are Bank Owned and 36 are regular sellers.  There are currently 26 under contract, 13 Short Sales under contract, 8 Bank Owned and 5 are regular sellers.  It might be good to keep an eye on Short Sales but keep after the Bank Owned, they look like they are the ones closing.  Banks can close on their homes from 14 days to 30 days while Short Sales are still taking 30 to 90 days.  Regular buyers are still faster too but they normally are asking more then the Banks.

 

For more information, check out www.phoenixazurban.com or www.aznativeproperties.com

Looking for a property for under $50k?

There are a lot of single family homes as well as condos on the market now for under $50k.  Fannie Mae has a program called Homepath that can help.  It's only for homes that Fannie Mae owns and it’s for homes of all prices not just those under $50k.  Go to www.homepath.com and put in your desired zip code and price range and there are many properties that qualify.  You can also get more information about the Homepath program.  Then, you can contact

Joey Parisi

at Champion Mortgage who can help you with the mortgage.  Of course, I'd appreciate you calling "Yours Truly" to write the offer.  Joey's phone is 818-742-3404 and his e-mail is joparisi@prospectmtg.com. 

Freddie Mac has their own program called Homesteps.  In many ways it works the same way.  Go to http://www.homesteps.com/ for more information.  These are both great ways to get a property directly from Fannie or Freddie and from what I’ve seen a good prices.  You can contact Shelley Wiggins at (480) 348-3123 shelley.wiggins@ncmc.com for Homesteps help.  This may be your only way to finance a home under $50k and it may be some of the best deals on the market at any value.  If you find a way to find better prices for the average buyer, please let me know.

Positive signs for the Phoenix Market

There's has been a lot of news nationally and locally about the real estate market and it's been looking good.  That is until yesterday when they noticed that foreclosures went up in April 09 over April 08.  They keep forgetting to mention that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had a moratorium on Foreclosures from last fall through March 31st of 2009.  It only makes since that once the moratorium was lifted that foreclosures would go up again. 

I still think there are some positive things in the Phoenix market.  I'm selling single family homes for $50k and less and I just closed on a 1 bedroom condo for $45k near the Biltmore.  I have a half a dozen buyers looking and many are cash buyers or have 20% to put down.  It really is a great time to buy.

Check out these stories from AZCentral.com

http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2009/05/13/20090513biz-resales0513.html