Come on up to Sonoita and enjoy the 95th annual rodeo this weekend. Lots of fun. Great weather and thousands of acres of green, rolling grassland.
Want to know the best deals on homes and land in the area? Just give me a call (520-591-04250.
Hope to see you around the rodeo grounds – or at one of the vineyards.
Please take time to read the article associated with the enclosed link. The devastation was extensive just when it was looking like a great harvest. No local varietals to speak of from this year. http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2010/08/18/20100818arizona-wineries-damage.html
The attached link will bring up the report for the month of July 2010. The continued to show stability in the market and it is encouraging to contracts in escrow increasing. I continue to believe that the second half of 2010 will be when buyers begin to return to the Mountain Empire. Good news for sellers. Not so good news for buyers.
http://www.tucsonrealtors.org/tar-v2/stats_july10.pdf
Although we have not experienced any widespread heavy downpours, there has been rain over the Mountain Empire. So, I guess it is safe to say the monsoon is here. On our ranch in Elgin, we seem to have done well up to this point and our pastures are greening up nicely. We even moved our herd over to another pasture where they will reside until November. It sure is nice! If you don’t live here, come for a visit to the wineries and experience Ireland in Arizona!
It is a magnificent day dawning here in the Mountain Empire! So much to do do including the parade in Patagonia and fireworks in Patagonia as well tonight. It seemed as if there were more than our normal visitors around yesterday and I hope many of them were here to enjoy the long weekend.
I have a new tenant in the building where the Keller Williams office is: Desert Legacy Galleries. This is an established business in Tucson that has decided to relocate to Sonoita. We are very excited and welcome Wylie and her kokopelli to our building and community.
The numbers for the first half of 2010 should be out towards the middle of the week. Please look for our post at that time. Although this year may be slightly better than last, we have a long way to go to get back to “normal”. I am forecasting that the next six months should show renewed vitality in our real estate market.
Please see the attached article from the AZ Star. If you are looking to buy, and have your finances in order, now’s the time. Are rates going lower? Who knows, but at this level, I cannot see much more of a downside.
http://azstarnet.com/content/tncms/live/#
The issue of the construction of a high voltage power line into Sonoita has reached a national level by virtue of this article in the Huffington Post. If you have been following this issue, this is a good article to read.
http://j.mp/bPOtAw
Interesting! The market here seems to be trending up – a bit earlier maybe than expected – fueled by the availability of reasonably priced homes and some short sales and foreclosures. Based on statistics from the Tucson Multiple Listing Service, this is what I have found:
Our total dollar volume of sales for land and homes is up 23% from the same period in 2009; $5,413,892 versus $4,437,792. The total number of transactions has increased to 22 from 18. This year 5 lots sold ranging up to 36 acres and only one under 8 acres. Small lots, once hard to find, are not selling at this time in spite of some very good values. — Seventeen (17) homes sold this year versus 6 in 2009. The prices ranged from $107,500 to $474,900; only 4 of those were above $300,000. This would indicate the higher dollar buyer, which also includes those folks looking for horse properties, are still missing from our market.
I believe, as markets that feed the Mountain Empire continue to be more healthy, we will see our more traditional buyers return. There will be good deals for these people for some time to come with 103 homes listed today, (and several other FSBO properties) as well as 157 listed lots. This is not good news for sellers yet, but the inventory should now begin to shrink and thus prices will begin to stabilize over the next 12 to 18 months.
Stay tuned.
Trulia released a new study comparing renting versus buying in major markets. Here’s a link to see the results:
First half 2010 Mountain Empire real estate results
Well, it’s not over yet. Compared to the first six months of 2009, we are still in a real estate recession in the Sonoita, Elgin and Patagonia markets. I do, however, believe that the second half of 2010 will show improvement and 2011 will be a year that might end up being clasified as close to “normal”
Here are the numbers: This year we have sold 19 homes valued at $4,595,300 and 9 lots valued at $1,259,500 for a total market of $5,854,800. The lots averaged $139,944. That high number was influenced by some larger (more than 5 acres) parcel transactions. Average time on market was 270 days and the average price per acre was $9,351. The homes averaged $143 per sq. ft. and were on the market for 127 days. — In 2009, 37 homes sold for a total volume of $9,045,173. Land sales totaled $3,104,807 for 14 parcels. The total volume was $12,149,980 or almost twice what it is this year!!
My advice to buyers and sellers at this time is: Selling, either price very competitively if you have to sell or wait a year or two for the inventory to drop and prices to rise. Buying, don’t wait too much longer or the good deals will be gone along with the better inventory.