Cameron’s $5 million +Deals of the Day: Medical office next to Smoke Tree Resort on Lincoln sells. Full details on this huge deal inRose Law Group Reporter. http://bit.ly/2nyw2Vw
New to Market: 6 projects you need to know. “These projects are the six New to Market projects, as featured in the Jan/Feb issue of AZRE magazine.” It’s a rundown that comes complete with hang-on-the-wall-worthy renderings of these six projects. Now if someone would only let us know how we can get our hands on the poster-size prints! http://bit.ly/2DSR8VN
IT’S ALL GOOD –Nikola Motor CEO shares his company’s plans and why he chose Arizona for his new HQ. “Salt Lake City-based Nikola announced Tuesday it had chosen Buckeye for its new headquarters and manufacturing plant for its hydrogen-electric, autonomous semi-trucks.” Yesterday, company CEO Trevor Milton spoke to PBJ “before attending the Waste Management Phoenix Open.” Among the reasons Milton cites in this subscriber-only article for having chosen to locate in the Valley: Good workforce, good housing, good colleges, and good weather. (We’re betting “good golf” is high up there on the list as well.) http://bit.ly/2EuKgPh
Maracay opens Villages at Rio Paseo in Arizona. Additionally, the homebuilder will also open “the single-family Cottages at Rio Paseo.” Both communities are “located within walking distance of Goodyear,” and both “will be registered with the U.S. Green Building Council.” Get details plus view the rendering (or is it the real deal?) in Multifamily Executive. http://bit.ly/2nyWZbG
Business Briefcase: Avondale, Tolleson, Goodyear property news; WESTMARC annual meeting. “[T]he West Valley continues making moves, with new developments making steady progress,” including retail spaces in Avondale, a new medical building north of Tolleson, approval of a prelim plat for a Virtua Partners subdivision in Goodyear, and info on the Western Maricopa Coalition annual meeting. In West Valley View. http://bit.ly/2E3EO8q
JUST WHAT THE D.R. ORDERED –D.R. Horton starts 2018 with 137 new SFR lots. <– But not all in one place. Real Estate Daily News reports that D.R. Horton “bought 84 lots at Hardy and Thornydale in [N.W.] Tucson,” and in another transaction, the homebuilder scored “53 SFR lots at Diable Village Estates,” which is “located in the western submarket of Tucson.” TAP ON for purchase prices & platting info: http://bit.ly/2DSjBuK
Florence hopes building permit manuals will make more happy customers. Town Council met with the Historic District Advisory and P&Z regarding code enforcement and new building-permit manuals, as well as the “town’s intention to adopt 2012 International Building Codes. Town Building Official Michael Ashford said the goal is ‘shortened project approvals and less frustrations for the customer.’ ” Casa Grande Dispatch. http://bit.ly/2GDM6hu
Flagstaff housing prices continue 5-year climb. “Flagstaff is ‘basically at the top’ of the housing market again [as] the median price in 2017 was only $4,000 lower than in 2006… On top of increasing prices, selection continued to be slim for buyers who were looking for a home at or below the median sale price.” KEY QUOTE: “We’re seeing inventory come above $450,000, but that’s not where we need inventory.” Arizona Daily Sun. http://bit.ly/2nuO7EV
Where women are buying homes in the U.S. “Financially independent women are buying homes in increasing numbers. SmartAsset decided to find out where they were most likely to do so.” Head to Builder for the results, which include one Arizona city that landed in the SmartAsset Top 10 Places for attracting home-buying women. http://bit.ly/2DX6fkQ
Will Americans continue to stay put? “Are declining rates of mobility and migration cyclical or structural? And, what does that mean to new residential construction and remodeling?” Sounds like Builder’s John McManus has been taking a few cues from economist Elliott Pollack, who lately has been giving us his take on these matters as well. http://bit.ly/2FAZbXy
Although pending sales up, NAR warns of tax law implications. “Although the December gain in sales, reported on Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors® was a slim one, it made three consecutive monthly gains for the leading indicator.” NAR Lawrence Yun has a few words of warning about the new tax law’s impact on the “nation’s most expensive markets with high property taxes” — in Mortgage News Daily. http://bit.ly/2GFiVL1
Crucial turning point in homeownership rate. “For the first time in 13 years, the U.S. homeownership rate ticked up, and millennials are behind the long-awaited boost… The Wall Street Journal [in its report “Millennials Propel Homeownership Rate to First Increase Since 2004”] called the increase a ‘crucial turning point.’ ” And here’s MORE good news: There’s no WSJ paywall worries on this one! You can read all about these-former-basement-dwellers-turned-homeowners — hassle-free — at REALTORMag. http://bit.ly/2BN7i14
Homebuilders just had their nastiest seven-day run in two years.Investment advisor/money manager James Stack, “who predicted the housing crash in 2005… recently… suggested ‘it is 2005 all over again in terms of the valuation extreme, the psychological excess and the denial.’… Next thing you know, the homebuilder stocks have their worst seven-day run since February 2016.” But as Bloomberg asks, “Are investors spooked or just taking profits?” http://bit.ly/2s1Y1T2
Apartment industry response to the State of the Union. The National Multifamily Housing Council and the National Apartment Association have issued a statement “applaud[ing] President Trump and his administration’s focus on economic growth and job creation through infrastructure development, the ongoing federal regulatory overhaul and the recently reformed tax code.” Read the full statement here: http://bit.ly/2rWnoFX
POTUS POSTPONES WOTUS –Trump administration to delay Obama-era Waters of the United States rule. “The [EPA has] announced a two-year delay of the Obama-era (WOTUS) rule, giving the agency more time to… replace it with definitions that provide needed clarity for those regulated by the Clean Water Act.” Characterizing the rule as “an extreme overreach” that has caused “confusion not only among property owners, but the regulators themselves,” NAHB Chairman Randy Noel says, “This is a decision we have been waiting a long time for.” In NAHBNow. http://bit.ly/2DSsxR0
A FRY’D CLAIM –Families file claim against city over rezoning for new Tucson Fry’s store. “Several families living close to a planned Fry’s grocery store on Tucson’s east side have filed a claim threatening to sue the city over the rezoning of the 16-acre property.” According to the claim — which, of course, was filed on a Friday — the “city failed to meet the state’s Open Meeting Law when a key detail — the size of the grocery store — changed right before a key City Council meeting about the parcel’s rezoning…” Arizona Daily Star. http://bit.ly/2nxIgO9
