Tucson AZ is a prime secondary home (winter home) market. Every year, hundreds of people decide to buy a $1 million dollar + home in Tucson. So what does $1.5M get you? We’ll check it out. In case you’re wondering, there are 239 properties listed at $1,500,000 or greater as of today (March 29, 2008) in Tucson.

This property (courtesy of Russell P. Long of Long Realty) is currently listed for sale at $1,595,000.

This home is 4050 square feet, located in the ultra-high-end community of Pima Canyon Estates, on a lot that is over an acre is size.

Continental Reserve, on Tucson’s northwest (NW) side was built as an extension to Continental Ranch in 1998-2006. The homes in Continental Reserve have a contemporary look thanks to their exterior paint schemes, rooflines, and floor plans that exhibit large open living spaces. Several major homebuilders developed communities in Continental Reserve. A.F. Sterling’s Sierra Ridge community offers large lots and all single-story floor plans. Their Sierra Crest neighborhood is Continental Reserve’s only gated community, and also includes a pool and spa for residents. KB Home’s Stoneridge is a neighborhood of all single-story homes ranging in size from 1558 square feet to 2481 square feet. All feature tile roofs and many of their floor plans have great room concepts. US Home also built a large community in Continental Reserve that is named Summit Point. This community offers both one- and two-story homes ranging in size from 2000 square feet to over 3000 square feet. These homes sit at the rear of Continental Reserve and some lots offer unmatched flawless views of Sombrero Peak and virgin desert landscape. The community lies adjacent to Saguaro National Forest, named after its rich growth of saguaro cacti. Pulte Homes offers the Jubilee community, one of the last communities built out in Continental Reserve. These homes are some of the finest in the area due to their size and the finishing touches that were included in the neighborhood. Meritage Homes offers homes with a very contemporary look and feel. They were originally constructed by a local builder known as Monterrey Homes which was later purchased by national homebuilder, Meritage. Home sizes range from roughly 1800 square feet to just under 3000 square feet. These, like Pulte’s, offer owners higher-end finishes and dramatic homes that feature large open kitchens, extra-high cathedral ceilings, premium exterior architecture, and often include unique living spaces that other builders do not include in their homes.Other communities within Continental Reserve include Amber Crest, Coyote Trails, and Pinnacle Vista by Lennar, Paseo Crossings and Entrada by Monterrey (now Meritage Homes), Eagle Ridge by US Home, Continental Reserve Block 7 & 8, Continental Reserve Block 10, Continental Reserve Block 13, and Continental Reserve Block 17-19.

Have $750,000 and want to know how far that will get you in the Catalina Foothills of Tucson? In many large cities like San Diego, Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Seattle, and many other areas of the country, $750,000 will not get you very much at all. But Tucson offers climate, scenery, and an economy that (while not as diverse as some of these mega metro areas) is very vibrant. Here in Tucson, we have passed 1 million in population and this has pulled many high-end businesses and retailers to the area. Just off of Sunrise and Campbell, La Entrada is fully leased with premium retailers for high-end fashions and services to residents who demand luxury items. In addition, the Tucson area is dotted with many exclusive resorts that cater to residents and guests alike with world- class golf, spas, and recreation that cannot be surpassed by any desert climate in the world!

The Casas Adobes area of Tucson is bordered by Thornydale on the west, Orange Grove on the south, First Avenue on the east, and Overton Road on the north. This area is home to over 50,000 people, many of whom would not consider living anywhere else in Tucson because of its unique character. The history of Casas Adobes is pretty interesting.

With the Accenture Match Play Championship concluding this week, I thought it would be interesting to point out some super luxury homes being developed by the super luxury hotel. Ritz-Carlton has just a handful of these homes, called “The Residences,” at its more than 100 worldwide locations. These properties are developed with convenience and super luxury in mind for the owners, who receive access to everything the hotel has to offer. However, residents will be required to join the golf club. Those member ships cost $100,000 plus annual fees, which have yet to be determined. The price of these homes will “start” at $2.25M (which includes a home site at the lower range of the spectrum) and go up to prices that will be in excess of $4.3M. These properties will be on the very high end of the market, especially for the Marana area. The actual neighborhoods are Amolillo, Seven Saguaros and Rockpoint Ridge. The Amolillo and Seven Saguaros neighborhoods feature highly customized homes, with a choice of 5 floorplans. Rockpoint Ridge will have custom home sites ranging from approximately 1.5 acres to almost 7 acres. The thinking is that many second, third, and fourth home owners will want a desert location in the spectacular Dove Mountain area complete with vistas of the entire Tucson Valley. Prospective buyers of “The Residences at Ritz-Carlton” within the Dove Mountain area will very willing to pay for a premium name in a premium area.

This was reported recently in the Arizona Daily Star. The newspaper article stated that Rancho Sahuarita experienced a very high number of new home starts in 2007, even though the general real estate market is bad. The exact number given was 452. This placed Rancho Sahuarita in first place for new starts in all of Tucson’s new-home communities. The statistics for Tucson’s major communities stats are as follows:

Rancho Sahuarita: 452
Red Rock Village (all Pulte) 235
Rancho Vistoso: 224
Madera Highlands (also in Sahuarita): 198

Swiss drug giant Roche has virtually locked up smaller local Ventana Medical Systems, based in Oro Valley, Arizona. The deal was for $89.50 per share. Based in Basel, Switzerland, Roche tried persuasion with Ventana for over a year, then made a hostile bid in June of 2007. Finally after much negotiation, they came to terms for the company at the $89.50 per share level. Ventana Medical Systems has more than 800 employees worldwide, and 660 of those reside in Oro Valley, Arizona. Ventana develops medical equipment for cancer detection.

At least 12 more stores, restaurants, and health care clinics are being constructed at The Marketplace at Rancho Sahuarita the commercial complex is located in the northern side of Sahuarita road and East of I-19.  All the commercial buildings will be completed by June of 2008 and the businesses themselves should all be opened by September of 2008. Already 2 businesses are opened in the Marketplace at Rancho Sahuarita those businesses are JP Morgan Chase Bank Branch, and a 108,000s.f. Fry’s Marketplace which I have personally be inside of and is well stocked with many higher end foods and brands then a Fry’s would normally carry. Construction on the Marketplace at Rancho Sahuarita is being further developed on the L shaped, 18,360s.f. building at the north end of the 25 acre commercial complex where the next businesses are scheduled to open.  Carondelet Medical Group office, a dental clinic and a real estate office will be opened in this building of the Marketplace at Rancho Sahuarita. Another building is being developed on the south side of the Chase Bank this building is to be 5,600 s.f. and will house a dry cleaner, sandwich shop, and a coffee shop. In addition another building is being constructed south of the Fry’s Marketplace this building will house several more shops these will include a nail salon, hair salon, and a sit down restaurant.

Marana’s largest neighborhood and community of Continental Ranch had a recall vote that happened on Jan 30^th, 2008. Continental Ranch Community Association President Nicole Glasner and first Vice president Tom Licht retained their seats even though the majority of the votes were against them. The association has claimed that there were not enough valid ballots to officially oust the two members. Only 747 out of the total 1444 could be counted as official votes either for or against the members of Continental Ranch neighborhood most all the votes were against but the catch is that since only 747 official votes could be counted and the minimum of 1000 valid votes were necessary to oust the board members. As a resident of the area I can say that this seems to be a fine print measure for these board members to keep their spots, in my opinion they should both just resign and put an end to the unrest of residents vs. the HOA boards. This whole mess began because the board decided that Continental Ranch members did not need their trash picked up twice a week but once a week after they made that decision they failed to mention it to the homeowners (or made a very weak attempt to anyway) and this outraged the Continental Ranch residents shortly after this you could see petitions and drives to organize and get the board member off the board. The garbage issue in my opinion was just the tipping point the HOA for years has been very hard (again my opinion) on home owners and enforcing the rules even the smallest of them. Now having said that Continental Ranch does look very attractive and most of the credit could be placed with the HOA for running such a tight ship, BUT don’t get me wrong there is not very many residents that were ever happy with the HOA and all the rules and fines that were handed out regularly to the point of it being almost beyond reasonable. The next agenda for the board is to replace the former property management company Platinum Management INC after they said they would be ending the contract with Continental Ranch over all the unrest in the community. My guess is after a month or two things will settle down and life will go on in Continental Ranch neighborhood.

Areas of Continental Ranch and Continental Reserve (located on the northwest side of Tucson at Silverbell and Cortaro Rd) are being developed for commercial purposes and have been for the past 3 years. All along Cortaro, just west of I-10, properties have been continuously developed and now offer residents extreme convenience, and most residents never have to cross I-10 to get anything they are in search of. In the past few years, a Super Wal-Mart, Kohls, Checker, Autozone (automotive stores), Chili’s, Ace Hardware, Fry’s, Chase, Bank of America, Movie Theater Complex, several restaurants, and service providers have made Continental Ranch and Continental Reserve home to their businesses. Just a few years ago, an urgent care center was built, providing medical care.