Kim Anderson Phoenix, AZ

The highly anticipated CityCenter of CityNorth will be unveiling the first phase of this exciting new 144 acre urban development in North Phoenix. High Street will be unveiled on Thursday, November 13th, 2008. Guests of the grand opening will be introduced to High Street with a series of grand opening events during the second weekend of November.

Los Angelas based Sequoia Productions, producers of the Academy Awards Governors Ball and the Primetime Emmy Awards Creative Awards & Governors Ball will be coordinating the events for the grand opening. The opening event will be a block party on Thursday night from 6:00 - 9:00pm. The remaining schedule of the events will be announced shortly.

High Street will be an exciting urban community featuring nearly one million square feet of speciality botiques, restaraunts, The Residences on High Street and Class A office & medical suites.

As a resident of Desert Ridge it has been truly amazing watching this city emerge from the vacant desert land that was 56th street & Deer Valley. I am eagerly awaiting the grand opening and all the future phases to open.

If you would like more information about the residential opportunity at High Street, drop me an email or call me at 480-201-4185.

On September 25, 2008, the Town of Cave Creek and the Cave Creek Merchants Chamber of Commerce will c0-host the “Taste of Cave Creek”. This event will run from 6:00pm - 10:00pm at Stagecoach Village.

The “Taste of Cave Creek ” will feature taste samplings from nearly 20 restaurants in Cave Creek. The evening will also feature cooking demonstrations, wine tastings & live music from rock band EastonAshe and country band Rendazous. Many artists will display original art work and photography as well.

This is the 8th year for “Taste of Cave Creek” and this is an event that you will not want to miss as there is a little something for everyone. Tickets are $25.00 per person. You can receive more information about events, location and where to buy tickets by visiting the Cave Creek Chamber of Commerce.

Events like these are just one of the reasons why we just love the Cave Creek life!

Sonoran Villas in Cave Creek is heading into the fall season with sales momentum. Only two villas remain in Phase I. With the new pool plans complete and move-in ready homes, we are seeing more visitors excited about this project. Luxury condos are a new product in Cave Creek and we continue to receive rave reviews.

We encourage you to make a trip to Sonoran Villas for a tour. The last two existing villas include major incentives as the developer is ready to start the next units. These units are loaded with upgrades that one would typically find in custom homes. You can view these two listings on my featured listings page.

Sonoran Villas is open on Saturday & Sundays from 12-5pm. In the fall we will be expanding some of those hours and you can always call 480-563-5640 for a private tour. Visit SonoranVillas.com for more information and photos.

As a real estate broker I have been representing sellers on short sales for a year now. The experience I have gained during this year has been unmeasurable. It has been very satisfying to prevent a foreclosure for a seller and it has also been frustrating when the bank just won’t approve a quality offer. Through this experience I have put together a team that makes me feel very confident about continuing to work with sellers on short sales as I feel it is very important for real estate market recovery in the Phoenix Metro area.

One reason I feel like they are important to get approved is that our inventory levels are never going to drop if we keep “recycling” listings. Here is an example of what I am talking about. Many sellers who need to sell start by listing their home at an unreasonable price that will cover their mortgages, real estate commissions and title fees. Once it becomes obvious that the home will not sell at that price, it becomes a short sale listing. If the seller receives an offer, then it can continue on the market for 3 months while the bank reviews. If the bank does not approve the offer or if the buyer walks, then the property goes to auction where it most likely will not be bid on as the opening bid is to high. Approximately 14-30 days later, this property is re-listed AGAIN as a bank owned property (REO). From this example, you can see that one listing can be on the market multiple times over the course of a year! This is causing our real estate inventory to be skewed in my opinion.

I feel strongly that we will see a positive change in the way banks handle short sales. The banks are flooded with real estate owned properties (REO’s) and are finding that they are not selling quickly for what they think they will after they foreclose. In many cases of files I have dealt with where they did not approve an offer, the bank would have clearly netted more money had they accepted the offer we had on the table. Change does not happen fast though. I can appreciate the position these banks are in. Properties values have dropped at unprecedented rates here in Arizona and the banks did not have the manpower to facilitate all of the files that were coming to them as defaults.

Now we are seeing banks with larger loss mitigation departments and we are seeing that if there is a file with an offer on their desk for review, they are very likely to postpone the pending auction so the file can be reviewed. I am not saying that this is still not taking weeks and months, but I think I see “change”. This motivates me to continue to help sellers prevent foreclosure and keep working short sales. Many people will try to say that a short sale is just as bad as a foreclosure, but I strongly disagree. I will touch on those reasons in another post that is coming. I have an approach to short sales now that I feel will elicit more approvals from the bank and create some great buying opportunities for buyers. In my next Short Sale post I will be outlining our process for sellers and continuing to deliver important hands on news and experience from short sales.

Make it a great day! - Kim

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