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Apr. 25, 2006 - Arrowhead Ranch - Sierra Verde

W. Trails Drive - Glendale - $449,000

Elegance abounds in this beautiful home in Sierra Verde.  Four bedrooms, a loft, formal living and family rooms and a spacious master suite are spread across nearly 2,700 square feet in the heart of Arrowhead Ranch.

The sellers have added multiple upgrades for the new owner - travertine floors with tile inlays downstairs and in the baths, hand-tiled kitchen backsplahes, granite countertops and upgraded carpet. The master bath features double sinks, separate shower with a jacuzzi-style tub and a walk-out balcony with views of the Hedgpeth Hills in northern Glendale.

You'll also enjoy the backyard oasis, complete with a wide variety of citrus and fruit trees.

I sold this home in late April for $444,000, with close of escrow in late May.

(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton's Arizona Homes

Apr. 18, 2006 - Market trends and the so-called experts

Two weeks ago, I spent the weekend with a couple relocating to the Valley. Yesterday I received an e-mail that said that while they still are moving, after researching recent news reports, they have decided they're going to rent rather than buy because they don't want to "make a mistake."

Many real-estate speculators (not investors ... investors tend to purchase for the long haul, not buy a property and hope to flip it six months later for a quick buck) have moved to areas where the prices haven't yet appreciated. Texas appears to be the next hot place to look, as prices in many metro areas there have been stagnant for years.

The media tends to focus on these trends and overlook what the long-term market conditions are for the rest of us, those who will be in their homes for longer than a year or so.

(And keep in mind, this isn't idle media bashing. I was a reporter for a decade -- still write as a free-lance sportswriter to this day -- and I'm aware of how much most reports know about the topics on which they right. Usually, it's enough to sound fairly authoritative but far less than an actual expert would know. To write, expertise isn't required. Just good writing skills.)

Most predictions from the real-estate experts I've seen call for a modest 3 - 5% increase in sales prices this year. While that's a far cry from last year's 30 - 50% gains, it's a gain nevertheless.

So in waiting a year, in trying to time the market, buyers could reasonably expect to spend 3 - 5% more a year from now.

But let's say the market remains flat for the next year. Does that mean the bottom line will be better for buyers? No. As many of you have noticed, interest rates have been climbing as well. So in gambling on a stable or lowered sales price a year out, a buyer also runs the risk of higher payments due to higher interest rates.

I spent eight years at a major brokerage firm disabusing clients of the notion of market timing. Every major study of attempting to predict and "time" the market for purchases and sales showed a longer-term hold would produce better results.

And now the same concept is coming to real estate, both to the investors but also to buyers whose timelines suggest they should do anything but try and predict the future of home prices.

For more information about the Phoenix Arizona Real Estate market, visit my comprehensive website at http://www.DaltonsAzHomes.com!

Apr. 17, 2006 - Phoenix redevelopment

Spent the weekend driving in the south Phoenix redevelopment area, north of the Baseline Corridor. The Baseline Corridor, for those who don't know, is a stretch of homes running along Baseline Road most of the length of the city of Phoenix. Some are north, some are south but Baseline's the defining feature.

These patio homes we previewed were in a subdivision called Ridgecrest, west of 16th Street and between Southern and Broadway. Not only were the homes an attractive option for a buyer looking in the low $200s, but the area itself was a pleasant surprise.

Redevelopment has taken hold, with developers building new homes in pockets throughout the area. Some of the older homes still are present, and much of the high-density commercial remains in the area. But that can be expected for an area that's only a few miles south of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.

The home we looked at was a two-story 4-bedroom model spread across almost 1,500 square feet with a 1-car garage. And it was a corner lot, which allowed for a small grassy area as opposed to the handful of feet of clearance normal for patio homes.

For buyers looking for a decent-sized house at a more than decent price, Ridgefield and other newer patio-home communities like Riverwalk on the north side of the Salt River provide a viable alternative.

For more information about the Phoenix Arizona Real Estate market, visit my comprehensive website at http://www.DaltonsAzHomes.com!

Apr. 3, 2006 - Driving across the Valley ...

One of the things that always seems to amaze my clients is the sheer size and variety in Arizona. In two short hours, you can go from the deserts of Phoenix to the forests of Flagstaff, from 1,000 feet above sea level to 7,200 and change.

Distance is a way of life. And one of the first questions I ask a prospective client inquiring about Phoenix is on what side of town will they be working. Living in Surprise and working in Mesa just won't work, not unless you enjoy 2-plus-hour commutes.

The importance of this question was brought home yesterday as I drove across the Valley (literally) to photograph and install a lockbox on a new listing in Queen Creek. Queen Creek is on the far southeastern edge of Maricopa County, and now is stretching into Pinal County as well. Or maybe it's all Pinal County these days. All I know for certain is it's 70-plus miles from my house.

For a brief few moments, driving down Ellsworth Road, we were able to enjoy "old town" Queen Creek as it were. But once you make the turn onto the Hunt Highway, you get a full sense of the real-estate hotbed Queen Creek has become. Homes are rising from the farms and deserts of the San Tan Mountain foothills, and are rising quickly.

I'll work on adding some pictures a little later.

Aside from the lockbox, we also were driving across town to visit the annual Renaissance Festival outside Apache Junction. My 14-year-old tried hard to pretend we didn't exist, my 7-year-old complained that I wouldn't buy her a $100-plus dollar medeival dress and the 9-year-old was more annoyed by the other two. But that aside, it was an enjoyable first visit.

It also allowed me to make the unusual boast of covering both sides of the Valley in a span of four days ... I had visited the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station outside Tonopah on Thursday to meet with a client and, yesterday, drove to the county's other corner.

Time for an oil change.

For more information about the Phoenix Arizona Real Estate market, visit my comprehensive website at http://www.DaltonsAzHomes.com