Price fluctuation, foreclosure give snapshot of Scottsdale

It looks like any other beige, stucco-and-tile house in Scottsdale and there is nothing remarkable about this four-bedroom, two-bath home on North 100th Place northwest of Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard.

But its price fluctuation over the past few years and an October foreclosure tell a snapshot story about the local real estate market.

Pre-foreclosure filings declined in the Valley in April from the previous month and real estate agents are seeing a lot of activity in the 85260 ZIP code southeast of Loop 101 and Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard.

Foreclosures accounted for just less than one-third of the 155 home sales in 85260 through April, according to Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service data.

"The inventory of bank-owned property in that area is declining and they're going at a good price if it's move-in ready," said real estate agent Ed Graziano of Go Sold Realty.

An 1,800-square-foot bank-owned home near 92nd Street and Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard sold recently in nine days for $268,000, 5.5 percent above the list price, he said.

The single-story 2,023-square-foot, bank-owned home on 100th Place that Graziano was showing last week was listed at $305,900 or $151 per square foot, down from $315,900 six weeks earlier.

Home built in 1994

Built by UDC Homes in 1994, the home in the Canyon Crest community is not exactly move-in ready unless the buyer doesn't mind mustard-and-ketchup-colored walls and some neglected landscaping. But it does have wooden floors, granite counter tops and stainless-steel appliances.

Candice Burch of ReMax Prosperity Realty said earlier this week that she was negotiating an offer for the home at slightly below list price.

It sold for $400,000 in 2004 and its market value might have peaked at close to $500,000 in 2006.

This is in my neighborhood so I've kept tabs on the area's home values. I know of at least one Canyon Crest home of this model that sold for more than $500,000 at the market peak.

This one, which backs up to 100th Street and has some traffic noise in the backyard, sold originally for $169,925 in May 1994. It has a three-car garage but no swimming pool.

Healthy price jump

The home sold eight years later for $225,000, a healthy 32 percent increase in value.

Then its price jumped 78 percent to $400,000 in December 2004.

The previous owner died in February 2010 and HSBC Mortgage Corp. of Depew, N.Y. bought the home at a trustee sale in October for $293,386. The unpaid debt was $337,969.

The sale price was less than 1 percent above the median sale price for Scottsdale foreclosures last October.

It should be interesting to see where the market value of this property ends up.

by Peter Corbett The Arizona Republic May. 6, 2011 08:19 AM




Price fluctuation, foreclosure give snapshot of Scottsdale