Archive for May, 2009
Gilbert Continues Attempt at Syncing Traffic Lights
May 11th, 2009
Categories:East Valley News
After a decade, $2.2 million Town of Gilbert dollars and $550,000 in federal grants, the Town of Gilbert still struggles to reduce traffic congestion through green-light synchronization. However, after they do expect it to be fixed about 12 months. AZ Republic has more information here.
Why Do We Care?
In the ideal world syncing all the traffic lights would mean the average driver doing 45 miles an hour would hit every green light. This would reduce the incentive for speeders as they would only get to the red light a little faster and have to wait there while everyone caught up. In more simple terms it would dramatically reduce the amount of traffic that builds up on the surface street during the heaviest traffic times.
Those Little White Cameras…
Ever wonder what the little white cameras on top of the traffic lights are all about? Read the rest of this entry »
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Queen Creek Home Values, Too Low?
May 11th, 2009
Categories:Real Estate News
According to the Cromford report, their data shows Queen Creek homes are selling way below 2004 (as well as 2003 and 2002) prices, in terms of price per square foot. The image below shows the data as it is represented by Cromford.
Side Note: Queen Creek saw a good deal of growth and expansion during the housing boom. As a result, data gathered on the housing market pre-real estate boom might be somewhat unreliable because the homes being sold are probably very different from what was being sold in 2002 and earlier. Queen Creek home builders also Read the rest of this entry »
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Chandler Home Values, Finally a Reset?
May 11th, 2009
Categories:Real Estate News
According to the Cromford report, their data shows Chandler homes are selling at early (and slightly below) 2004 prices, (in terms of price per square foot). The image below shows the data as it is represented by Cromford.
A Break Down Line by Line:
- Blue (2004) – Notice the uptick in prices from February to December
- Green (2005) – From January to November the prices skyrocketed
- Red (2006) – The market was surprisingly stable for the first 3 months, before becoming erratic through July and then dropping
- Purple (2007) – Again the market was stable at first, then it became erratic and prices began falling
- Olive (2008) – This year showed a very steady and consistent drop in prices
- Orange (2009) – Chandler home prices have been dropping at a steady rate up until mid April when the price per sqft values dipped just below 2004 prices, which would give you the impression the Chandler housing market has done its “reset”
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Gilbert Homes Undervalued?
May 11th, 2009
Categories:Real Estate News
According to the Cromford report, their data shows Gilbert homes are selling at early 2004 prices, (in terms of price per square foot). The image below shows the data as it is represented by Cromford.
A Break Down Line by Line:
- Blue (2004) – Notice the uptick in prices from July to December
- Green (2005) – From January to November the prices skyrocketed
- Red (2006) – The market was surprisingly stable for the first 6 months, before dropping in prices from June to September
- Purple (2007) – The first 5 months proved a little erratic before prices began dropping in May
- Olive (2008) – The most dramatic drop occurred here
- Orange (2009) – We’ve had a pretty stable market and the prices are sitting just below/around early 2004 prices, which would give you the impression the market has done its “reset”
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Mortgage Apps at 5 Year High
May 1st, 2009
Categories:Real Estate News
Mortgage applications hit a 5 year high, reports MSNBC.com. After the Federal Reserve announced they would buy $500 Billion in mortgage backed securities, the rates continue to drop as lenders anxiously take advantage of the situation.
Freddie Mac reports the average 30 year rate on December 31st as 5.10%. 80% of the applications are for refinances as those with equity in their homes take advantage of the historically low rates. Unfortunately home owners who can not refinance because they are under-water or upside-down continue to see their situation get worse as others in their position continue to walk away from their homes.
Sadly, those who continue to walk away from their homes only make the problem worse as their homes become bank-owned properties which inevitable drive down the home values for their neighbors.
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