TheTucsonFoothills

in the Tucson Foothills real estate market ...

On this blog I try to post information and write about things that I think may be helpful, interesting or amusing to those of you interested in the Tucson Foothills real estate market - including sales statistics, trends, new developments, and my observations and opinions about what's happening in the Foothills market.
 
While I pick these topics because I think they'll be helpful or interesting, it's very likely there are other things about the foothills market that I haven't even thought of or touched on, that you'd like to know.
Something to do with home sales, prices, trends, an analysis or opinion of a particular segment or area of the market, or something else entirely, that I haven't thought of.
 
If you let me know what you'd like to know, I'll do my best to answer your questions and provide the information here on the blog.
 
Let's face it, it's summer, it's 108, the real estate market is slower,
and I'd like to keep busy, indoors.

see my web site thefoothillsToday.com
to search for and learn more about Tucson Foothills Homes

Memorial Day weekend in the Tucson Foothills

Enjoy it!

see my web site thefoothillsToday.com
to search for and learn more about Tucson Foothills Homes

tired of the same old drab look, want something unique and colorful

you're in luck
this house was listed for sale just yesterday in the Tucson Foothills

and I promise, this is unique and not a drop of drab

step right this way

Tamara Choudury the Owner/Agent says it best,  
"Totally Extravagant and Over-the-Top Rock Star Palace! One-of-a-Kind and Possibly One of THE Most Unique Properties on The Planet"


I don't think she's overstating it, do you

Tamara says-
"This home is truly for those who Love to Live Life very LARGE.
This room is massive. With the attached Loft it is over 2,000 sq. ft"

the guys at Dutch Boy must be going nuts over this

and it just proves what I've often said,
if you’re looking for something unique and indescribable,
you can probably find it in the Foothills


see the white door, rumor has it that it leads to a totally white room,
kind of a decompression chamber for color challenged guests,
just in case
 

 it just keeps going
  

 and the fun doesn't stop when you step outside
 

 blue margaritas anyone
 

 Interested!
This house is listed by,
Tamara Choudury, Owner/Agent
Phone: 520-275-9191
Tierra Antigua Realty
Tucson, AZ
And thanks to Tamara for letting me post this piece about her very unique listing.

The Details;
MLS 20819096
List Price - $2,495,000
8316 sq. ft., built 1974, 5 bedrooms & 9 baths, 1.40 acres 
& District 16 Schools too

 there is something for everyone in the Tucson Foothills!

see my web site thefoothillsToday.com
to search for and learn more about Tucson Foothills Homes

going through changes with a Joesler in the Tucson Foothills

Named Diez Vistas, Ten Views, this grand old home built in 1937 by Josias Joesler & John Murphey in the old Tucson Foothills has changed hands three times in the last four years.

The latest sale was just the other day, on May 16 when
it sold for $1,022,000. While just over two years ago, in
March of 2006 it sold for $1,900,000, almost $900,000 more than it did today. 
And before that, in August of 2004 it sold for $1,325,000.

At first glance you'd think WOW! prices in the Foothills are all over the place, and
by the way, why does that Joesler keep turning over.  
But there's more to it than meets the eye. Each of these buyers/sellers had a particular goal in mind when they bought and sold this Joesler, and each contributed to its transformation.

The earliest, and only other recorded sale of this home (that I could find online) was in 1993 for $575,000. So the people who bought it in 1993, owned it until August of 2004 when it sold for $1,325,000.

At the time of that sale in 2004 for $1,325,000, the property details were given as follows;
4690 sf, 6 bedroom/7 baths, including a 1200 sf 3 bed/3 bath
guest house, + a greenhouse, on 4 acres of land.

and it looked like this,

and then there's the kitchen,

These new owners promptly set about renovating this old Joesler, and when they were done,
the listing agent aptly described it as-
John Murphey and Josias Joesler's stunning Santa Fe on a hill on 3.97 acres with 360 degree views. Lovingly restored over the past yet yet retaining all of the original charm and character.
And put it on the market for $1,995,000 with the property details given as follows;
4752 sf, 6 bedroom/7 bath, including a 1200 sf 3 bed/3 bath
guest house, + a greenhouse, on 4 acres of land
(same as the previous listing, give or take)

but now the kitchen looked like this,

along with other nicely done restorations & renovations,

And it sold in March of 2006 for $1,900,000, that's about a year and a half after they bought it for $1,325,000. So it's apparent that these people bought it to renovate it and flip it.
And they did a nice job of it, and quickly too. I think Joesler would be smiling at this one.

Now with this next owner, more radical changes were on the drawing boards.
Having paid $1,900,000 they promptly set about dividing up the four acre parcel into four one acre lots,
with one lot for the Joesler, which they promptly put up for sale, and with plans to build a new home on each of the other three lots, as well as making some other changes to this beautiful old Joesler estate. 

In the aerial view below you can see the four lots stacked vertically.
The three lots circled in red are the one's that were carved out of the original four acre property, and the one in the middle is the remaining one acre lot that's left for the Joesler. The guest house, pool and greenhouse which appear on the southern-most lot were bulldozed to make room for a new home. And the pool was rebuilt on the main lot alongside the Joesler, but the greenhouse and guest house are gone forever.

 

 

So now the Joesler has sold for the third time in just four years, for $1,022,000 on 5/16/08,
with the property details as follows;
3509 sf, 4 bedroom/4 bath, on one acre of land.
(so from the previous sale, it's now minus 1200 sf, -3 beds/3 baths &
-3 acres, with no guest house & no greenhouse)
PS, Nevertheless, I think these buyers got a really good deal at $1,022,000.

And now there are three new homes on those three other lots circled in red, priced from $1,245,000 to $1,595,000. So it's obvious that this owner bought the property to divide and build. It's one of just a few ways to come up with buildable land in the Tucson Foothills these days. And while the Joesler now seems a bit crowded in, thank goodness they didn't knock it down too.

And it's interesting, but not really that surprising, that the Joesler sold before any of the new homes that now surround it. While the new homes are very nicely designed and executed, there are quite a few new or newer homes for sale in the Tucson Foothills, but great Joesler's continue to be a very rare and special find.

For a different slant on building homes in the Tucson Foothills today,
see teardowns in the Tucson Foothills

and see my web site thefoothillsToday.com
to search for and learn more about Tucson Foothills Homes

teardowns in the Tucson Foothills

Well located build-able lots are an endangered species that are fast becoming a nearly extinct species in the Tucson Foothills.
There are very few good lots available, and those that are, are very expensive.

Some builders/investors have responded to this situation by carving out lots in places where no one would have considered building a home a few years ago. What I call in-fill lots.

Others have gone the teardown route, finding well-located older homes on good lots and starting over. This is a very popular way to go in Skyline country club, which is a guard-gated golf course community in the Tucson Foothills, where many 60's and 70's vintage homes are located on prime lots with great city and mountain views.

The one below was built in 1967, and sold for $480,000 in 2004

And after a massive facelift it's now listed for $1,685,000


Here's the original 60's kitchen

and a couple hundred thousand later, bon appetit

from Ozzie and Harriet in the living room

to surround sound and knock-out views

 

Here's another one, this 3160 sf house was built in 1965,
and sold for $455,000 in 2003

and was reborn as a 5000 sf luxury manse which sold for
$1,875,000 in 2005. It sits on the golf course in Skyline
and has great mountain views too

and a new kitchen

and a new everything

Despite a lack of land, this is how some of the new construction is getting done in the Tucson Foothills, and doing it on a great lot in a place like Skyline Country Club is the way to go, in my opinion.
It's more expensive than building on in-fill lots, but if you're going to build or buy an expensive home, location, location, is the critical criteria. It can't be overlooked, because it can't be changed, while just about everything else about a house can be.

see my web site thefoothillsToday.com
to search for and learn more about Tucson Foothills Homes

a really big menu in the Tucson Foothills

Recently we've been wondering about growth in the Tucson Foothills, more houses, more shops and more mouths to feed.
To give you an idea of that growth, today you can choose from these 29 restaurants and more, that are in, or right next to the Tucson Foothills

The Grill at Hacienda del Sol - Ventana Room - The Flying V - Anthony's in the Catalinas - El Corral - Sullivan's Steakhouse -
Fleming's Prime Steakhouse - McMahon's Prime Steakhouse - Vivace - Tavolino - North - Vin Tabla - J Bar - Janos - Terra Cotta - Blanco - Acacia - Bluefin - Wildflower - Red Sky Cafe - Bluepoint Kitchen & Bar - AJ's Fine Foods - Firebird's Wood Fired Grill - Armitage Wine Lounge - ZinBurger - PF Chang's  - RA Sushi -
Shlomo & Vito's New York Delicatessen Tohono Chul Tea Room

just three years ago, you'd have had to be content with these 15,
from that same list

The Grill at Hacienda del Sol - Ventana Room - The Flying V - Anthony's in the Catalinas - El Corral - Sullivan's Steakhouse -
McMahon's Prime Steakhouse - Vivace - J Bar -Janos - Terra Cotta - Wildflower - Red Sky Cafe  - PF Chang's - Tohono Chul Tea Room

and five years ago, there were just 11 to choose from,

The Grill at Hacienda del Sol - Ventana Room - The Flying V - Anthony's in the Catalinas - El Corral -  McMahon's Prime Steakhouse  Vivace - J Bar - Janos - Terra Cotta -  Tohono Chul Tea Room

And all these restaurants (except Vivace, Tavolino & Schlomo) have web sites.
It ain't the old pueblo anymore, the Foothills have been discovered

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to search for and learn more about Tucson Foothills Homes

trophy homes in the Catalina Foothills

I often read about a lack of real trophy homes, you know, mega homes, $20,000,000 and up, for sale in places like New York, Beverly Hills, Palm Beach and so on. The real estate agents in these places are often heard complaining in the pages of The New York Times or the WSJ that they have plenty of buyers, but there just aren't enough of these real trophy properties to go round. 

We have a similar problem here in the Foothills. While we have a lot of spectacular luxury homes for sale, maybe even too many at the moment, we don't have anything that qualifies in the category of mega trophy home.

We did, but not anymore. For the last few years Campbell Cliffs was for sale for $22,000,000. At 25,000 sq. ft. on 20 acres of pristine desert high in the Catalina Foothills, Campbell Cliffs was by far the largest, the most dramatic, exotic, and expensive home for sale in all of Tucson. A world class trophy home. But it's been quietly taken off the market. Take a look, Campbell Cliffs 

Because we have nothing to offer in the mega home department, the Tucson Foothills are completely off the map for the growing class of super rich home buyers. And these days the super rich come from all over the world to buy their 3rd, 4th or 5th home in the US.

While most of us compare prices and $$/sq ft, and negotiate to get the best deal possible, the super rich are only interested in finding another great trophy home to compliment their lifestyle and reflect their status.
And aside from price being low on their list of considerations, $22,000,000 is a drop in the bucket for these buyers. 

are the Tucson Foothills more resilient to a declining real estate market

There's a good real estate article in today's Wall Street Journal online that talks about, ' In Many Markets, the Outlook Varies Widely by Community'.

The article points out some of the things that make a particular community more desirable, and therefore more resilient to falling values in a declining real estate market, than neighboring communities.

And though the Tucson Foothills are not mentioned in the article, the similarities between the Foothills, and the communities featured in the article as holding up better than others, are unmistakable.
These are things that I have been chanting for a long time, both on this blog and to my home buyer clients.

The article is titled, 'Gauging Value In Real Estate As Prices Slide'

Here are some key points from the article that also apply to the Foothills,
- In this battered housing market, choosing the right neighborhood is more important than ever.
-One factor is well-known to home buyers: schools. Even if you don't have children, houses in high-ranked school districts generally retain their value better.
-don't overlook perhaps the most important variable of all: supply and demand. ...prices are tumbling hardest in places like Phoenix or Miami or Las Vegas, which were smothered in recent years by new construction. Yet it is apparent that some parts of Phoenix are substantially weaker than others.
-In many cities during the housing boom, developers ventured far afield to buy cheaper land, expecting that if they built it, buyers would come. And buyers did. But now they aren't so eager for two reasons: Gas is topping $3 a gallon, increasing their commuting costs, and the necessary infrastructure such as schools and retail and medical facilities often haven't sprung up yet.
-Just about anything sold in the hot market of 2004 and 2005, but now "it's location, location, location -- more than ever,"

In the Tucson Foothills,
-District 16, the school district for much of the Foothills, is considered by parents of school age children, to be a very good school district.
Many parents will only buy in District 16.
-the Foothills have not been plastered with new construction, there's been very very little, because there's no room to expand in the Tucson Foothills
-the Foothills are all about location, location, and an established community with a wide variety of housing that appeals to many different types of home buyers.
And in addition to it's natural beauty and lack of congestion, it's convenient to downtown Tucson, to retail, outdoor recreation, golf, hiking, dining, medical facilities and more.

One disclaimer. The supply of luxury homes in the Tucson Foothills and also other areas of Tucson, at about $1.3mil & UP, has gotten way ahead of demand. And I believe the luxury market has also crossed the line of buyer tolerance, as these homes are increasingly being built on less desirable home sites in the Foothills.

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to search for and learn more about Tucson Foothills Homes

"Tucson in really good years will grow 2.5%, despite ...

I grew up in New York City and then I lived in Chicago for 20+ years. And every square inch of those cities have been paved over and built and re-built since before the beginning of time.
Growth in New York and Chicago meant knocking down a big old building and putting up an even bigger new one.

So I when I moved to the Tucson Foothills in 2000, I wasn't accustomed to seeing the kind of growth that's happening here. 
Oro Valley and the entire Northwest Tucson area, Southeast Tucson and Vail, plus the southwest and west Tucson areas, have grown tremendously in that short time. Where once there was desert - hundreds of homes, miles of roads and homes for Home Depots and Wal Marts have sprung up relentlessly. When you read about big growth in Tucson, those are the areas that you're reading about.

In the Tucson Foothills, which was pretty much built out when I moved here, the last large parcel of land was claimed by
Pima Canyon, the luxury home development built in 2001.
Since then, growth in the Foothills, has and will continue to be limited to the few and quickly diminishing number of good lots, and to what I charitably call, in-fill development. There just isn't any land available.

A recent article in the AZ Daily Star talks about current and future growth in Pima county and what's driving it. Some highlights,
Pima population growth to slow — microscopically
Pima County's rate of population growth will slow in the next seven years, but so slightly — despite the housing downturn — "you won't even notice," says planner David Taylor.
These are the latest forecasts from Taylor, of the Pima Association of Governments, and Marshall Vest, University of Arizona economic and business-research director.

Until at least 2015, annual growth rates will stay over 2 percent, where they've been for a decade-plus. "Tucson in really good years will grow 2.5 percent," Vest said. "In bad years, 2 percent."

The reasons: more retirees are moving here, along with people with "a heckuva lot more money," Vest said. "People are able to move here when they don't have a job, when they don't even need a job."
Some choose Tucson for second homes. The population is aging.

All of that is allowing the population to grow even when the economic slowdown could bring a drop in total jobs, Vest said.

 
And a lot of those retirees, and people with "a heckuva lot more money", choose the Tucson Foothills, because of -Location, Location, Location - there's nothing else like it in Tucson.
And though I have heard rumors that there are people who actually prefer these other areas of Tucson, I've never met one myself.
So as far as I'm concerned, it's just a rumor.

Second homes and retirement homes account for an increasingly large share of the homes that are sold in the Tucson Foothills. And as for the "heckuva lot more money" luxury home market, here's a look at how it's grown in the last 7 years:
In the years 2000 thru 2003, sales of $1mil+ homes in the Tucson Foothills ranged between 24 to 30 homes sold each year.
Then in 2004 that number jumped to 60 homes sold, then to 97 homes in 2005, and to 126 in 2006, about a 400% increase.
Yes, in 2007 that number slipped, to 91 $1mil+ homes sold.
But that's no surprise given the shenanigans of the financial markets and the resulting disappearance of jumbo loans.
 
The Tucson Foothills, along with Northwest and Southeast Tucson, will benefit from the continued growth that we'll see in all of Pima county, but unlike those other areas of Tucson - which will continue to expand out and get bigger and busier with more and more new homes and shopping centers and roads - the Foothills won't grow, and it won't get any bigger, it will just become more and more desirable because of what it has always been and continues to be.

See TheFoothillsToday.com
to search for and learn more about Tucson Foothills Homes,

on my morning walk

Every morning at around 5:30, 6 o'clock I take my dogs for a long hike in the wash that borders the west side of my house. 
It's peaceful and beautiful at that time of the morning and we pretty much have the wash to ourselves. There are just one or two other early morning regulars with dogs that we occasionally run into, but just occasionally, other than that we don't see anyone.

It's a great way to start the day, we're up and out early,
and we all get some exercise.

And occasionally a photo op. That's Ben, Capone & Jake, my buddies. 
And lately our morning outings have been extra special.
With the recent monsoon rains and a slight dip in the temperatures as summer comes to a close, the desert has started to bloom.
The big old barrel cactus and prickly pear are sprouting 
crowns of flowers,
 

and little flowering plants are popping up from that rocky soil 
 

And this funny looking little watermelon plant that's about the size of a baseball just popped up the other day on a long lanky vine.
 
And there's other new life in the desert lately.
Suddenly, in just the last two days, we've encountered four couples, people we've never seen before, with and without dogs, out for early morning walks in the wash. Whoa, big deal right. Well, we haven't seen anyone, other than the one or two other regular morning walkers in four or five months. No one, it's been our own private desert sanctuary, til now. 
Then suddenly we see four new couples in two days,...
I don't know for sure, but it looked to me like they were newly arrived winter visitors. They had that earnest determined look, and a gung-ho spring in their step, as if they were starting a new exercise regimen.
And though it's a little early for snowbirds, since the temps here are still hovering in the mid to high 90's - I'm pretty sure I'm right. Traditionally Labor Day marks the end of summer, and in the Tucson Foothills, it's also the start of our fall/winter season. Over the next few weeks, as the temperatures drop, winter visitors and second home owners will start their annual migration back to Tucson.
We welcome them, they're a big part of the ebb and flow of our seasons, and what helps make this community tick.

Monsoons slam Tucson, again

  Sun          Today            Tues

                     
88° | 72    89° | 72         90° | 71°
July and August is Monsoon season in Tucson, and up until about a week ago it was a pretty piddling monsoon. At least that's been the case here in the Tucson Foothills, all bark, no bite. 
But monsoon storms are very localized, and we might have a howling rainstorm where I live, and at my office two miles away, not a drop.  
But lately we've all been getting slammed.
Here's what it looks like this morning out my window,
 


This wash, which borders the west side of my house is where I walk my dogs everyday, and it's usually bone-dry.
 
That's building up to about three feet of very swift moving water. 
The weatherman says more on the way.

The Tucson Foothills, featured in the New York Times

In today's New York Times, both online and in print, there's a big article about the Tucson Foothills. For this article, which appears in a regular Friday column called HAVENS, I had the pleasure of working with the writer from the New York Times, Paul Smalera.
Paul was great, and so for me it was a lot of fun and very similiar to working with a home buyer from out of town, except that Paul was constantly taking notes about the things we saw and the things I said. As we drove around the Foothills I gave him an overview of the Foothills real estate market and showed him the different communities and the types of homes that were available, who was buying in those communities, prices and market trends and the changes that had occurred in recent years. Since the thrust of the article is about second homeowners, Paul asked if I had some second homeowner clients who would agree to be interviewed. Paul and Marianne Pellegrino, who were gracious enough to make themselves available and agree to be interviewed and recorded, are quoted frequently throughout the article. It's a really terrific piece and wonderful exposure for Tucson and the Tucson Foothills.

GREAT HOMES / GREAT HOMES | June 15, 2007
Havens| Tucson Foothills:  Cleared to Tee Off or Take Off
By PAUL SMALERA
Golf, high-end shops and a popular airpark draw second-home buyers to the foothills of North Tucson, Ariz.

knock-knock

Who's there?

Barbeques Galore

Fantastic!
A few weeks ago I ordered one of those barbeque islands for my house. Nothing too fancy, just a 7' island with a nice grill built in, a couple of storage drawers and a small bar counter at one end, so people could keep me company while I burnt their dinner.
And now the big day, the guys were here to deliver and install it. Barbeques Galore had called me a few days before to let me know that it was all built and painted and that they could deliver it on Wednesday at noon. Perfect!
When you get a new grill, you want to break it-in the right way.
So we invited some friends over for margaritas, steaks, chicken and anything else that could be grilled, on Thursday,
the next evening.
The island needed to be maneuvered this way and that way to get it through the courtyard door because at the bar end it was wider than the doorway- and they couldn't maneuver it too well since it weighed about 700 lbs, and they were afraid of scraping it and scratching it, and in the end, they couldn't get it in. And I couldn't believe it.
I didn't get any pictures of that, - I was too pissed - and I was doing my best to convince them to try it this way and that way, and every which way.
So back on the truck it went.

Meanwhile the manager of Barbeques Galore called me to apologize and let me know that they would do their best to get it in as soon as possible. Great. As soon as possible like when.
Five minutes after that my wife pulled up with shopping bags full of food for Thursday nights shindig. ooh, she was pissed too.
We were like two kids that had had their toys taken away from them.
But Barbeques Galore came to the rescue. They showed up the next morning, and this time they brought a little extra muscle



The grill was in in plenty of time for Thursday's shindig.
And Barbeques Galore apologized again for the delay and the inconvenience, and didn't charge me a nickel extra for the extra muscle. I love Barbeques Galore.

The season begins, Tucson Foothills home sales

We're at the point in the real estate cycle where there is a lot of speculation on where the market really is now and where it's headed. There are bulls and there are bears. Some say we've reached the turning point, others believe that we've got a ways to go yet. In most parts of the country this is a slow time for home sales, things don't really get going until spring, so the speculation about the market has some time to brew before the actual sales results start coming in. In the Tucson Foothills the high-season for home sales kicks off right now, in mid January, and runs through May and then dribbles into June. Winter visitors and snow birds are arriving everyday, internet searches and showing activity are up and the buzz in real estate circles is all about whether this activity will translate into a good year for home sales. In Tucson we've had a run of good news lately on the economic and real estate fronts, and although some of it has been forecasts of good things to come vs. the more tangible it's actually happened kind of good news, it's still good news. And glancing at the real estate numbers in the Tucson Foothills for the past week I'd say that optimism is carrying the day. There have been 71 homes listed for sale since January 1st. 71, that's a quite a few for a market where the inventory has ranged between about 350 to 400 homes recently - even though about half those listings are homes that were taken off the market at the end of 06 and are now being re-listed for the new year. That's 71 more homeowners, plus their real estate agents, who believe that they have a good chance of selling their home in the next 5 to 6 months. And they may be right because there are a lot of factors working in Tucson's favor. Interest rates are low, the business environment and the employment picture are bright, Arizona is now the fastest growing state and there's a solid in-migration of people to Tucson from other parts of the country, including a growing number of retiring baby boomers. Couple that with the fact that in the Foothills there is a limited supply of homes, very few buildable lots and no land for further development. Right now we're still in a buyers market, but I can see the scales beginning to tip to a more balanced market. In the weeks ahead we'll see if I'm right. I'll be posting homes sales data for the Foothills every two weeks starting on 1/15/07, so check back if you're interested in getting the latest on Tucson Foothills home sales.