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Positive Signs for our Real Estate Market

Any time you go through a market like the one we’ve been through the last 15 months, you start to look for any signs that things may be turning around. Locally, three Real Estate companies either shut their doors this week or announced they were shutting their doors. They obviously weren’t nearly as optimistic as I am about the market beginning to turn around, but let me share with you my reasons.

First of all housing traditionally is directly effected by the rate of Unemployment. Nationally and locally unemployment numbers are below 5%, which means most people who can are working for a living and everyone needs a place to call home. Here in Sedona the unemployment numbers will always remain pretty constant, but what I’m really looking at here is what the Phoenix unemployment is like? That picture is still pretty positive although if you read the Arizona Republic you would think that the housing market will single handedly ruin the economy. Since the economy in the Valley appears relatively healthy you can bet that people with money will start looking for bargains.

Which leads me to my second positive sign. In the last month I have had multiple conversations with people who say things like “Man, if I had some money I would snap up four to five properties and just sit on them for a few years.” Now granted, these conversations have been with Realtors who have no money, so at this point it’s just idle chatter. But I have seen this type of talk before and it usually occurs right before people who actually have money see the same thing and start to purchase some of these bargains. When people who have worked in the industry for a long time are seeing some bargains, you can bet they will be able to convince some buyers of that as well. It’s almost like having insider stock tips (not that I have ever done that). Don’t get me wrong, I am not predicting a quick return to a sellers market but I am betting that despite all the negative news in the press about the credit industry, we will see a stronger fall for sales this year than last year. It may just be a hunch but at least it’s an educated hunch. By the way, I almost did this newsletter on the Credit Industry shake up but frankly it won’t really affect the Sedona market real significantly so I just couldn’t see spending a lot of time explaining to you why, once again, the media has magnified a problem beyond belief. I’ll just share this with you, sub prime loans account for less than 10% of the entire amount of loans out there. Of those, about 50% are in trouble and much of that is due to scheduled interest rate adjustments on ARM’s which the industry is already beginning to address to help ease the pain for some consumers. Bottom line; don’t lose any sleep over this one.

Once again, if you need to sell in this market, trust the company who understands and can spot the trends. If you want to buy right now, it may be the best time to purchase Real Estate in Sedona for a long time to come. Either way, the experienced agents at Coldwell Banker First Affiliate armed with the best resources in the industry will be happy to help you make the right decision.

Tod Christensen
Designated Broker
Coldwell Banker First Affiliate

Around Sedona

September / October 2007
Joel Gilgoff, associate broker, president
RE/MAX Sedona

What’s Happening:

http://www.sedonaaz.gov/tourism/acEvents2.aspx

http://www.sedona.net/index.cfm?Render=EventCalendar_ViewEvents

Fiesta del Tlaquepaque returns on September 8th from 10AM to 6PM. Admission is free. The 34th Annual Fiesta will have continuous entertainment from folkloric dancing, flamenco dancing, arts and crafts, food, mariachis and plenty of kid’s activities.

The Annual Coconino County Fair is open August 30th to September 3rd at Fort Tuthill County Park 3 miles south of Flagstaff.

The first Friday of each month continues to be a special event at 15 Sedona art galleries. Stop at any gallery and hop on the free trolley to see all the rest. For information call 282-3809.

Sedona is again planning a Western Americana Day. This year’s event will take place on Saturday September 22nd at Sedona Airport. Featured will be airplanes, classic cars and a community festival.

Sedona Jazz on the Rocks tickets are now available. This year’s annual highlight event will begin Tuesday 9/25 and run through Sunday 9/30 at various venues and locations throughout the Sedona area. The highlight of the weekend will be an all day jazz festival 10:30 AM – 5:30 PM Saturday 9/29 on the grassy knoll of the Radisson Poco Diablo resort. For tickets and information visit www.sedonajazz.com.

Yavapai College has an extensive 2007-2008 community events season with everything from the Prescott Pops Symphony to the annual Cowboy Poets gathering. For information visit

www.yc.edu/communityevents.

City Business:

Sedona Red Rock High School has initiated their own hospitality program. Sedona’s work force includes 7660 workers employed in hotels and restaurants. More than 60 Red Rock High School students are enrolled in this program which was developed by the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute. If these students decide to pursue a career in hotel or culinary arts they will be welcome additions to the Sedona economy.

The Sedona City Council has unanimously endorsed the latest proposal for “Barbara’s Park”. Plans for the 2 acre park include an open air shaded venue for 300 people. The project is being funded namely by private donations.

Fitch Industries (who are currently under contract to purchase the former cultural park land) has settled its long running dispute with Yavapai College. The plan agreed upon will allow Fitch to trade 5.4 acres of its property for the 5 acres of Yavapai College’s property on the former Sedona Cultural Park site. The contract also resolves all past agreements between the college and the Cultural Park. Fitch Industries as of this writing has not yet purchased any of the Cultural Park land.

Marie Brown, the first employee of the City of Sedona, recently retired after working 19 years for the City. Much of the time Marie worked as Sedona’s City Clerk and ended her career as the Assistant City Manager.

The City is considering making several of the uptown streets one way. Van Deren Road and Wilson Road are narrow and difficult to traverse with fire equipment or other emergency vehicles.

New Developments:

Highway Construction: We recommend that during ongoing construction of Highway 179 visitors coming to Sedona from Phoenix come via Highway 260 (Hwy. 17 exit 287) – proceed west to Hwy. 89A – then north to Sedona. This will avoid any possible Hwy 179 construction delays.

The Sedona Visitor’s Center remodeling is almost complete. Completion of the total remodel is now scheduled for the first week in September (the kiosks will follow a month or so later). When complete, the center will have a much expanded visitor service area and electronic kiosks to service the needs of more than 300,000 annual visitor center walk-ins. The building is really beautiful – stop by to check it out on your next Sedona trip.

Possible new developments in the city:

Two office buildings and 40 units of lodging across the street from the Les Springs Subdivision in West Sedona.

A possible 48 unit residential condominium project called “Falls at Oak Creek”. The project will include the redevelopment of the Oak Creek Mobile Lodge property along SR 179.

A 9 lot single family residential subdivision called “Seven Vistas” located at the intersection of Badger Drive and Lynx Drive in the chapel area.

A possible new 7 lot single family residential subdivision located just west of the Basha’s shopping center on Payne Place.

A new 20 unit motel to replace the existing 14 unit Red Rock Lodge located north of uptown along 89A.

A possible 11 unit single family residential subdivision on 4.8 acres off Schnebly Hill Road.

Remodeling of the old office building/gallery space on Schnebly Hill Road at the junction of 179.

Possible development of an assisted living facility to be located on the northwest corner of SR 89A and Bristlecone Pines Road.

Possible condominium conversion of the Vivienda Apartments located on Jordan Road.

Possible conversion of an existing apartment complex on Coffee Pot Road to condominiums including construction of additional units. This would require a zone change.

Miscellaneous Around Sedona:

Janeen Trevillyan, a volunteer for the Sedona Historical Society, in concert with Lisa Schnebly Heidinger (great-granddaughter of Sedona Schnebly) have written a 127 page book on Sedona’s history. The book contains chapters on Sedona’s first families, farms and orchards, tourism and travel and the Schnebly family. The book is entitled Images of America: Sedona.

A new Italian dessert place is opening in the Hillside Shopping Center. Zelo Cosi will feature Italian coffee and sodas, antipasto salad, smoothies, panini sandwiches and lots more. They plan to also have WIFI available.

Javelinas on Parade, Sedona’s public art project, will continue on display through November 2007. Javelinas on Parade, a 104 page book of photographs and stories, is now available for sale. The book is available at the Southwest Inn or on the Javelina website www.javelinasonparade.com for a cost of $20.00. Proceeds from book sales will be used to support Sedona’s art community. The project will culminate on November 10 with a gala auction scheduled to be held at the Sedona Hilton. Limited tickets are now on sale. Contact the chamber of commerce for information.

Casa Rincon Restaurant has closed and the building has been sold to the owner of the Cowboy Club, Tom Gilloman. A new restaurant named The Barking Frog is now open. The Barking Frog (named after Tom’s brother’s former restaurant) serves an extensive menu of southwest dishes including an extensive wine menu.

Forty six descriptive photos of Sedona’s pioneer days are on display at the Arizona Memory Project website. The images are entitled “History of Sedona” and were created by Sedona Historical Society volunteers. You can view the images at www.azmemory.lib.az.us.

Sedona Chamber Music is celebrating its 25th season of “magical music in the red rocks”. This season includes 10 concerts featuring 3 grammy award winning ensembles and artists. For information and schedules see

www.chambermusicsedona.org.

The Northern Arizona’s Opera’s Luxury Home and Classic Car Tour is scheduled for October 6th and 7th. Visitors may tour one of a kind luxury homes while viewing beautifully restored classic cars parked outside each unique home. For information call 284-3034.

The Verde Valley Home and Business Expo will bring together merchants from Sedona, Camp Verde and Cottonwood on September 8th at the Verde Valley Fairgrounds located in Cottonwood. Last year’s event had 80 exhibitors displaying to over 1200 attendees. This fun event is a great way to meet your neighborhood businesses and get some great deals on many local products and services.

Slide Rock State Park’s Apple Orchard will be going organic. The park contains about 10 acres of apple trees. The process of going from chemical fertilizers to organic status typically takes about 3 years.

The Sedona Film Office has been busy fielding requests for location shoots in Sedona. Recent projects include a print shoot by Getty Images, a Grisley Peaks Films independent feature, an SUV commercial, a television series pilot and CBS Channel 5’s “Entertainment Weekly”.

Events continue weekly at Red Rock State Park. For information call 282-6907.