The Dealmaker: 5/12/2017

Builders turn to inventory homes to meet demand for affordable, quick deliveries. (Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents Fulton Homes.) “After 10 years of post-crash restructuring, recapitalizing, and focusing on the move-up and luxury home segments, home builders have been cautiously moving back to spec-home building.” Builder Magazine surveys the spec-home landscape with input from notable homebuilders, including Fulton’s vp of operations, Dennis Webb, who discusses the advantages of his company’s “commit[ment] to inventory homes.” http://bit.ly/2qb8mJj

BEHIND THE SECTION 8 BALL – A problem with prosperity: Fewer landlords participating in affordable-housing programs in Tempe, Chandler. “Affordable housing is becoming harder to find, and properties that historically participated in rental-assistance programs [like Section 8] are starting to opt out. Representatives of cities and non-profits are not entirely sure why that is happening…” AZCentral searches for the answers. http://bit.ly/2r8TfOq

Data center developer buys Mesa land for potential 1 million sf. campus. “DuPont Fabros Technology Inc. has bought a 56.5-acre undeveloped site… near Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport” — and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Mesa Mayor John Giles both have high praise for the DFT deal, in Phoenix Business Journal. http://bit.ly/2r8Rcd4

Industrial leads commercial real estate investment sales in Phoenix, Colliers says. “Industrial building sales are leading the marketplace, spiking for the second quarter in a row at the beginning of this year.” For the AZBIGMEDIA “greatest hits” version of this Colliers International research, as well as a link to the full report, click it: http://bit.ly/2qbdy02

A PEORIA COUPLE WALK INTO A BAR FIGHT – 30 feet is a fine line: City, business owners dispute planning case. After opening an eatery, a Peoria couple can’t sell enough food to retain a liquor license. So they decide to seek a “bar liquor license” which doesn’t have such a “food requirement.” Two months later, with the couple well into the planning process, the city informs them that their sports grill “does not qualify” for the license since it sits “170 feet from residential properties” — 30 feet short of the “200-foot restriction.” Read the rest of story in YourWestValley. http://bit.ly/2qa4SaD

Flagstaff City Council nixes Soliere project GPLET. “The request [by Vintage Partners] for the tax incentive would have allowed the developer to recapture $2.5 million in sales tax….” Additionally, according to Arizona Daily Sun, plans from Vintage Partners “for a new shopping plaza would have [also] realigned Soliere [Ave.] and controlled flooding” — like the muddy flow that’s pictured in this article’s headline photo. Check it out. http://bit.ly/2raoIQZ

Fannie and Freddie are nearly out of money, and Washington is getting anxious. “In 2008… the federal government rushed [Fannie and Freddie] into conservatorship…. Nearly nine years later… [they] still teeter on the edge of needing another taxpayer bailout…. Mel Watt, director of the [FHFA] which has oversight over the enterprise… [hinted that] he’ll withhold a dividend payout to keep mortgage companies’ finances healthy.” That didn’t sit too well with some members of the Senate Banking Committee. Check out Watt’s testimony in MarketWatch. http://bit.ly/2qbnwyq

Foreclosure filings at lowest level since height of housing market. Foreclosure filings… hit the lowest levels in April since November 2005, according to a recent report by ATTOM Data Solutions.” The firm’s senior vp, Daren Blomquist, supplies this “big takeaway”: “[F]oreclosure numbers are not just returning to normal…They’re finding a new normal.” For those numbers along with a look at “metros and states [that are] bucking the trend,” tap to Realtor.com®. http://bit.ly/2ptopDT

Cameron’s $5M + deals of the day – http://bit.ly/2qAZxKl