Arizona Supreme Court denies appeal against Maricopa, Apex. (Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents APEX Motor Club.) “The Arizona Supreme Court has rejected a case filing from an organization trying to force the city to hold a vote on a proposed race track in Maricopa… The decision is the most recent in an arduous legal battle that was started when the organization attempted to force a referendum on the city’s issuing of a conditional use permit to Private Motorsports Group for the construction of a private racetrack called Apex Motor Club.” InMaricopa (RELATED: “Supreme Court denies appeal in APEX lawsuit,” in PinalCentral.) http://bit.ly/2eYEZ6U
Two homebuilders buy 230 more Vail homesites for $6.7 million. KB purchased lots in Rancho del Lago from “Vail Valley Joint Venture of Tucson” for “$32,500 per lot,” while D.R Horton purchased lots at “Vista Del Lago Norte in Vail” for “$25,855 per lot.” So how many platted and engineered lots did each homebuilderbuy? Let’s just say that if this was basketball instead of real estate, and lots purchased were the number of points scored, D.R. Horton would have eked out a 119 to 111 victory over KB. For a post-game wrap-up of the deal, tap to Real Estate Daily News. http://bit.ly/2wZsimH
ASU professor working to bring Gila River Indian Community heritage back to housing. “Wanda Dalla Costa, the visiting eminent scholar at the Del E. Webb School of Construction at Arizona State University… is part of the partnership between ASU and the GRIC that is working on sustainable, traditional housing solutions for the community… ‘bringing together modern technology and traditional building methods as the foundation of [GRIC’s] future homes.’” Tri-Valley Dispatch. http://bit.ly/2x53h9c
Housing market remains strong: Great time to sell. Fannie Mae SVP and chief economist Doug Duncan: “In the early stages of the economic expansion, home selling sentiment trailed home buying sentiment by a significant margin. The reverse is true today.” More from Duncan, plus the latest figures from Fannie Mae’s “August 2017 National Housing Survey” at DSNEWS. http://bit.ly/2wsriDm
U.S. home prices soared 7.7% in August. “The home price increase was the largest year-over-year price gain since May 2015 [according to a new Redfin report released on Thursday]. The national median sale price was $293,000…. Seattle sees highest growth; sales and inventory dropped nationwide.” MANSION GLOBAL. http://bit.ly/2flSM8a
Is major RESPA battle between Zillow and CFPB imminent? “More than a month has gone by since Zillow last gave an update on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s investigation into its practices, causing at least one analyst to question the likelihood the two parties will be able to reach a settlement. And if no settlement is reached, the industry should ready itself for one of the biggest RESPA battles to date…” HousingWire’s Brena Swanson reports that the company’s stock “hangs in the balance.” http://bit.ly/2eY3sJw
Milestone: CoreLogic user base grows to 1 million real estate agents.CoreLogic exec Chris Bennett: “Serving a million unique users is a tremendous milestone… Now we’re focused on Matrix 360, a groundbreaking property-centric system that will set the standard for the entire industry…” Dare we say this new system will be Neo-like? More on Matrix 360 in HousingWire. http://bit.ly/2wsFdcD
HOAs foreclosing on hundreds of Phoenix-area homeowners for as little as $1,200; Rose Law Group Partner and Transactional Dept. Director, Cameron Carter, comments on the Republic investigation. “HOAs are foreclosing on a record number of homeowners… And homeowners who thought only their mortgage lender could seize property are losing their houses at Sheriff’s auctions, sometimes for just $100 more than they owe.” Cameron Carter: “HOA’s have solid legal ground in Arizona to regulate their adopted standards. When you move into a HOA you really need to understand the rules have accepted and be ready to pay the dues. That said, there are some protections for homeowners but every case is different” http://bit.ly/2xAqFNj
A peek inside the Wrigley Mansion’s $1 million makeover. “Some of the updates are practical: a new driveway, better air-conditioning and Wi-Fi… Others are aesthetic: reworking the breakfast room, bridal suite, restrooms, living room, formal dining room, bedrooms and verandas.” AZCentral has a 17-image slideshow of some of the changes, including “Jamie’s Wine Bar, formerly the library.” (Around here we’re calling it “Wrigley’s Winebrary” — try saying that ten times in a row really fast!) http://bit.ly/2y24D1X
[VIDEO] Downtown Phoenix has turned its abandoned warehouse district to a tech company hub. “[In 2012], there were just 67 tech companies in downtown Phoenix. Now, there are nearly 300…” KPNX (12 News) takes a look at how the city has “revamped its rundown warehouse district and drastically morphed its economy from one that relies on real estate and retail, to tech and trade.” WATCH the just-under-3-minute-report here: http://bit.ly/2xBkZlY
Scottsdale Stadium evolving to foster better baseball, downtown prosperity. Scottsdale Public Affairs Manager Kelly Corsette: “As we consider future improvements at the stadium, we are placing an emphasis on what will be useful year-round, so that money we spend will benefit the [San Francisco] Giants and Spring Training, but also benefit the city by making the stadium more useful as a general event and rental facility.” Check out some of the changes in store at Scottsdale Independent.http://bit.ly/2wsI3OS
Safeway-anchored shopping center planned for San Tan. “A new complex called Ironwood Crossing is scheduled to begin construction soon, with an eye toward a fall 2018 completion date. The 18.4-acre shopping center located at the northwest corner of Ironwood Drive and Ocotillo Road will be anchored by a Safeway grocery store.” San Tan Valley Sentinel has further info on the Common Bond Development Group project, including “other tenants currently signed on.” http://bit.ly/2jsNw71
Saguaro cactus to remind Amazon why Tucson is ‘prime’ location for HQ2. Here’s a followup to the AzBigMedia item that we mentioned yesterday, which (as readers are likely aware) ultimately turned out to be a “Page Not Found,” something that left many here at Dealmaker HQ feeling as if we “got suckered”: “[Yesterday] in Tucson, Sun Corridor Inc… loaded a 21-foot saguaro cactus on a flat-bed truck today to deliver to Jeff Bezos at Amazon, in a bid to bring Amazon’s highly-coveted second headquarters to Tucson and Southern Arizona, which is home to millions of Saguaros.” (What a great idea! — particularly if Bezos & Co end up blowing us off by selecting a site in some other state — because, as we all know, saguaros can sometimes appear to be flashing the ol’ one-finger salute.) http://bit.ly/2h5jv8Q
South Phoenix hopes light rail extension will bring end to historic segregation. “Many South Phoenix residents… share a sense of isolation when compared to the economic development happening in the rest of the Phoenix metro area… They say South Phoenix has been in many ways a forgotten, marginalized part of the city.” Can the light rail extension change that? Cronkite News. http://bit.ly/2wZvij0
[COLUMN] Trump’s lumber tariffs hurt hurricane recovery. “In April, the Trump administration imposed countervailing trade duties averaging 20 percent on imported softwood Canadian lumber… In June, he hit them again with anti-dumping duties of 6 percent.” Reason assistant editor Christian Britschgi details how such “[p]rotectionism is a losing proposition, especially after a disaster.” http://bit.ly/2vWqqYm
Bolick v. Woods:“They are two of the biggest names in the Arizona legal world. Former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods and Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick. Earlier this week Father Bolick likely would have been proud ashis son, [Rose Law Group litigation attorney] Evan Bolick, sparred with Woods. It was in Pinal County Superior Court over a profoundly dishonest effort by Woods to undercut the Apex Motor Club in Maricopa on behalf of his legal patron, Dan Erickson of the Attesa project near Casa Grande.” More on the Bolick-Woods courtroom drama at Arizona Progress & Gazette. http://bit.ly/2h5LHZp
Trump denies deal on DACA after conservative backlash. “President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional leaders reached a tentative deal Wednesday night to provide a pathway to citizenship for young immigrants known as ‘Dreamers.’” POLITICO reports that “the news triggered an outcry from the right [and] by Thursday morning, Trump denied that an agreement had been struck.” So did they or did they not reach an agreement? A RELATED piece in Axios sheds further light: “Trump: ‘The wall will come later.’” –> http://bit.ly/2xnoSdk
Little to resign from Corp Comm for job in Trump administration.“Arizona Corporation Commissioner Doug Little will resign his post after taking a job with the U.S. Department of Energy… Little said he loved the job and wasn’t leaving because of any problems with the commission…” As for Little’s take on “who should be appointed to fill his role,” Arizona Capitol Times reports that Little had little to say. http://bit.ly/2wchIsX
[COLUMN] The economic case for letting teenagers sleep a little later.When it comes to high-schoolers, is getting them up early a “necessary part of youth and good preparation for the rest of their lives”? Indiana University School of Medicine pediatrics professor, Aaron E. Carroll, doesn’t think so. In his piece for the New York Times, Carroll argues that doing so is “arbitrary, forced on them against their nature, and a poor economic decision as well.” http://bit.ly/2x2Twqi
[COLUMN] For ESPN and Jemele Hill, mixing politics and sports is bad business. USA TODAY opinion columnist Christian Schneider: “Many of the charges Hill made against Trump are unfortunately true. That doesn’t change the fact the sports network needs Trump-loving fans.” http://bit.ly/2vX0NXq
