Tucson (and Marana) and the Floodplain
August 11, 2008
I was asked a question the other day about a home out in the far Northwest portion of Tucson - technically, it was in Marana.
The first thing I do when looking at homes online in that part of town is scroll down to the Flood Insurance Required field and check that out. There’s a good portion of the far Northwest that is in the floodplain. I ran some numbers today, and about 1/3rd of the homes ever listed in MLS in the far Northwest are described as in the floodplain.
Not all is terrible, however. Some have been built up and have elevation certificates so you don’t have to pay flood insurance. And if you’re wanting a rural setting, it’s certainly an area to consider.
Back in last September, FEMA changed a bunch of the floodplain maps and Marana was pretty hard hit. Marana is disputing the new maps, and the Marana Floodplain website says that they are ‘on track to make (study information) submittal in late May or early June 2008,’ which would have been a couple months ago, although I don’t find any updates on the Marana site as to whether that happened or not. The deadline isn’t until October.
New Tucson MLS Search
August 8, 2008
Some of you may have already noticed, but there’s a new search for the Tucson MLS in town. It went live on my site a couple days ago, and I just wanted to let every one know that they can click on that Search Tucson MLS button over at the top of the sidebar (or just click here) to play with it over the weekend.
If you run into any problems, don’t understand how to use it, or generally have a comment about what you like or don’t like, please email me and let me know! It’s a highly configurable search, and a new product, so please be liberal with both praise and suggestions.
Saguaro Cliffs Homes and Lots
August 7, 2008
I’ve been discussing the Saguaro Cliffs neighborhood with a family who was attracted to the area on a recent visit. It’s one of my favorite West side custom home developments for several reasons.
The first is privacy. A typical lot in Saguaro Cliffs is easily an acre and a half, if not 2 acres or more. Houses are well spaced and most owners have carved out a reasonable yard space and left the rest natural desert, so the neighborhood doesn’t feel over-developed or crowded.
The second is views. Saguaro Cliffs sits just at the base of the Tucson Mountains, overlooking the city to the East. Depending on the lot and house, some have spectacular city views, some have gorgeous mountain views, and many have both.
Saguaro Cliffs details:
- According to assessor data, there are 61 lots and 39 homes in Saguaro Cliffs, with a typical home having been built in the early 2000s.
- Average house size is around 3500 square feet. I believe there’s a 2600 square foot minimum house size in Saguaro Cliffs, but the HOA would have to confirm that.
- Most lots are gated, but there is a section of homes outside of the gate, accessed along Trails End road.
- The most recent house sale, per the Tucson MLS, was at $575,000, in April 2008, for a relatively small 2579 square foot home in the ungated portion that sold in an incredible 9 days.
- There are still lots available, resale. The most recent lot sale in Saguaro Cliffs was back in November 2006, a 1.79 acre parcel that sold for $310,000.
You can see all Saguaro Cliffs homes for sale here and the Saguaro Cliffs lots for sale here.
Making A Fool Of Myself
August 6, 2008
It’s been a bit of a rough day. Forgive my extreme dorkiness, but I needed to distract myself for a bit. I decided to enter a vlogging contest, describing what piece of technology or service has made the biggest impact on my business and why. This is my entry.
Vlogging Competition from Kelley Koehler on Vimeo.
Reading Preliminary Title Reports
August 5, 2008
I wrote earlier about why you review the preliminary title report, but let’s just review what a preliminary title report is. We call it “the prelim,” in agent-speak around Tucson.
If you’re buying a home in Tucson and using the standard resale contract, then you should receive a preliminary title report from the title company within a few days of opening escrow - that is to say, within a few days of coming to an agreement on price and terms with the Seller.
The “prelim” is a preliminary title commitment, it’s the title company committing to issue title insurance subject to the terms inside.
It starts with a page called “Schedule A.” Schedule A describes who will be insured, to what amount, and describes the property on which they’ll issue title insurance. The Seller usually pays for a title policy for the Buyer, in the amount of the sale, and then the Buyer usually pays for a title policy for their lender, in the amount of the loan.
Next is “Schedule B.”
Schedule B Section 1 describes the requirements that must be met before the title policy is issued. Typically in this section, you see the Seller’s loans that must be paid off, any taxes due, anything that must be satisfied before the policy can be issued. This is a must-read section of the prelim. Sometimes, there’s an odd lien or requirement that you need to find out about sooner rather than later.
Schedule B Section 2 are exceptions to the title policy - things the title policy will not cover. Usually, this list includes the recorded easements, future tax liens, water rights, at least in this part of Arizona, deed restrictions or recorded CC&Rs, things of that nature. In the link at the top of this post, you’ll see where I found a well agreement and an odd utility agreement within Schedule B Section 2. This is also a must-read section.
If you don’t understand what you see in the Prelim, you can always ask your agent or title officer to explain it to you. Better safe than sorry!
Bad First Impressions
August 4, 2008
If it takes a whole page of instructions for an agent to get into your house, then you should consider fixing the problem. There’s nothing more detrimental to a buyer’s first impression than having a hard time getting into a house, to be fighting a lock or sticky door. Already, in a Buyer’s mind, there’s stuff to be fixed. You’ve just given a buyer the impression that you don’t take good care of the place, and the sales price is plummeting in a Buyer’s mind as they add up the cost of imagined repairs - all before we even step foot in the house.
HOA Upfront Charges
August 1, 2008
Got an email from my management today that Lewis Management will be charging a “cancellation” fee, to be non-refundable and collected up front - that’s one of the big HOA management companies in town.
You heard that right - it’s a cancellation fee, paid on all files through escrow, up front. Which means someone - either the Buyer or the Seller - will have to deposit $225 into escrow to cover the “cancellation” fee when escrow is opened. That’s a fee negotiated in the contract already.
Lewis charges a $295 transfer/processing fee anyway, so if the file doesn’t cancel, then the funds would go towards that balance. Otherwise, Lewis gets to keep the $225.
Seems like a lot of money for mailing out a disk of HOA documents and changing records to reflect a new owner. Am I missing something here? Are there that many cancellations now?
Admittedly, I’m not a big fan of HOA management companies. They like to charge for giving out information that home buyers require. They don’t always send out the required information in a timely manner. I’ve run across a few exceptions.
Here’s a list of neighborhoods managed by Lewis. If you’re buying or selling in one of these neighborhoods, be prepared to pony up $225 just to get them to send out the HOA information required to be sent by contract.
Updates and Changes
July 28, 2008
We’re rolling out some new stuff this week, making a lot of changes on the back end of the blog and my other website, hopefully rolling out my new fabulous MLS search. To let my developers be able to backup and move everything around, I’m not going to post over the next day or three. Hopefully, there’ll be little to no downtime, but if things start to look weird around here, come back in a day or two!
In the meantime: baby quail.
Cute little guys.
House Didn’t Appraise? Now What?
July 25, 2008
Most often, with the contracts my Buyers and I negotiate, the homes appraise easily for the sales price. However, every once in a while, a low appraisal comes in.
In Tucson real estate, using the typical resale contract, once we find out that the home didn’t appraise, it starts a 5 day clock, within which the Buyer can walk away from the deal with their earnest money.
But that’s not what typically happens. Usually, in those 5 days, we go back and negotiate with the Seller, try to strike a new deal before the 5 days expires.
As a Seller, you can hold firm, wait for that Buyer to walk away, and hope the next offer is at least as high and that the next appraisal will come in at the sales price. Or, you can try to hold on to the deal at hand and reduce your price.
Of course, remember that a low appraisal doesn’t mean that the Buyer has to walk away. It’s their choice, certainly. But if a Buyer is putting down enough money, if the loan to value ratio is low enough, then some banks won’t care if the appraisal is slightly lower than the sales price.
The Tucson Monsoon
July 24, 2008
I’ll admit - the monsoons are one of my favorite times in Tucson. I grew up in a city where we averaged maybe 3″ of rain per year. So these huge rain and thunder and lightening storms that cross our town mid Summer are fascinating to me. (Tucson averages closer to 12″ of rain per year, by the way.)
These huge storms build up in the Southeast and move across the town heading Northwest, usually mid to late afternoon. It’s really quite amazing, you can look at the clouds and see exactly where it is raining and where it isn’t. You can look West and see a couple of high fluffy white clouds, and the next moment look East and see nothing but dark low thunderclouds.
This year’s monsoons seem a bit tame compared to other years, but at times, the storms are incredibly violent, just ripping through the city, dropping rain and lightning bolts, with a low grumble of thunder to accompany its trip across town.
And then you get fabulous sunsets, like this one that I just caught the end of:
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