Transportation Costs based on where you live in Tucson
July 23, 2010
The Center for Neighborhood Technology – a group that promotes urban sustainability – just released a tool that can help you discover what your transportation costs might be in a given neighborhood. It’s called Abogo. Click on the Abogo link and type in your address, and the site spits out transportation costs for that area plus the CO2 impact for the area as well.
They use regional averages from the Housing and Transportation Affordability Index to determine those values, so your mileage may vary, but it is an interesting tool nonetheless. Often, we don’t factor in transportation costs when thinking about our housing budget, but certainly it has an impact.
The Abogo site is still in beta – it will be interesting to see what else they develop.
h/t @crtweet
Five Guys Comes to Tucson
July 22, 2010
Look what I spotted!
That’s the old Hollywood Video at the Northeast corner of Campbell and Glenn being turned into a Five Guys! The first Five Guys in Tucson. I assume the potty will be replaced with one inside, um, eventually.
Five Guys is a delicious burger joint that I’ve only run into on the East coast, which makes sense given the original location was in Arlington, VA, and branched out from there. It’s not fancy – the menu is basically burger, hot dog, and fries – but there are 15 free toppings so you can create your own delicious burger noms at will.
New Tucson Flood Plain Maps
June 14, 2010
The flood plain maps are being revised in Tucson – for all of Pima County, actually. The final maps are still being reviewed by FEMA, but expect the new flood maps to be out early next year. According to the Arizona Daily Star, 9480 parcels are being taken out of the flood plain in the new maps – and 9400 are going in.
Other than the risk of your home being flooded, the new maps mean you may have to purchase flood insurance. If your home is determined to be in the flood plain, your lender is most likely going to require you carry insurance for that.
Your homeowner’s insurance doesn’t cover floods, in most instances. So flood insurance is an extra expense, and costs will vary depending on what kind of flood zone your property is in. Talk to your favorite insurance agent for specifics on that.
You can get more information about the flood plain revisions at the Pima County site, and check your home’s flood plain status as well.
photo via Flickr Creative Commons, by Gene Spesard
Assessed Value vs Market Value in Tucson
February 12, 2010
Got a call from a client the other day when he received his notice of valuation in the mail from the Pima County Assessor. He was very concerned that the full cash value of his property, at least according to the tax assessor, was far less than the amount he just paid for it last year.
Generally, the value according to the assessor has little to no resemblance to what the home might sell for on the open market. The assessor uses a set of equations, does sampling to try to determine value, and doesn’t evaluate each home individually. Plus, they use the last 3 years worth of information in their evaluations.
If someone were to purchase a home today, they certainly aren’t going back through 3 years of sales to try and figure out what your home is worth!
When the assessed value is less than your home’s market value, that’s a nice thing. You’re being taxed on an evaluation less than what your home is actually worth – you pay less in property taxes, which most people appreciate. When the assessed value is greater than your home’s market value, then it is time to challenge the assessment in order to not pay taxes on an amount greater than true value.
So keep an eye on that property evaluation from the Pima County assessor. But don’t confuse it with true market value.
Grant Road Community Character Workshops
January 19, 2010
We’re getting closer to some major widening work on Grant road!
First improvements will be down at Grant and Oracle in 2011 – some two years before construction was originally scheduled to start. Then they’ll do the Stone/1st Ave area in 2013, jump over and do the Swan Road area in 2014, and work their way back thru the Alvernon, Campbell, and Country Club intersections in 2017 and beyond.
There’s a fairly comprehensive Grant Road Widening Project Milestone report here, all in one handy PDF file.
If you want to be heard about the Grant Road widening project, now’s the time.
There are community character and vitality workshops coming up starting January 20th, public art workshops on February 10th and 11th, and a design report due mid March 2010.
RSVP for the workshops by emailing information@grantroad.info. The schedule is as follows:
- Jan 20th, 5:30-8:30pm, at College Place, 1601 N Oracle Road to discuss Oracle Road – Stone Ave
- Jan 21st, 5:30-8:30pm, at College Place, 1601 N Oracle Road to discuss Stone Ave – Park Ave
- Jan 25th, 5:30-8:30pm, at Doolen Middle School, 2400 N Country Club to discuss Tucson Blvd – Palo Verde Rd
- Jan 26th, 5:30-8:30pm, at the Sheraton Sabino Ballroom, 5151 E Grant Rd, to discuss Palo Verde Rd – Swan Rd
- Jan 27th, 5:30-8:30pm, at Tucson Association of Realtors, 2445 N Tucson Blvd, to discuss Park Ave – Tucson Blvd
Bags on Cactus
January 11, 2010
Remember cups on cactus?
That’s so 2008. 2010 is all about bags. Bags on cactus.
It’s a Tucson thing. Some people put cups (or in this case, bags) on the delicate growing ends of their cactus during the winter to protect them from freezing. It’s the first sign of winter in Tucson!
Downtown Tucson – A Year in Review
January 5, 2010
There’s nothing quite like talking about Downtown Tucson to stir up some heated opinions among the locals. Rio Nuevo, the downtown revitalization project, often feels like an enormous sinkhole of time and money. So let’s take a look back and stop to appreciate the progress that has been made! Sometimes, we get caught up in all the politics and hoo-ha that we miss some of the lovely improvements to downtown that have occurred.
From the Downtown Tucson News:
- The Scott Avenue Street improvements were completed between Broadway and 13th Street (on time and on budget).
- One North Fifth’s new retail building was completed and its first tenants moved in.
- The Depot Plaza parking garage is in the final stages of completion and construction of the new MLK Building on top of the garage is well underway.
- Renovations to the MacArthur Building were completed and Madden Media moved in.
- Maynard’s opened in the Historic Depot and a new plaza was built on Toole. Avenue in front of Hotel Congress.
- The new 4th Avenue Underpass was completed and the Old Pueblo Trolley line was extended into Downtown.
- Construction of the Downtown portion Interstate 10 was completed.
- The new Cushing Street Underpass (which will accommodate the Modern Street Car when it is built) was completed.
- MEB acquired, renovated and moved into the Hittinger Building on Congress.
- The Screening Room façade renovation was completed and a new marquee added to the building.
- The 64 E Broadway façade renovation was completed.
- The Rialto Block façade renovation was begun.
- The Carrillo Placita at St. Augustine Cathedral was completed.
- Construction began on the new entrance to the Tucson Convention Center, which will accommodated future construction of the convention hotel.
- The new Fire Headquarters was completed and opened with fanfare.
- The Museum of Contemporary Art leased the old Fire Hall and began work to reopen it as their museum.
- Tucson Electric Power acquired the Santa Rita Block. The Santa Rita Hotel was razed to make room for a new TEP headquarters.
- Construction of street improvements in front of the Julian Drew Building at Broadway and 5th Avenues began. O2 Modern Fitness and Fitworks Cycling Support open in the building.
- Sixth and Stone Avenues south of Broadway were converted to two-way traffic.
- ParkWise launched one hour of free parking in the Pennington, Library and City-State garages.
- Mrs. Tiggy Winkles moved into the Tucson Children’s Museum.
- A host of new restaurants and clubs opened including Jimmy John’s, Zen Rock, A Steak in the Neighborhood and Xoom Juice.
- Skrappy’s reopened on Toole Avenue.
- Meet Me at Maynards started and became a greater success than anyone imagined.
- The inaugural Downtown Tucson Latin Jazz Festival was held in September.
- The inaugural Flamenco Festival was held at Casa Vincente in September.
I Always Knew Tucson Was Better Than Phoenix
December 10, 2009
Just because I can’t pass up an opportunity to taunt my Phoenix friends…
Forbes thinks Tucson is better than Phoenix. As if we didn’t know that already. 
Okay, so Tucson only ranks 62nd on the list, but at least Phoenix is lower than us at 82nd. Points in our favor were for the percentage of homes that are actually occupied, which is a sign of stable inventory. Tucson also ranked better for having a lower percentage of foreclosures of total housing units.
Travel time weighed in Tucson’s favor as well, saying commutes were generally shorter here than in Phoenix.
AND – U of A beat ASU this year in their annual football rivalry. That makes Tucson’s superiority conclusive, right?
The Tucson Food Dude
November 30, 2009
Ever since I figured out Google thought this blog was about Mexican food instead of real estate in Tucson, I stopped writing about my many favorite restaurants here. But I discovered someone else has started writing about and reviewing local Tucson eateries!
Enter the Tucson Food Dude.
Kevin is a self-proclaimed regular guy who likes to eat and drink. And if that doesn’t qualify him to write about food, then I don’t know what does. If you read back through his archives, there’s reviews of Candela, 1702, Cici’s Pizza Buffet, local wineries, and most recently – the new Azul at La Paloma. I love that he covers a wide variety of places, and not just the high end stuff.
Check out his blog – it is an entertaining read with fair reviews of local joints and thoughts on food and life in general.
Cheapest and Most Expensive Homes in Tucson by Price/SqFt
July 30, 2009
Just for fun – and contrast – I found the cheapest and most expensive homes in Tucson if you judge by price per square foot.
Cheapest home in Tucson is $9.69/sq ft, at $22,900 – see it here. I’ve been in this one. I know it says major fix-up, but I’d call it a tear-down. With the different levels and holes carved out of the foundation, it’d be easier to start all over than to put any money into rehab, in my opinion. Coincidentally, this is the cheapest home for sale in Tucson just on price alone.
Most expensive home in Tucson is $1,078.80/sq ft, at $6.9 million – see it here. Very nice – I like the brick and beam ceilings. Comes with a Canyon Ranch membership as well. The sleeping porch is an interesting item.
Of course, if we go strictly by dollars, the most expensive home in Tucson is here at $13.5 million. 15 seat theater, 15 auto show garage, 3 car day garage (naturally), and 3 kitchens, if I count correctly. Wow.
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