January 25th, 2010 by Michael Oliver

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Ironwood Reserve Foreclosure Deal

Ironwood Reserve On Tucson’s Northwest side just northwest of the intersection at Cortaro and Silverbell represents a well developed newer home neighborhood off of Pima Farms road just north of Continental Reserve. Currently homes in Ironwood Reserve are selling for much less then they sold for during the boom of 2004-2005 prices are down in some situations over 50%! One of the best foreclosure deals on the NW side and one I personally went to was this listing at 7812 W Sage Creek Marana, AZ 85743. This home was built by Meritage Homes in 2006 and features many upgrades including 6 bedrooms, 3 baths, large kitchen island, pool, contemporary floor plan, etc.

Continental Ranch, Continental Reserve, Ironwood Reserve, NW Tucson Neighborhoods

February 24th, 2009 by Michael Oliver

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Few neighborhoods are as large as the Continental Ranch and its sister neighborhood Continental Reserve mega neighborhoods. Combined this area has roughly 4100 homes and in the past 5 years even had some commercial real estate projects to make this area self sufficient with grocery stores, services, and even direct access to a hospital and professional services. On the whole the Continental Ranch and Reserve area is probably NW Tucson’s most demanded area to live in for those that want a master-planned community with many options for people of all ages to participate in. For starters here is some background on both areas.

January 21st, 2009 by Michael Oliver

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I have been trying to come up with where I think the best values are for individual neighborhoods so it made me think of doing a post since I can’t be the only one wondering. For this “value” I’m considering more then just price in effect I’m objectively looking at the overall value a neighborhood brings to the residents who live there on the whole. Since it’s not realistic or simple to configure one individual neighborhood for “Best Neighborhood Value In Tucson” I thought I would name a few dependent upon price range and what the neighborhood offers residents. I would like to get some feedback on what others think represents good value in the Tucson area so your comments will be much appreciated.

January 14th, 2009 by Michael Oliver

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On the market (and recently reduced to an incredible price) is a 2110 square foot, 4 bed, 3 bath home with cathedral ceilings and a pebble tech pool with a heated spa within Continental Ranch (in Marana on Tucson’s Northwest (NW) side) for an incredible/ ridiculously low price of $156,900! This home originally hit the market in November 2008 at an overpriced $203,900! Then within 3 months it has just been slashed (close to $30,000) to get to the new incredible bargain of $156,900! Now this home I’m sure will go under contract by the time you read this however it is worth mentioning just how good some of the deals that are out there these days. This home is a foreclosure home AND it needs some work. The buyer who purchases this foreclosure home will need to put some money into it right away but I don’t think it needs a “lot” of money compared with the price it can be purchased at. As a note of disclosure until a buyer has home inspections and other due diligence completed on the home you never know exactly what you are getting however it should be safe to say that this house is at its new “just reduced” price a very good buy. This home was built in 1996 is on Avondale St within Continental Ranch the home is one of those rare (although getting a little more common these days) “deals” that if you’re looking hard (or better yet have an expert real estate agent who is looking for you and truly representing your interests) you can find. This home features oversized windows that let a lot of light into the home, a very livable floor plan with a bedroom and full bath downstairs. Also this home looks to have Pergo flooring and tile on the bottom floor and carpeting (that really needs to be ripped out and replaced) through out the rest of the home. The pool/ heated spa look to be in good shape and the pebble tech finish gives the pool a very finished and upscale feel. Pebble tech for those unaware is a coating that some pools have that is literally made of small “pebbles” and marble to give a shimmering and textured feel. Pebble tech is (depending upon pool size) about a $2000-$3000 upgrade and makes all pools look a lot better vs. the more standard and traditional plaster that eventually will show a pool’s age. Listing represented by TucsonREO, LLC.

November 26th, 2008 by Michael Oliver

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Obviously when you’re relocating to Tucson Arizona if you have never been here it can be extremely hard to figure out what side of town you want to live on, or what type of home you can get. Hopefully blogs like mine help you to shed light on what is available and to get a feel for the region months before you actually show up to town. Relocating to Tucson Arizona can (like all relocations) be stressful and complex. The toughest part of relocating to anywhere regardless if it’s Tucson (which hopefully it is) is finding a home you like in an area of town that works well for both you and your family. I figured I would give a basic rundown of the large mega communities that are very popular with relocating (and native residents) buyers. These neighborhoods are large in size and not necessarily for everyone, however the reason why they are large is because people find them well situated and well priced so they have a lot of demand. When relocating to Tucson as anywhere, everyone has opinions about “the best area” or “The best neighborhood” all of this is very, very subjective talk to 10 people and your bound to hear 10 different responses. Like I said this relocation guide post is simply to make potential relocation buyers aware of the Tucson area’s most popular large master-planned communities.

October 18th, 2008 by Michael Oliver

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As one can imagine with Tucson AZ’s incredible climate we have a lot of people that purchase second homes and even more that decide to retire here. In Tucson AZ Age Restricted Communities/Neighborhoods, 55+ Communities, and even 45+ Communities are spread all over the Tucson valley. These types of neighborhoods provide residents to be able to be “Active Adults”. These communities have age restrictions meaning that one or both residents must be above a certain age (typically 55) to be allowed to reside in the community. Most neighborhoods have very large community centers that offer large pools, fitness equipment, workout areas, spas, game rooms, etc.. I have personally seen a lot of these clubhouses and to say the least they are very nice, most are in excess of 50,000sqft. Active Adult communities (Also referred to as 55+ Communities, Age Restricted Neighborhoods, etc) are available all over the Tucson area. Some of the most popular reside in the city of Green Valley. (25 Minutes south of Tucson) Some individual neighborhoods that are some of the most popular include Sonora at Rancho Sahuarita, Rancho Resort, Quail Creek, Sunflower at Continental Ranch, Bel Air Ranch Est, Outpost Estates II, Continental Ranch Sunflower, Sun City Vistoso, Heritage Highlands At Red Hawk, Saddlebrooke, Heritage Highlands, Canoa Ridge, Quail Creek, Rancho Vistoso, Valley Ranch Garrison Ad, Rancho Del Lago, Casas Del Oro Norte, La Joya Verde, Green Valley Fairways 3, Sonora At Rancho Sahuarita, Legends at Santa Rita Springs, San Ignacio Golf Estates, Las Campanas, Greens At Santa Rita Springs, Green Valley CC Est, Canoa Seca, Portillo Hills Place, Green Valley Country Club Estates

February 2nd, 2008 by Michael Oliver

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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.

January 9th, 2008 by Michael Oliver

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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.