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CATHERINE REAGOR REAL ESTATE
CHRISTOPHER COMBS REAL ESTATE Q&A
Lots were part of Arizona scandal
Better housing market forecast Metro Phoenix’s housing market ended 2014 on a low note with both home sales and prices down. Homeowners, potential buyers shopping for a house and investors are all curious — even anxious — about what could happen this year. The big issues to watch in the Valley are job and population growth, whether the federal plan to lower mortgage premiums spurs more first-time buyers and what big investors with thousands of rental houses do. Nationally, whether interest rates climb, the success of new low-down payment loan programs started by federal Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and any national finance reform for the mortgage market are keys to pay attention to. None of the real estate experts I polled are are overly optimistic, but all agree 2015 should be better for Phoenix’s housing market than last year. Âť “Unfortunately, 2015 won’t be the breakout year we’ve been waiting for,â€? said Tom Ruff, real estate analyst for the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service and The Information Market. “But I do anticipate higher sales volume than 2014. Prices will remain stable with only modest increases.â€? The latest data from ARMLS shows through November that Valley home sales were down more than 4 percent from the same period in 2013. The region’s median home price was $192,000 in November, down from the 2014 high of $198,000 in July. . Âť National housing analyst John Burns believes home building will climb, but not jump, this year. “We expect Phoenix to reverse course and issue 3,000 more single-family permits in 2015 than in 2014,â€? said Sullivan, president of Irvine, Calif.based John Burns Real Estate Consulting. New home building through November was down 16.7 percent, according to RL Brown Housing Reports. For the first 11 months of 2014, there were 9,858 construction permits for houses issued Valleywide, compared to 11,832 for the same period in 2014.
Question: At least 30 years ago, our grandfather bought a lot in a subdivision called Cochise College Park in southeastern Arizona. I think that he paid $5,000 cash. Anyhow, my grandfather passed away several years ago and my mother recently passed away. The bill for the property taxes is only a few dollars a year and we have always paid. Is it worth the cost to probate this lot? Is the lot even worth anything? Answer: Unfortunately, the lot may not be worth enough to even continue paying the property taxes. The reason is that lots sold in the Cochise College Park subdivision generally had no roads and no utilities such as water, electricity, and phone. You should contact a probate lawyer and an appraiser in southeastern Arizona, who should have experience with lots that were sold in the subdivision. If the lot has any value, your grandfather’s heirs could acquire title. In the 1970s, Ned Warren developed subdivisions in Arizona, including subdivisions still basically worthless today like Cochise College Park, but also subdivisions that became valuable, such as Prescott Valley. There was no regulation of subdivisions in Arizona in those days. Warren, nicknamed the “kingpin of Arizona land fraud,� is the primary reason that today there is regulation of subdivisions in Arizona. He advertised these worthless subdivisions, allegedly “within shouting distance of the Grand Canyon,� in magazines such as Reader’s Digest, attracting customers from all over the United States and in Europe. On the day before his accountant was scheduled to testify at Warren’s trial, the CPA was murdered in a parking garage on Central Avenue in Phoenix. (This murder was never See COMBS, Page R2 PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ALIYA MOOD/GANNETT
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