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Dear Friends, June 12 th, 2008
I hope everyone is doing well and enjoyed the cold snap we had on Memorial Day weekend, what a surprise that was. RooPho Realty is doing our part to be more GREEN and stopping our First Class snail-mail Quarterly News Letter and wasting all that paper. If you would like to continue to get our News Letter via E-Mail, please go to our website and subscribe to it under the Quarterly News Letter tab or just send me an e-mail with your e-mail address and request to get our News Letter, whichever is easier. We hope everyone subscribes as we enjoy keeping in touch and hope the information we provide is both interesting and helpful to you. My E-Mail address is Chris@RooPhoRealty.com and if you already get our Monthly E-News Letter, you don’t have to subscribe to the Quarterly we’ll add you automatically.
Is the Media really reporting accurate numbers on foreclosures? Not according to Bernice Ross of Inman News they aren't. According to her research, RealtyTrac, which reports the number of foreclosures and other national and local real estate statistics, is reporting the total number of people who merely get a notice of foreclosure and not who actually got foreclosed on. Ms. Ross states that many of these people actually work something out with the banks and never get foreclosed upon. In her article she says “ RealtyTrac reports the filings plus the REOs as a total number. This is the number that is up 4.4 percent (not 65 percent as reported) from March. The number that the press is reporting is the difference in foreclosures from April 2007 as compared to April 2008, not the amount of increase from the previous month. Using the entire number of filings plus the total REOs, the number RealtyTrac arrives at is that one out of every 519 properties received a notice or experienced foreclosure. The press reports this data as if one out of 519 properties has been foreclosed upon. That's two-tenths of 1 percent, or approximately two properties out of every 1,000. .. The number of properties actually taken back by the bank was 54,574. That translates into 0.43 properties per 1,000. The good news in these numbers is that out of the 243,353 filings, only about 20 percent actually end up back with the lender. This means that up to 80 percent of the borrowers are working out some sort of resolution with their financing problem.” You can read the whole story in my blog at www.RooPhoRealty.com, then choose Urban Blog.
What can be said about the national or the local market that is positive? Not much! I think the plunge is over and we’re at or near the bottom of the market at least here in Metro Phoenix. Housing starts were up 3.3% nationally in April from March but down 42% from a year earlier. “The momentum is still downward, and that April number is still weak,” said National Association of Home Builders chief economist David Seiders. “April marks only a partial reversal of that steep March decline.” U.S. home prices dropped at the sharpest rate in two decades during the first quarter to 14.1% in 2008 compared to a year earlier. As I have said many times, even though we might be down up to 25% in some areas, we went up over 50% in 2004 and 2005 so we are still 25% above where we were in 2003 and that’s still good for long time homeowners.
There are still too many houses on the market but with over 300 people still moving to the Valley every day and interest rates still very low, buyers are starting to look again. The average number of days a home is on the market is about 100 but RooPho Realty just sold a listing in 5 days because we advised the seller to price it well and they did. We can do that for you too so give us a call and we’d be happy to run a Market Analysis on your home and tell you what a good listing price is and what we expect the selling price to be.
On the other side of the coin are buyers. Is this the right time to buy a house? Some say yes, some say no. The yeses believe that we are at or near the bottom and interest rates are low making it the perfect time to buy. However, the noes say we aren’t at the bottom yet so you could pay more for a home then it will be worth a year from now. And don’t limit yourself to just Bank Owned or Short Sales thinking they will be a good deal, look at the whole market and find the best home for the money and we will check the values so you’ll know a good value when you find it.
Best Regards,
New on the market! A Will Bruder designed home . This is one of the first single family homes that Phoenix Architect Will Bruder designed in 1981. It’s made from Adobe and there is hardly a straight wall in the house. It was designed with curved walls to reduce the summer heat in the house. The kitchen cabinets are custom to curve with the house not to mention, book shelves and even a dining room table were custom to curve with the walls and all these items stay with the house. The picture to the right shows the light coming in as he used a lot of skylights to cast shadows over the walls and bring in light. This is a gated property with a curved gate on the driveway and plenty of privacy. This home is located in the Villa De Paz Golf Community near 107 th Ave and Indian School Road. You really have to see this one to appreciate the unique style of it. See more pictures on www.RooPhoRealty.com under Featured Listings.
Quick Update on some of the new construction properties in the Downtown Phoenix area. The Summit at Copper Square is completed and about 50% sold. 44 Monroe residence are moving in by end of summer and is about 50% sold. Century Plaza near Park Central will be ready to move in by end of June and has about 80% sold. 215 McKinley and Roosevelt 11 are totally done with construction and have most units available. The Portland 38 is finishing up and the developer is ready to do some creative deals so now might be a good time to check it out.
Since Jude and I have been living in Downtown for almost 3 years and selling Downtown residential properties for the past 5 years, I thought I’d take this time to tell you there is a lot to do Downtown and why we love living in Downtown Phoenix . Aside from the sports, museums, symphony and plays there are more restaurants and nighttime entertainment all the time and Pizzeria Bianco is at the top of the list. Pizzeria Bianco has been rated as the best pizza in the world by the New York Times Food Critic and all I can say is you have to experience it for yourself; it’s unique and the best I’ve had so get there early and have a drink at Bar Bianco next door. There’s also FATE (shown right) if you like great Asian Cuisine and outside 
dining. Fate also has a trendy outdoor bar that’s great most evenings of the year. You can’t live Downtown long without going to Carly’s for some of the best and most unique sandwiches & Salads in town. I like the Fig Salad and I didn’t even know I liked figs. Lost Leaf and The Roosevelt Tavern are old homes turned into bars in the Roosevelt Arts District and are very cool and unique for Phoenix; you see this type of place in Chicago and San Francisco but not much here so it’s great to have a couple. Also coming up, local celebrity chef Reed Groban , is the creative force 
behind a diner that will be in Hotel Monroe (left) on Central Ave and Monroe St. AZ88 owner Karl Kopp is turning the vintage Hanny’s department store building into a trendy restaurant. But there’s more than eating that you can do Downtown and I’m happy to say that Bunky 
Boutique with their own special style of clothing has been so successful on East Roosevelt they moved to 812 N. 3 rd Street for more space. Then there’s Spoken located at the Artisan Village just down the street from RooPho Realty. Spoken has custom clothing and has been open for a couple years and very popular with fashion conscious men and women. And if I have to tell you how good Tammie Coe’s cakes or MJ’s breads are, then you better get down here quick and try them out, oops I’m back to food. I see people all day, every day driving to Artisan Village for coffee, pastries and breads from Tammie Coe’s. The new Downtown Phoenix Convention Center’s North Building should will be opening later this year, 
plus the two 13 story ASU dormitory, Taylor Place, (shown left) will be opening in August and expected to house more than 700 students and of course a Starbucks among other retail stores on the street level. The 20 mile Light Rail line will be running 
through Downtown by the end of December helping people get to and from Downtown from Mesa, Tempe and the Christown area, we’re really looking forward to that.
And of course the best reason to come Downtown is to visit RooPho Realty and get the latest and best information about Downtown and Central Phoenix.
Stop by anytime and enjoy your summer.
               
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