Here’s a single family home in Scottsdale just listed yesterday.

With a huge pool, palm tree views, lots of light, and fresh paint inside and out, this home sparkles.

Easy living with room to entertain, the spacious kitchen overlooks a large pool, long south facing covered patio, and a grassy play area. Kitchen has slab granite counters and stainless appliances, an eat-in kitchen and opens to a large family room. The formal living/dining room at the front of the house have a vaulted ceiling and an open airy view to the loft above. All bedrooms are upstairs, surrounding the common loft space. Baths have beautiful slab granite counters.  Great location, easy access to freeway, shopping, parks, and more.

Offered at $359,900.

More details here: 9049 E Meadow Hill Drive

Why are all these subdivisions call “Ranch”? 

For starters, we have McCormick Ranch, Gainey Ranch, Scottsdale Ranch, McDowell Mountain Ranch, DC Ranch, and more….

… and yes, they were really ranches.

Today, I stumbled across the post, The Stories Behind Scottsdale’s McCormick Ranch, Gainey Ranch …, from the Arizona Oddities blog (which now in my must-read list).  Fun stuff for anyone who likes a little bit of history, odd observations, as well as a bit of life and culture from around the state of Arizona.

For example, I learned:

Not all of these spreads were exactly hardscrabble kinds of places. McCormick Ranch in Scottsdale, before it turned into a residential development, was the home of Fowler and Anne McCormick. Fowler McCormick’s two grandfathers were Cyrus McCormick, the inventor of the grain reaper, and John D. Rockefeller, so he wasn’t exactly hurting for cash. He later became president and chairman of the board of International Harvester.

To get the rest of the McCormick Ranch story and learn the history of Gainey Ranch, wander over to Arizona Oddities.

I haven’t done a market report on Scottsdale 85258, home to the “Ranches”…. McCormick, Gainey, and Scottsdale.  In January, I posted this same chart in the post: McCormick Ranch Real Estate – Least Distressed Area of Scottsdale.

A few changes have occurred in past ten months, while some metrics stayed the same.

What you will see when you compare now and then:

1. The percentage of homes on the market that are foreclosures or short sales remain under 25% and in approximately the same ratio, with more short sales than foreclosures.
2. The percentage of sold properties that are short sales or foreclosures are about the same, approaching 33%.  However, foreclosures now make up a greater portion of those sales.  Even more importantly, 67% of the homes sold today in this part of Scottsdale are traditional sale, with no bank involvement.
3. The biggest differences you will see are in price. 
   • Homes were being listed at an average of $200-300 per square foot at the beginning of the year.  Now, that range is $175-250/sf.
   • Sold prices are averaging in the $150-200 per square foot range, while earlier this year, they were $175-275.  The biggest change has been in the short sales.

What is missing here are the number of sales that are being used to calculate these statistics.  I’ll be taking a look at those figures in the future.

For now, know that the McCormick Ranch is fairly stable, even though average home prices have dropped considerably.

Paradise Valley is a real estate microcosm.  Homes are much larger and median prices are significantly higher than anywhere else in the Phoenix area, including it’s neighbor, Scottsdale.

Commonly call “PV”, this city has irregular boundaries, that extend from Camelback Road on the south, to Shea Boulevard on the north.   The area is filled with acre plus lots, beautiful homes, and magnificent views of Camelback and Mummy Mountains.  Some homes border the Phoenix Mountain preserve. 

The city of Paradise Valley shouldn’t be confused with the geographical area to the Northwest that is home to the Paradise Valley School district.  This area is home to a number of private and charter schools, as well as sitting in mostly in Scottsdale Unified School District.

The number of homes for sale in Paradise Valley has been at an all-time high, but you can see that since April, there has been a drop of almost 20%.  In August, the number of listings dropped below 500, for the first time since October 2008.

One of the other changes occurring in the PV market is that time that the number of days of inventory (how long it would take to sell current home listings at the current sales rate) started has been decreasing since May of this year.

Paradise Valley has relatively few properties identified as short sales, and even fewer that are bank-owned (foreclosures). These properties however are impacting the local real estate market since they are being listed at significantly lower prices, around $300/square foot, as compared to $500/square foot for a typical listing.  When it comes to actual sales, short sales and foreclosures account for more than 25% of the sale in July.  Sales prices for typical sales are averaging almost $350/square foot, while short sales and foreclosures are selling at an average of $100/square foot less.

Taking a more historical look at the Paradise Valley sales price trends, you will see that the annualized average sales price per square foot has steadily decreased from $450 per square foot a year ago.  Comparing last year’s average sales price to this year’s (on a per square foot basis) shows that depreciation has been 19%. Recent trends, comparing last month to this year, do shows that depreciation is slowing slightly.

A few definitions (courtesy of the Cromford Report) that may help you further understand the charts above:

• REOs or lender-owned properties have already been through the foreclosure process and completed their trustee sale. These properties were sold by the trustee to the beneficiary (lender). In a few trustee sales (typically less than 5% at the moment), the property may be sold to an investor or wholesaler who is prepared to bid higher than the bank. These properties are not classified as lender-owned. The lenders use the ARMLS system quite heavily to market their inventory of homes and compete aggressively on price. At the moment we lender-owned properties constituting a significant share of the homes listed for sale, and an even large proportion of the homes sold.
• The Pre-foreclosure category includes those properties that have started the foreclosure process but have not yet had the trustee sale. We also include those which are being marketed in a short-sale situation, even if a notice of trustee sale has not been issued. In a full pre-foreclosure situation, the owner(s) have received a notice of trustee sale and the property is being marketed in order to try to sell the home before foreclosure completes. Many of pre-foreclosures are in a “short sale” situation, where the price asked is lower than the outstanding debt secured by the home. Such sales require the approval of the lender. A few may also (or instead) be the subject of bankruptcy proceedings and the sale may require approval by the court. We generally refer to all these situations as “distressed sales”
• Normal sales are those where the owner has the unencumbered right to sell the property without requiring approval from a lender, court or external corporation of any kind, and the owner is not a financial institution. In a normal market these constitute the vast majority of all listings and sales. The degree to which these sales become a smaller proportion of all sales indicates the level of distress being felt in the market.

photo credit: Wesley Fryer

I’ve been a member of my homeowner’s association board for the past couple of years, and have re-discovered the time and energy it takes to ensure a neighborhood looks and runs its best, cost effectively. 

With all the legal and financial challenges some neighborhoods are facing , Scottsdale has taken a pro-active approach to educating it residents.

SPRING 2009 NEIGHBORHOOD COLLEGE REGISTRATION AVAILABLE

Registration is now available for Neighborhood College, a series of free classes where residents and neighborhood leaders can learn how to better understand and address neighborhood issues.

• April 2 – Homeowners Associations (HOA) From the Inside-Out & Reviewing Arizona’s New HOA Laws
• April 6 – HOA Board Meetings – How to run them legally, fairly, smoothly and expeditiously
• April 20 – Self-Managed or Professionally-Managed…How To Select a Management Company That’s Right for You
• April 23 – Hit a Home Run with Neighborhood Watch
• April 28 – Code Enforcement Basics
• April 30 – What You Need to Know to Amend Your Documents
• May 4 – Computer Crimes. It Could Happen to You and Your Family – Learn How to Prevent It!
• May 7 – Be a Life Saver
• May 12 – The ABC’s of CC&R Enforcement
• May 14 – HOA Budgeting, Financials and Reserves & Insurance

Pre-registration is required for all classes. Most classes are held from 6 to 8 p.m. Get specific class descriptions, locations, and register by calling (480) 312-3111 or visiting www.ScottsdaleAZ.gov/education.

Real Estate Market Distress for Scottdale, Arizona 85258, including McCormick Ranch (Click chart for a larger view)

In reviewing the Cromford Report this morning, I stumbled on the fact that the Scottsdale zip code, 85258, is experiencing the least stress in today’s real estate market. While it’s still in the Caution zone, compared to other areas of Scottsdale and the Phoenix metropolitan area, the area that’s home to McCormick Ranch and also, Gainey Ranch is doing reasonably well.

Approximately 15% of the homes on the market in this area, which is roughly between Indian Bend and Shea, Scottsdale Road and East 106th Street, are either bank-owned or advertised short sales.  These homes are selling at a faster rate and during December 2008, accounted for 36% of the sales.

One very interesting and very unusual aspect I’m seeing in this chart is the price per square foot of short sales.  Typically, normal sale will have a noticeably higher price per square foot, when compared to short and bank-owned sale.  Not so, here.  Even more interesting is that the price per square for solds is higher than those listed, and you will see for normal and bank-owned sales, that the sales price is quite a bit lower than listing price.

Good news is that McCormick Ranch and Gainey Ranch seem to be doing better than most in this tumultuous real estate market.  At the same time, you can see that it’s still a tough market to sell a house in.

For more information on this condo and its surrounding location, please visit www.9420Purdue.com.

A view of this move-in ready condo:

And photos of the beautiful green grounds: