The House failed to pass the $700 billion bailout bill intended to ease the credit markets. When news first broke, the DOW went into freefall and dropped as much as 705 points instantly and then rebounded a little. The bill will need to be rewritten and voted upon again. I’m not sure why, after all this weekend’s press about there being a “plan,” that there’s now no plan at this point. If this isn’t fixed, and the Treasury isn’t allowed to purchase all the mortgage-backed securities as the market had assumed would occur, there will be no relief for the credit markets. According to CNBC and everything I read and watch, the credit markets in the United States are in a very hazardous state. This credit freeze may be the linchpin that sets the overall economy into a serious recession or worse.

The current financial (banking) situation is a mess. This is no secret, and for the past 2 years, it has been expected that banks were going to have issues with all the mortgages they had given out from 2000 to the present. Over the past week, it has shown up in the marketplace in a big way. The DOW has risen 400 points and fallen 300 points in a single market day. Several financial corporations have gone under or were about to go under: Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, and Merrill Lynch just this past week. AIG, one of the largest insurers in the world, was on the verge of bankruptcy before the Fed loaned them $85 billion. AIG wrote insurance policies for investors to hedge their bets on all the mortgage securities that have been falling in value due to record defaults.

Regardless of your preference of area and price range, for the most part, a golf course home is an option for many in the Tucson area. On the northwest side of town, there are many courses from which to choose: Dove Mountain, Canada Hills, Oro Valley County Club, Rancho Vistoso, or my personal favorite, Omni Tucson National, just to name a few. If you are an avid golf fan or just enjoy an amazing golf course view from the back of your home, then purchasing a golf course property in Tucson AZ is something you should seriously consider. Arizona (Tucson and Phoenix) and California offer some of the highest-end golf courses and real estate on earth, and in most situations, a nice golf course home can be purchased right on a good course for less than $350k. When you purchase a golf course property in Tucson Arizona, you also buy directly into the surrounding amenities that most higher end courses offer, including restaurants, sports bars, spas, and exercise facilities. Typically, these amenities will require a resident to purchase a membership in the club, however some home loans and/or development loans allow the initial membership costs to be rolled into the mortgage.

After a buyer has negotiated an offer that has been accepted by a seller, you may think the hard negotiations are finished. However, in my opinion, the toughest negotiations occur during and after inspections are completed on that home. Why? Well, buyers know that they have the opportunity to renegotiate price, terms, repairs, or essentially anything they were not 100% comfortable with prior to the accepted contract. The seller is in a weak position at this point, and has to make fresh decisions about whatever that buyer has decided to renegotiate.

Anyone who has been watching the news has obviously seen and heard about all the issues that are rocking the financial world. Insurance companies that wrote policies intended to minimize risk for all the mortgage-backed securities the banks were dealing in are getting hammered this week in the stock market. Merrill Lynch was purchased by Bank Of America, Lehman Brothers had to file for bankruptcy, and maybe worst of all, AIG was on the verge of filing for bankruptcy before the Fed gave them an $85-billion loan to keep them afloat. AIG is one of the largest (if not the largest) insurance companies in the world. The man responsible for their growth from a small insurer to a titan is Hank Greenburg. While Hank will certainly still have plenty to live on, he has lost roughly $6,000,000,000 (yes that’s 6 BILLION!!) dollars in the past week! Talk about a bad week. Now, AIG’s situation isn’t necessarily their own doing, but their downfall was the result of not understanding how much risk there was in the policies they were writing while not collecting enough in payments to cover all the claims they are paying out.

My clients who come from other parts of the country to Tucson to find a new home are always amazed. Tucson’s homes are so different! What makes homes in Tucson Arizona (AZ) so unusual compared to those in other parts of the US?

Again, the numbers are not looking good if you are a seller or plan on becoming a seller during the next 6 months. These numbers were expected and, again, one must realize that these numbers are a rear view mirror of what has happened. I personally watch inventory levels to see which way the market is trending (active listings). This number is down. However…

This article, including charts, links to previous reports, and a link to this month’s full MLS report, is continued on Michael’s website. Please click here to continue.

Proposition 100 is on the ballot this year to amend the state constitution. It would prohibit Real Estate Transfer Taxes (”RETT”) from being imposed upon homeowners in Arizona. Currently, Arizona has no Real Estate Transfer Tax, however 35 other states and the District of Columbia do collect taxes every time real estate is transferred within their state. These taxes range from 0.1%-2.2% (between $250-$5500) on a $250,000 home sale. Now you maybe asking yourself, “Don’t I already pay real estate taxes on my home?” The answer to that question would be, “YES, you do.” In Arizona, real estate taxes typically run roughly 1.1% of the value of the home. This is just a rule of thumb; you would need to check with your municipality. On a $250,000 home, you should be paying roughly $2750 per year in real estate taxes. The RETT would be an additional tax charged when a property is transferred to another owner.

Want to see what $22,000,000 will get you in Tucson, Arizona? Campbell Cliffs is just that home. For $22M, you can purchase one of the finest homes in Arizona, if not the United States. Campbell Cliffs is owned by one of Tucson’s most dynamic high-end developers, Cary Marmis, President of Empire West Companies. He developed the Cobblestone neighborhood in which his personal home, Campbell Cliffs, is located. Cobblestone is Tucson’s most elite community, positioned at the end of Campbell just north of Skyline, set at the very pinnacle for residential homes in the Catalina Foothills. This neighborhood has become easily one of the most (if not the most) desired high-end, exclusive, residential communities in Southern Arizona. Multi-million dollar homes are the norm within the gated confines of Cobblestone.

Tucson’s downtown needs serious work. Everyone who has lived or been downtown knows this it is Not a Secret. Little has changed downtown in 10 years. Yes, a courthouse was built and some other things were done, but by and large, it is still a very odd place to be on the weekends or past 5pm any day of the week. There are very few homes available for reasonable prices, unless you count those built before 1910. No new condos, townhomes, homes, or other residential properties have been developed downtown in a long time. The key to turning downtown Tucson Arizona around is making it an appealing area in which to live. Then there would naturally be demand for all the services and shops that are very badly missing.