“Homes that fall into foreclosure in Phoenix are sold at a public auction. The highest bidder becomes the new owner. The former owner then has to move out.

Departing owners have five days under Arizona law to vacate the property. But in the overheated foreclosure market that has come in the wake of the metropolitan Phoenix housing crash, some people are being told to get out the same day their house is sold at auction.

In some cases, people aren’t allowed back into their house to collect their belongings. In others, people leave the house for a few hours, and the new owner changes the locks.

Facing aggressive foreclosure buyers who want to resell homes quickly, struggling homeowners often don’t know their rights…”

Read the full article: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/03/07/20100307evictions0307.html

 ”While 2009 saw local declines in the number of homes sold and in the average sales price, some builders and developers are bucking that downturn.

In 2009, 733 homes were sold locally, down from 781 in 2008, according to the Green Valley/Sahuarita Association of Realtors. The numbers cover southern Tucson to Tubac.

The average selling price last year was $175,000, a decline from $199,493 in 2008. Homes spent an average of 167 days, about five and a half months, on the market in 2009, compared to 160 days the year before.

Cathy York, president of the association, said 2009 was a pretty stable year for the local real estate market considering the rest of the U.S. economy…”

Read the full article: http://gvnews.com/articles/2010/02/11/news/74realestate.txt

“Close to half of the existing home sales in the Phoenix metro area last month were foreclosed properties exhibiting continued struggles in the housing market, according to an Arizona University report released Thursday.

The report also said that two out of three home sales in the Valley in January were either foreclosures or re-sales of foreclosed homes…”

Read the full article: http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2010/02/08/daily62.html

“Chandler is preparing to spend millions of dollars trying to shore up one of its most sickly economic indicators, the home foreclosure rate, which surged by 95 percent over the last year.

In the coming weeks, the City Council is expected to consider expanding an eight-month-old program to buy up bank-owned properties and renovate them for sale as affordable housing. The council this month also passed a resolution declaring the entire city an “economic recovery zone,” making it eligible to issue $8 million in bonds to pay for infrastructure projects like roads and drainage, meant to create jobs and stimulate the local economy.

Dennis Strachota, the city’s management services director, said Chandler’s home foreclosure rate rose 95 percent from the third quarter of 2008 to the fourth quarter of 2009. Similarly, unemployment increased from 4.3 percent in October 2008 to 6.6 percent last October, and Chandler’s poverty rate now stands at 7.3 percent, he said…”

Read the full article: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/149953

“Jim Cramer, a retired mechanical engineer, was looking for a new home in Glendale.

What he got was a Spanish Colonial compound that stretches over two lots and includes guest quarters, a pool and a garage that fits 10 cars.

‘It’s like I’m running a mini-hotel now,’ Cramer said, referring to the family and friends who now visit.

Cramer was the first to take advantage of the double-lot option being promoted at The Reserve at Eagle Heights, which is near 75th Avenue and Loop 101. The developer, Western Pacific Properties, has begun offering lots side-by-side or back-to-back, giving space for amenities such as those that Cramer wanted.

That demand for larger lots is being seen at The Reserve, where new homes start around $568,000, and at developments with more moderate price points.

‘Nobody wants a tiny lot. You buy a tiny lot because that’s all you can afford,’ said RL Brown, a Valley economist specializing in the housing market.

While larger yards may be more desirable today than at the height of the real-estate boom, many developers are finding that buyers overall are more frugal about the size of their homes…”

Read the full article: http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/2010/01/15/20100115gl-reserve0115-ON.html

“Four years after the collapse of the U.S. housing bubble, flipping homes is back in fashion.

Jon Mirmelli, a Phoenix real-estate investor, learned late in the morning of Sept. 28 that a never-occupied custom house on the northern fringes of this Phoenix suburb was going up for auction around noon the same day. The six-bedroom home, built on a three-acre desert plot, has a kitchen with two dishwashers, four ovens, “antibacterial” copper sinks, and a master “spa” bathroom with space for a flat-screen TV visible from the tub.

The minimum bid, as set by a unit of Citigroup Inc., which had a $1.3 million mortgage on the home, was $379,900. After several minutes of bidding among investors and their representatives, some wearing shorts and flip-flops, Mr. Mirmelli won the home for $486,300. A week later, he agreed to sell it for $690,000 to a woman who moved in this month.

During the housing boom, millions of Americans tried to make money by buying and then quickly reselling new houses and condominiums. That kind of flipping stopped several years ago as home sales stalled amid a surge in foreclosures and curtailed lending.

Now, a different breed of flipper is proliferating: one who seeks bargains at foreclosure auctions. Unlike the boom-time flippers, the latest generation needs cold cash, lots of local-market knowledge and strong nerves…”

Read the full article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126022588878780861.html?mod=wsj_share_twitter

 ”A 3.5-mile crevice in the Greene Wash area, about six miles south of Arizona City, is one of several newly confirmed earth fissures identified on a map recently released by the Arizona Geological Survey.

The new map identifies confirmed and unconfirmed earth fissures throughout Pinal County as well as Cochise, Maricopa and Pima counties.

In addition to the 3.5 miles of identifiable and continuous and discontinuous earth fissures in the Greene Wash area, researchers also discovered 5.5 miles of unconfirmed fissures. Some of the unconfirmed fissures are in active farmlands where seasonal plowing can obliterate the surface of the crevice, according to AZGS…”

Read the full article: http://www.trivalleycentral.com/articles/2010/01/06/arizona_city_independent/top_stories/doc4b3a484d68365816567616.txt

“AAR asked market watchers in four regions (Maricopa County, White Mountain, Tucson Metro Area, Flagstaff) around the state to review recent housing data and provide forecasts for the year to come. Each region—and each neighborhood—is moving through the cycle of lower sales prices, higher inventory and distressed property supply at its own rate. But all are feeling the effects of the recession…”

Read the full article: http://www.aaronline.com/AZR/Dec/09Market2010.aspx

“Home appraisers are expected - and trusted - to provide honest and accurate reports on a property’s value for the buyer, seller and lender. Appraisals are the first link in the chain of decisions and agreements that result in a mortgage and the stated value of a home.

When the housing market crashed, inflated appraisals were a factor, especially in connection to mortgage-fraud schemes that artificially inflated home prices and made the fall in values all that much steeper. Appraisers were often among the culprits. Inexperienced appraisers who write up inaccurate valuations are also a problem, but allegations of fraud are behind most complaints.

In the third in an occasional series on real-estate and lending regulatory reforms, The Arizona Republic looks at the role appraisals played in bringing down the market and new efforts to regulate the people who are at the heart of establishing home values..”

Read the full article: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/12/13/20091213reg-appraiser1213.html

 ”Foreclosures continued to dominate the housing resale market in November despite continued evidence that they are declining, according to the latest monthly report from Arizona State University.

 Foreclosure activity edged lower last month but is still high in some parts of the Valley, such as Avondale, where it represented about 43 percent of sales, and Glendale, with 40 percent.

But Jay Butler, director of realty studies at ASU, predicts another wave of foreclosures could hit after the first of the year because of the continued weak job market and the fact that homeowners are having a tough time paying their mortgages…”

Read the article: http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2009/12/11/20091211biz-resales1211.html