Paradise Valley Homes

Paradise Valley Arizona’s Modest Beginnings…

Carmen Brodeur - Paradise Valley Realtor — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:59:35 +0000

Paradise Valley Arizona started out quite different than 99% of all communities. Most communities start up around a small commercial center and slowly build up from there. A store, a post office, a gas station, the basics. Paradise Valley started up as a reactive measure to preserve the rural, large lot atmosphere being encroached upon by Phoenix and Scottsdale. Concerned this unincorporated area of Maricopa County would be swallowed up by its larger neighbors, residents of the area approached Maricopa County to incorporate a new town that would preserve their quiet, peaceful and just as important non commercial atmosphere. This was done on May 24, 1961, and the rest as they say, is history.

Our goal is to keep you informed about the Town of Paradise Valley Arizona in addition to providing our real estate services to its residents. If you have any questions about listing your home in this market, short sales, foreclosures, or anything else regarding Paradise Valley real estate please feel free to contact Carmen at (800) 300-0263.

Carmen Brodeur
Realtor / Attorney
Realty Executives
Cell (602) 791-0536
Direct (800) 300-0263
www.ParadiseValleyAZ.com

Paradise Valley AZ 2011 Real Estate Market Sales Numbers:

Carmen Brodeur - Paradise Valley Realtor — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:48:44 +0000

2011 saw a 21.5% increase in the number of single family home transactions (396 vs 321, 1/2 acre or larger lots) in Paradise Valley AZ over 2010. Currently there are 296 single family homes for sale in Paradise Valley. Of these 67 are listed less than $ 1.0 M, 103 are listed between $1.0 & $2.0 M, 61 are listed between $2.0 and $3.0M, 47 are listed between $3.0 and $5.0M, and 27 are listed over $5,000,000.

The good news is the dip in home prices bottomed in mid 2011 and quickly rebounded by the end of 2011 back to where it was in mid 2010. Down 8% over the summer the price per square foot returned to within 1% of the previous year’s average. 2010 = $261.71/sq foot, 2011=$258.91/sq ft. A significant improvement. This indicates the market is headed back in the right direction (increasing).

On the distressed side, there are currently 74 single family trustee (foreclosure) notices for Paradise Valley homes. There are 32 listed short sales, of these 19 are listed AWC (active with contingencies) on the MLS. Which means the home owner has accepted an offer, with it contingent upon bank approval. 2 of the 32 short sales are listed as pending (the banks have accepted their offers), and 1 other has a bank approved price. On the foreclosure side, there are 5 bank owned (a slight uptick from 2 in November & December), properties with the most expensive being $16,000,000.

If you have questions about the Real Estate market in Paradise Valley, feel free to contact me at (602) 791-0536 or email me at Carmen@ParadiseValleyAZ.com.

Carmen Brodeur
Realtor / Attorney
Realty Executives
Cell (602) 791-0536
Direct (800) 300-0263
www.ParadiseValleyAZ.com

Paradise Valley Arizona Foreclosure Report December 2011

Carmen Brodeur - Paradise Valley Realtor — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:35:34 +0000

Paradise Valley Arizona like other parts of AZ has been hit hard by this down turn. The bubble hit Arizona harder than most states for a number of reasons. First, it had a tremendous uptick in value of over 50% from 2004 to 2006. Second, Maricopa County has been the fastest growing county each decade in the US for the last 50 years. This means Arizona had a higher percentage of its economy associated with growth than most cities. Third, it is a right to work state. So when a down turn occurs, employers can lay off employees as quickly as they like. Fourth, Arizona is a deed of trust non recourse state. That means a homeowner that is underwater on the value of their home can walk from their property without recourse by the banks. The bank can only take the property back and do no more. This non recourse status has led to strategic defaults by homeowners underwater on their properties and a higher percentage of defaults than in states which are recourse. This is actually more likely to occur as the price point increases. Why? Because the higher net worth an individual is, the more financially savvy they tend to be. The high net individual also tends to have better access to legal and accounting professionals that will counsel them on this course of action. So what does this mean for the buyer? The simple answer is that with higher default rates, the downturn has given the buyer better opportunities.

Currently there are 77 single family homes with trustee notices in Paradise Valley AZ. A year ago there were 163. We have dropped over 50%. Actually almost 53%. Of these 77 homes, 17 are AWC (ie short sales with accepted offers by the current owner, seeking bank approval to put the home into a pending status). Another 4 of these have a pending status. That leaves 56. Of these 56 another 8 have canceled listings. The remaining 48 are simply headed to foreclosure and most likely will not be listed for sale before foreclosure. These will come back on the market after foreclosures as REO’s, ie bank owned foreclosures. Right now there are only 3 REO’s in Paradise Valley. One at $700,000, which in Paradise Valley is usually a tear down/renovation, a second is listed at $10.0 M, and the third is listed at $15.95 M.

If you have any questions about listing your home in this market, short sales, foreclosures, or anything else regarding Paradise Valley real estate, please feel free to contact me at (800) 300-0263 or (602) 791-0536.

Carmen Brodeur
Realtor / Attorney
Realty Executives
Cell (602) 791-0536
Direct (800) 300-0263
www.ParadiseValleyAZ.com

Seasons Greetings From Sunny Paradise Valley AZ

Carmen Brodeur - Paradise Valley Realtor — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:05:33 +0000

Seasons Greetings from your Paradise Valley Real Estate team. Wishing you a very cheerful holiday season from sunny Paradise Valley Arizona.

Carmen Brodeur
Realtor / Attorney
Realty Executives
Cell (602) 791-0536
Direct (800) 300-0263
www.ParadiseValleyAZ.com

Paradise Valley’s Mountain Shadows Resort Sold

Carmen Brodeur - Paradise Valley Realtor — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 19:05:55 +0000

About a month ago we mentioned that the Mountain Shadows Resort in Paradise Valley AZ was going to be purchased by a local, well known developer. Well that announcement was finally made this past week. It is JDM Partners LLC of Jerry Colangelo fame. Jerry as we all know has been heavily involved in the sports scene locally with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Phoenix Suns. What is less well known is his JDM Partners LLC involvement in the hospitality industry. Two years ago JDM Partners purchased the Wigwam in Litchfield Park in the west valley, remodeled it and reopened it. They now are dipping into Arizona’s most prestigious, high end community, Paradise Valley.

Though the exact plans for Mountain Shadows has not been revealed, it is essentially the only high end location available in Metro Phoenix with an intact golf course surrounding the resort. JDM Partners LLC purchased it from Crown Realty & Development Inc of California and will be meeting with the Town of Paradise Valley’s Planing Commission to unveil their plans in the next few weeks.

This is wonderful news and residents of the Mountain Shadows community, which surrounds the resort, are particularly happy the current eyesore will finally be repaired and reopened. It has been fenced off for over 5 years and the removal of the fencing along Lincoln itself will be a welcome change. With over 30% of Paradise Valley’s income coming from resorts, the extra revenue stream will help the Town’s coffers. Its a win-win-win situation. It should be mentioned the Mountain Shadows golf course is actually a public (executive) course and has remained open the entire time (thankfully). It is absolutely one of the most visually beautiful courses in the state with Camelback and Mummy Mountain Views in all directions.

As a real estate broker, this development will help the home values in the Shadow Mountain community as there will no longer be a shuttered, fenced, abandoned resort sitting in the middle of the community. I would expect that the re-opening will give home owners a 5-10% bounce in values.

If you have any questions about listing your home in this market, short sales, foreclosures, or anything else regarding Paradise Valley real estate, please feel free to contact Carmen at (800) 300-0263.

Carmen Brodeur
Realtor / Attorney
Realty Executives
Cell (602) 791-0536
Direct (800) 300-0263
www.ParadiseValleyAZ.com

Paradise Valley Real Estate Market Update Dec 7, 2011

Carmen Brodeur - Paradise Valley Realtor — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:47:34 +0000

The Paradise Valley Real Estate market currently has 284 active homes on the MLS. There are another 28 AWC (active with contingencies). Those contingencies can vary but in this market 90% of the time the contingency is bank approval, ie short sales. There are currently another 29 homes in escrow. The most expensive of the homes in escrow is listed at $4.5 M on Saguaro Road. Last month, from Nov 1 to Nov 30, 2011, 30 homes sold. Of these, the most expensive was the absolute auction on La Colina at $4.345M. It supposedly cost $9 M to build. Now that is a hair cut, the stylist may have been Britney Spears on that one.

Getting into the nitty gritty: This is the slowest time of the year for real estate transactions. The number of buyers out there putting in offers diminishes due to Christmas, Hanukkah, etc. Plus after Thanksgiving we have all that tryptophan in us and we just want to nap more right? Well at least the day of and day after. There are 284 active homes in Paradise Valley and 30 were sold last month. For 9.467 months supply. Year to date we have sold 365 single family homes. Last year to this date we had sold 304. So year over year sales are up 20%. Q4 2010, 72 homes sold to date (Dec 7) in Paradise Valley, and in Q4 2011 so far 85 have sold, which is an 18% increase. Essentially keeping pace with the year over year increase in sales.

Going forward we can expect the inventory to drop in the spring and early summer as it usually does. We also can look forward to foreclosure numbers going down. Currently there are 86 trustee notices in Paradise Valley single family homes. Of those 20 are AWC, 4 are pending, and 19 are active. There are 6 foreclosures listed and 2 corporate relocations.

Paradise Valley AZ trustee (foreclosure) notices are down around 50% from a year ago and will drop farther in the next year. Next year should solidly begin to see a recovery.

When you are thinking of selling your home you should work with someone who truly knows Paradise Valley. I am very experienced with Paradise AZ Valley Real Estate. Please contact me at (800) 300-0263 and let’s get your home in paradise sold.

Carmen Brodeur
Realtor / Attorney
Realty Executives
Cell (602) 791-0536
Direct (800) 300-0263
www.ParadiseValleyAZ.com

Paradise Valley’s unbuilt $1.5 Billion Ritz Carlton Resort

Carmen Brodeur - Paradise Valley Realtor — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 07:42:09 +0000

Paradise Valley‘s plans for the $1.5 Billion Ritz Carleton are on hold, but the developer has some ideas. The developer recently asked the Town of Paradise Valley to allow a portion of the property to be “annexed” by the City of Scottsdale so they could build some apartments on it. Apartments are the one hot thing in Real Estate the last 12-18 months. All those displaced home owners have to go somewhere. As you know, apartments are not allowed in the Town of Paradise Valley. While you may see apartments with a Paradise Valley address, those are in Scottsdale, not Paradise Valley proper. The United States Postal Service has simply assigned part of Scottsdale a Paradise Valley address.

The Town of Paradise Valley has worked hard to maintain a sense of serenity and large single family home lots vs allowing any high density housing of any kind. Paradise Valley was created to prevent Scottsdale & Phoenix from annexing it and developing commercial real estate and to prevent those cities from changing the spacious lots. At least the developer had the common sense not to ask the Town to approve apartments. Needless to say Town council told the developer of the Ritz no to their request to annex a parcel to Scottsdale. Paradise Valley does not have room to shrink and already has 2 large parcels of unincorporated Maricopa County land within its borders (Clearwater Hills on the west & The Franciscan Renewal Center in the heart of town). Paradise Valley residents simply do not want high density housing, or commercial developments other than resorts.

If you have a home to sell, or are interested in homes for sale in Paradise Valley, feel free to contact me at (800) 300-0263.

Carmen Brodeur
Realtor /Attorney
Realty Executives
Cell (602) 791-0536
Direct (800) 300-0263
www.ParadiseValleyAZ.com

Paradise Valley Arizona Cornucopia of Resorts

Carmen Brodeur - Paradise Valley Realtor — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:21:22 +0000

Montelucia Villas For Sale in Paradise Valley

Paradise Valley Arizona has, by the latest census information published, exactly 14,558 people. Yet it has a number of current four and five star resorts in the town and another 3 within a five minute drive. Plus there are plans to revitalize a current ‘quiet’ resort property and to build a new $1.5 Billion Ritz Carleton Resort.

What other town in the world of that size can compare? As you drive up to the historic Camelback Inn, their sign says, “in the world, only one.” That can be said about the entire town. What are the resorts? 1) The JW Marriott Camelback Inn (2) The Sanctuary on Camelback (3) The Hermosa Inn (4) The Montelucia Resort & Spa (5) Shadow Mountain Resort (currently closed but rumored to be purchased shortly and revitalized by a local Phoenix developer). (6) the future $1.5 Billion dollar future Ritz Carleton Resort & Spa. This will be a 110 acre complex with “The Residences at Ritz Carleton” anchored by a Ritz Carlton hotel as the center piece. This complex is delayed due to the economic downturn. (7) Applewood Pet Resort! Within a 5 minute drive are the world famous (8) Phoenician, in Phoenix, just down Invergordon on Camelback Road, (9) Royal Palms on the south side of Camelback Mountain, on Camelback Road and (10) the Biltmore in Phoenix.

If you have a home to sell or are interested in Paradise Valley Homes for Sale feel free to contact me with any questions at (800) 300-0263.

Carmen Brodeur
Realtor /Attorney
Realty Executives
Cell (602) 791-0536
Direct (800) 300-0263
www.ParadiseValleyAZ.com

Paradise Valley Foreclosure of the Day

Carmen Brodeur - Paradise Valley Realtor — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 23:52:30 +0000

Paradise Valley is home to some unique estates. One of these under construction recently did a deed in lieu of foreclosure and went back to the bank. Unlike most foreclosures this one on Invergordon is up on the south east side of Mummy Mountain on just under 200,000 sq ft of land (4.5 acres). We did have another estate listed for over $15,000,000 go to foreclosure in August of this year. Yes, it was still listed over $15M after foreclosure. It was listed over $20M last year. These are not your typical foreclosures. Most bank owned homes are in the $1,000,000 to $3,000,000 range in Paradise Valley. Anything in the $5,000,000+ range is rare. Anything 150+ feet above the valley floor is even rarer, which this one on Invergordon is.

What is interesting about this one on Invergordon is a) it’s not yet complete, and b) this 15,000 square-foot shack is within 2000 sq ft of the 17,000 sq ft $16,000,000 bank owner property (BMO Harris) down in the flats off of Mockingbird. It’s usually considerably more expensive to build on the side of a granite mountain like Mummy Mountain. In the end if someone is looking for an estate, 7004 N Invergorden would be the better buy from first glance with the views, etc than the monster on Mockingbird BMO is currently keeping on its books. The last home 200 feet up the side of Mummy that went back to the bank went from 10.0M before foreclosure to 2.6M sold (5665 E Cheney Drive). Ouch. That is more like a Britney Spears self given haircut than the typical bank haircut. It did close on Dec 31, 2009, so apparently the bank was motivated for a year end sale, which they usually are. That tiny mountain side home on Cheney was 11,003 sq feet.

While I do question the pricing at just under 10.0M for 7004 N Invergorden, I expect the bank will do what it has to do to move it as 10M on the books ties up close to $80M in lending capacity. I assume the bank will be move motivated than a currently listed home in Place du Summet which has been listed for over 7 years now and the seller has only dropped their price $600,000 (from 13.5M in 2007 to 12.9M today). Maybe the owner of the home in La Place du Summet hasn’t heard about the down turn? Its best to move on sometimes. Even the banks do that.

If you have a home to sell, or are interested in buying a home in Paradise Valley, please feel free to contact myself with any questions.

If you are a Canadian looking for an experienced Realtor who knows both sides of the border, I am a Canadian attorney, and am experienced in handling the most difficult negotiations. As a dual citizen, I’m just trying to stay out of the cold!

If you are interested in Paradise Valley Real Estate please contact me at (800) 300-0263 and let’s get you into your piece of paradise.

Carmen Brodeur
Realtor /Attorney
Realty Executives
Cell (602) 791-0536
Direct (800) 300-0263
www.ParadiseValleyAZ.com

Kurt Warner Selling Paradise Valley Contemporary Estate

Carmen Brodeur - Paradise Valley Realtor — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 01:55:14 +0000

Paradise Valley has many famous residents. One of the local ones is former Cardinals & Rams Quarterback Kurt Warner. Kurt and his wife Brenda have moved to a new home in the valley and put their Paradise Valley Estate up for sale. Their Paradise Valley home is a soft modern with over 11,000 sq ft, 7 bed, 6.5 baths with a guest casita on a lot just under 50,000 sq-ft.

The home has been listed since June 24th and is listed just under $5,000,000. There haven’t been any adjustments to the list price since June.

Warner purchased the home from Roberto Alomar, the former Toronto Blue Jay. Alomar also played for the Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles, Arizona Diamondbacks, (and 4 other major league baseball teams). The home was purchased from Alomar for $3,300,000 in March of 2005.

When you are thinking of selling your home you should work with someone who truly knows Paradise Valley. I am very experienced with Paradise Valley Real Estate. Please contact me at (800) 300-0263 and let’s get your home in paradise sold.

Carmen Brodeur
Realtor / Attorney
Realty Executives
Cell (602) 791-0536
Direct (800) 300-0263
www.ParadiseValleyAZ.com