KB Home to develop Allred Brothers Ranch

The Allred family has decided to sell their horse ranch on the corner of Southern Ave and Lindsay in Mesa. On March 8th, the homeowners north of this one of a kind property in Mesa received a letter saying that KB Home was now under contract to purchase the 26.7+/- acre property. They intend to subdivide it and build 117 single family residences. The current home owners in the area were invited to a neighborhood meeting with the applicant at Porter Elementary School on March 23rd to learn more about the proposed project.

There were several concerns from one homeowner to the north of the project:

The first concern raised was in regard to the congestion on Los Alamos. Visitors of Countryside Park already bring considerable congestion to the neighborhood by parking on Los Alamos. The current homeowner was concerned with how much additional traffic would be added from the future homeowners of the new development. A Mesa police officer advised the neighbors to contact the Mesa City Council to resolve parking issues. Currently the westside of Los Alamos is already a No Parking Zone.

The second concern brought to attention was the possibility that homeowners currently living to the north of the project could have two story homes built behind them leading to lower home values and an invasion of privacy in their backyards.

The third concern presented was the possibility of additional rain runoff from the new subdivision. The Allred property will need to be elevated to avoid flooding from the canal on the northwest corner of the project which may cause rainwater be redirected toward the neighborhood to the north.

A final concern was mentioned at the end of the meeting by one of the homeowners about a proposed greenbelt in the new subdivision that would be accessible by way of the canal. The concern was that allowing access to the greenbelt from the canal may attract visitors to the new subdivision who already utilize Countryside Park for questionable and illegal activity.

After presenting these concerns to the applicant and the lawyers, the neighborhood residents were told they would take all their concerns into consideration.

The Ehrke Team will post additional updates as this project continues forward.

10660 E Plata Ave, Mesa AZ 85212

Move-In ready, single level, 3 bedroom 2 baths home, within walking distance to
community park and easy access to shopping, restaurants the loop 202 and
US60 and the home is in the Gilbert school district. This home features
a front porch, great room, large eat-in kitchen, pantry, master
bedroom, master bath, walk-in master closet, great room, dinning area,
interior laundry area with cabinets, backyard covered patio and 2 car
garage with cabinets and new garage door opener. Recent upgrades:
Exterior painted in 2014, interior painted in 2017, Guest Bathroom and
Master Bath new cabinets and granite counter tops and faucet and new
light fixtures in 2016, new built-in microwave and oven/range 2017,
cabinets install in laundry area 2016, garage door opener 2017.

Benefits of Home Ownership

Benefits of Home Ownership

Have you been considering buying a home? Have you wondered if it was better to rent or to buy? Have you wondered what the benefits to buying a home are? With mortgage rates at the lower end of the spectrum and the five reasons below, I think you will see that this is still a great time purchase a home.

1.     If you are renting you are paying someone else’s mortgage. Along with paying their mortgage you are giving that person a nice tax deduction that could be yours. Mortgage loan interest may be deducted on your tax returns. This tax savings is not an option available to renters. (Consult a tax professional about the tax savings benefits of home ownership.)

2.     How many times has your rent increased since you have started renting? You have no control over if it will increase or not. When you purchase a home you have stability, because fixed mortgage payments (principal and interest) will not change during the loan term whereas rent payments may increase annually.

3.     When you move out of your rental property you will not have anything to show for it, except that you had a place to rest your head and to store your things. Home ownership allows you to build equity. Owning a home long term allows equity to build and thus your home investment to grow. Do you know what equity in real estate means or how it works?  It’s the difference between the current fair market value of the property and the amount the owner still owes on the mortgage. It is the amount that the owner would receive after selling a property and paying off the mortgage. Equity can be used to obtain a line of credit or a loan for home improvements, cash for emergencies or big-ticket items or to bring down the amount you would need to borrow on a bigger and or nicer home.

4.     In most markets your home will appreciate. This means it will increase in value over time and this with paying your loan down is how you obtain equity in your home. Your rent payment does not give you any return on your money.

5.     What types of options do you have in making your rental property reflect your personality or your lifestyle? Anything you do will need to be approved by your landlord, correct? When you purchase a home you have a place to call your own. A place you can add your own touches with paint, flooring, fixtures, landscaping or complete remodel that will reflect your tastes and lifestyle. Maybe you would like your own pool and the privacy it affords you and your friends and family. How about the chance to get to know your neighbors, neighborhood and be involved in what goes on in your area.

Is it time for you to stop throwing away your rent every month? Do you want your tax savings, the stability of the same monthly payment, to be able to build equity and appreciation, as well as a place to call your own?  Now is a great time to invest your hard earned money in home of your own.  Call The Ehrke Team 480-526-0306 and find out where to start.

 Based off of Trulia’s Rent vs. Buy Report, October 2015

5135 E Evergreen St Unit 1186, Mesa AZ 85205

1295 N Ash St 213, Gilbert AZ 85233 (Ikon Hayfield)

2 New Communities Coming to the Phoenix Metro Area by Mattamy

There are 2 new communities coming to the Phoenix metro area!!

The first new home subdivision is in Chandler / Tempe called Rhythm. This new development in Chandler / Tempe has sparked a lot of interest and is scheduled to open in the fall of 2016. The second subdivision is called Encore at North Shore in Gilbert on McQueen South of Elliot, this is also scheduled to open late fall of 2016. The Encore at North Shore will feature all new home designs not used in any of the other Mattamy Homes subdivision and it also is a gated community. Currently the designs are in the final stages of city approval.

 Mattamy Homes is the builder of these two subdivisions and they are out of Canada and they have currently 11 subdivision including the popular Eastmark in East Mesa under construction or completed in the valley of the sun. Mattamy Homes also has plans to start construction on 6 more locations including the two mentioned above.

As more information becomes available, I will post it here on my blog. If you are interested in see homes for sale in the Phoenix metro area, click on the link below.

http://www.leeehrkesellsazhomes.com/

Why You Should Be Excited About the Housing Market

Why You Should Be Excited About the Housing Market

 

If you are in the market to buy or sell real estate, click on the link below:

 http://www.leeehrkesellsazhomes.com/sell/

 What an amazing year 2015 was for home sellers, and 2016 promises to be even better. By December of 2015, with 5.26 million sales, we had seen a more robust housing market than we've seen since 2006. In fact, as of early 2016, America's housing market had spent 43 consecutive months as a seller's market. Lawrence Yun, the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) chief economist chalks up the heavy sales volume to "the prospect of higher mortgage rates in coming months and warm November and December weather."

Get Very Excited if You Plan to Sell Your Home This Year
The combination of high demand for homes and shrinking inventories produces a seller's market and typically signals rising home prices. While many forecasters expect home prices to continue rising this year, they caution that they won't climb as quickly or as much as they did last year. "The NAR is calling for a 4.4 percent increase in existing home prices this year and 3.4 percent in 2017; other economists and strategists also put 2016 price growth in the 4 percent to 5 percent range," claims NAR's Adam DeSanctis.

In addition, inventories of available homes rose slightly last month. Whether or not this signals a trend toward a more balanced housing market remains to be seen. So, yes - although it sounds trite - the best time to sell your home is right now, while inventory is still low. If you will be selling a home priced in the low-to-middle price tier for your market, expect it to go quickly and for top dollar. You will have little competition and the demand in this price range is strong, according to Shu Chen of CoreLogic.

While this type of market makes it easy for home sellers to become complacent, if you expect to get top dollar for your home and want it to sell quickly, do the work required to ensure that it's in move-in condition.

Buying a Home This Year?
While it may seem like there isn't a whole lot for homebuyers to get excited about this year, there is one bonus for you: low interest rates. In fact, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 30-year mortgage rates fell in April 2016 to an average of 3.59 percent across the country, down from 3.65 percent the same time last year.

Combine the low rates with more relaxed lending guidelines and there is definitely good news for the 2016 homebuyer. Lower mortgage rates mean a lower monthly payment, which means you have more purchasing power, and that additional power can "mean the difference between buying a 2-bedroom home versus a 3-bedroom one; between buying a home with large closets versus small closets; and, between buying an upgraded home versus a dated one," according to Dan Green at The Mortgage Reports.

Another reason to get excited: It appears that those deep-pocketed investors who pay all cash for homes have left the market. Last year, 33.9 percent of all home sales were to cash buyers, the lowest rate since 2008, according to Molly Boesel with CoreLogic. While there is still plenty of competition out there from other homebuyers for homes in good locations and in decent condition, the playing field is a bit more level.

Yes, there is still a lot of competition from other homebuyers. This makes it more important than ever to have all your ducks in a row before making an offer on a property. Ensure you know exactly how much you can spend and that you've obtained a preapproval letter from your lender. Make your offer stand out from the others by keeping it lean and mean, with the shortest time periods for contingencies as possible. While we're still in a seller's market, come in with your highest and best offer. The market moves too quickly right now to assume the seller will negotiate over price.

Finally, if you've been sitting on the fence waiting for prices to come down, jump off. Home prices are currently rising twice as quickly as incomes, and it doesn't appear the situation will change in the near future.