Red Rock, AZ

HUD could be causing prices to tumble further as an unintended consequence of its attempts to be fair in assigning properties to listing agents in some communities.

While a particular community may be geographically close to another city, that city may belong to an MLS system that doesn't really serve the market area that the community belongs to. Case in point: Red Rock, Arizona.

Red Rock is a master-planned community north of Tucson by about 30 minutes. It really is a bedroom community for the Tucson region. Residents shop in Marana & Oro Valley in the NW sector of the Tucson Metro. Nevertheless, there is about a 50/50 split with agents in Casa Grande (which belongs to ARMLS - really serving the greater Phoenix region for the most part), and agents belonging to the Tucson MLS (TARMLS).

From a geographic standpoint, it looks like a fair division of property allocations. Casa Grande is about the same distance/drive time from Red Rock as Tucson is. HOWEVER, by doing so, putting these properties into an MLS that really serves a different region causes these properties to languish on the market much longer. People looking for properties in Red Rock generally see them through Tucson agents...so the homes listed in ARMLS usually go ignored or unnoticed.

We all know that longer time on market results in price reductions. Appraisals use hard data to help determine value - a government agency directing properties to the wrong market isn't a mitigating factor...it just produces lower appraisals. People don't see it (agents too), so they don't even know that a property is for sale! Nothing wrong with the house, nor with the agent listing it - the languishment is simply because it isn't being seen!

I've noticed in the last several months that HUD listings of the same relative size are selling within 30-70 days (depending on condition) for a price in the $60-$75k range when listed by agents working in the Tucson MLS. Properties listed by agents in Casa Grande have typically lasted 110 days or more before going under contract...and the prices are in the mid-$40's to mid-$50s & $60's. All because they are handled in an MLS where Red Rock is on the extreme southern end...and not a viable commute for people working in the Phoenix region. This is NOT because the Casa Grande agents are doing anything wrong - in fact, the ones that I have done business with are working harder to sell Red Rock homes at a lower price, and are relieved when someone finally shows one!

Luckily, TARMLS & ARMLS have a "data share" agreement that allows agents to see info on properties belonging to the other MLS (without agreement of compensation). When looking on behalf of my clients, I use both systems in order to ensure that they can have all of the choices in Tucson real estate available to them. When I can find price anomalies similar to the ones in Red Rock, my buyers are happy to save the money.

I know that HUD is trying to be as fair as possible - and applaud that desire. Unfortunately, an unintended consequence is that they are driving down prices because the asset managers don't understand what region actually serves the market their properties may be in.

There's enough factors contributing to price declines in outlying regions...it is Unfair to have a simple policy accidentally cause more damage to the market.

Mute testament to someone's dreams and aspirations from early in the last century, the remains of this two-room adobe home stand near an abandoned corral in Tucson's Santa Cruz valley.

Despite our desire to make it so, nothing in this life is much more permanent than that rainbow painted across our desert sky.

___________________

Click my Send Out Cards logo!
Send a real card to someone you love.
(It's free ~ on me. Thanks for reading my blog.)

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson Mortgage Lender.

NMLS #223495

SUNSTREET MORTGAGE llc ~ Correspondent Mortgage Bank
Offices (AZ) Mesa, Tucson, Nogales, and Albuquerque, NM.

Reach me any time on my Blackberry

520.349.9090

Saturday Afternoon Hike in the Desert

Last Saturday, my Darlin and I had our toes in the Pacific Ocean. This Saturday found me hiking in the desert near Ironwood National Monument in Red Rock, AZ.

The monsoon rains have just made their appearance, and today, the rain chased me back down off the hill where I was photographing petroglyphs, and back to my car.

As the wall of rain moved west, the afternoon sun created the most beautiful full rainbow! I thought you might like to share it with me.

___________

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson Mortgage Lender.

That's Ragged Top Mountain in Pima County, AZ. You can get there by taking Sasco Road, a straight ribbon of dirt that passes through some of the most pristine desert you'll ever see. It starts at Interstate 10's Red Rock exit, just south of another of my favorite places, Picacho Peak.

Petroglyphs

Yesterday, I spent four enjoyable afternoon hours climbing the hills surrounding Ragged Top Mountain, searching for ancient petroglyphs to add to my photo collection.

This Bighorn Sheep Image on the right graced a rock on that hill pictured on the left. I found two other images, one a scorpion, and the other a lizard (below, left.)

Caution: The area is very remote, and you'll have to ford the flowing Santa Cruz River to get there. Don't do this without a four wheel drive vehicle like my Ford Explorer. The water spashed over the hood!

Ancient Indian Culture

These desert scenes aren't any different that they would have been for the ancient ones who lived here centuries ago, and who created these petroglyph images.

I'm glad to walk in the dust of their footsteps.

___________________

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, AZ Mortgage lender.

SUNSTREET MORTGAGE
Call me if I can help you or someone you know with a purchase or refi mortgage in Tucson, or anywhere else in the great state of Arizona.

We're completing and funding purchase loans in as little as two weeks.
(520) 349-9090

photos copyright Mike in Tucson 2009

EDIT: Here are some more posts on Petroglyphs in and around Tucson, AZ

saguaro national park west: Tucson's Signal Hill Petroglyphs - 1,000 Year Old Graffiti

saguaro national park west: Unique Architecture: Ez-Kim-In-Zin Picnic Area In Tucson's Saguaro National Park West

saguaro national park west: Ancient Bloggers: More On The Petroglyphs At Saguaro National Park West

saguaro national park west: Tucson Estates II: The Community and the Mountain Views Sold the House! (LOCALISM FEATURED)

I got lost, at least sort of... My friend Howard gave me directions to a new (for me) site for petroglyphs, and I took Black Friday away from the malls, and all to myself. I went exploring.

I never did find the petroglyphs; I missed the turnoff. But I'd never been down this road, and the photo ops just kept coming!

But it's a dry heat...

I found an open vertical mine shaft miles out in the desert, and this unusual rock on the desert floor nearby. My imagination saw it as the manifestation of the old miner, long dead and gone. Dead of thirst...

The tuft of grass at the top gave him a wig, and I couldn't help thinking of the Sons of the Pioneers singing "Cool, Clear Water..."

Mine shafts like this (open, deep and dangerous) are not unusual in southern Arizona. Some are filled in, but many, like this one, are just as they were the day some miner abandoned them in his search for richer ore.

I guess I was in less danger than I would have been spending black Friday at the mall. At least my wallet was in less danger...

___________________

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, AZ Mortgage lender.

SUNSTREET MORTGAGE
Call me if I can help you or someone you know
with a purchase or refi mortgage.
(520) 349-9090