The Housechick Blog

First in our series of the Top Ten Things to Know about Tucson Real Estate:

There are two major home cooling systems that we find in Tucson Homes: Central Air Conditioning and Evaporative Coolers, or Swamp Coolers, as they are affectionately known.

If you haven’t heard by now, Tucson can be hot.  We are in the Sonoran Desert, after all.

Newcomers to the area are often concerned about how they will stay cool in our summer months.  Swimming pools and central air are typically high on their list of “must-haves” for a Tucson home.

Well, not every home in the Tucson area has central air conditioning, or A/C.  We have two major cooling systems: the A/C and the Evaporative Cooler.

The A/C is what most people know and understand.  I’m not going to explain how an A/C works here, there’s an excellent description on this site.

There’s also a wall A/C, which is a small unit typically installed in a window or wall space.  Also, a widely known and understood item.

Let’s talk about the evaporative cooler, or the swamp cooler, as most people call it.

The swamp cooler is really a fairly simple device.  It looks like a big vented box, has ductwork attaching it to the house, and will typically sit either on the roof or is attached to the side of a house. 

Couple ways to identify the swamp cooler:

• There is no return air duct.  Air only goes one way: into the house.
• There is a water source running into the cooler, usually a small copper tube that runs across the roof.
• In older styles, all sides of the exterior are vented.
• And the big tip-off: a big mineral deposit stain on the downward slope of the roof below the cooler.

Swamp coolers work by pulling hot outside air through a wet pad, which cools the air.  The cooled air is then pumped into the house with a fan.  That’s evaporation at work.  I can’t explain the science, but here’s a good analogy: lick your hand, then blow on it.  Hand feels cooler, doesn’t it?  That’s evaporation.

The cooled air is pumped into the house, which basically pressurizes the house.  Home owners open doors and crack windows to give the air pressure in the house a “release valve” which also directs cooled air towards those places, making them cooler.  Got it?  If you want the air to flow through the bedroom, slightly open a window in the bedroom so air is drawn through that room.

On the plus side, the swamp cooler is dirt cheap to run, is also cheap and simple to maintain, and works really well when it is dry and not humid.

On the negative side, the swamp cooler needs frequent maintenance, doesn’t have any air filtration for dust or pollen particles, and doesn’t work when it is humid outside.  We’re talking Monsoon Season Sweats here, when it is 90% humidity and 100 degrees outside.  Go find a pool, your swamp cooler will do you no good.

Here’s how it works.  There is a water reservoir at the bottom of the box, and a pump sits in that reservoir.  The water pump, similar to that of a fountain, pulls water from the reservoir and pumps it through plastic tubing, called the “snake”, which drips water onto all of the pads.  The pads line the inside of the box where ever the box is vented, and are made of some kind of absorbent material that looks like hay wrapped in a big hair net.  A fan, sometimes called a “squirrel cage”, pulls air through the wet pads and pushes it into the house.  Voila!  Cool air.

When a homeowner wants to turn on their swamp cooler, first they turn on the pump for a couple minutes, to let the pads soak full of water, and then the fan can be turned on.  These controls are usually inside the house, and can be a little rotary switch or a collection of regular switches.

At the end of the warm season, coolers are “winterized.”  This means all the water is drained, the pads are discarded, joints are greased, and everything including the water pump and tubing needs to be cleaned and de-mineralized.  There’s also something called a “cookie sheet” that is placed between the house and the cooler, into the duct work, that keeps cold air from entering your house during winter through the cooler.  After a good cleaning, a smart home owner will put a special tarp over the unit to keep it clean and in good condition for the next year.

At the start of the warm season, tarps come off, water supplies are reconnected, pads are installed, cookie sheets are pulled out, and the cooling season begins.  Coolers may need monthly maintenance as well: replacing the pads, throwing in a special mosquito repellant dunk to keep them from breeding in your reservoir, cleaning out clogged spider tubes, that sort of thing.  A good calcium and lime cleaner and a ladder are the swamp cooler owner’s best friend in the summer months!

Since swamp coolers are a concentration of water on the roof, it is imperative to keep them in good working order so that water does not constantly run onto the roof, which could degrade the roof and cause leaks.  It’s a pretty common source of water damage in the interior of houses, especially in our older 1950’s homes.  I guarantee you, if there has been a swamp cooler on the roof for the last 60 years, then there has been a leak at some point.  It’s okay, you might see some stains or warping inside.  It happens, and we can deal with it.

So there you have it.  Swamp coolers and Air Conditioners.  One of the mysteries of Tucson Real Estate explained.

Photo from Flickr, Courtesy of Kingdafy

This weekend, I met with a nice couple from Florida who are considering moving to Tucson. I’ve met them before, we got together a couple years ago when they visited to check out the area. Now, with their youngest child graduating high school, they are seriously considering making the move to the Desert Southwest.

We looked at several pieces of real estate in Northwestern Tucson, discussed the varying styles, views, and amenities of several neighborhoods, and generally agreed that if they decide to move here, we can find them a home that they will love in Tucson.

Finding the right home is probably the least important aspect of making the move to Tucson, or to anywhere new, really.

One huge consideration is that they don’t have jobs lined up here. Surely, they are highly employable, but they have no offers, have not even begun to look for a job here. This affects the type of financing that they can get.

Because they would be moving across the country, the lender cannot consider their income that they made back home in Florida. To get a loan here, in Tucson, without a job in Tucson, those folks would have to get a “stated income” loan, or “no documentation” loan. These types of loans typically come with a higher interest rate, which means payment-oriented buyers have less buying power.

Back in Florida, my buyers easily qualify for the $400,000 range, while they can only buy a house around $250,000 here.

Luckily, we can find acceptable homes in their price range. Because they did the smart thing and talked to a local lender first, we were able to answer their housing questions, look at areas and homes that they could afford, and make them much more comfortable with the big move across the country.

Step One? Talk to a local lender.

Just as houses and markets are vastly different from state to state, so are lenders and lending practices. Changes in jobs and incomes, not to mention changes in cost of living, can have a huge impact on what type of home you want to buy.

Thinking about relocating? Start with a good real estate agent and get their lender recommendations. Make yourself comfortable with financing a home in a new area by calling local lenders and see what kind of financing is available to you.

Photo via Flickr, Courtesy of Paul-W

Homeowner Associations.

People either love ‘em or hate ‘em.

Either way, Homeowners Associations are fairly common among Tucson Real Estate, especially in newer home communities.

HOAs are intended to promote the value of a community by enforcing rules, called CC&Rs (Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions).  The HOA, or Association, may be governed by a volunteer homeowner group, or the homeowners may elect to hire an  association management company.

Membership in the HOA is typically mandatory.  There are a few HOAs that are voluntary, where the community has come together to create an association and has not enforced the rules upon everyone in the neighborhood.  But, by and large, if there is an HOA in the neighborhood, all homeowners are members and will be charged an Association Fee.

An Association Fee is paid by each homeowner to help enforce the rules and to pay for community amenities.  These fees are typically due monthly or quarterly, and can range from $20 per month to several hundred dollars per month, depending on what the Association Fee covers.

The Association, or HOA Fee may go towards:

• fire protection
• trash collection
• common area maintenance and insurance
• pool and spa area maintenance
• neighborhood streets
• exercise facility maintenance
• common area utilities
• grounds keeping
• exterior insurance

An HOA may also vote to create a Special Assessment for each homeowner.  Special HOA Assessments are typically created for long term, high cost improvements, such as repaving the roads, installing lighting, or repainting all buildings.  Special HOA assessments are usually paid at the same frequency of the normal HOA Association Fee.  The HOA Board will typically space out the payments so that the increase won’t create a financial burden on the homeowner.  Over time, the small payments from all homeowners add up so that the HOA Board can conduct large scale repairs, or updates.

HOAs are usually created by the developer of a new community.  The developer records a set of restrictions against the property that limit the rights of the homeowner.  These limitations can vary widely.  It is very important when buying real estate in Tucson that you review these CC&Rs and deed restrictions.

Common Limitations may include:

• Number of pets allowed
• Whether parking is allowed in the driveway overnight
• Whether the garage door may be left open
• Board approval for painting the house a different color
• Approval for landscaping both front and back yards
• Approval for installing a pool, flagpole, or other signs
• Approval for making changes to the yard or house that may be visible from neighboring property
• Whether RV parking is allowed and for how long
• Whether rentals are allowed

Here’s a few examples of local Tucson Community Homeowner Associations:

Shadow Hills, in North Tucson

Tucson Mountain Association, in Western Tucson

Civano, in Southeast Tucson

Sabino Springs, in Northeast Tucson

Midvale Park, in Southwestern Tucson

HOAs are a fact for Tucson Real Estate, especially for newer homes.  Whether you like having an HOA or not, it is important to understand them.  Watch for more information about buying a home in Tucson with an HOA, and the legal documentation requirements for Buying or Selling a Home in an HOA in Tucson.

That’s today’s headline in the Arizona Daily Star. The gist of the story is that there are record number of unsold homes flooding the market, and that the explosion of new houses and condo conversions have contributed to the glut of unsold homes on the market.

Let’s take the research a little further, and see if the paper’s results hold up to actual numbers.

The Star Says: Residential listings averaged 9925 at the end of January, February, and march, nearly triple the average for the same quarter in 2005, the peak year for sales.

It’s very true that our number of listings has increased dramatically.  However, looking at years 2002 through 2004, we see a pretty stable number of listings.  In 2005, the investors hit and our inventory dropped, which led to a massive decrease of supply for a large increase in demand.  Since 2006, we’ve seen number of listings rise pretty steadily.  Number of listings on the market right now is well over average.

The Star Says: Sales for the quarter (2007 Q1) were down 18 percent from same quarter 2005.

Here’s a chart of sold homes and townhomes/condos, show per quarter.  I’ve also plotted a smoothed version of the data.  You can see our seasonality in all the bumps in these lines!  From this chart, we see that sales were rising at a nice pace, started increasing around 2004-2005, and are now decreasing since 2006.  The question we’re all waiting to get the answer: will sales continue to decrease, or will we level out? 

The Star Says: Average number of days on market is 67, up 27 days from same time 2005.

Why do they keep comparing to 2005?  2005 was an exceptional year for Tucson, in every way.  Here’s what the days on market looks like when we consider a larger amount of time.

Average days on market was pretty steady, staying between 50 and 60 days for quite a bit.  In 2005, days on market took a nosedive, as the market sped up to a frenzy: low inventory + lots of buyers = low days on market.  Since then, we’ve been coming back up to more normal levels.  Have we peaked or will DOM keep rising?  Only time will tell.  It’s a shifting market right now.

The Star Says: The median price for the past quarter (2007 Q1), which is roughly $220k, remained unchanged from same time 2006 and is up 20% from 2005.

Median sales price has been steadily rising for the past 5 years.  We had one small dip at the end of 2006, but median prices are back on the way up.  In this graph, I’ve separated single family house prices from condo/townhome prices.  They follow the same pattern.

The Star Says: Condos are a glut on the market.

Here’s a chart showing the number of single family home listings and condo/townhome listings per quarter over the past 5 years.  While it is true that the number of condos for sale has doubled, so has the number of single family homes.  It’s hard to place the blame solely on a “condo glut” due to all of the condo conversions available in town.

Let’s look at how many of those listings are selling.  Here’s single family homes:

It seems there’s a glut of single family homes on the market in Tucson!  The number of sales doesn’t seem to be keeping pace with the number of listings. 

Here’s the condos and townhomes:

Well, this doesn’t look much different than the single family houses chart, does it?  I think it’s fair to say that condo conversions may contribute to the glut, but certainly aren’t the only cause.

There you have it.  The Star isn’t that far off in their conclusions.  Right now, the real estate market in Tucson is providing more questions, than answers.  Stay tuned for regular updates!

I received a call the other night from a gentleman looking to buy land in Southeastern Tucson. He had contacted several other Realtors, all who wanted to sell him a piece of land with a HOUSE already on it! Being quite frustrated, he found me online, and decided to call.

“Why,” he asks, “Why doesn’t anyone want to sell me land?”

It’s a good question. A lot of Real Estate Agents don’t want to sell land, or be involved in transactions having to do with land. The bottom line is that houses are easier to sell. Land is a lot more work.

When buying land, there are many more questions to be answered and research to be done:

- Is there water available at the property? City water or will a well need to be dug?
- Is there sewer connections available?
- Will a septic system need to be installed? Will the land drain well enough for a septic system to work?
- Is there electricity available at the property? Does it come all the way to the lot line or is the closest power half a mile away?
- Is there gas available? How far away is it?
- Is there cable available? How far away is it?
- What kind of housing can I put on this land? Are manufactured homes allowed?
- How much of this land can be developed?
- Can I build a guest house or workshop on this land?
- Will the deed restrictions allow me to build a two story house on the parcel? Will home design and colors be restricted?
- Where are the boundaries of the land?
- What can be build on the adjacent parcels?
- Where are the easements on this property?
- Where can a structure be built on the property?
- Is the parcel in a Hillside Development Zone?

And that’s just the BEGINNING of the questions needing to be answered!

Given the additional research and the specialized knowledge needed to buy and sell land in Tucson, some agents have made the business decision to not get involved in land transactions. Not every Real Estate Agent is up to the task of selling land!

If you’re looking for a special parcel of land in the Tucson area, send me an email at kelley@housechick.com, or call me at (520) 918-5246, and let’s see if we can find you the right piece of dirt.

Photo courtesy of Arkntina.