By J.T. Lain | InMaricopa.com
Real estate analyst Jim Belfiore invited guests during Friday’s monthly Pinal Partnership breakfast program to take a look at Maricopa.
“If you haven’t been driving around Maricopa I encourage you to take a drive this weekend. It’s a hot, hot market,” Belfiore said.
There is an “onslaught of growth” throughout Pinal County, said Belfiore, of Phoenix-based Belfiore Real Estate Consulting.
Pinal Partnership hosted a panel discussion Friday on the future of real estate in the county.
“Pinal County is progressive in its planning,” Belfiore said. “Housing prices are growing rapidly and there is still a huge need for housing.”
Kevin Rust, a representative of Silver Fern Management in Phoenix, said he was looking at Tortosa for investing but said he is weary of Maricopa’s location.
“Maricopa is still kind of out there as far as investors are concerned,” Rust said.
In her view, Vanessa Hickman, state land coordinator with the Arizona State Land Department, said she sees Superstition Vistas in the northeastern part of Pinal County and other northern county areas as the “future of growth.”
Generally, Belfiore said, “When we came back from the recession, we saw our housing prices grow monthly. … We’re seeing housing prices are growing rapidly.”
Also during Friday’s program, Cyndi Ruehl, chairwoman of Pinal Partnership’s Open Space and Trails Committee, talked about the economic importance of having vast open space in the county.
“There is an old, antiquated belief that open space and trails are bad,” Ruehl said. “I’m talking about national forests and state parks, that’s it.
“Property value is enhanced when near protected open space.”
Pinal Partnership works to improve the growth of the county through coordinated businesses, education, natural resources and real estate. The monthly breakfasts are open to the public at different locations around the county. Friday’s meeting was at The Property Conference Center in Casa Grande.
