Heather Tawes Nelson ABR, CLHMS - Scottsdale, AZ

Located on the corner of Miller Road and Pinnacle Peak in Scottsdale AZ, Harvest restaurant is a welcome newcomer to the neighborhood. Since it just opened, it is offering breakfast and lunch for a few weeks prior to launching dinner service. Excited for a new place to eat, we took the opportunity to try it out.

Harvest is a casual dining restaurant that will appeal to anyone. The focus is on fresh, delicious American food. The interior has a lot of wood and orange accents and even has a wood "sculpture" above the counter area. Indoor dining has booths and tables and there is a large patio area that overlooks Pinnacle Peak Road. Service was great. The staff was very friendly and attentive from the hostesses to our server.

Breakfast is served all day and the menu is extensive- omelets, pancakes, waffles, lox platters, and egg dishes are just some of the offerings. They even offer gluten-free pancakes and toast. If you want some fruit with your pancakes or waffles, and additional $2 will get you a large serving of strawberries, bananas and blueberries. The silver dollar pancakes were cooked perfectly and the serving was very big. The breakfast potatoes with potato rounds and onions were also tasty.

The lunch menu also has plenty to choose from. Choices include multiple types of burgers, chicken sandwiches, salads, wraps and other sandwiches. The turkey rueben was very good and not greasy as they can sometimes be. The sweet potato fries are definitely a good choice and the regular fries are hand cut.

Our first trip to Harvest was a good one and it was definitely worth the wait during its construction. I am sure in a few months it will have cemented its spot as a neighborhood staple.

UPDATE: Dinner service is slated to start on December 1, 2009.

More Information:
Harvest
Corner of Pinnacle Peak Rd. & Miller Rd.
7615 E Pinnacle Peak Rd., Ste B-1
Scottsdale, AZ 85255

Originally posted on Scottsdale Real Estate News & Lifestyle

October was a decent month for the Greater Phoenix luxury condo market. I define the luxury condo market as condos for sale with asking prices in excess of $1 million. While activity continues to be somewhat slow in this segment, there was one sale and one pending sale in October.

At the end of the month, there were 68 luxury condos for sale in the Greater Phoenix area. The majority of these units are in Scottsdale, with 33, and Phoenix, with 29. The remaining 6 are located in Tempe.

October's sale was a penthouse unit at the Scottsdale Waterfront Residences for $2.7 million. This penthouse with panoramic views has four bedrooms, for and one-half bathrooms and is 4,847 square feet. The pending sale is located in Optima Camelview Village and it is a penthouse unit with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and 3,217 square feet.

To learn more about the luxury condo market in Scottsdale or Greater Phoenix, please feel free to contact me. For more information on Scottsdale AZ real estate and the surrounding areas, please visit www.scottsdaleagent.net

Originally posted on Scottsdale Real Estate News & Lifestyle.

Disclaimer: Information herein deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Data was pulled from the Arizona Regional MLS (ARMLS) as of 11/1/09 can change at any time. This blog represents the opinion of the author. No warranties implied or expressed.
Copyright © 2009 Heather Tawes Nelson

Here are October's figures for the Scottsdale AZ luxury home market. This market analysis includes the last twelve months of activity for single-family resale homes in Scottsdale with list prices of $1,000,000 and above.

- October 2009 -
Homes Priced Between $1,000,000 - $1,499,999
- Actives: There were 389 homes for sale in this price point, up 5 over September This number has been increasing for the last two months from its 12 month low of 366. The 12 month average is 465 homes on the market.
- Pendings: There were 27 homes pending at the end of the month, which is on par with the 12 month average of 27 pending sales.
- Sold: There were 21 home sales in October, down from 29 in October, but ahead of the 12 month average of 18 sales.
- Sales Price to Listed Price: 89.6% -This is pretty standard for this price range.

Homes Priced Between $1,500,000 - $1,999,999
- Actives: 234 homes were for sale in this price point at the end of October. This represents a 10.4% increase over September. The 12 month average is 270 active homes.
- Pendings: Pending sales came in at 14, just one ahead of the 12 month average of 13 pending sales.
- Sold: Twelve homes in this price range sold in October. This was the second highest sales month over the last 12 months, with the average being 8 sales.
- Sales Price to Listed Price: 92.7% - This is the highest this figure has been in the last 12 months. It typically tracks in the mid to high-80%'s.

Homes Priced Between $2,000,000 - $2,999,999
- Actives: There were 241 active homes for sale. This figure has been increasing over the last two months. The lowest we saw was in August with 222 homes for sale. The 12 month average is 303 actives.
- Pendings: There were seven homes pending sale at the end of the month. This is the same as September and is on par with the 12 month average of seven pending sales.
- Sold: There were five home sales in October. This figure has been increasing for the last two months and is the same as the 12 month average of 5.
- Sales Price to Listed Price: 92.2% - This is the highest this figure has been in the last twelve months. The last time this was in the 90%'s was in January of this year. Typically, this number is in the mid to high-80%'s.

Homes Priced $3,000,000+
- Actives: 157 homes were for sale for over $3 million. As with other price points, we have seen inventory increase over the last two months. The low in August was 149. The 12 month average is 217.
- Pendings: There were only two pending sales in this price point. This is well behind the average of 5.
- Sold: Three homes sold in October, which was a nice turnaround from September, when there were no sales of homes in excess of $3 million. The 12 month average is 4 sales, so this month was slightly behind.
- Sales Price to Listed Price: 82.4% - This is pretty typical for this price point.

October was a lackluster month for the luxury home market in Scottsdale. The number of home for sales is up in all price ranges, although not dramatically. However, we need to see some of this inventory being absorbed versus being added to. Sales and pending sales were mixed, although we did see some strong sales in a few of the price bands. Looking at the pending numbers, November may be a challenging month as well.

To see the detailed data behind this report, please visit my Scottsdale luxury real estate market reports page and click on the "Scottsdale Market Trends" report. For other information on the Scottsdale real estate market and the surrounding areas, please visit my Real Estate Market Reports page.

Originally posted on Scottsdale Real Estate News & Lifetyle.

Disclaimer:
Information herein deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Data and information was pulled from the Arizona Regional MLS (ARMLS) as of 11/1/2009 and can change at any time. The analysis looks at single-family resale homes in Scottsdale over the last 12 months. There may be new home inventory in these figures if the developer is using the MLS to market its homes. This blog represents the opinion of the author. No warranties implied or expressed.
Copyright © 2009 Heather Tawes Nelson

Scottsdale AZ welcomes a new library - This week heralded the opening of Scottsdale's newest library branch- the Appaloosa Library, located in North Scottsdale on the site of the former Rawhide entertainment complex.

The building itself is quite eye-catching - a beautiful contemporary structure full of angles and designed by DWL Architects & Planners and Douglas Snydor Architects. On the north side of the building, small windows actually form Morse code spelling out "Appaloosa." It was built to meet LEED Gold standards and has many "green" features, including photo voltaic cells, minimized water usage, roof designed to minimize heat island effect, minimal chemical usage during construction and operation and so much more. In addition, it was situated to avoid as much direct sunlight as possible.

Comprised of 21,500 square feet, the interior of the library is bright and light and well-thought out with open areas for reading, browsing and computer usage on one of the library's 48 public computers. (There is also wireless access throughout if you have your own laptop.) There is a fun, interactive children's area as well as another area for teens. With over 80,000 library materials including books, magazines and DVDs and other media, there is plenty for patrons to choose from. Other features include a quiet room, group study rooms, two meeting rooms, a computer lab, an outdoor shaded reading patio, a library shop and a small cafe. There is also a drive-through window for convenience.

The Appaloosa Library is a great addition to North Scottsdale and will be a fabulous resource for years to come.

More Information:
Appaloosa Library
7333 East Silverstone Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85255
- Just south of the Scottsdale Road/Pinnacle Peak intersection
(480) 312-READ (7323)

Library Hours:
Monday 10am-6pm
Tuesday Noon-8pm
Wednesday 10am-6pm
Thursday Noon-8pm
Friday 1pm-6pm
Saturday 10am-6pm
Sunday CLOSED

Built by Haydon Building Corporation

Originally posted on Scottsdale Real Estate News & Lifestyle.

Here are the October 2009 results for the Scottsdale AZ real estate market. This analysis looks at the sales performance of single-family homes in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Things were more or less the same as they were in September, but a few items were slightly off. The number of active homes for sale continues to rise. Pending sales were down slightly and the number of home sales stayed the same.

October 2009 Findings
Active Homes for Sale: The number of homes on the market increased for the second month in a row, to 2,917, up another 3.1%. This figure had been as high as 4,007 in February of 2009. The 12 month average for this figure is 3,403, so we are still tracking well below that.
Pending Home Sales: Pending sales continue to stay in the above 500 range. At the end of October, there were 514 pending home sales, down slightly from September's 523. The 12 month average for pending sales is 424.
Homes Sold: Home sales were even with September at 351. We saw a 12 month high of 429 in June of this year. The 12 month average for home sales is 294.
Sales Price to List Price: 93.7% - This is the just a tenth of a percentage point off of September. This is the second highest we have seen this figure in well over a year.

October was a decent month for Scottsdale AZ real estate. Sales stayed at the same pace and pending sales were down slightly. One thing to keep an eye on is the number of active homes for sale. In order to see the market improve, we want to see this number decrease, not increase, which is has been for the last two months.

Originally posted on Scottsdale Real Estate News & Lifestyle.

Disclaimer: Data and information was pulled from the Arizona Regional MLS (ARMLS) as of 11/1/2009 and can change at any time. The analysis looks at single-family resale homes in Scottsdale AZ over the last 12 months. There may be new home inventory in these figures if the developer is using the MLS to market its homes.
Copyright © 2009 Heather Tawes Nelson