Sun City was built with a recreation center, (now 7) a golf course, (now 7 + 3 country clubs) and stores all completed by the first day of sales. With the addition of Boswell Hospital,  Sun City became a virtually self-sufficient community, unique then and still unique and desirable today.

The following are 5 of the many reasons people move to Sun City AZ:

Climate. Without a doubt, this is the foremost reason people move to Sun City. The Arizona economy used to be based upon the “4 C’s:” Climate, Cattle, Copper, and Citrus. Of these, only Climate and Cattle remain important. Unfortunately, Cattle is becoming less so. Our climate provides warm, sunny winters with minimal rain, almost no snow (you can visit it in less than 2 hours if you wish).

Cost. Homes in Sun City today, 9/2009, range from a $40,000 1 bedroom condo to $450,000 semi-custom homes on a golf course or a lake. (Yes Virginia, we have lakes) There is a home in Sun City to suit the needs, wants and budget  of almost everyone.

Convenience. Sun City AZ has the benefit of being part of the Phoenix metropolitan area, with fine dining, museums, hospitals, parks, theatre, symphony and universities, and professional sports teams like the Diamondbacks, Cardinals and Coyotes.

Health. This has historically been a major reason why people move here. The climate has long been known to be beneficial to arthritis sufferers. Sun City is home to Banner/Sun Health and Boswell Hospital, leaders in the treatment and research of age-related problems.

Recreation. This is a subject too big to be covered adequately by any one post. I’ll write more on this soon.  For the time being, did you know there are 120+ clubs sponsored by the Sun City Recreation Association? There is something here for anyone. Yes, we have shuffleboard, but also softball, recreational and competitive swimming, bocce and lawn bowling, fine arts and crafts, in short, if you cannot find a club to share your interests, maybe you have no interests.

Jim Little, Your Sun City Neighborhood REALTOR®

Who are they? Aggregators, companies that specialize in capturing your contact information and selling it to agents for a large fee. My learned associate, Teresa Boardman just wrote an article about these companies and her experiences acting as if she were a buyer. It makes fine reading, see it here. She also gives some good tips about how to find an agent without resorting to these companies. Most important is to find out does the agent actually have any experience doing business in the area you are looking to live in, or you have a home for sale in.

Here in the sun city neighborhood, I see for sale signs from companies 50 miles away. That is a LOOOONG WAAY AWAY in a metropolitan area. Do you believe the agent is working the home effectively? Do you think the agent is there after every monsoon storm? Not only do I doubt it, I know most of them do not check vacants in the absence of the owner.

If you are a buyer, will the agent who is not intimately familiar with the neighborhood able to tell you about the jet noise, the railroad noise, the busy streets and traffic patterns? Are these important? You bet.

ALWAYS do your homework and select a local agent with whom you are comfortable. Be sure the agent has the local knowledge you need, and will tell you the bad as well as the good about any property you look at.

Jim Little, Your Sun City REALTOR® [contact-form]

The answer is at once simple and complex. The Phoenix AZ market is currently driven by the lenders selling foreclosed properties. In addition, there are many people who face foreclosure. Currently there are over 40,000 notices of default pending. These  factors depress listing prices.

Buying activity is centered on these foreclosed homes, with the dominant players being investors chasing these homes with CASH. It is very difficult for the traditional buyers to successfully compete in this market.

Sun City is slightly different, in that there are few foreclosed homes and buyer activity has been stable, if lower than normal, for the last few months. The problem here is that the prospective buyers who would like to sell the old family home and move into an adult community cannot sell because they are competing with the REO (foreclosed) sellers.

My analysis of the current conditions lead me to believe that sales prices will stabilize, indeed may have already stabilized, but cannot go up any significant amount for at least 2 more years.

It remains difficult to sell a traditional listing, but not impossible.

Buyers, it is no longer a buyers market, but the conditions remain good for the purchase of a new home, especially for first time buyers. A caution, interest rates are now creeping up, and traditional inventory is gradually being absorbed. The first time buyer credit is scheduled to expire in December, don’t wait too long.

Jim Little, Your Sun City REALTOR®
To search the MLS with NO Registration, click HERE

Jim Little, Your Sun City REALTOR®

1. The Home Affordability Index is the best it has been in the 18 years of its existence. 73% of homes for sale were affordable by the median  income family($64,000 as of this writing)
2. Mortgages were still artificially low, subsidized by the Federal Reserve. This can’t go on forever folks, buy soon before rates go up. the Fed is only doing this to help us out of the current recession, do your part too.
3. HUD, after a false start is working on a mechanism to allow the first time buyer tax credit to apply to the down payment requirements on the purchase of a new home. This will probably be in the form of some sort of loan by HUD.

Check back next Friday for more GOOD NEWS.

Jim Little, Your SUN CITY NEIGHBORHOOD REALTOR®, “I try a “Little” harder”

Average selling prices were $135,000 for single family homes and $99,000 for condos and duplexes. Interest rates are at a 37 year low now. This, coupled with the first time buyer’s refundable tax credit of up to $8,000 makes today the best time to buy a home in the memory of most agents in the business today.

Jim Little, your Sun City REALTOR