August 26, 2009 by donna.

There is a big difference in the home sales patterns of last year versus this year. Mostly we have seen quite a bit of depreciation as the Sellers that have to sell have finally realistically priced their homes.

This year we have had 6 homes sell under 500K; last year there was only 2 and one was a foreclosure.

This year the homes that have sold under 500K have been very aggressively priced except for one which was a nicely remodeled foreclosure that was a two-story Pepper -Viner home on Ocotillo Canyon that sold for $424,900 at the beginning of the year. All the others that sold this year revealed the tremendous depreciation from the peak of sales in early 2006 with estimates of most non-custom homes depreciating approximately 25%. At the beginning of the year, 2 homes priced at exactly a million dollars and one priced at $1,250,000 (my sale) closed escrow and revealed that the over a million dollar price- range was doing fairly well in warding off the depreciation of the less-priced homes in Sabino Mt. Now most over a million dollar homes that were on the market gave up and are no longer listed for sale. The few that are hanging in there have little chance to sell since the buyers that are buying in the high-end are looking for bargains and there are many out there, but not in the Read the rest of this entry »

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August 26, 2009 by donna.

Some future buyer is going to get a great deal on 4042 N Black Rock Drive (MLS #20921750) that is listed for sale at $699,000 by the Long Realty Foothills office. The condition is impeccable and it is very upgraded. This floorplan has a super, large gourmet kitchen. But the best feature of all is its tremendous high Catalina Mountain views. It is a semi-custom, large 3,631 square foot home located on a Sabino Mountain ridge! At $699,000 it costs $192.51 a square foot which is less per square feet than one of the Pepper-Viner homes listed for sale that does not have these amazing high Mountain views.

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August 26, 2009 by donna.

I feel very fortunate that my daughter can open enroll in Esperero Canyon Middle School that is only a few miles from Sabino Mountain and is located across the street from Sabino Canyon. She is a 7th grader who attended St Gregory’s last year. I am so glad she is back to a schedule of having all her classes every day; at St Greg’s classes were every other day. It is great that in this year with many budget cuts, she has Spanish and Phys Ed daily. The credentials of the teachers are outstanding. Other things I really like is she is able to stay at the school library for an hour after school and not be part of a paying school care supervisory program. Daily lunches run less than $3.00; at her former school the cost could run about $8.00 a day. Although I have to say my daughter liked the food better at St. Greg’s. There is no high teacher turnover at Esperero. The Math team has free Math tutoring for an hour after school twice a week; to me that is amazing! So although my daughter has only been back to school for less than two weeks, I am very happy with the school.

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August 26, 2009 by donna.

I have heard a few neighbors comment that they would like the Sabino Mountain pool to be heated in the winter. Last winter it was not heated and the entire pool and spa area was locked up.

I suggest to those of you who desire the community pool to be heated in Winter, you should email Bill Druke at bdruke@comcast.net. Bill is the President of the Sabino Mountain Board of Directors.

I am sure the Board of Directors will start working on next year’s budget soon, so do not delay contacting him if you wish to have it open. Of course, like anything else, the more owners who contact the Board and tell them they want it, the more likely it will stay open.

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