Rose Law Group searching for… High energy project manager and/or planner to add to our highly motivated project management team. If you know someone (or you are that someone) please send resume in confidence to HR Director, Hslaughter@roselawgroup.com. While we’re at it, Rose Law Group is also looking for a smart, careful real estate transactional attorney with a positive attitude with between 3-6 years experience. Send the resume!
[COLUMN] Bill Gates’ smart city in Arizona is not smart, not a city, and has little to do with Bill Gates. “Despite suggestive posts from the Verge, CNN Money, Fortune,Business Insider,Architectural Digest, and dozens of other publications, this is not Gates’ attempt to do in Phoenix what Google is trying to do in Toronto. This is not a story about techies building the city of the future from scratch. It’s actually a little more illuminating than that.” By Slate staffer Henry Grabar. http://bit.ly/2hEiFEu
PhoenixMart slapped with million-dollar lien. “The lien, filed in Pinal County on Oct. 26, is from Hardrock Concrete Placement Co. Inc. The notice of claim on file with the county Recorder’s Office seeks $907,480.65 from AZ Sourcing. The lien also seeks reimbursement of court costs and attorney’s fees.” Read the full “NOTICE AND CLAIM” at PinalCentral. http://bit.ly/2hEQa9y
Another homebuilder exits Lazy K project near Saguaro National Park-West. Meritage Homes’ land acquisition exec, Lisa Hoskin: “We entered into negotiations with the seller, but it ultimately didn’t move forward… We have no interest in the property now, contractual, ownership or otherwise.” Arizona Daily Star reports that “Lazy K landowner Peter Evans said the owners are now negotiating with another builder. Evans said he remains confident the 178-[home] project on 138 acres will proceed as planned, with upscale homes selling for up to $500,000.” http://bit.ly/2AOoaEi
Rental costs are still surging in these cities. “SmartAsset… analyzed data [for] median household incomes and average rents and compared them in 2013 to 2016.” KEY FINDINGS: “Four of the top 16 cities with the largest rent increases are in California… But it’s New Orleans that saw the steepest run-up…” (The “run-up” in Phoenix landed the city among the top 25.) REALTORMag. http://bit.ly/2z8FEis
Why we’re staying put. Builder’s John McManus on why “[i]t’s as important to understand the motivations of the 89% of Americans who don’t move as it is to know the reasons 11% go mobile.” http://bit.ly/2ANdh5F
What happens to the real estate market when supply falls for 25 straight months? “Home price growth was strong in October, up 7.6 percent compared to a year ago… Sales were essentially unchanged from October of last year…” Details and Redfin data for Phoenix here: http://bit.ly/2hwdwKP
Zillow forecast: Suburban sprawl. “Next year, current homeowners will look to remodel… rather than sell, further limiting inventory, and with limited space to add new homes in city centers, suburban sprawl will make a return. Newly built homes will be designed with both millennials and aging adults in mind…” That’s the overview. For a closer look and a link to Zillow’s 2018 Housing Predictions report, click toBuilder. http://bit.ly/2juVNaV
Factors that influence home buying. “[Redfin] asked more than 1,000 Americans which elements of a home they found most desirable and which they could do without…. Read on to learn what buyers valued most when it came to choosing a home of their own.” http://bit.ly/2yODsZf
Mortgage Insurance Fund results to impact future of housing. “Although the [Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund] remained above its minimum capital level for FY 2017, both the economic net worth and the capital ratio declined from levels reported last year… Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) said the declining fiscal condition represents a present danger to taxpayers, homebuyers, and the U.S. economy.” DSnews. http://bit.ly/2hIDyyh
Tempe is No. 1 nationally for rising office rents. While “Phoenix was in the top third of markets in the country for rising office rents over the past two years,” it was “Tempe [that] saw the highest tech rent growth of any submarket in the country with just under 30 percent growth over the same period.” For a closer look a CBRE’s annual Tech-30 report, tap toAZRE. http://bit.ly/2hzMD8N
Legacy charter school to develop two campuses totaling $42M. “Legacy Traditional Schools is building a campus in East Mesa [10707 E. Guadalupe Road] and one in the West Valley [99th Avenue and Camelback].” Both campuses are scheduled for a fall, 2018 opening. More on the schools in Phoenix Business Journal. http://bit.ly/2my7nmM
New owners look to revive historic Castle Hot Springs Resort. “For centuries, members of the Yavapai and Apache tribes luxuriated in the piping-hot, therapeutic waters of a site now called Castle Hot Springs north of the Valley near Lake Pleasant… The storied history of the site has now come full circle, as its latest owners, Mike and Cindy Watts, are restoring Castle Hot Springs Resort to its early 20th-century splendor and expect to reopen the property in early 2018.” AZCentral. http://bit.ly/2yMoHWN
Sedona’s housing shortage is growing crisis. “Available and affordable housing is not a new issue [up] in Sedona but it is one that has come even more to the forefront this year as businesses — both big and small –struggle to find and keep employees. While the resort industry is often hit the hardest, it’s also impacting professions where salaries are much higher. So what’s the answer?” Red Rock News. http://bit.ly/2hFzwH4
Flagstaff high occupancy plan additions include historic centers, parks. “[A] historic activity center designation and a change in policy to allow smaller city-owned pocket parks… are the latest updates to the plan the city of Flagstaff is creating to address future high occupancy housing projects.The updates arose after some of the new complexes achieved densities of more than 200 students per acre by renting by the bedroom and going up five stories.” Arizona Daily Sun. http://bit.ly/2ioy9tz
Prescott: Developers pay ‘fair share’ of road work. “[With] 16,164 homes on the drawing boar in north Prescott… [w]ho pays for road and intersection improvements that will be needed in the future as the community grows? That was a central question this week during a Prescott City Council workshop on the planned 1,800-acre Deep Well Ranch project.” The Daily Courier. http://bit.ly/2AUtqXS
Chemehuevi Indian Tribe breaks ground on casino-resort slated for 2019 completion. “The Chemehuevi Indian Tribe broke ground Tuesday [for] Havasu Landing Resort and Casino [which] will add 48 rooms and a newly-updated recreational venue on the Havasu waterfront. Development of the nearly $40 million project will be led by California-based Bernards Bros. Construction…” Havasu News (Subscriber Content.) (FYI, according to Wikipedia, the name “ ‘Chemehuevi’ has multiple interpretations,” one of which is that it’s “a Mojave term meaning ‘those who play with fish.’” But with this latest development from the tribe, it seems likely that we could see yet another interpretation for “Chemehuevi”: “Those who roll in dough.”) http://bit.ly/2AMi9bq
City council studies recommended Scottsdale 2.0 findings. “During a Monday, Nov. 13, study session the city’s elected leaders spent several hours discussing the city’s tourism strategic plan and downtown tourism-related economic feasibility study — also known as Downtown Scottsdale 2.0… [U]ltimately, some residential and commercial growth will be needed to carry Scottsdale’s flagship downtown and Old Town areas into the future, experts say.” Scottsdale Independent. http://bit.ly/2inCjSq
Q&A: Councilman David Sherf talks Paradise Valley limited government.“Paradise Valley Independent reached out to Paradise Valley Councilman David Sherf to ask him how he defined limited government [and why having] a limited government municipality is… such an important aspect to Paradise Valley residents.” http://bit.ly/2z6SwWl
The world’s first politically motivated hotel is opening in Washington, DC. “[A] new hotel that ‘merges hospitality with progressive social change’ is set to open next spring.” No, it’s not called “The Left-Leaning Tower of Pelosi”; it’s called Eaton Workshop, and it “aspires to be a haven for guests who want to use their travel money to send a progressive message.” More about the hotel, plus renderings, inQUARTZ. http://bit.ly/2zLPFRO
Dealmaker BONUS:With lights out, cheer is gone. “For more than 30 years, Lee and Patricia Sepanek have decorated their home in the Arcadia neighborhood of Phoenix with one of the most extravagant holiday light displays in the Valley. Not this year.” The Arizona Republic reports that the light show has been “called off amid [a] bureaucratic spat.” And how does Lee Sepanek feel about that?” ‘I’m sad,’ he said.” And based on his bummed-out expression in the pic accompanying this piece, that’s an understatement. (But perhaps he’ll lose the sadness and have a more ticked-off attitude after he hears how people here at Dealmaker HQ are talking about what an odd set of priorities the City of Phoenix must have — to totally ruin the holiday season for him, all because he’s selling hot cocoa, while allowing a HUGE party at the David & Gladys Wright house last weekend, smack in the middle of the Arcadia residential community, where tickets were sold for admittance and it was advertised as a great party for ‘free beer’!!!) http://bit.ly/2AQB4m9
