I-10 Widening in Tucson Ahead of Schedule

March 30, 2009

An article in the Arizona Daily Star yesterday reported that the I-10 widening project between Prince and 29th St was 88% complete – and ahead of schedule.

I remember when the project started back in July 2007 it was expected to last 3 years – putting completion in the mid 2010 range. But – they’re ahead of schedule and are anticipating being done by the end of 2009.

In my view, they’ve been pretty aggressive with closing down streets and underpasses in order to keep the work moving along quickly. And as much as a pain as that’s been, I’d rather they shut down what they need to in order to finish this thing instead of dragging it all out.

How nice it’ll be to have the freeway open again, and sooner than expected!

Next disruptive project: the Grant Road widening. Though construction isn’t slated to begin there until 2012…

Posted by Kelley Koehler | Filed Under About Tucson | Leave a Comment

Tucson Market Report and Statistics – February 2009

March 26, 2009

No podcast today – caught myself a cold and it took my voice. But the stats go on…

The Quick Numbers:

Single Family Home Average Sales Price: $235,819
Single Family Home Median Sales Price: $188,500
Single Family Home Units Sold: 503
Single Family Home Months of Inventory: 12.2 months

Townhouse Average Sales Price: $170,387
Townhouse Median Sales Price: $143,500
Townhouse Units Sold: 42
Townhouse Months of Inventory: 16.2 months

Condo Average Sales Price: $148,332
Condo Median Sales Price: $132,500
Condo Units Sold: 34
Condo Months of Inventory: 13.9 months

Citywide Average Sales Price: $225,935
Citywide Median Sales Price: $180,703
Citywide Units Sold: 579
Citywide Months of Inventory: 12.6 months

February shows some promising signs of improvement. Seasonally, sales slowly tick up as we approach our high season in summer, and that they did, going from 504 units last month to 579 units in February. Pending sales were up as well – traditionally a sign that sales are going to pick up in the following month, and our average sales price went up a bit for the second month in a row – which hasn’t happened since mid 2007. The Citywide average sales price is $225,935, the average single family home in Tucson is at $235,819.

However. We’re still in incredibly high months of inventory figures, at 12.6 months – well above what would signal a balanced market.

Regionally, I find it fascinating that over the past 8 months, average listing prices have trended upwards across the Northern band of the city while average sales prices in those regions continue to drop. Looking at listed inventory in the Northwest, North, and Northeast, the million+ range has more listings than before – but sales of those price ranges are few and far between. In the rest of Tucson – the West, Central, East, Southwest, South, and Southeast – the average home list price and the average sales price have both dropped more or less in lockstep.

As always, there are extensive charts and statistics and whatnot, broken down by area and type of housing, over at Statistics.Housechick.com. The market in this city varies widely from one end to the other, so you can check out what’s going on in your area over at that section of my site.

Data gathered from the Tucson MLS and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Figures quoted here include only single family homes, townhomes, and condos in the 9 areas that make up the Greater Tucson Area: NW, N, NE, W, C, E, SW, S, and SE.

tags: market reports, market statistics, tucson, tucson real estate

Posted by Kelley Koehler | Filed Under Market Reports | 1 Comment

It’s That Time Again – The Blog Brawl Smackdown

March 18, 2009

…and I’m not above begging for votes. It’s the competitive streak in me.

The Virginia Association of Realtors, for the second time, is holding a national real estate blog brawl – a head to head competition of real estate blogs.

Now, I know, dear reader, if you’re not a real estate agent with a blog, you probably have no idea who these other people are I’m competing against. But you can click thru to their blogs if you want to see what some other cool folks are doing in the industry, trying to stay at the top of the technology curve. It’s quite a collection of people devoted to providing an exceptional resource for their local markets. Or you can just vote blindly.

But I’m hoping, pretty please, you’ll take a second and vote for me. You can vote here: I’m in Zone 4, "mytucsonblog.com."

Only one vote per IP address. Which means you need to vote at home AND at work.

Now back to your regularly scheduled blog. Market stats tomorrow…

Posted by Kelley Koehler | Filed Under Odds and Ends | 1 Comment

Tucson Festival of Books

March 13, 2009

Cool free thing to do this weekend – check out the Tucson Festival of Books at the U of A campus. There’s a huge group of authors and poets and journalists and screen writers all doing presentations, speaking on panels, giving workshops, telling stories, and generally enjoying the rest of the festival, which includes cooking demonstrations, book signings, performance entertainment, crafts, and a whole lot of other stuff.

They’ve got somewhere around 300-400 authors (depending on which source you believe) including some names I recognize like J.A. Jance and Diana Gabaldon

Better yet, admission is free and parking is free in the University parking garages over the weekend so you can browse and enjoy at your leisure.

There’s also an expo area and a food court, as well as special areas for kids and teens.

Check out the schedule and get more information over at the Tucson Festival of Books website, or get the downloadable schedule here.

Posted by Kelley Koehler | Filed Under Tucson Events | Leave a Comment

Blooming Cactus – Spring in Tucson?

March 10, 2009

Okay, so it isn’t officially spring yet, but it is close! We’ve had such warm weather recently that the cactus (or maybe they’re succulents?) in my yard are starting to bloom. Such gorgeous bursts of color sprouting – my photography doesn’t do it justice.

The citrus seems to be in full swing too – bags of oranges and lemons and grapefruits find their way into the office as other agents bring in the overflow of abundance from their trees. I love the smell of citrus when it blooms.

There’s a couple neighborhoods scattered around Central Tucson, especially, where the roads are lined with orange trees, about 2 per house on either side of the street.

So amazing to stroll down the lane when those fruit trees are in bloom.

Unfortunately, most of them are only ornamental – don’t eat ‘em! I’m told they’re sour. But they smell…. oh so lovely. I love spring.

Posted by Kelley Koehler | Filed Under About Tucson | 1 Comment

Home Affordable Refinance Program Announcement

March 4, 2009

The Treasury Department today released guidelines for loan modifications in an attempt to help homeowners at risk of losing their houses to foreclosure.

What does that all really mean? Reactions from people I trust (I’m sure there’ll be a few more here by the end of the day). Each has much more information on the full post – click on their names to read the full posts:

From Dan Green, of The Mortgage Reports:

Rest assured, my friends, you’re not getting a 2 percent rate on your mortgage.

Here’s the bullet points from today’s announcement:

Loan modification guidelines for "at-risk" homeowners are defined

Refinancing guidelines for "underwater", on-time homeowners are not defined

I’m not going to rehash the loan modification stuff. I’ll leave that to guys that do loan modifications for a living. In a nutshell, if you’ve already fallen behind on your mortgage and can verify income using W-2 and tax returns, the government offers powerful incentives to both you and your lender to get you current on your home loan and keep you current.

From Rhonda Porter, of The Mortgage Porter:

The Home Affordable Modification program does not involve a refinance (which is a new mortgage replacing the existing mortgage). With a loan modification, the terms of the existing mortgage are modified. You can read the borrower qualifications by clicking here. This applies to borrowers who are dealing with "financial hardship" and this is a "full document" transaction including providing income documentation and verification that the home is owner occupied. Families with high debt levels may be required to complete financial counseling through a HUD approved counselor.

Posted by Kelley Koehler | Filed Under Loans and Financing | 1 Comment