New Spring Training Stadium to be built off Indian Bend

Right next to McCormick Ranch and at the east edge of Scottsdale is the Salt River Pima-Maricopa County Indian Community.  It is there that a new stadium is going to be built and in 2 years it will be the new location for the Diamond Back’s spring training. (if all goes as planned) The 11,000 seat stadium will surly bring life to the Pavilions shopping center and it is desperate for new life.  The stadium will also be home to The Rockies.

If the video does not play follow this link to AZ Central

Wild Kingdom update in McCormick Ranch

Yesterday we had fun with the Badger.  

In the afternoon I got a call back from Critter Control.  They didn’t belive that we had a badger.  And in McCormick Ranch, impossible…

They asked for proof and I sent them to my blog to see the photos.  No doubting us, a badger is what we had.  They were speechless.  In 17+ years of doing critter control in the valley they have never had a confirmed badger report.  They once had a call from someone in Buckeye, but could not confirm it, as they didn’t trap it.  

So a badger is rare in populated areas.  Almost unheard of.  

That is good to know.  Today, someone checked the last known location of our little friend.  He has moved on.  Hopefuly to a more rural area, or out to the desert even better.

A Badger in McCormick Ranch

I get asked about critters, what will people expect to find when they move to Arizona.  When I let them know that even in the heart of Scottsdale’s McCormick Ranch they can still expect to see an occasional coyote, javalina, hawks and owls.  People are surprised!  They were thinking along the lines of bugs, snakes, scorpions.  I haven’t seen any snakes or scorpions in the area,  that doesn’t mean they aren’t there, just that I haven’t seen them.  

Today I got the surprise when a BADGER found it’s way to my front courtyard got trapped and ‘dug in’ literally.  

 

This ferocious critter dug a hole VERY quickly righ next to our front door.  I believe it felt trapped, and found a spot to defend itself.  

Not sure if it was still there…. we took the hose from the balcony of the upstairs office and flooded it out.  

It was there! and not very happy with us.

 

 

 

From the safety of the roof and upper deck, we hosed down the little guy and chased him out the patio and then blocked it off so he wouldn’t return.

 

He headed off and made another hole in the neighbor’s front courtyard.  They are out of state for the summer.  So that gives us a bit of time to get Animal control to get out here.  

Till then, I am headed out with notices for the neighborhood to be on the lookout for a Badger and do not approach - those are mean buggers!

Remodel - tear out complete

The first day of our construction/remodel in our town home in McCormick Ranch.  As suspected there was very little and in fact some areas had no insulation in the west wall.  No wonder the room was so hot in the summer and cold in the winter.  Adding insulation alone will make a huge difference in the comfort of this room.   

We made great progress, the carpeting is out, all the carpet tacks, dry wall, the limited amount of insulation, the room is clean and we are prepped for tomorrow and putting in the Low E windows

Remodeling in McCormick Ranch

All of this talk of construction methods comes from me as I am remodeling my second bedroom in my McCormick Ranch town home.  This room is the west room, upstairs above the garage; so no chance of planting a tree and getting a spot of shade on that wall. 

The room has been HOT in the summer and COLD in the winter.  It boasts a single pane glass window and single pane glass sliding door, and an assumption on our part that the insulation was missing in the walls.

Our plan, remove the wall board, replace the windows with Low-E,  and replace the sliding door with a dual pane French door, and insulate the walls to the max!

Here goes our transformation!

McCormick Ranch Sales numbers for April 2008

The numbers are looking good.  We have even reduced the number of active listings just a bit.  The total pending sales are remaining steady, and also see a bit of an incline.  The solds remain steady.  This is a good sign.  Each month we are anxious to see the pending and more importantly the sold listings remaining steady and hopefully increase.    The true test will come in the coming months.  Without all of the big crowd pleasers (Super bowl, Barrett Jackson, Nascar etc) and with the increase of our temps over the upcoming months, our northern visitors will be mostly out of the picture.  We will know in another couple of months if this was a seasonal influx or a true measure of the change in the market. 

	1-Feb-08	3-Mar-08	4-Apr-08	2-May-08
Total Active Listings	578	556	572	554
Single Family Homes	277	279	287	285
Patio/Town/Gemini Homes	157	150	167	149
Apartment style Homes	144	127	118	120
Total Pending Listings	57	72	70	79
Single Family Homes	36	33	39	37
Patio/Town/Gemini Homes	17	22	17	26
Apartment style Homes	4	17	14	16
	Jan	Feb	March	April
Total Sold	29	42	55	55
Single Family Homes	14	21	19	32
Patio/Town/Gemini Homes	11	17	21	14
Apartment style Homes	4	4	15	9

 

Scottsdale’s McCormick Ranch home sales Statistics

Here are the numbers for the beginning of the month.  We see an increase of listings, and that is expected.  People who held off listing their homes over the holiday season were busy getting their homes ready for being shown.  We have lots of homes in the pending status.  Next month will see an increase in solds and that is a good thing.  Remember the solds reflect a purchase of 30 days earlier or more. 

Have a great weekend, enjoy and be safe with all the Super Bowl parties. 

	Sept - 07	Oct - 07	Nov - 07	26-Nov-07	2-Jan-08	1-Feb-08
Total Active Listings				568	523	578
Single Family Homes				264	246	277
Patio/Town/Gemini Homes				168	153	157
Apartment style Homes				136	124	144
Total Pending Listings				51	36	57
Single Family Homes				21	19	36
Patio/Town/Gemini Homes				17	11	17
Apartment style Homes				13	6	4
	Sept	Oct	Nov		Dec	Jan
Total Sold	33	34	36		38	29
Single Family Homes	19	20	14		17	14
Patio/Town/Gemini Homes	6	7	10		11	11
Apartment style Homes	8	7	12		10	4

Spanish Oaks, a McCormick Ranch town home Community

The community of Spanish Oaks is located to the north of McCormick Parkway. This guarded and gated community has almost 120 homes, with 32 of them having east or north facing views of the Palms Golf course . The community pool is surrounded by a private lake making it both cooling and enjoyable to sit and enjoy. The community of Spanish Oaks was built in 1979 and 1980. Most of the homes are single level and there are 23 two story units in the neighborhood. Most of the homes have wood burning fireplaces and range in size from 1487 sqft to 1892 sqft.

McCormick Ranch Home Sale Statistics

Happy New Year!

I have updated my chart with the current listing numbers and the sold homes for December.  I can see a slow but good trend for the number of properties sold going up.  With 38 closings this past month and the reduction of homes on the market, we currently have a 13.7 month supply of homes in the 85258 zip code.

Have a great day!

Click on ‘more’ to view the chart.

	Sept - 07	Oct - 07	Nov - 07	11/26/2007	2-Jan-08
Total Active Listings				568	523
Single Family Homes				264	246
Patio/Town/Gemini Homes				168	153
Apartment style Homes				136	124
Total Pending Listings				51	36
Single Family Homes				21	19
Patio/Town/Gemini Homes				17	11
Apartment style Homes				13	6
	Sept	Oct	Nov		Dec
Total Sold	33	34	36		38
Single Family Homes	19	20	14		17
Patio/Town/Gemini Homes	6	7	10		11
Apartment style Homes	8	7	12		10

McCormick Ranch Wreath Kits from the POA

Christmas Wreath Kits from the McCormick Ranch Property Owners Association are now available. This is the 25th year the POA has been doing wreath kits. The kits are avilable starting on December 12th. All McCormick Ranch residents are invited to come by the Association office at 9248 N 94th Street (east of Pima Rd, South of Via Linda at the end of 94th Street on the west corner).

They provide the fresh cut juniper and pine as well as pine cones and the tube frame as well as instructions. Assembly is easy, well lets call it simple. Be sure to bring your gloves.

I got started with the basics and had a bare spot where I placed my pine cones. All I need now is a pretty red bow. Have fun, and get creative!

Next Page »