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Tucson is a Native American word meaning "water at black mountain." The city, founded in 1775, is Arizona's oldest city, and has a kaleidoscope of cultures and a unique blend of heritages. Tucson is a modern city with high-tech industries and world-class cultural events, yet it retains the charm of its desert frontier roots. Historic adobe homes are preserved around downtown high-rises. Resorts and golf courses are nestled in the foothills where coyotes still roam. Citrus trees and cacti grow along side each other, and cowboys and business professionals rub shoulders with each other every day.

The Beauty of Tucson

Market Trends

2010 YEAR IN REVIEW

A Year of Challenges & Opportunities

The Tucson Residential Housing Market proved to be a very interesting year filled with challenges and opportunities for buyers, sellers and agents that included a lot of questions and answers about distressed properties (short sales and foreclosures).

Home unit sales were up slightly over 2009. Inventory continued to climb and the average sale price dropped to $189,352 from the previous year's average of $201,155. The percent of the list price received on sales remained at a steady 95%. In the last 5 year period significant change has occurred. In 2005 the average sale price was $256,247 and sales volume was 2 times what it is today. We remain optimistic as we move into 2011. It's a strong buyer's market with inventory high and prices low.

Area	Single Family	Townhome
North	$501,477	$256,735
Northeast	$328,331	$145,256
NW/Marana/Oro Valley	$246,070	$182,676
Central	$159,833	$116,902
East	$168,180	$108,892
South	$95,147	$48,170
Southeast/Vail	$176,382	$ 67,589
Southwest	$116,357	$ 81,086
XSW/Green Valley/Sahuarita	$181,810	$109,962
West	$192,685	$ 87,587

2011 Mortgage Trends/Rates

Although we cannot accurately or legally quote interest rates without knowing your FICO score, debt to income ratio, down payment percentage and loan, I can say that rates are in low to high 5s after last year's historically low interest rates. It seems pretty certain that for 2011 we will see the US dollar continue to go down, we will have inflationary concerns, continued stock market volatility, and we will see a very slow, very steady climb in interest rates.

Our preferred lenders are currently able to do Conventional, FHA, VA, and USDA (rural housing) mortgages.

The mortgage industry is requiring its loan officers to be licensed by both Federal and State agencies. Licenses are only issued to loan officers who have taken 20 hours of education, gone through background checks that include fingerprinting and credit reports, then passed the National and State tests. We hope this will help cleanup some of the problems created by less than knowledgeable or ethical loan officers in the past, which continue to contribute to the current market challenges.

I will not refer any loan officer to you who has not met these requirements. Please let me know if you need recommendations