category archive listing Category Archives: Market Update

The Real Estate Market is Improving – See The Numbers

December 2, 2009 – 2:06 pm

We talk to countless people who really want to buy an urban condo but are afraid. They worry that prices are going to go down further and hurt them as the eroding market has hurt so many others. Here are some great numbers that put the current Phoenix real estate market into perspective. This data [...]

By Will Daly | Comments (12)

965 People Visit WeKnowUrban.com Last Monday

November 22, 2009 – 8:28 pm

Admittedly, few of you will care about this but it’s a very big deal for us; we had almost one thousand unique visitors” to www.WeKnowUrban.com last Monday (and 907 the Monday prior). So what?  Well other than the boost to my ego, having so many visitors means great things for our clients.  For sure the more exposure, [...]

By Will Daly | Comments (7)

Why Short Sales are Such a Pain in the Neck

November 18, 2009 – 11:44 am

A “short sale” occurs when an Owner of a property has to sell it for less money than is owed to the Lender(s). It is sold “short” of the amount that is owed. Quite often the Owner of the property is experiencing financial difficulties and no longer making the mortgage payment and elects to sell [...]

By Will Daly | Also posted in Foreclosure-short sales-REO's | Comments (8)

Bridgeview at HFL’s 64 unsold units sell for $20.3 million

August 26, 2009 – 11:12 pm

Late last week, a Denver based real estate investor purchased the remaining 64 unsold condominiums in Hayden Ferry Lakeside’s Bridgeview tower for $20.3 million.  Suncor, master developer of the mixed-use complex has been hit very hard by the economy and unfortunately had to let go of their gemstone development, in addition to a reduction of [...]

By Mitch | Also posted in Foreclosure-short sales-REO's, Hot Deals | Comments (17)

Century Plaza Goes BK

August 12, 2009 – 9:03 am

The developer of Century Plaza finally filed for bankruptcy last week; no big surprise…except that it took so long to happen.  So what’s likely to happen next?  In our opinion the value of the note just went down.  AZCentral.com reported that M&I Bank, the construction lender, claims that the building is worth approximately $19M (we [...]

By Will Daly | Also posted in Foreclosure-short sales-REO's, High Rise Condos, Phoenix, Trouble | Comments (2)

Summit at Copper Square Clarification

July 15, 2009 – 2:42 pm

There have been a couple articles and at least one television report about the recently filed Notice of Trustee Sale on Summit at Copper Square high rise. The purpose of this post is to clarify some points made and to further explain others. It is our understanding that the original construction money consisted of two [...]

By Will Daly | Also posted in Foreclosure-short sales-REO's, High Rise Condos, Phoenix, Trouble | Comments (13)

Using an FHA Loan to Finance a Condo

June 22, 2009 – 10:08 am

Despite the slowdown in the national housing market, condominiums remain a popular option among home buyers. But they’re also at the heart one of one of the biggest misperceptions surrounding FHA loans. There are some strings and limits, but make no mistake — you can obtain FHA financing to help purchase a condominium. The Federal [...]

By Will Daly | Comments (9)

America Shifting to Urban from Sub-urban

May 20, 2009 – 1:01 pm

MSNBC recently reported that, “Most demographic and market indicators suggest that growth and development across the country are moving away from the suburban and exurban fringe and toward center-cities and close-in suburbs.” The article goes on to report that the reason behind the shift is multi-fold including, “Empty-nesters don’t need the big house and don’t [...]

By Will Daly | Also posted in Light Rail, Phoenix | Comments (0)

Phoenix High Rise Prices vs. San Diego

May 11, 2009 – 11:21 pm

Talk to Phoenix high rise developers trying to hawk their goods and they’ll tell you their prices make all the sense in the world.  If so, how come no one’s buying?  Sure the market is slow and its harder to get loans today but some people are buying but not at the brand new condominiums [...]

By Will Daly | Also posted in High Rise Condos, Phoenix, Scottsdale | Comments (12)

Buy vs Rent, a Study of Optima Biltmore Towers

May 5, 2009 – 11:11 pm

I heard recently that historically Americans pay 26% more to own property than to rent it.  As I didn’t know whether this was true or not I did a little digging and found a site called www.economicpolicyjournal.com with the following: “After two years of rapid home-price depreciation, the relationship between the cost of rental payments versus after-tax [...]

By Will Daly | Also posted in High Rise Condos, Phoenix | Comments (11)
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