Flagstaff Real Estate - News, Market Reports and Humor

The 2010 Flagstaff Market Report is Here

Our Flagstaff Market Report shows sales in all of Flagstaff (except for Williams), as represented by the Northern Arizona Multiple Listing Service.

We've given you the breakdown by most popular neighborhoods and by our Golf Communities.

Click on the links within this report to see all homes for sale in these neighborhoods, and to see CMAs of homes sold in our Golf Communities!

 

Flagstaff Arizona First Quarter of 2009 - The Stats are In!

2009 First Quarter Flagstaff Real Estate Results!

FIRST QUARTER 2009 - The average price of residential sales (homes, townhomes, condos, manufactureds) was $337,000, with a total of 139 units sold in the first quarter. The average price per sf. is $174.00.  In the first quarter of 2008, 69 units sold.

Interpretation? While it is still very much a Buyer's Market in Flagstaff, and while inventory remains high, average price and sales volume are higher this quarter than the first quarter of 2008.

Even with the rise of bank-owned sales and short sales, Flagstaff prices are not dropping to the drastically lower levels experienced in Phoenix and other larger cities. This is because of Flagstaff's special qualities (altitude, location, amenities, second-home market), and because Banks price their homes as close to market value as possible and given high demand, are not motivated to drop prices, unless the home has more serious problems that make it unattractive to almost any buyer.

Personally, I am excited to report a wave of Buyer activity, mostly with first time home buyers or second home buyers looking for a Flagstaff properties at $250,000 and below.  Fabulous interest rates, lower prices, the $8,000.00 tax credit for first time homebuyers and what seems to be more confidence in the economy are prompting buyers to submit offers and close deals!

View the Flagstaff Daily Market Report at www.TheFlagstaffWebsite.com. Updated (almost) daily with easy weekly and monthly comparisons, you can be your own Flagstaff Market Expert!

And remember, when deciding on the correct sale or offer price, it is important to look at the statistics in your specific Flagstaff neighborhood, and consider every aspect of your home. For focused, personalized reports for your property, call or email Eileen.

February Flagstaff Real Estate Market Stats are in!

With our economy in flux and the eyes and ears of our nation, and other nations, tuned in to multiple indicators of national economic health, local statistics are more important than ever. 

What, exactly, is happening where I live? 

The Flagstaff Daily Market Reportanswers that question on an (almost) daily basis for our slice of Paradise, Flagstaff Arizona.  These monthly market reviews help us stay educated about local trends and enable us to make our best decisions: Is it time for ME, personally to buy or sell? 

According to data taken from the Northern Arizona MLS, which does not include sale by Owners, in February 2009:

We sold 39 homes; the average price was $290,000; and the average price/sf was $171.00

From January to February, the number of sales increased by 1, the average price of sales declined by 16 percent.  The average price/sf declined by 1.7 percent.

Interpretation?

Looking at averages is only a snapshot and can be misleading.

Sales were reported on 15 days out of the month of February.

Of those 15 days, on SIX days, average sale prices were $345,000 and above, and on THREE days, average sales prices were $300,000 and above.

So, on NINE out of FIFTEEN days, the average sales price in Flagstaff was above $300,000

On SIX days, average sales prices were below $300,000, with lower prices bringing the entire average down to $290,000.

The Economic Stimulus helps Flagstaff

The new Economic Stimulus contains provisions aimed at helping the First Time Homebuyer above all, and also Buyers qualified for FHA Loans. 

Coconino County is considered a high cost area, meaning our FHA loan limits are increased to $450,000.  This is great news for Flagstaff.  FHA loans allow buyers to purchase with lower downpayments.  When homes are still averaging in the $300,00 range, this enables qualified buyers to purchase with approximately $10,000 as a downpayment instead of the minimum of $30,000 needed for most conventional loans.

FHA loans are often considered loans ONLY for first time homebuyers.  THIS IS NOT TRUE.  It does not matter how many homes you have owned.  Ask your lender for specifics!

Flagstaff's Selling Season

Spring and Summer are traditionally considered Flagstaff's high selling season.  This is because we are a vibrant second home market.  As the temperatures start to boil in Phoenix, buyers look to the north for a good investment that enables a higher quality of life. 

We will keep our eyes tuned to the Flagstaff Daily Market Reportfor (almost) daily and weekly updates, to observe how lower prices, provisions of the economic stimulus, and the onset of our busier selling season evolves.

For market reports that focus on YOUR home and YOUR neigborhood, please email or call me! 

For Flagstaff Properties, For Flagstaff Golf Properties, For Flagstaff Foreclosures

 

Flagstaff Arizona Real Estate Market Reports, 2007-2008. The Results are In!

The following are Market Reports for Flagstaff Arizona, comparing data for Single Family Home Sales only, in 2007 and 2008.  They do not include townhomes, condos or land. All info is taken from the Flagstaff Multiple Listing Service with all appropriate disclaimers.

These reports are snapshots which include basic statistics, and reflect an overall market.  However, I do not recommend that you use them to measure the value of your home, or a home you wish to purchase.

Synopsis of the Flagstaff Market Report, 2007 & 2008

Based on Statistics from the Northern Arizona MLS, the average Sale Price of Flagstaff Single Family Homes dropped 8.5% from 2007 to 2008.

Quarterly Synopsis of Sell Price/SF

Avg. Sell Price/SF dropped in the First Quarter of 07 to 08 by 4.6%

Avg. Sell Price/SF dropped in the Second Quarter of 07 to 08 by 6.9%

Avg. Sell Price/SF dropped in the Third Quarter of 07 to 08 by 8.8%

Avg. Sell Price/SF dropped in the Fourth Quarter of 07 to 08 by 13.8%

 

 Average Sell Price/SF for calendar year 2007 was $216.17

Average Sell Price/SF for calendar year 2008 was $197.73

 

_____________________________________________________

  (Drum Roll for First and Second Quarter Stats)

View Flagstaff Arizona First and Second Quarter Single Family Home Sales 2007 & 2008 

 

(Drum Roll for Third and Fourth Quarter Stats)

 

View Flagstaff Arizona Third and Fourth Quarter Single Family Home Sales 2007 & 2008

_________________________________________________________________

If you would like to discuss or interpret this data, please call me at (928) 226-7150 or email me at eschreiber@russlyon.com

To easily browse properties available in Flagstaff, AZ, please go here.

To easily browse affordable homes (in your price range) go here

 

    

Flagstaff Single Family Homes Sold: Dec. 22-28

The following statistics are for single family homes only sold in Flagstaff, AZ for the week of December 22-28, 2008.  It does not include condos, townhomes or manufactured homes.

For specific reports that reflect your neighborhood, or for reports that provide comparables to your home, or the home you wish to purchase, please call or email Eileen!

• Average Price                          $315,000
• High Price                               $370,000

• Low Price                                $250,000

• Median Price                           $316,000

• Avg. Price/SF                            $186.27

• Avg. Year Built                         1996     

• Avg. Sales to List Price              96.94%

• Avg. Days on Market                          84

• Inthe same week, One Condominium Sold: A 1270 SF, 3 BR, 2 BA Condo for $215,000

Flagstaff will have Two Walmarts, One Supercenter

Reprinted from the Arizona Daily Sun.  Author -Joe Ferguson - December19, 2008

Green light for supercenter

By JOE FERGUSON
Sun Staff Reporter
Friday, December 19, 2008

It's official: A Wal-Mart Supercenter is coming to east Flagstaff in 2010.

It just won't be the massive big box that city voters debated back in 2005. But it will sell groceries in addition to discount retail goods under the same roof.

The city's development review board approved plans on Thursday for a 114,018 square-foot Wal-Mart on Huntington Drive next to the Outback Steakhouse.

The approved plans are vastly different than the two-story, 212,000-square-foot Supercenter the nation's largest retailer had sought more than two years ago -- plus a parking garage.

But after several revisions, the approved plan calls for a one-story store only 9,000 square feet larger than the current Wal-Mart in west Flagstaff.

The new plans also outline a traditional parking lot rather than the original two-story garage on the 15.6-acre site.

A representative for Wal-Mart, Delia Garcia, said the store would include a fully-stocked supermarket, unlike the Wal-Mart in west Flagstaff, which primarily sells retail goods.

"It is still a supercenter concept, it is just not a 200,000-square-foot store people usually associate with supercenters," Garcia said. "We have 100,000-square-foot supercenters."

The city and the retailer are still at odds over 12 conditions that the city has proposed to address the thousands of extra vehicle trips a day at nearby intersections and two-lane roads the new store is expected to generate.

One of the conditions set by the city is a $750,000 payment to the city for extra lanes on the Fourth Street bridges over Interstate 40. The payment represents 15 percent of the estimated cost of $5 million.

Both sides said they are confident an agreement can be reached on the traffic conditions outlined in the eight-page report.

Conditions as part of the DRB approval process are common in Flagstaff. The Juniper Point mixed-use project reportedly had 1,000 conditions as part of its DRB approval.

Wal-Mart is expected to keep its "green" features for the store, including skylights, the use of local building materials and energy-efficient systems.

The store, when open in 2010, is expected to employ between 250 and 300 people, Garcia said.

Because the project complies with the underlying zoning, it does not need the approval of the city's planning and zoning commission or the city council.

Joe Ferguson can be reached at 556-2253 or jferguson@azdailysun.com.

Chronology of Flagstaff's second Wal-Mart

-- July 2006: Initial application for 212,000 square-foot Supercenter

-- Sept. 2006: 212,000 square feet, but with new, environmentally friendly features

-- July 2007: 178,000 square feet

-- June 2008: 114,000 square feet

--December 2008: Final DRB approval

Flagstaff will have Two Beaver Street Breweries

Reprinted From the Arizona Daily Sun.  Author - Joe Ferguson.  December 16, 2008

Brewery ready to expand

Beaver Street Brewery is set to build a second restaurant and microbrewery at an old lumberyard just south of the tracks in downtown Flagstaff.

By JOE FERGUSON
Sun Staff Reporter
Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The owners of Beaver Street Brewery in Flagstaff have plans to convert a vacant lumber warehouse just south of the tracks into a second downtown restaurant and microbrewery.

The plans hinge on approval of the Flagstaff City Council, which is being asked to consider a complicated 50-year lease of the city-owned land that would start at just a dollar a year. In exchange, the owners of Beaver Street could pour as much as $2 million worth of improvements into the historic J.D. Halstead Lumber Company building at South San Francisco and Phoenix.

The existing restaurant does roughly $4 million of business each year, according to a city staff report.

The new location would allow Beaver Street to begin bottling its beer for local, and eventually, statewide distribution. It would also create 70 new jobs that average $12 an hour.

Evan Hanseth of Beaver Street Brewery said he has reached production capacity at his current 9,000 square-foot location on Beaver Street.

"The brewery there has been pretty maxed out this summer and we don't have any room for expansion," Hanseth said. "One of the reasons we are going to do this is to be able to make more beer and supply the existing restaurant."

An increase in volume would help Hanseth deliver cans of Railhead Red and other award-winning, seasonal beers he produces to local grocery and liquor stores.

Beaver Street only distributes its beer now in 64-ounce glass bottles known as growlers and sells it only at the restaurant.

"Initially, it would be locally and then statewide eventually," Hanseth said.

CANS, NOT BOTTLES

He said plans currently call for distributing in cans rather than glass bottles.

"The trend in the industry is using cans, it is more environmentally friendly," he said.

Fans of the existing Beaver Street location have nothing to fear, Hanseth said, because the new plans will not affect current operations.

"We are not going to close the restaurant we have, this is going to be a whole new venue. " Hanseth said. "It will be a whole different cuisine ... we will cater to the college crowd. In some respects, we are going to compete with ourselves."

If approved by the council, Hanseth said the new restaurant would open sometime after the new brewery is up and running, projected for December 2009.

The lease would require the brewery, the sole bidder on the city contract, to preserve existing historic buildings.

Community Investment Director Michael Kerski said he has seen plans that call for Beaver Street to spend an estimated $2 million to remodel the existing buildings.

TIERED RENTAL CONTRACT

The draft agreement with the city, if approved, would have a tiered rental contract, with Beaver Street paying $1 a year until the new brewery opens.

The rent would increase to $1,500 a month until the city closes off the adjacent parking lot to make improvements to the Rio de Flag flood control project.

As the city demolishes the parking lot to build an underground culvert, Beaver Street would not have to pay any rent. When the project is finished, the city would rebuild the 40-space parking lot and charge Beaver Street $3,000 a month, with annual two percent increases.

The lease is for 50 years, with two optional 10-year extensions. The property will then revert to city at the end of the lease.

SOME WANT PARKING GARAGE

Some downtown business owners see the old lumber warehouse as the perfect spot to build a downtown parking garage. The city already the owns the land, removing the prospect of expensive land acquisition near downtown Flagstaff.

But the city's historic preservation officer, Karl Eberhard, said the city could jeopardize countless federal grants if it tore down a historic building it had vowed to protect.

The oldest lumberyard building on the site dates back to the 1890s and is the last remaining building from Flagstaff's lumber era.

As an example, Eberhard said the city is hoping to receive millions from the federal government for the Rio de Flag flood control project on the condition that the historic warehouse and several other Southside buildings be preserved. The Army Corps of Engineers has already allocated $18.6 million to the flood control project.

Hanseth said in a letter to the city that he would work with the state Historic Preservation office and other regulatory agencies to keep the building and site on the historical register.

Joe Ferguson can be reached at 556-2253 or jferguson@azdailysun.com.

By the numbers:

Beaver Streeet Brewery

90-100 Current employees

70 Additional employees at second site

$4 million Curent sales

$2 million Reported cost of renovations to the lumberyard

9,000 Size in square feet of current property

8,500 Size in square feet of second property

Friday December 5 Flagstaff Listing Stats

New Listings	9
Back on Market	2
Price Increases	2
Price Reductions	9
Contingents	3
Pendings	0
Solds	2
Expireds	3
Inactives	5

Flagstaff Market Trends - To October 2008

Flagstaff Arizona Market Trends - Three Year Comparison  

Year	Average Sales Price (add all prices, divide by number sold)	Median Price (the midpoint between the lowest and highest price)	Average Days on Market	Units sold annually or to date	% Change in median price from 2006 (highest)
2006	$458,116	$392,500	91	528	High
2007	$436,511	$375,000	108	479	-4.4%
Through October 2008	$415,083	$359,500	120	334 YTD	-8.40%

Please remember that Market Trends do not provide you with specific information relevant to YOUR property.  Values differe according to your property's age, location, size, lot size and amenities.

For reports specific to your home and neighborhood, email eileen at eschreiber@russlyon.com

**All data is taken from the Northern Arizona Multiple Listing Service

Arizona's GOLD lining within the Doom and Gloom Clouds

The following recent articles show that Arizona is, in fact, the Gold Lining within the doom and gloom news of the National Real Estate and Housing Markets.

Nov. 19, 2008 10:03 AM

Home construction sinks to new record low **Except in the West**

Associated Press

“The declines in construction last month were led by a 31 percent drop in the Northeast, where construction of single family homes fell to a new record low. They also dropped 13.7 percent in the Midwest. Construction rose 7.5 percent in the West and 1.5 percent in the South.”

________________________________________________________________________________________

The Associated Press Nov. 18, 2008 02:18 PM

More negative signs for US housing market **Except in Arizona**

“Also Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors said that 120 out of 152 metropolitan areas it tracks saw the median home sale price decline in the July-September quarter compared with a year ago. Nationally, sales fell by almost 8 percent compared with last year.

Sales fell in all but four states. The exceptions were Nevada, California, Arizona and Virginia , where buyers have been able to snap up foreclosed homes at a bargain.”

________________________________________________________________________________________

Phoenix Business Journal Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - 10:11 AM MST

Arizona tops nation with increase in home sales

“The latest National Association of Realtors read on the housing sector shows an industry still in shambles, but a bright spot in Arizona.

According to the group’s third-quarter report, the largest sales gain among states — 28.3 percent over the second quarter — was in Arizona.  California and Nevada were close behind.”