The price of our listing in midtown has come down a bit and the sellers are very reasonable, though not in a rush. So, have a look.
520 W. Clarendon Ave, Unit G2. $282,000, 2br/1.75 ba, 1,320sf. There are a few pristine co-op apartments still in central and downtown Phoenix. Most were built in the 1960s and only a few maintain that mid-century charm. This is one of them. But, on top of that, the owners of this unit opened up the kitchen since and completely remodeled since they purchased the home in 2021. This home is being sold with all of the unique furniture, as an option for the buyer. This secure community is just steps from dining, light rail and shopping. You can lounge in the pool or chill in the historic commons knowing that your investment is being maintained and cared for as a co-op uniquely is. See the listing and more photos here.
2033 West Elm. Listed at $279,000, 2br/1.75ba, 1,260sf. Under Contract! This patio home is very affordable in a high market, and very convenient to Central Phoenix, as well as to multiple modes of transportation. The owner has completed a list of repairs and updates to the property and the community is stable and walkable, with lush grassy areas and trees. Updated flooring, updated kitchen and appliances and updated bathrooms.
Many of the tens of thousands of people moving to Arizona are moving because of the growth in the electric vehicle, clean energy and battery manufacturing industry. After all, Arizona is now an auto manufacturing state.
(Take that, Detroit.)
That means your property value is going up as the demand for housing continues.
I wanted to take a moment and make it very clear that we have President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to thank for that.
For whatever reason, media is not reporting on these huge benefits that the President won from a hostile congress.
The IRA set aside billions in investment dollars and tax credits to match private money for all kinds of clean energy manufacturing and infrastructure. See this link for a breakdown of where those jobs are going in Arizona, specifically.
If you’ve lived in Arizona for long, you know that our rural towns suffer from high unemployment. So much of this growth is going to rural Arizona. See this example of how EV and battery manufacturing is bringing jobs to Arizona.
I’ve said it before. Investments like this affect the real estate market and your home directly.
Climate Change seems so overwhelming that it almost freezes us in place.
But it does not have to be that way.
You can do with your vote and your wallet by standing up to the utilities and supporting those who want reform.
Utilities like APS, SRP and TEP make money selling electrons to us with a mark-up. So, why would they want to support solar and batteries on your home?
That’s bad, but we could fix that that if only we had a corporation commission that would hold them to higher standards. But we don’t. The current, MAGA-dominated corporation commission is now considering dismantling the requirements we put in place in 2008 that push the utilities to meet carbon reduction standards.
Just as a reminder, the production of power from fossil fuels wastes millions of gallons of water per year in Arizona.
The Corporation Commission also directed APS to add fees to those of its customers who have solar panels.
Meanwhile SRP continues to throttle residential solar and they have plans to add over 4,000 megawatts of dirty methane gas power generation. Remember, methane gas is 80 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon alone.
Please take a moment to research the SRP Clean Team, a crew of citizens who are very close to getting a majority of SRP board seats in elections happening right now. Many people don’t know that SRP has an elected board. Learn about that here, including maps of voting territories. If you own a home in current (and some past) SRP territory, you may have a right to vote. Register here.
There are also three candidates running for the Corporation Commission who all want to reform the commission. People don’t know that the Corporation Commission has more control than any other elected office to decide our climate fate. The Corporation Commission is the “climate commission” when it comes to clean energy.
The Oh My Ears (OME) New Music Festival is an annual event where we invite unique and adventurous ensembles, solo artists, and projects to perform works by modern composers.
The OME Festival has historically featured its performers in an eclectic variety of venues, from traditional concert halls to art galleries, bars, and cafes.
This year they will be at Phoenix College and Cibo’s Carriage House. OME is proud to be a presenter of new music in Phoenix for 10 years.
It says a lot about what it takes to sell an all-cash co-op, versus a traditional home, which you can purchase with a loan. Co-op properties stay on the market for much longer, as you are waiting for a buyer to come with all cash. Whereas our new listing in the Garfield neighborhood, was listed on Saturday and we have an accepted offer now, chosen from multiple offers.
It’s a shame, because co-op properties are often meticulously-maintained and offer a very stable alternative, especially if you travel a lot.
The price of our listing in midtown has come down a bit and the sellers are very reasonable, though not in a rush. So, have a look.
520 W. Clarendon Ave, Unit G2. $284,000, 2br/1.75 ba, 1,320sf. There are a few pristine co-op apartments still in central and downtown Phoenix. Most were built in the 1960s and only a few maintain that mid-century charm. This is one of them. But, on top of that, the owners of this unit opened up the kitchen since and completely remodeled since they purchased the home in 2021. This home is being sold with all of the unique furniture, as an option for the buyer. This secure community is just steps from dining, light rail and shopping. You can lounge in the pool or chill in the historic commons knowing that your investment is being maintained and cared for as a co-op uniquely is. See the listing and more photos here.
1423 E McKinley St. Listed at $339,000, 2br/1ba, 686sf. This property has the beauty of a historic bungalow and the money saving features that you will appreciate for years. The buyer can apply for the historic district property tax reduction AND the property is already zoned for two residences. With a large back yard, RV gate and full RV hookup, there is plenty of room to grow. The covered patio in the back houses an outdoor kitchen, a super efficient heat pump water heater, an RO water system and laundry. The property saves huge amounts of water with low flow fixtures, a front-loading washer, low water-use plants and a grey water system that feeds trees. Not to mention the PV solar system, extra attic insulation, high efficiency HVAC, remote thermostat, insulated floor, double pane windows and recently-remodeled kitchen with induction range.
I think that, while we are not in recovery mode, we are starting to see the outlines of it on the horizon. Active listings are coming up, and hopefully that will slow price growth a little going forward. For now, though, listings under contract are not as high as we’d like them to be.
Here are the basics from The Cromford Report – “the ARMLS numbers for March 1, 2024 compared with March 1, 2023:
Active Listings: 16,568 versus 14,739 last year – up 12% – and up 6.4% from 15,574 last month
Monthly Sales: 5,720 versus 5,706 last year – up 0.2% – and up 29% from 4,435 last month
Monthly Average Sales Price per Sq. Ft.: $293.70 versus $271.11 last year – up 8.3% – and up 1.7% from $288.74 last month
This set of numbers is a little disappointing, but by no means disastrous. On the bright side, closed listing counts for February 2024 managed to exceed February 2023, but only by 0.2%. This is not the recovery in volume that so many are impatiently hoping for. Also brighter, sales pricing performed better than anticipated and was up 1.7% from last month based on the monthly average sales price per square foot. The monthly median sale price rose by $10,000 too. However the rate at which contracts are getting signatures is lower than we expected and much lower than normal. We are starting March with only 8,693 listings under contract, down 4.6% from this time last year. And last year was well below normal.
The slow contract signing rate means active listing counts have continued to grow steadily, up by 2,000 since the start of the year. Last year we saw a fall of over 1,500 over the same period, because new supply was much scarcer then. It was the decline in supply that allowed us to scoff a year ago when Goldman Sachs published their ludicrous forecast that Arizona home prices would fall to 2008 levels in 2023. That certainly proved they had no idea what they were talking about. Prices are now up 8.3% from this time last year.
There is still no sign of a market crash in the short or medium term, but the market is struggling to gain traction. The healthy amount of incoming supply is not quite matched by a small improvement in demand and the balance between sellers and buyers only favors sellers by a small amount when considering the market as a whole. In many sectors of the market, buyers have more negotiating room, even though, judging by the recent price movements, most of them do not seem to realize this.
by homes under $1 million still have a tight supply and buyers outnumber sellers in most of these areas.
Market conditions are currently quite stable, so the idea that some sort of collapse is imminent is extremely far-fetched. However conditions can and often do change with little notice, so it is always worth to keeping a close eye on the key numbers.”