As you may know, I live and work in a condo on Roosevelt and 7th Street in
Artisan Village. It’s a very cool place to live and it’s great having a business and your home in the
same place. Well, now there is a very nice unit just like mine that’s for sale on a short sale. It has been upgraded very nicely and would be a great place to live and have a small business in the storefront.
The office space is great for a small business that only needs about 300 to 400 square feet or you can use the whole first floor for commercial and then use the upstairs as a home. There is only 1 bedroom and that is located on the first floor but modifications are easy and the unit is move in ready.
The office has stained concrete floors and would make a great Insurance office, retail store, art gallery and yes, even a nice real estate office.
The residential portion was nicely done with upgraded wood floors, appliances and cabinets. My property has certainly made a nice office and home for me and it can do the same for many people.
If you’d like to tour the property give me call. Here is the complete
MLS Listing for you to review.
Surprisingly home values went up in the last year 3.6% and up 4.4% in the second quarter over the last quarter. Unfortunately, jobs are still hard to find so that’s keeping many people out of the market. However, interest rates continue to be low and that’s convincing many who are secure in their jobs to buy. It’s a strange market we have out there.
Downtown Phoenix seems to be holding it’s own lately. Home values in the Downtown and MidTown areas have been holding steady. I’ve even seen a condo that didn’t sell in a short sale recently get foreclosed on and the bank raised the asking price of it. I’m not sure it will sell for the new price but there’s a Realtor and a bank out there that think so.
I also have a few investors that are looking for single family homes below $50k and I can tell you, there’s plenty to choose from all over the valley. Basically, if you can pay cash and keep the remodel to a minimum you can charge between $500 to $700 a month rent for these homes. Where can get that kind of return on your cash right now. Not to many places I’m sure. Check with your financial advisor to see if this is the right move for you. There are still risk in real estate as we all learned in the last few years.
When you do the math, you’ll see that buying a more expensive house at a lower interest rate is cheaper than buying a less expensive house at a higher interest rate. Consider this; If the loan Amount is $175k at 5% the payment will be about $939.44 vs 6% the payment will be about $1049.21 or for a loan amount of $150k at 6% will be $899.33.
With this is mind, you might want to call a lender to see what interest rate you qualify for and what the payment will be. There are a lot of good deals out there with so many foreclosures and short sales on the market. I’ve heard from a few people that Short Sales are getting easier but I haven’t seen it. I’m still selling them but I do warn my clients not to expect anything fast.
Downtown Phoenix has some great deals in the condo market. You can get nice 2 bedroom and 2 baths for less than $100k. Even though the first time home buyers tax credit has expired it’s still a good time to at least look into buying a home in Phoenix.
You also might want to just search through MLS. You can search by zip code and check out different areas of the valley. RooPho Realty sells real estate all over the valley so feel free to call us with any questions in any part of town.
Comments Off
Just when you thought things were bottoming out in the real estate market, Banks foreclosures went up 1% in May over April. That doesn’t sound like much but foreclosures going down would be better. Many Banks are holding on to some of the foreclosed homes and not putting them on the market right away. If they did, it could cause prices to go down even further and prolong the recession.
I’ve helped over 50 buyers in the last 18 months buy homes from Banks and Short Sale listings. There are many new things happening when you are buying any property in this market. The skills and strategy used to help you buy a property will make a difference in the investment value.
RooPho Realty has been working very hard to get buyers the best value in todays market.
Arizona saw its foreclosure activity increase by less than 1% in May from the prior month and drop 5% from May 2009. One in every 169 properties received a foreclosure notice in May.
With this many homes still being foreclosed on every month, there will be plenty to choose from for the rest of the year and into next year. Also, values won’t be going up very fast with all of these foreclosures. What will go up is interest rates. You’ll want to watch interest rates closely as it will cost you much more to buy a $100,000 house at 6% interest then at 5% interest.
I still think Downtown Phoenix is still one of the best buys in the Valley. Most of my clients are looking in Downtown and along the Light Rail. As the market recovers, I think values along the Light Rail will go up just a bit faster than outside walking distance to the rail line.
Comments Off
Downtown Phoenix residential properties are a good buy today. But it’s not surprising that you might be a bit nervous about buying a property right now even if it is in Downtown Phoenix. As you probably know, Downtown Phoenix has been in revitalization mode for the last number of years until the economic crash stalled almost everything. The good thing is that the real estate bubble burst has reduced prices back to something that regular folk can afford. There are many one and 2 bedroom condos priced under $100k that are within walking distance to a light rail stop and there are some very nice Phoenix Historic Homeswhose prices have come back down into the low $200k. Most of these prices are around 50% less then they were 2 and 3 years ago but as they say, “that was then, this is now.” Home prices from 2 and 3 years ago have no baring on the value today. Seller’s hate to hear that but facts are facts. So what do you do now? Call me to see if there is a property out there that meets your needs and rest assured that you are getting a Native Phoenician that specializes in Downtown and Central Phoenix and really understands the market and the neighborhoods.
Comments Off
There are many condo communities that boast Live/Work units in the Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe downtowns but only Phoenix has true Live/Work units and there are only 10 of them and one is finally on the market. This is a great unit with a store front that is street level and living space upstairs and the two are connected making this a true Live/Work Condo. Located in the heart of the Roosevelt Arts District and the First Friday Art Walk, this is a great opportunity to start your own business.
The RooPho Realty office is located in another of the Artisan Village Live/Work Condos and speaking from experience, this is a great way to run your own business and have a store front in an up and coming area of Downtown Phoenix.
Comments Off
The recent HUD announcement stated the HUD was lifting the 90 day flipping rule effective 2/1/2010 and will not loan on a property that has not been owned by the current owner for more than 90 days. Until now, the current had to own the property for 90 days before FHA would insure the loan. This is for contracts effective 2/1/2010. It does not apply to contracts or loans already in existance. Again this waiver DOES NOT apply to existing loans or contracts. It applies to new contracts 2/1/2010 and later.
This 90 day waiting period has kept many buyers from purchasing the home they really wanted because they wanted to use FHA financing. Now they will be able to us FHA for many homes and condos in the valley.
Comments Off
It was announced the other day that 44 Monroe, the 33 story luxury high rise condominium building is up for sale. Grace Developers sold only about 9 of the condos before the market fell out from under us and the project will be filing for bankruptcy soon. In the meantime, the remaining units will be auction off as one sale. This will remove some of the debt and Grace Communities from the project. The auction is currently scheduled for April and once complete, they should be ready to start selling the individual units again. It will be interesting to see what prices they put on the unit and what price the HOA monthly dues will be.
Comments Off
There are many nice places to get a good buy on Urban condos in Tempe, among them is Northshore. This is a great community in a “U” shape so most of the condos have great views of the Tempe Townlake and pool area. Northshore has wonderful floor plans with balcony’s that are worth having and not those little balcony’s that you can only walk on. There is plenty of shopping just outside the front door and you’re only a mile from the Tempe Market Place. Not to mention, you’re just across the lake from ASU so it’s perfect for student and faculty alike.
Then there’s also Brigeview, a luxury high rise condos with all the extras. Located on the Southside of the lake and just a short walk to the ASU Sun Devil Stadium, this is one of Tempe’s newest and best communities. All the units have high-end finishes like granite counter tops and upgraded flooring. There’s an exercise room and a beautiful pool area. Walking distance to the Light Rail and Mill Ave not to mention, ASU.
Comments Off
WASHINGTON – Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Commissioner David Stevens today announced a set of policy changes to strengthen the FHA’s capital reserves, while enabling the agency to continue to fulfill its mission to provide access to homeownership for underserved communities. The changes announced today are the latest in a series of changes Stevens has enacted in order to better position the FHA to manage its risk while continuing to support the nation’s housing market recovery.
The FHA will propose to take the following steps: increase the mortgage insurance premium (MIP); update the combination of FICO scores and down payments for new borrowers; reduce seller concessions to three percent, from six percent; and implement a series of significant measures aimed at increasing lender enforcement. U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan previewed the changes in December of last year, noting that the FHA would announce additional details before the end of January.
“Striking the right balance between managing the FHA’s risk, continuing to provide access to underserved communities, and supporting the nation’s economic recovery is critically important,” said Commissioner Stevens. “When combined with the risk management measures announced in September of last year, these changes are among the most significant steps to address risk in the agency’s history. Additionally, by continuing to provide affordable, responsible mortgage products, FHA will support the housing market’s recovery. Importantly, FHA will remain the largest source of home purchase financing for underserved communities.”
Comments Off