It is late in the year 2011. Val Vista Lakes, like much of the rest of the valley of the sun, has been hit hard by a decline in property values. Many families have lost their homes, cast like driftwood onto the ragged shoreline of corruption borne of too-big-to-fail banks and their sock-puppet politicians. These families made good faith home-buying decisions in the early and middle part of the past decade (aughts? do we have a name for this lost decade yet?). These folks did nothing wrong, unless not having perfect future vision is a fault. This author recalls hearing from his grandfather some startling stories about the 1930’s, and how the meltdown of the economy then was a carefully played out dance of (surprise, surprise) huge banks and crooked politicians. He had a small fortune when that depression started, and much much less when it ended… even lost an arm in a farming accident. So yes, that depression took a lot out of some very good people. It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same…

But, what about Val Vista Lakes, today? How has our community fared as the “recovery” tries to gather some steam? Well, it seems that things are moving in the right direction… With overall MLS inventory of homes WAY DOWN, it makes sense that we should be doing better… and the results confirm this… We have just 24 homes ON the market right now, with 15 in escrow, and 93 closed sales year to date. Digging inside the numbers, we find more good news – the number of “distressed” homes (those either being sold via the short sale route, or already taken back by the bank) is down to just 5 homes. In recent years, this number was much higher than “5 out of 24”… We also find that 6 homes are either Flips, or Fix & Flips. This is healthy, as it represents a vote of confidence by an investor, that things are moving in the right direction. We then have 13 homes that are “normal” for-sale listings. 13 of 24 is healthy, and many would call this a return to normal…  One bit of caution is in order here – Val Vista Lakes also currently has somewhere over 20 homes in the foreclosure pipeline. Some may be “saved” by the current owners, but the rest will become either Flips, Rentals, or Repo listings. More carnage on the real estate highway… And so it goes…

Patrick Harfst has been a resident of Val Vista Lakes for 23 years, and has served the community as a board member both in the 90’s and the “aughts”. His family was raised right here in the community, and he publishes a Weekly Update of VVL activity every Friday at www.ArizonaHomeLocator.com