Entries Tagged 'West' ↓

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If you are looking for a theme park in Pheonix do not despair, one is coming. Waveyard is developing a 250 million dollar theme park that will offer many different outdoor activities.

There will be a surfing pool that will have waves up to 12 feet, There will be a skatepark, a diving and snorkeling lagoon lined with fiber-optic lights for night dives, a climbing center and ropes course, a series of fly fishing ponds, a mountain bike course and an outdoor amphitheater.

Officials said they are in negotiations for more than 200 acres just outside the Phoenix city limits to combine residential, resort, retail and entertainment venues with a $250 million outdoor super park.

Activities would include surfing, rafting, kayaking, climbing, scuba diving, snorkeling, skateboarding, mountain biking, fly fishing, canoeing, volleyball and boogie boarding. Plans call for a 320-room resort hotel with 150 villas, a 30,000-square-foot conference center, a spa and wellness center, beach, restaurants, a 55,000-square-foot indoor water park, 55,000 square feet of sports and entertainment retail space, 30,000 square feet of office space, an amphitheater, and residential communities.

Waveyard Development LLC was established in 2003 by veteran development and financial partners Richard Mladick and Jerry Hug.  via The Business Journal of Phoenix:.

One of the side effects of the strong real estate market was the influx of new real estate agents. In Arizona, the rush to easy money has led to a significant increase in complaints against real estate agents statewide as the combination of a tightening market and new and unscrupulous folks engaged in selling homes has increased.

In the first eight months of this fiscal year, the number of complaints statewide is at 1,241, well ahead of last fiscal year’s total, 1,101.
Relatively few complaints result in disciplinary action, but that number is going up, too. In fiscal 2005, 207 complaints resulted in “administrative action.” But in the first eight months of this fiscal year that number is up to 243.
The vast majority of complaints filed are against real-estate agents, but the department also lumps together complaints against offices, brokers, developers and unlicensed salespeople.  via www.azstarnet.com

Silicon Valley has for years been the most expensive housing market in the country and has followed the trends of the technology industry as much as the housing industry. And it looks like this trend has nit changed. With a 14 percent decline in sales, the Valley showed an average selling price of 722,000 dollars per home, a new all-time high for the region, and a 14 percent increase over the past year.

In another milestone, the median price of condos sold hit the $500,000 mark in the county for the first time. That’s up 22 percent from February 2005.The number of new and existing houses and condos sold in the county, meanwhile, dropped 14 percent compared to a year earlier, with 1,614 homes changing hands. The figures were released Thursday by DataQuick Information Systems, which obtains the data from public records of completed home sales.

Though it may seem counterintuitive that sales volume dropped while prices rose, it’s a normal phenomenon for a real estate market coming out of a frenzied period, said John Karevoll of DataQuick.Sales are “showing a downturn in volume, but not nearly enough to tug prices down. If we continue to see a 15 percent decline in sales and it goes on for another year, then we’ll see some downward pressure on prices. But not with today’s numbers. via MercuryNews.com

Living in the San Francisco Bay Area has many wonderful characteristics, but concerns over housing costs and transportation has forced 40 percent of the residents in the region to consider moving. The tremendously high cost of housing has put pressure on residents and can degrade the quality of life if you are spending such a high percentage of income on housing expenses.

Of those thinking of a move in the survey of 600 residents, 70 percent said high housing costs are a major factor driving them.
Housing is the second most important issue facing the region, behind only transportation, according to results of the Council Poll released earlier.
The council also said it found strong support for an infrastructure bond proposal that is headed for a possible statewide vote.
Seventy-four percent of those taking the poll said they are inclined to vote yes on some or all of the bond proposals.
Support was largely bi-partisan, with 70 percent of Bay Area Democrats saying they would vote yes on all or some of the bonds, and 77 percent of Republicans would support them. Via Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal.

California is in the heart of the bubble slowdown. After astronomical growth in the past four years, the market is regrouping with slowing sales and lowering prices. The increases of the past 4 years have priced the average homeowner out of the  market, and the retrenchment out of the exuberant optimism is now being replaced with a combination of fear and consternation.

Folks just have to remember that paper profit is illusional. You can not expect assets to continuously rise year over year. For example, imagine your house was priced at $250,000 4 years ago, and was worth $500,000 on paper in November of 2005. Now it is worth, 450,000, have you lost $50,000 or gained $200,000? Many of those screaming about the bubble bursting will scream they have lost 50K. I tend to believe that you are fortunate  to have had such great appreciation in your home during that period and should be very thankful.  

The number of homes sold in the state fell to a four-year low in January, the fourth month in a row that annual homes sales have declined. The statewide rate of home price increases peaked in June 2004 at 23.2 percent and has gradually declined ever since.The trend is another sign that the state’s once-sizzling real estate market is cooling, leaving some home-sellers in a bind in the process.”Sellers are becoming nervous about how long it’s taking to sell,” said Aaron Zapata, executive vice president of Century 21 Grisham-Joseph in Whittier, which has offices in the counties of Los Angeles and Orange.”There are many sellers who have contingent offers on properties that they’re having to withdraw because they’re not getting their homes sold,” added Zapata.In all, 38,300 new and resale houses and condominiums were sold statewide last month, a decline of 27.5 percent from 52,800 in December and down 9.5 percent from 42,300 in January 2005, the real estate research firm DataQuick Information Systems reported Thursday. via the AP Wire

Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino will break ground on a  50 story complex that will be a fixture on the Las Vegas skyline. Built in a partnership with Westgate Resorts, this comndominium and timeshare property will be connected directly to the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino.

The $750 million development will include more than 1,200 units, ranging in size from one to four bedrooms, increasing the hotel room inventory for the resort by 2,800 rooms. The top four stories of the Towers will be comprised of 28 luxury condominiums ranging in size from 4,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet, with prices starting at $4 million. The vision for the new Towers was to create a look that was both sleek and glamorous. The color palette is in keeping with the Planet Hollywood brand using red and blue accents to set off the soaring glass building. via Hospitality Net

Important Statistics for the Planet Hollywood Towers by Westgate:

Gross area of more than 3.2 million square feet including 2.3 million square feet of living space

14,000-square-foot lobby and check-in area

35,000 square feet of meeting and convention space, supplementing the resort’s meeting space

16,000 square feet of eclectic dining

3,100-square-foot fitness center

16,000-square-foot sales area

More Silicon Valley housing news. The real estate market looks like it will cool in the Silicon Valley and San Jose regions, but the housing prices should  hold firm. Business leaders met to discuss the potential of the market.

Silicon Valley has traditionally been outside of the normal real estate demand curves, owing it’s fortunes to the tech industry. However, for the rest of the country, it tends to be a barometer for the future.

The pace of home sales is going to go down, and it’s not going to be as good as it was. But it’s also not going to be as bad as you fear,” California economist Michael Bazdarich told a gathering of about 75 Silicon Valley Realtors and agents recently.
That translates to about a 15 percent drop in existing home sales in Santa Clara County, he said, and about a 10 percent drop in San Mateo County. Home prices should level.

Any softening in new home construction likely won’t mean a whole lot for the region, he added. Despite record home construction nationwide, Northern California has not seen a huge ramp-up in new-home building, so its economy has limited dependence on construction’s strength right now. via Silicon Valley Business Journal.

The Silicon Valley real estate market has turned down. This market tends to get very overheated very quickly, and then leaves lots of people holding the bag as housing prices are astronomical. The Silicon Valley real estate market is one of the highest in the country, with 20 year old ranch houses routinely selling for over a million dollars. Broderick Perkins at Realty Times has a very good synopsis of the marketplace.

Initiated sales or accepted offers on single-family, detached homes slipped to 736 in December, the lowest they’ve been since the number plunged to 620 in December of 2000, according to Calhoun’s Bay Area Real Estate Market Newsletter, a report comprised of statistics from the area’s official multiple listing service, RE InfoLink of Campbell, CA.
“This was a particularly bad December and we all know what happened after December 2000, 2001 was a very bad year. The next lowest number was 772 in December of 2002 and that wasn’t a good time either. Since 1999, this December’s sales was the second worst year for sales. And today’s sales become next month’s closings,” said Calhoun.
Closed sales were down to 970 in December, slipping well below levels in December 2004 (1185) and 2003 (1223). Since 1999 the low point was 888 in December 2001, Calhoun reported.
The median price of single-family homes in closed sales slipped back to $734,975 only about $2,000 more than the median in September and well off the record peak price of about $760,000 set earlier this year.  via Realty Times -

Wow, this is almost as expensive as midtown Manhattan. But for the landowner who was smart enough to hold on to it, congratulations. Another reason why eminent domain laws are so dangerous for the investor. They could have gotten the government to condemn it for their project at half the cost.

Vail Resorts said Monday one of its subsidiaries has acquired one acre in Vail for approximately $3.3 million.

The acquisition will assist in the redevelopment efforts of a 6-acre area commonly called LionsHead.  bizjournals.com.

The housing market in California is going to have a slow year for 2006. The marketplace is expecting to see employment in the construction industry to have a modest pullback according to the California Building Industry Association. Of course the reporter found a University Professor ready to get his name in print.

Christopher Thornberg, senior economist with the UCLA Forecast, expects housing construction to drop by 25 percent next year, resulting in significant job loss for the construction industry.

He said the CBIA’s pricing prediction could prove true, but he hopes it doesn’t because he believes prices are already “out of whack with reality.”"The real question is, is it a good thing if they go up and the answer is clearly ‘no,’” he said. “It will just make things that much worse and it will take that much longer to correct.” ContraCostaTimes.com

Isn’t it a wonderful thing to have a professor ready to proclaim doom and gloom. I will be looking for the reality a year from now when the actual numbers come in.