TheTucsonFoothills

Atlanta, Anchorage or Austin, sellers confuse what they want for their home with what it’s actually worth

… she and her husband bought a four-bedroom home on a manmade lake in 1999 for $374,000. They spent $100,000 installing a pool, a hot tub, a basement bar and home theater.

When her husband lost his job as a sales executive at a consumer products company in 2007, the couple moved into a house that Ms. West had inherited from her mother in St. Augustine, Fla. They put the Dacula house on the market for $599,900.

They rejected several offers that they considered lowballs. “Everybody kept saying ‘Oh, it’s a great house, it will sell,’ ” Ms. West recalled. A contract for $447,000 fell through when the buyer could not secure a loan. Last month, the couple signed a contract for $360,000, effectively erasing previous gains and their large investment in improvements.

From The New York Times 
In Atlanta, Housing Woes Reflect Nation’s Pain

just keep thinking,  ‘Oh, it’s a great house, it will sell’

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to find your Foothills home

like people, some houses just lead more interesting lives than others

Take 4496 N Via Bellas Catalinas. It  was first listed for $950,000 in 05. And it didn’t sell but they didn’t lower the price, no, they raised it to $999,000. But still it didn’t sell, so they stopped pussyfooting around and raised it to a million-two. Way to go. A million-two in one swoop. That takes nerve. And guess what happened, someone came along and paid a million-two. No kidding. That was February 2006 -when practically everything sold for about twice what it was worth.

But despite the high price they paid, the love affair was short-lived and the house went back on the market just two months later, for $1,250,000. And they stuck it out at $1.250 for about a year and then started dropping it $40 to $50k a pop until eventually it got down to $950,000 where it started. But by then it was too late and mr lender reared his ugly head and took it over – that was October 07. And a couple of months later It came back on the market as one of the pioneering foreclosure listings in the foothills, this time for $719,900. But still no one wanted it.

But finally a buyer did come along and make them an offer they couldn’t refuse – them being Deutche Bank - they took $400,000 for it and ran all the way home, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. 

And hallelujah, it’s back on the market today, and all spiffed up I hear, and listed for $849,000.
Check it out.

4496 N Via Bellas Catalinas Tucson, AZ 85718
(listed by Long Realty)

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to find your Foothills home

a Joesler gets clobbered

The Joesler at 5051 N La Lomita sold for $660,000 in 1999 and was listed in late 2009 for $1,195,000. On the market since then it sold yesterday for $765,000 ($175/sf), off an $839,000 list price. And that’s with 2.7 hilltop acres.

An attractive Joesler, and one of the few for sale in the foothills, and, more to the point, one of a dwindling number of Joesler’s in the foothills, period – you’d think (I would anyway) it would’ve sold a little quicker and for a little more $$.

But I also think the initial list price - $1,195,000 – which they stuck to for 12 months was, ah, off putting. And like so many listings that start out too high, by the time the price got down to earth it had been on the market a year and a half and any excitement about it had long since faded. Isn’t hindsight wonderful

5051 N La Lomita Tucson, AZ 85718
(listed by Long Realty)

last summer I mentioned La Lomita here > even Joesler has to tow the line (at that writing it went to contract, but later fell thru)

see thefoothillsToday.com
to find your Foothills home

8 homes went under contract today

7 of them are priced from $269,900 to $529,000 - then 1 at $875,000.

The good news is that homes priced up to about $600k continue to do very well, but beyond that it’s still a crap shoot.

see thefoothillsToday.com
to find your Foothills home

list prices

I’ve noticed here and there, some of the new listings that have come on in the last few weeks are priced higher now than what they sold for 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 years ago. As if prices have gone up, not down since then. And I don’t mean just a few bucks higher, I’m seeing prices10% and more higher when, in fact, they should be 20% or more lower.

And I wonder what brings this on now. Is it because we’re in the early innings of our in-season and sellers & their agents figure there’s time to test the waters and still have time to drop back down if needed before June rears its head. Or is it because the inventory is low and they figure their chances are better now than they’ve been, so go for it. It’s possible, anything’s possible, it’s not likely, but possible.

But I recently met with a few sellers who wanted to list their houses, and I got to see first hand their thinking on list prices. And with a few exceptions I don’t even list houses anymore. I just prefer to work with buyers. But over the last few months quite a few people called me to talk about listing their house. And at first I just thanked them and declined, explaining that I don’t list anymore. But then I got more calls and I thought, what the heck, I’m not all that busy with buyers, that’s for sure, so maybe I should think about listing again. So I went on a few listing appointments.

And I was very upfront with everyone. I explained that I work mostly with buyers, but would on occasion take a listing. And that I was now considering dipping my toes a little deeper into the listing end of the pool. And after touring the house and chatting we eventually got around to the money part. We looked at comps and talked about the market and what I thought their house should be listed for, and why I thought so, and so on. And the more we talked the chillier it got.

And I found that many of them didn’t need me at all, or any Realtor really, they already knew what they wanted to list it for. And it usually had very little to do with the realities of the market. When push came to shove, though no one quite said so out loud, the attitude was ‘the heck with the comps and the market and all that mumbo-jumbo, this is a great house & I’ve got XX in it and I want what I want and that’s what I’m going to list it for’  Imagine, in this day and age?

And that cured me of the listing bug. And I’ve since resolved to stick to what I like best, working with buyers - except maybe for a past client, a friend, or a special property, that’s priced right -  and I’ll leave the chilly discussions to the listing agents who somehow manage to do it day in day out.

see thefoothillsToday.com
to find your Foothills home

a plug

I had my driveway redone recently, it’s a long gravel driveway, about 100 yards long, and it turned out great. And a neighbor also had theirs done, they had theirs chip sealed, and a beautiful job too.

We both used Charles Trail Contracting – they do Chip Sealing, Asphalt Coating, Crack Filling and Paving – and I recommend them. They’ve been at it for years, they’re very professional and do excellent work at a fair price. What more could you ask for.

Charles Trail Contracting
1505 W. St Mary’s Road
Tucson, AZ 85745

Contact Charles for an estimate.
Ph. 520 704-6969
FX. 520 622-7453
charlestrailcontracting@gmail.com

licensed, bonded, and insured ROC# 201185

And if you do use them, please drop me a line and let me know how it went. I like to keep track of how it goes with the very few people that I do recommend.
Happy Trails!

see thefoothillsToday.com
to find your Foothills home

here’s one for the books

4151 E La Paloma Drive sold for $715,000 in 2006. At that time it was listed as 3300 square feet – with the Floor Plan people shown as the source of the sf.
And it was in vintage 1976 condition,
like this,

 

and this,

 

And after paying $715k the new owner spent a whole bunch more and remodeled it and listed it for $1,000,000 in 2009. Meanwhile, it had somehow grown to 4000 square feet, and now the owner was listed as the source of the sf.

And it looked like this,

and this,

A very nice improvement, but it didn’t sell.
So it was reduced to $899 then $799 then up to $839, etc. And it went through a few listing agents along the way.

Meanwhile the square footage stayed at 4000 sf, but suddenly the Assessor, as in Pima County Tax Assessor, was listed as the source. Baloney, that’s just not so. As a matter of fact, the assessor shows the square footage as 2530 sf. And they always did.
Is there any question that the shenanigans with the square footage have probably hindered, rather than helped, the sale of this property.

And that brings us to the present and latest new listing for La Paloma Drive. Yes it’s been listed again. It turned up today asking for $350,000 as a short sale (can you believe it, half what it sold for in 06, before the remodel). 

Meanwhile it shrunk, it’s now listed as 2530 square feet, exactly what the Pima County Assessor has shown it to be all along.

Make sure you know what you’re buying.

4151 E La Paloma Drive Tucson, AZ 85718
(listed by Long Realty)

UPDATE; it’s just a few hours later and La Paloma Drive is already in contract.

see thefoothillsToday.com
to find your Foothills home

and yet another contract in Pima Canyon

I realize my reports of one contract after another in PC may be getting very tedious, but it’s Pima Canyon, what can I do, I can’t ignore it. So I’ll at least try to make this one interesting …

7303 N Mystic Canyon Drive – first listed in February 2010 for $1,127,000 and failed to sell - 
is reported in contract, currently listed at $799,900 ($222/sf) – down about 33%.

You may recall that last March they announced a really creative approach to pricing this house. They announced right in the listing that they were going to drop the price $5000 every week until it sells. Is that a nifty idea or what. And, as you can imagine, if buyers weren’t breaking down the doors before, why rush to make an offer now that you stand to save a bundle by just sitting back and waiting. And time went by but no one took the bait. So they scrapped that idea and went back to the more traditional tactic of dropping $50k or so, unannounced in advance.

and PS-  this may very well take the cake for the lowest $$/sf sale in PC in many moons. (that is, not counting a few foreclosures that were ripped apart and needed $250k or more to put them back together)

7303 N Mystic Canyon Drive , Tucson, AZ 85718
(listed by Coldwell Banker Residential Br 70207)

hacking your Gmail account the easy way

I received the following email, purportedly from Google, but obviously from some ill disguised cretins who are trying to boost my Gmail account without breaking a sweat.

Dear Valid User,
Our Account users discovered series of illegal attempts on your Gmail account from different IP locations.This is for your own safety to avoid your account closed, you will have to verify your account by filling out your Log-in below by clicking the reply button. Account will be de-activated and erased from our database if no response in 72 hours. We apologies for any inconveniences.
After receiving the information requested you will be able to continue using your Account.

User name:..
Password:..
Date Of Birth:..
Occupation:..
Country Of Residence:..

Yeah sure, no problem, and while we’re at it how about my ss #,

This message came from Gmail Team @ rgjohns@telus.net

Aha,

now isn’t this curious

6702 N Los Leones Drive in Skyline CC sold in 2004 for $825,000 and it sold again today for more than it did back then, for $950,000. And since there’s no indication of improvements having been made during that interval, I’m, let’s say, surprised at how much it sold for today.

Is this an indication that the market is loosening up, or is it just one of those things.

In any case that makes two sales today in Skyline CC. And that is something. The other is reported just below this,

6702 N Los Leones Drive Tucson, AZ 85718
(listed by Long Realty)