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Master Gardener – 6th Annual Garden Tour

 I mentioned this tour and many others in a post last weekend. Miraculously, my schedule parted and left Saturday open so I wasn’t going to miss it. Six homes were on the tour ($20 donation) and many volunteer master gardeners were at each home to answer your questions. One home in the Paradise Valley Mall area backed to a green golf course but they turned their large backyard into a desert wild flower garden. The desert marigolds below are a common and extemely attractive landscape plant. I hate the name “California poppies.” These flowers are native to Arizona, too, ya know! In an especially wet and magical winter, these glorious…

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USA Today map of population growth

 Nice map of U.S. population growth by county! If you click through, you’ll be able to click to get an audio analysis. It’s very well done. I might try that. See this post for more and comments from readers on how it affects Arizona real estate markets.

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U.S. Existing-Home Sales Post ‘Surprising’ Gains

 Existing-home sales rose strongly in February reaching the highest level since last April, and follows a healthy gain from January, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Total existing-home sales “” including single-family, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops “” rose 3.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.69 million units in February from a downwardly revised level of 6.44 million in January. Still, the numbers are 3.6 percent below the 6.94 million-unit pace in February 2006. Nevertheless, last month’s increase was the biggest monthly rise in three years “” sales last rose 3.9 percent in March 2004.

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Sub-prime problems to create more foreclosure opportunities

 Kiplinger has a good, quick overview of real estate foreclosures. At the market’s peak, in the first half of 2005, the nationwide median discount off market value of foreclosures was 14.6% There are huge pitfalls to buying foreclosures. Notice the level of expertise of the two successful foreclosure buyers in the article. One was a real estate agent and the other had purchased 15 foreclosures. Foreclosures are NOT something you can just dabble in.

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Maricopa fastest growing county in United States

 This is one reason why Maricopa County real estate will be rebound relatively quickly. Maricopa County gained 696,000 residents between 2000 and 2006, the largest numerical increase of the nation’s 3,141 counties, according to estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. Maricopa County has 3.8 million residents, making it the nation’s fourth largest county. Pinal County was ranked the 6th fastest growing county in the United States.

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A victim of greedy homebuilders or a flipper himself?

 An article in the Tribune shows a home seller complaining about home builders undercutting his price. The article takes an unexpected turn in the comments section where one anonymous commenter says the guy was actually a flipper. Now that’s interesting. And if the comments are any measure, there’s not much sympathy for a flipper who loses money on a house. If indeed the guy was a flipper he could have made a ton of money on other homes during the boom. Apparently he stayed in the game too long. If you can control when you sell, you’re fine. Then the worst case scenario is that you have to keep living…

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If Florida builder takes your new home deposit, Taylor Woodrow will give you a credit

 This is an interesting new home marketing incentive I hadn’t heard of. Last week, Bradenton-based Taylor Woodrow Inc., which has three developments in South Florida — and one on the way in Pompano Beach — announced a new program to attract home buyers. Under its “Forfeited Deposit Transfer Program,” qualified buyers can use contract deposits forfeited by other buyers and apply those funds toward the purchase of a new Taylor Woodrow home.

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