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Yalda Alawi in the news

 My colleague Yalda Alawi got a quote in the Tribune recently. Neat! Prospective buyers can’t find homes that are deep in neighborhoods without multiple directional signs, said Yalda Alawi, an agent with WestUSA Realty Revelation in Chandler. The longer a home sits on the market, the less money a seller is likely to get for it, Alawi said. That can impact an area’s overall value, she said. I’m working with Yalda on sponsoring a real estate blog for Seville in Gilbert similar to the one I’m creating for McCormick Ranch in Scottsdale.

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Now for something really important!

 I love this stuff. It’s part of the real business of real estate… having a beautiful home to live in. Garden Tours Here are some of the Phoenix area garden tours offered in the next several weeks as printed in the Arizona Republic: Real Gardens for Real People Tour: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. next Saturday. A self-guided driving tour of five homes and one elementary school in Phoenix and Scottsdale. Find raised vegetable beds, ideas for dining areas and water features. $20. For a list of ticket locations, visit http://www.maricopamaster gardener.org. Tickets available the day of the tour at Squaw Peak Elementary School, 4601 N. 34th St., Phoenix. Encanto-Palmcroft Historic Home…

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Morningstar on making money stocks in a real estate downturn

 I’m not impressed by anyone who has been bearish on real estate since 2001. We at Morningstar had long believed that the runup in real estate prices from 2001 to the end of 2005 was unsustainable and had to end at some point. It sounds like if you followed Morningstar’s advice you would have missed a fantastic opportunity to make money in real estate. I suppose they don’t recommend any stocks unless they are sure they will never go down. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to see which real estate related stocks they expect to do well.

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Another Kierland condo goes for over $3 million

 The $3,167,000 sale is bullish for all high-rise condos and the Phoenix luxury home market in general. The buyers paid more than $150,000 over the list price for the three-bedroom penthouse unit has 11-foot ceilings, stonewalls, built-in cabinets and his and her offices. It sits on the sixth floor of Tower II of the Landmark at Kierland, southwest of the intersection of Bell and Scottsdale roads. That deal follows the $3 million sale of a residence at the nearby Plaza Lofts at Kierland Commons. The 2,855-square foot loft is situated over the bebe women’s clothing store at Kierland Commons, a trendy mixed-use project with stores, restaurants and other attractions.

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Capital Gains Exemption Applicable to Real Estate, Stocks, Bonds, and Other Assets

 by Phoenix attorney Christopher A. Combs, partner with Combs Law Group, P.C. Question: In a recent column you stated that there would be no tax owed when a brother and sister inherited their mother’s ranch in northern Arizona. The reason you gave was that there was a ” step-up” in basis of the ranch to the value of the ranch at the time of the mother’s death. Does the increase in the value of the ranch just disappear upon the death of the mother? If you are correct, the thing for me to do is convert all of my stocks and bonds and other investments to real estate so that…

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Arizona Real Estate Market at a Glance

 Frustrated sellers have dominated the metro Phoenix, Arizona residential real estate market so far this year by placing a large number of new listings on the market. After falling steeply since last summer to only 8,565 new listings in December, the number of new listings rebounded to high levels in January (15,857) and February (13,539) causing the inventory of homes for sale to increase sharply and setting a new record of 45,645 homes this month. Home sales have not been low in January and February. The increase in inventory is caused, rather, by the large number of new listings. That is, many “frustrated sellers” have decided to put their homes…

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Mortgage fraud in the Spanish-speaking community in San Jose, California

 This article looks at sub-prime mortgage fraud against Hispanics in the San Jose, California area. It’s a good backgrounder on mortgage fraud no matter what the language. I don’t think it’s politically correct to point this out because the article didn’t, but it sure seems like most of the bad guys mentioned also had Hispanic surnames. Which reminds me of the real estate fraud that took place in a Filipino community in Southern California. Filipinos were being taken advantage of by other trusted Filipinos.

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Economists on the California housing market

 On the one hand. Many analysts say the market here, and nationally, will stabilize this year. The economy remains generally healthy, they say, and builders have slowed down to avoid a pileup of unsold homes. “There is reason to believe that [price] appreciation will be coming back soon,” says Luke Tilley, a Philadelphia economist at Global Insight, who follows the California market. On the other hand. “We’re expecting … a sharper and deeper contraction,” says Celia Chen, a housing economist at Moody’s Economy.com in West Chester, Pa. She says the state’s price run-up went beyond what could be justified by income or population growth. The firm has predicted that several…

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