And some people wonder why HOAs (Home Owner Associations) sometimes often usually have a bad reputation.

From The Zonie Report comes this story. . .

APACHE JUNCTION — An Apache Junction Homeowners Association is facing stiff penalties and a discrimination charge from the lawsuit of a local property owner who found her handicap van towed from in front of her home.

Sharon Turley claims the Arizona Goldfield Homeowners’ Association discriminated against her by not making “reasonable accommodations” for her disabilities and violated state law by not providing proper notice and opportunity to be heard before towing the van.

HOA officials first said they would respond to the situation in a meeting scheduled to be held the following month.

Alas, said meeting never happened.

Meanwhile, Ms. Turley’s van is racking up holding lot fees of $15/day and the owner of the lot is saying the van will be sold soon if it is not retrieved.

It seems that it’s well past time for this HOA to remove its head from a particular body orifice and do the right thing. That would of course be pay for the van to be returned to Ms. Turley and amend their CC&Rs to allow for the parking of the van.

There are, of course, two sides to every story. And I’d sure love to hear the HOAs rationalization of this one.

HOAs, properly managed and with the right Board of Directors, can do great things for a community. However, if they are mismanaged, or managed with a complete lack of common sense and civility, then they can swiftly spiral out-of-control, and bone-head decisions can prevail.

According to a study from the Arizona State University W.P. Carey School of Business, the “ASU-RSI” (ASU Repeat Sales Index) average home prices in the Phoenix metro area dropped 13% year-over-year in March.

This is the first double-digit “ever” (ever is a really long time. I suspect it’s the first double digit decline in this metric’s history — I’m trying to determine how long that is, and/or what Professor Karl Guntermann considers “ever”).

The ASU-RSI is very similar to the fairly widely known S&P/Case-Schiller Index. Both track repeat sales of the same home over different periods of time. It’s thought by many that using repeat sales is a more reliable method of monitoring market changes as in effect, it is comparing “apples to apples”.

I spoke at some length yesterday with Misty Williams, the real estate reporter for the East Valley Tribune for her article on this story. (Always a pleasure Misty!.) Much of our discussion centered around the impact of REO (bank owned) properties and their impact on the Phoenix real estate market. I hadn’t read Guntermann’s analysis yet, but it looks we do agree that REOs continue to drag down prices. But as I said to Misty, we’ve seen increased buyer activity, and their is no question that REO properties are beginning to move much more swiftly than they were just a short time ago. Aggressive bank pricing and multiple offers are the norm now in many situations.

The $50,000 dollar question is and remains, how long will this last? Yes, buyers are coming into the market. But there is still a ton of short sale and REO inventory out there. Until some of that inventory bleeds off, buyers will still be clamoring for and maintaining the (unrealistic)perception of getting the short sale or REO property for pennies on the dollar.

Fortunately, as difficult as it is, sellers seem to be getting more realistic about the current conditions. We’re seeing far fewer ridiculously over-priced listings, and not every buyer wants an REO or has the patience and fortitude to put up with the crap lenders consistently spew on short sales. This market will correct. It may just be awhile. Personally, I think we will continue to see price declines through the remainder of the year, and a leveling through next year before returning to a more normal gradual appreciation rate.

And I reserve the right to be completely wrong. 

Leisure World, located in East Mesa, is a premier active adult (age 55+) community.

Amenities abound. The community is loaded with impeccably maintained lakes, walking / biking trails and a clubhouse with dozens and dozens of activities to appeal to anyone.

Leisure World real estate provides many affordable options — Single-family detached homes, duplex’s and condos are all available. Built in the early 1970s by Western Savings, the grounds and the homes are all very well maintained.

Two beautiful private golf courses are available, one 18–hole championship quality course, and one 9–hole “executive style” course. The community center has a pool / billiards room, card room, library, sewing room, dance hall, woodworking shop and more. The community swimming pool is large and crystal clear. I can’t imagine a Leisure World resident ever having nothing to do!

To see more photos of Leisure World, go to my Flickr photo set. (or click on the “filmstrip” below)

And if anyone is interested in owning some Leisure World real estate, we have a beautifully upgraded 2/1.75 home available. Details are at LeisureWorldProperty.com.

Click here to see all currently listed Leisure World homes.
 

Here is a breakdown, by zip code, of current single-family homes listed for sale in Gilbert.

Data is extracted from the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service. It is generally considered reliable, but is by no means guaranteed. It’s only as accurate as the agents entering the data make it (for example, I did exclude the home in Zip Code 85234 that was showing a square footage of 85,234…)

A handy-dandy Gilbert Zip Code map is also included.

(click for larger table)

[tags]Gilbert real estate, Gilbert listings by Zip Code[/tags]

Was talking to a soon-to-be client this morning about short sales, particularly regarding the quantity of short sales in the Phoenix East Valley area.

So I waded through logging on to the MLS (past the double-password entry process designed to thwart agents from giving out their MLS login ID and passwords) and set up a custom search to extract listings based on the “Lender/Corporate Approval Required” field.

Now before we take a peek at the numbers, a few things must be noted:

1) MLS data is only as good as what is entered. I’m sure you’ve heard the term, “Garbage in, garbage out”. Trust me, there is some garbage in the MLS data. If an agent has listed a short sale and did NOT check the “Lender Approval Required” box, then there is no way for me to know if the listing is in a short sale position. Conversely, if the box WAS checked and should not have been. . . well, you get the idea.

2) It’s possible some agents selected “Lender/Corp Approval Required” instead of selecting “Lender Owned Property” when they listed “REO” (bank owned) property. Most that list REOs know which box to check, so one would think hope that the data is relatively clean in this regard.

3) Our current MLS, in its infinite wisdom, has not separated corporate approval from lender approval. Corporate approval? Yes, as in when a relocation company is involved is the most common cause for needing corporate approval.

Despite these limitations, what follows is a (sobering) look at the quantity of homes that are currently listed as likely short sales in the Phoenix East Valley.

Adding these numbers up, there are 10,788 active listings in these major East Valley towns. (That’s all residential by the way, single-family homes, condos, mobiles, etc.)

4,506 of those are indicated as likely short sales (minus the aforementioned corporate owned homes and other data pitfalls — a relatively small percentage I suspect hope).

That would mean that 41.8% of the current East Valley home listings could be in a short sale situation.

Frightening, isn’t it?

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[tags]Phoenix east valley real estate short sales, ouch[/tags]

Here are the Phoenix and East Valley real estate listings and sales stats for June…

[table=4]

[table=5]

Data extracted from ARMLS – Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service

The stats for May are available here for comparison. In short, listings are up (though less than we've seen in the past), Days on Market (DOM) are up, and sales are slightly lower for the metro area, but some East Valley cities showed a slight increase in sales over May.

[tags]Phoenix real estate, listings and sales stats[/tags]

From an actual email:

. . . Do you have any information on which schools and which school districts are the best in Chandler or Gilbert or any other nearby areas? . . .

On the surface, this sounds like an easy question to answer. But if you kick back and ponder it a moment, it's really not a simple answer.

First, a licensed real estate agent has to be extremely careful to avoid steering, which can be defined as:

The illegal practice of directing home seekers to particular areas either to maintain the homogeneity of an area or to change the character of an area, which limits where they can live.

Providing an opinion on what schools are good and bad could be construed as steering. Some may say that is not so. Personally, I am not willing to risk my license to find out.

EDITED TO ADD: Don't think saying a school is "good" or "bad" could be construed as steering? Read this article, which contains info on a brokerage being sued for Fair Housing violations — mainly due to agents offering opinion on “good” vs “bad” schools….

Another issue with answering any "what is best" type of question is this — everyone has a different definition of "best". In regard to schools, best may mean best test scores, lowest student/teacher ratios, small class sizes, extracurricular activities offered, lowest drop out rates, etc. My idea of best may not line up with your idea.

So how do we answer such a question? I provide clients and prospects (and pretty much anyone that asks) with resources so they can collect information and make a decision. Now I have heard some agents and brokers say that we can not give out resources for information to clients. The technical term for that belief is "Bullhockey". We are (or should be) a clients number one resource in everything regarding their real estate transaction. That is what we do.

You want school information to help you determine the best school for you? Here are some suggestions:

• If at all possible, make an appointment to visit the school. If you can visit when school is in session, all the better. See with your own eyes what is going on. Talk to the principal. I haven't met one yet that will refuse to speak to the caregiver of a prospective student.
• Maybe you are out of state and can't physically visit. The Internet is a wealth of information. Just keep in mind that statistics never tell the full story. Look for your state's Department of Education site. Look for individual school district sites. Many schools themselves have their own websites.
• GreatSchools.net is an interesting resource. It includes parent (and even a few student) reviews of many, but not all, schools. I personally wouldn't exclude a school based on a bad parent review – I suspect Harvard and MIT get occasional bad reviews. But consistent poor reviews are certainly a warning flag.

School boundary questions also frequently come up. We have East Valley school boundary maps available at ThompsonsRealty.com. However, maps can be inaccurate and boundaries change – particularly in rapidly growing communities like we have in the East Valley. Never put blind faith in a boundary map. If a specific school is a concern, always always ALWAYS get confirmation from the school district about what schools serve a specific address.

There you have it. Research is the key. There are a lot of on-line resources available, but nothing beats an in-person visit to the school(s).

Arizona and Phoenix East Valley school resources:
Arizona Department of Education
Gilbert School District
Chandler School District
Kyrene (Tempe) School District
Mesa School District
Our School Boundary Maps
 
Others Opine: Real Estate Attorney Weighs In On Steering And Schools Controversy

[tags]Good schools, real estate steering[/tags]