Scottsdale Arizona Real Estate Blog

Sept. 4, 2007 09:25 AM  

A builder and developer, a pharmacist, a Realtor and a major league baseball television announcer are among the buyers and sellers in this weeks done deals.

$2,995,000

Sage K. Lentz and his wife Wendy purchased a 5,379 square-foot home with 500 square-foot pool originally built in 1958 at the Camelback Lands east of the Phoenician Golf Club in Paradise Valley. Sage Lentz is a builder and developer with Loma Vista Development and president of Western Pacific Properties in Scottsdale. The home was sold by Ednagean McGrath, as Sole Trustee of the James M. and Ednagean McGrath Family Trust.

$2,900,000 J. Robert Lemon and Judith E. Lemon, as trustees of the Lemon Family Trust, bought a new home on the grounds of the exclusive gated Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale. J. Robert Lemon is a registered pharmacist and president of Life Plus International, a distributor of health and nutritional products. The home was sold by Darren Tackett and his wife Kimberly. Darren Tackett is a Realtor in Scottsdale.  

$2,737,500 Eden Investments, an Arizona Limited Liability Company, whose member is the Ann F. Kuyper Lennartz Family Trust, paid cash for this 4,430 square-foot home with 448 square-foot pool originally built in 2004 on the west side of McCormick Ranch Golf Club in Scottsdale. The home was sold by Thomas W. Brennaman and Polly A. Brennaman, as Trustees of the Thomas and Polly Brennaman Revocable Trust. Thom Brennaman was the first television voice for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and left after the 2006 season to rejoin his father Marty in Cincinnati to call play-by-play for the Cincinnati Reds.

$2,707,475 Stan Powell and his wife Michelle of Scottsdale bought a 4,876 square-foot home originally built in 2006 at eastern edge of the Country Club at DC Ranch in Scottsdale. The home was sold by Camelot Homes Inc. of Arizona. $2,465,000 Ed DeLashmutt and his wife Tamara of Omaha, Neb. purchased a 4,359 square-foot home with 400 square-foot pool originally built in 2001 on the north side of the Desert Mountain-Geronimo Golf Course in Scottsdale. Ed DeLashmutt owns and operates two businesses, The Direct Marketing Group and NebDoctors of Nebraska and Iowa. He is a member of the Iowa State Track & Field Hall of Fame, still holds the fastest time for 8000 meters at the University of Iowa of 24.50, and was an All-American in track and field in 1979. The home was sold by the Mark W. and Debra E. Gregg Family Limited Partnership. Researched by John McLean and the Information Market.

Beth Duckett
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 3, 2007 02:42 PM  Picture this: A $140 million expanse of condo lofts, restaurants, shops and a 12-unit cinema in the heart of Fountain Hills.A local investor wants to make it a reality by transforming 13 acres of commercial land south of Avenue of the Fountains into a “Kierland Commons-like” venture.

Two years after a developer abandoned like-minded plans for the site, local businessman George Kasnoff and a developer have come forth with plans to enliven the vacant corridor.

The dusty land bordered by Town Hall near Saguaro and Palisades boulevards has remained untouched, but not forgotten.A previous proposal for the site from developer Ray Olmscheid died after he failed to submit an application, said Fountain Hills spokeswoman Katie Decker. That project included a 14-screen movie complex, luxury condos and more than 140,000-square-feet of retail. Fountain Hills has no commercial movie theater.

The empty land in the middle of town has always been a hot issue.

“This development needs to perk up the feeling of a ‘downtown’ for our citizens,” said Town Manager Tim Pickering.

He said a “wide variety of retail establishments” should be part of the project, including “an appliance store, electronic store and book store.”

Connections to Fountain Park The town could maximize open space by expanding pedestrian connections to nearby Fountain Park, residences and offices. Following a series of meetings with Kasnoff and his crew, the town’s Planning Department is awaiting formal applications from the developer.

The project – which would be nearly half residential – needs variances and special use permits. Current zoning for the site has a 40-foot height limit, officials said.

The developer wants $9.2 million in economic incentives from the town to build a 600-car parking garage and surface parking, install sidewalks, a traffic light and streetlights, as well as waiver of commercial permit and development fees, officials said.

Sales tax rebates would only be for public infrastructure. So, where would the money come from?

Voter-approved bond could help A possible bond on the November 2008 ballot could double the town’s secondary property tax rate, officials said. “That would all have to be figured out if the citizens approved the bond. But this is a very legitimate concern, and the funds would have to come from somewhere,” Decker said.

Pickering said, “Any financial investment made through taxpayer dollars must provide a reasonable return.”

“The town has less than 1 percent of its current land available for commercial use, and citizens need to know this land will continue to provide revenues for the future,” the town manager said.   

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Fire Rock

Eagle Mountain

David Madrid
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 4, 2007 12:00 AM  Although home sales in most of the southwest Valley declined from July 2006 to July 2007, there is confidence among real-estate and housing experts that the market is correcting itself and rebounding.

“People are looking at the idea that the market will recover in three to five years, and what were once the hot areas will become hot areas again,” said Jay Butler, director of Realty Studies at Arizona State University’s Morrison School of Management and Agribusiness.

Many believe the southwest Valley, which has much vacant land, is an indicator of where the overall Valley real-estate market is headed. Goodyear, Avondale and Buckeye are among 2007’s 10 fastest-growing suburbs in the U.S.

“So if you’re an investor or whatever, you may move into some of these areas because they offer a sort of attractive play, not over the next year or two, but over the next four or five years,” Butler said.

And although the sales of new and existing homes and their median price have mostly declined in the southwest Valley when comparing the July numbers, one place that doesn’t hold true is Litchfield Park. There, the number of resale homes sold increased, as did the median price of new and resale homes.

But the number of new-home sales decreased from 20 in July 2006 to 10 in July 2007.

Meanwhile, Goodyear saw a 20 percent increase in the median price of a new home, mostly due to some new high-end developments.

Carl Giordano Sr., of Giordano and Giordano RE/MAX Achievers in Goodyear, said he and his wife and business partner, Phyllis, think the housing market is stabilizing.

“Phyllis and I believe this is a good market,” Giordano said. “And what I mean by a good market is everything that needed to be weeded out is being weeded out. We’re back to old real estate. You’ve got FHA. You’ve got VA, and you’ve got conventional (loans).”

That weeding out of subprime lenders and real-estate agents who entered an overpriced 2005 market to make an easy buck is stabilizing the market, he said.

“The southwest Valley is a great place to live, no question about it,” Giordano said. “Litchfield Park, Palm Valley, Avondale are doing good. Buckeye is coming along. Goodyear’s doing great. … The cities in the southwest, in my opinion, have great community camaraderie and spirit.”

Sharon DeMoss, a realty agent with Keller Williams Realty Professional Partners in Goodyear, said there is so much new development in the southwest Valley that real-estate agents are feeling optimistic.

Still, because of the subprime meltdown, the market is flooded with listings, she said.

Subprime lenders pushed adjustable-rate mortgages that began with a low interest rate. Once the rate increased, too many people couldn’t afford the payments.

“Many of them (resale homes) are overpriced,” DeMoss said. “We are sitting with our sellers and saying, ‘You guys have to be the lowest price in your subdivision for your floor plan.’ And many times that doesn’t even do it because many buyers are coming in and saying, ‘I don’t think the bottom is here yet. If I pay $250,000 for this house, how do I know that in six months I’m not going to be able to get it for $200,000?’ “

DeMoss said new homes are a great buy now because builders are cutting prices or offering incentives.

“A couple of years ago, these same builders were making people stand in line to get on a list to get a house,” she said. “My personal opinion is that during that 2005 frenzy, many builders went out and bought a whole bunch of land, and now they have no choice but to go ahead and build.”  

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