State Representative Phil Lovas visits with Elite Real Estate – 9-23-2014

State Representative Phil Lovas visits with Elite Real Estate – 9-23-2014 State Rep Phil Lovas spent the afternoon visiting with Diana Buonincontro the owner of Elite Real Estate to discuss issues that are affecting small businesses throughout the valley.

Glendale City Council approves O’odham casino deal

 Aug 13, 2014, 5:48am MST UPDATED: Aug 13, 2014, 6:50am MST
Glendale City Council approves O’odham casino deal

Glendale’s City Council approved a deal with the Tohono O’odham Nation related to the tribe’s proposed casino.
Phoenix Business Journal
Following a 4-hour-plus meeting last night, the Glendale City Council approved a deal with the Tohono O’odham Nation related to the proposed casino that will generate $26 million in annual revenue for the city over the next two decades.
The Arizona Republic reports the council listened to dozens of public comments during the often heated session Tuesday night.
Specifics of the deal call for the Tohono O’odham Nation to pay for its own infrastructure and police and fire protection at the site near Northern and 91st avenues, then make annual payments to Glendale beginning six months after gaming starts.

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Economists optimistic about West Valley's business outlook

Economists have upgraded the West Valley's business prognosis from cautiously hopeful, the outlook a year ago, to downright optimistic.

"We have the winds at our back after having a stiff wind in our face for a long time," John Graham, president and CEO of development firm Sunbelt Holdings, told business leaders this week. "The West Valley is an area we believe in."

The feeling of relief was evident among about 300 members of Westmarc. The West Valley coalition of business, civic and educational leaders gathered at the Wigwam Resort in Litchfield Park for the annual economic development summit on Wednesday.

The same group had gasped at last year's summit, when Arizona State University economist Dennis Hoffman showed business leaders charts illustrating unprecedented losses in Arizona jobs, businesses and population during the recession.

The mood at the Wigwam was many degrees lighter. A panel of real estate and business leaders praised the ongoing construction of Loop 303, a key highway project that they said will pave the way for a new boom in jobs and growth in the West Valley.

Loop 303 is a "game-changer" in the same way that Loop 202 made Mesa an attractive place to locate companies and employees, said Barry Broome, president and CEO of GPEC, the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.

When construction is complete, Loop 303 will loop from Interstate 10 to Interstate 17.

A classic growth market

Civic and business leaders should do more to advertise and exploit West Valley amenities, such as the football and hockey stadiums, a foreign trade zone, ASU West and the undeveloped White Tank Mountains, Graham said.

The developer noted that the region has a "shovel-ready mentality" that will be vital to landing big employers as the nation's economic recovery continues.

"The bottom line is we're very optimistic," Graham said. "We're seeing tons of activity."

Peter O'Neil, a senior research analyst for Colliers International, said that the West Valley sees the worst and the best of economic cycles because it is a "classic growth market." It contracts more severely than the rest of the Valley but also expanding more rapidly, he said.

The region saw explosive growth during the real estate boom and is again on that path, O'Neill said.

Potential for growth

Part of the reason for the optimism is that the West Valley is the only part of the Phoenix metro area that can consistently deliver large sites that have road access, water and other desirable features, Broome said.

GPEC research indicates that it could thrive as a center for the import-export market, Broome said.

"At the end of the day, it's all about building market potential," Broome said. "I think market potential is going in the right direction. I'm excited about it."

But he cautioned that large employers expect to be offered incentives, such as breaks on property taxes, even if that is difficult on the local political level.

"It isn't about buying a company," Broome said. "It's about executing against the expectations of that company."

Solar is another industry that's set to take off in the next few years, and the West Valley is well positioned to take advantage of that, Broome said.

But, he added, that regional leaders need to be ready to move quickly to resolve permits and bureaucratic issues for large-scale deals.

"Businesses won't wait for things," Broome said. "That is a huge advantage."

West Valley looks the way metro Phoenix looked in the 1960s -- a region with a small population that has a huge potential for growth, said Jerry Colangelo, co-chairman of the Arizona Commerce Authority.

"What we need everyone in the room to do is believe in it, trust in it," Colangelo said. "Think about today and think about what's going to happen in the next 25 years."

Loop 303 projects

West Valley cities and developers already anticipate the completion of the 39-mile Loop 303 in the next few years. Projects already being planned or under way near Loop 303:

 Prasada regional mall with commercial, official and residential space in Surprise.

 A commercial section in Peoria's master-planned Vistancia development.

 PV 303, a master-planned business park in Goodyear.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/2012/04/19/20120419economists-economic-winds-west-valleys-back.html#ixzz31i025zYS

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Existing-Homes Sales report for February 2014

Last Friday, the National Association of REALTORS® released their Existing-Homes Sales report for February 2014, which provides a great vantage point on how the U.S. Housing market has developed over the past year.

Here’s the regional breakdown of existing-home sales:

Northeast

·         Total sales down 12.7% since 2013

·         Median price up 1.5% to $237,000

Midwest

·         Total sales down 12.3% since 2013

·         Median price up 8.6% to $140,900

South

·         Total sales down 0.5% since 2013

·         Median price up 8.3% to $163, 400

West

·         Total sales down 10.1% since 2013

            ·         Median price up 18% to $279,400 

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Cheap Obama mortgages to get more expensive

Courtesy of CNN.com

Cheap Obama mortgages to get more expensive

By Les Christie  @CNNMoney March 4, 2014: 11:37 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Nearly 783,000 homeowners who had their mortgage rates reduced under the government's Home Affordable Modification Program will see their payments increase by an average of almost $200 a month in the next few years, which will likely lead some borrowers to re-default, a federal watchdog warned.

Launched in 2009, HAMP helped troubled borrowers by either reducing the principal they owed or the monthly interest they paid, with many receiving rates as low as 2%.

But modifications under the program remained fixed for only five years and starting this month, the earliest borrowers in the program will begin seeing their rates climb by 1% a year to a high of 5.4%, the Special Inspector General's report on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) said.

As a result, some 33,000 borrowers are expected to see their rates increase this year.

Currently, the median mortgage payment among these borrowers is $773 a month. Once all rate hikes are factored in, their payments are expected to climb to a median of $989 a month.

"We're already seeing alarming re-default rates and are really worried that this could lead to more," said special inspector general Christy Romero. "It will be a real challenge for people to pay the higher amounts."

As of November 31, 359,000, or 28%, of borrowers with HAMP-modified mortgages had already re-defaulted on their mortgages and nearly 100,000 more were deemed "at risk" of default, SIGTARP reported.

Four states, including California, Florida, New York, and Illinois, accounted for half of all of the HAMP modifications that are expected to see rates climb. Some borrowers, particularly in expensive coastal markets, could see their mortgage payments climb by as much as $1,700 a month, SIGTARP reported.

The rate increases will begin this year and run through 2021.