by Paul Slaybaugh | Mar 8, 2010 | Home Buying, Scottsdale Real Estate
In many respects, the heralded Real Estate bargains to be had in Scottsdale and the greater Phoenix area should come with the disclosures required of weight-loss product testimonials.
“Joe Homebuyer’s results not typical.”
“Always consult a physician before launching an intensive home search program.”
“Stretch thoroughly and lift with your legs before attempting bank-owned property heist.”
For the purposes of this piece, we are going to focus on the first caveat. Every Valley resident has at least passing knowledge of some fortunate homebuyer who leveraged the current market to score a honey of a bank-owned deal. As big a nobody-turned-celebrity as the 170 pound guy in a Nutrisystem commercial holding up a pair of orca sized slacks as evidence of his former girth, Bob from accounting is the new gold standard for idolatry after securing the housing buy that set the office abuzz. Before following in Bob’s considerable footsteps, however, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. His results may not only prove atypical, but in extreme cases, constitute patently misleading advertising.
The hidden “gotcha” to many bank owned purchases right now are property taxes. While the institution that owns the property should pay off any back taxes as a condition of conveying clear title to the purchaser, many buyers fail to properly account for the bill they will be saddled with for the next couple of years (at a minimum). Unlike other parts of the country, where taxes are based solely upon purchase price, Maricopa County taxes are based upon the assessed value of the property. Many falsely assume that the home they are buying for $350,000 will reflect a tax basis commensurate with that value. As our budget revolves around 2 year property evaluation schedules, odds are very good that your current tax basis will reflect a value closer to the $1.1 million that the home sold for back in 2006.
*Click here for information about Maricopa County property taxes
*Maricopa County residents are entitled to appeal all new evaluations from the county assessor (typically go out in early Februaruy), but must do so within 60 days of the date they were mailed. Click to begin the Maricopa County property tax appeal process online.
Another thing to bear in mind is that while the assessed value of the property is likely to decline rather dramatically over the next several evaluation cycles, expect tax rates to rise in contrast. You should see an overall reduction to your bill in the future, but our strapped municipalities aren’t going to let go of all that revenue without a fight. Already firmly entrenched in the red, it is an almost foregone conclusion that the tax rates will be fully maxed out to legally allowable levels to offset as much of the lost potential revenue as possible. Your friendly, cash-strapped local government at work.
Another hidden sniper to these bank-owned bargains are Homeowner Association expenses. While monthly fees are typically disclosed upfront (or easily determined through a few well placed phone calls), former million dollar neighborhoods are fodder for massive asset preservation and capital improvement fees/impounds. You might well afford the $120 monthly fee, but the bulbous community enhancement fee that is due at the time of purchase could blow an unsuspecting buyer’s budget right out of the water. Given the many amenities that some such high end subdivisions boast, it would also be wise to expect and budget for future special assessments involving their maintenance.
There really are some amazing deals floating around the market right now, just make sure you can afford them. We are looking for a home you can maintain and afford, not a fad purchase that will lead to a lifetime of yo-yo budgeting.
You don’t want to end up back in the fat pants.
by Paul Slaybaugh | Apr 30, 2009 | Home Buying, Scottsdale, Scottsdale Neighborhoods
Lake Margherite in McCormick Ranch
Water is a precious commodity in the desert. Dependent upon the CAP (Central Arizona Project) and SRP canal systems to fill our taps and water our lawns with the liquid gold of the Colorado and Salt Rivers, we do not squander our lifeblood frivolously … with the notable exception of Slip-N-Slide Saturdays, of course. Given the grand total of naturally occurring lakes in the Valley of the Sun stands at exactly zero, we denizens of the creosote jungle are drawn to a droplet of water like mercury to the top of a Sonoran thermometer. We weekend at Saguaro Lake or Lake Pleasant. We make semi-annual pilgrimages to the sandy beaches of southern California. We float the Salt River amongst a throng of Memorial Day humanity that is equal parts Coppertone and the AC/DC Back in Black album. We secretly adore the rains that the summer monsoons bring.
Given our propensity to flock to that which is scarce, waterfront communities are highly desirable locales in the greater Scottsdale area. There are few communities within the boundaries of the West’s purportedly Most Western Town that boast lakes on the list of amenities, and there is a reason for that.
When McCormick Ranch was originally developed in the 1970s, it was to be the first master planned community in Scottsdale. Believe it or not, the Hayden and Indian Bend Rd intersection (where initial development of McCormick Ranch began) was considered North Scottsdale at the time. There was really nothing else around. To lure skeptical home buyers away from the downtown Scottsdale area (what we now refer to as “Old Town”), developers threw the entire kitchen sink at them: parks, greenbelts, walking paths, golf course and lakes. Including Lake Angela, Lake Nino and the crown jewel, Lake Margherite, the community is a veritable desert oasis.
When Scottsdale Ranch was developed a decade later, planners adhered to many of the same guiding principles. East of McCormick Ranch, it was built around a lake system, walking paths and parks in much the same fashion. Once again, developers knew they needed to give people a reason to venture a little off the beaten path to buy their product. They were selling a lifestyle as much as housing. That lifestyle revolved around a meandering 42 acre waterway by the name of Lake Serena.
Flash forward a couple of decades and developers, by and large, stopped providing such extravagant amenities. The area had become well established and new residents came in droves. Land values shot through the figurative roof and builders saw no literal need to plop a man-made lake down on a parcel of land that could instead be used to build and sell another 100 or so more houses.
As such, there are relatively few waterfront options in Scottsdale outside of these two master planned communities. They just don’t build’em like they used to. While properties along the water in both developments are typically quite expensive, there are patio home and condo options that fit less extravagant budgets. To help you get started with your waterfront search, following is a compilation of lake subdivisions located within McCormick Ranch and Scottsdale Ranch.
*You may wish to bookmark this page as each subdivision name will eventually include a link to detailed descriptions and current active listings. It’s a work in progress.
McCormick Ranch
Vista Del Lago
Island At McCormick Ranch
Palo Viento 1
Heritage Village
Las Palomas
Scottsdale Ranch
Landings at Scottsdale Ranch
Las Brisas
Lake Serena Estates
The Bay Club
Lakeview Estates
Bayview Estates
Waterfront
Monterey Point
Charter Front
For less costly options that are near the water, but not necessarily located right on it, there are a few older neighborhoods further South (closer to Old Town) that abut Chaparral Park. While the homes (and townhomes) in the area are far removed from the luxury market, it is a great option for those more concerned with location and amenities on a shoestring budget. For high end townhomes, there is the Scottsdale Waterfront option along the canal banks in downtown Scottsdale (Old Town). Pages dedicated to these neighborhoods will be added to the site over the coming weeks as well.
The right Scottsdale waterfront property is out there. We’ll help you find it.
Contact Ray & Paul Slaybaugh today to start the search for your Scottsdale AZ waterfront home!
(480) 220-2337 | paul@scottsdalepropertyshop.com
by Paul Slaybaugh | Apr 17, 2009 | Home Buying, Scottsdale Real Estate
Times were you looked at a few houses, found one you liked and made an offer to the current owner. After a bit of haggling, you settled on a price that both parties could live with and away you went. Easy as pie.
In the current landscape, however, buying a home is not always that simple. Due to the prevalence of foreclosure properties and upside down sellers in today’s market, a buyer is often in the dark as to the nuances that may vary from one property to the next. To that end, there are certain rules of thumb that a buyer should keep in mind as he or she navigates the 2009 Scottsdale Real Estate market.
1. The Short Sale Property
"Upside down, boy you turn me, inside out ..."
You’ve read about them in the paper, heard about them on the news and know somebody who attempted one, but still may not know exactly what a short sale is. First off, I would be remiss if I didn’t make the requisite quip that short sales are anything but short. By and large, they are loooooooooooooooooooooong.
The term “short sale” is derived from the seller’s lack of equity in the property. In fact, the seller is upside down to the point that the market value of the home is less than what is owed on the mortgage(s). With a short sale, the seller must convince the bank to take a loss by agreeing to the sale. There are numerous pitfalls, including waiting for weeks or months for the lienholder’s response and low success rates (less than 10% of short sales are successful). One particular difficulty lies in ascertaining whether a seller even qualifies for a short sale at any price. Each institution has its own unique standards, but sellers must adequately demonstrate hardship (job loss, etc), provide up to date financial statements and pay stubs, document where all funds for a line of credit have gone (the lender in 2nd position will disallow a short sale if the funds went anywhere except back into the house (kitchen remodel, pool, etc). The biggest saboteur of a short sale, other than an incompetent listing agent, is the presence of a second loan. Multiply the difficulty exponentially if the loans are held by different institutions.
If it sounds like a lengthy, treacherous process, that is because it often is. Short sales, in this agent’s humble opinion, only make sense for the buyer with no real time table. Investors, specifically, are primed to take a stab at one if the purported price (the price listed in the MLS is really just a moving target when you don’t know what the bank will ultimately deem acceptable) is attractive enough. If you don’t plan to live in it, and won’t be devastated if it doesn’t pan out, have at it.
2. The Foreclosure Property
I'll take a single-family home and $20 cash back, please
If 2009 could be summed up by initials, they would be “REO.” Real Estate Owned properties, or foreclosures, are all the rage this season, and for good reason. Banks are awash in foreclosed homes at present and have effectively set the market. Eager to rid themselves of bloated inventories, the various institutions have well-earned reputations for bargain basement pricing. By the time a bank takes a property back from an owner in default via a Trustee’s Sale, I find they are often ready to deal. If the short sale process can feel like a rudderless vessel as your offer drifts from file to file in the bank’s loss mitigation department, there is actually a captain at the helm by the time the bank ultimately rejects the offer(s) and opts to foreclose instead. Now an asset manager is responsible for offloading the acquired property. Just the titles alone speak volumes as to the motivational forces at play:
loss mitigation VS asset management
More often than not, a property that is taken back by the bank will reemerge as an REO property at an even lower price than the listed price of the failed short sale attempt. Does it make sense? Not really, but that’s what often happens. And the price is no longer a moving target. With the bank now the principal, they set the list price and will negotiate more like a typical seller (albeit at a slightly slower and more aloof pace). Expect to wait up to a week for a response and the possibility of fighting off multiple offers due to the low pricing, but it sure beats waiting months for an all too often unreasonable response.
The negatives of dealing in bank-owned property are primarily rooted in lack of disclosure about the home and the penchant for selling property “as is.” You can be sure that something will be missing from the home. Either vandals have cannibalized the A/C for copper or the former owner yanked all of the appliances and the hall bath towel rack out of the home on the way out, but rest assured, some component of the house is FUBAR. Complete with heavy handed addenda that favors the seller, the trade off for the great price on a bank property is an often uncared for home with no disclosed history of damage/repair and no one to repair the defects you find during the course of your due diligence period.
Yes, you do get the opportunity to inspect even though the bank will require an “as is” addendum. If you ever see language in a contract or addendum disallowing your right to inspect the property … run!
3. The Resale Home
Quick, Marge, get the camera ... real people!
Ah, a home actually owned and sold by a real, unencumbered person. I must confess, finding such a specimen in the modern Real Estate jungle has been a rarity. At least finding one that can compete with the pricing of bank-owned homes, that is. As more and more sellers become realistic about the erosion that has taken place in Valley home values, though, I am starting to see the gap close ever so slightly. Obviously, anyone who bought a home in 2005 or later is not in a position to competitively price it for today’s market without attempting a short sale due to the subsequent swan dive in prices, but those who have been in their homes for a decade or longer are finally getting the memo and positioning themselves to compete with the banks. With prices still trending downwards, the smart seller is getting out in front of the curve and pricing his/her home to sell before any further price degradation can occur. When you find such a home with a seller still capable of maintaining, disclosing and repairing the property’s condition, and priced in line with the foreclosure market … buy it!
So there is a (not so) brief synopsis. Don’t limit yourselves unnecessarily when shopping for a home. Allow your agent to explore all available avenues, just be aware of what you might be signing up for with the entanglements that come with each option.
Most importantly, remember this: A low price in the absence of value is meaningless.
by Paul Slaybaugh | Mar 29, 2009 | Home Selling, Scottsdale Real Estate
You’ve been married so long that you’ve forgotten how to be single. Your t-shirts all have holes in them, you don’t shave on the weekends, and you haven’t consumed a “Diet” anything in years.
While your spouse may love you despite the fact that you have completely let yourself go, you are in for a rude awakening if you ever find yourself back on the market. Flaws are only endearing to loved ones, not strangers. Before you hit those nightspots, you’ll need a new wardrobe with the latest fashions. You’ll need to cut that hair and clean underneath those fingernails. Don’t even get me started on the unibrow. You need to put your best face forward if you are to attract one of those cute, little minx.
But what about when it’s your house that you are divorcing?
You look at your home, and you know that things just aren’t working out. Either you have lost that loving feeling or it’s simply time for a change. It may be amicable or there may be irreconcilable differences. Maybe you’ve always known that this house was only “Mr. Right Now.” Regardless of the reasons for your split, it’s time to move on. All of those things that you have lived with over the years? The creaky front door hinges? The balky A/C unit? The old, pale yellow linoleum that you originally detested, but grew to loathe? It’s all gotta be gussied up.
Now you can’t take every middle-aged home and turn it into a supermodel overnight, and that’s okay. You don’t necessarily have to be the best looking house on the planet, just the hottest little number in the club.
When you are elbow to elbow with competing properties, you don’t want your fly to be down. That’s not how you drag home a buyer of which your mother would approve. No, that’s how you pick up that other kind of buyer. You know the type. Offers you a hundred thousand off of list price and demands umpteen thousand dollars to repair things that cost a couple hundred. That is one coyote ugly buyer. Keep such buck-toothed, cross-eyed suitors at bay by using the right bait.
Trolling for a trophy buyer? Change out those tired carpets, paint those grimy walls, oil those squeaks.
Fishing for carp? Throw a big wad of Velveeta around your hook and toss it out there.
We have all heard the reports about the overwhelming levels of housing inventory. Vastly more homes for sale than qualified buyers. It can be quite discouraging to a seller. I have been through a great many of these properties, however, and the poor showing condition many of them display never ceases to amaze me. There may be a glut of houses for sale, but in my own myopic view, there is a whole lotta rough for every diamond. If I had to speculate, and I will, I’d hazard that many sellers have either given up hope or refuse to spend any money that they don’t expect to recoup in full.
Don’t fall victim to this mindset. Now, more than ever, you need to get your home standing tall if you plan to sell it any time soon. I know that these are lean times, but if you can afford to carry a non-selling house for months on end, you can afford to stage it properly to expedite the process of finding a new beau. After all, the sooner you find the next Mr. or Mrs. Right for your home, the sooner you can stop writing those alimony checks.
by Paul Slaybaugh | Mar 29, 2009 | Scottsdale, Stuff To Do
Grayhawk Golf Club (Talon Course)
Scottsdale and Golf go together like peanut butter and jelly. Like Sam and Dave. Rest and relaxation.
Listed in the 2006 Robb Report as “America’s Best Place to Live for Golf,” scratch players and weekend duffers alike make the pilgrimage to play Scottsdale’s traditional and target desert courses every year. Many end up purchasing a second home or moving here altogether for nothing more than the amazing variety and plentiful choices that the Valley provides a golf enthusiast.
Averaging 330 days of sunshine a year, few and far between are the outings that must be cancelled due to inclement weather. And for those hot summer days? You can get on some of the very best courses for a fraction of the standard cost. And while there are private clubs with equity memberships available to residents, the vast majority are public courses. Of these, The Boulders & Golden Spa Resort was selected as the second best golf resort in the nation for 2005 by Travel & Leisure Golf Magazine. The Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North was #4.
I’ll also use this opportunity to plug my personal favorite course. Actually, two. The Grayhawk Golf Club in North Scottsdale boasts two award winning 18 hole courses (The Raptor and Talon). Grayhawk is not only challenging and gorgeous, but features a learning center headed up by PGA Tour commentators Peter Costis and Gary McCord. Until he moved from the Valley a few years ago, Grayhawk was the home club to Phil Mickelson as well. I actually worked here for one summer upon graduating from college and mistakenly chased Phil off of the practice range one week prior to the Masters. Ask me and I just might tell you about it while we are out looking at property.
Of course, I would also be remiss not to mention the TPC of Scottsdale at The Scottsdale Princess where the FBR Open (formerly The Phoenix Open) is held annually. Renowned for the infamous 16th hole, which is without a doubt the rowdiest hole on the entire PGA tour, the FBR is a place for all of the beautiful people to see and be seen.
With 174 public courses in the area and growing, if Scottsdale is not the epicenter of golf in the United States, it is a strong contender. In addition to being a great place to play, it is a great place to learn. In fact, Golf Magazine listed 11 Scottsdale-based instructors in its top 100 in the nation for 2001.
So whether your game is up to par, or you need a little help to iron out that slice and putting technique, there is no better place for a golf lover than Scottsdale!
McCormick Ranch Golf Club
Orangetree Golf Resort
Sanctuary at McDowell Mountain Ranch
