The Community Of Winfield – It’s On the Carefree Side of Scottsdale Arizona  

Nestled at the base of one of the most exquisite cacti and boulder-studded mountains in the Southwest, rests five-hundred and eleven (511) home sites that make up  Winfield luxury Scottsdale real estate that is a gated  community.  The approximate living areas of these homes ranges from approximately  1,434 to 5,300 square feet at homes priced to sell from  $400,000 to $3M+ million. As of January 1, 2008 over 99% of these homes have found families. Only a  few of the custom lots remain.

This Scottsdale  real estate home division of Pulte Homes is a  world-class community called Winfield. Named for the founder of Scottsdale, Winfield Scott, this 300 acre guard gated community offers the best of both North Scottsdale and Carefree, Arizona living. Winfield luxury real estate has been specially designed with vast open space to allow homeowners the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the High Sonoran Desert and to preserve the natural environment of arroyos, desert trees, majestic saguaro cacti and other desert vegetation.  It’s a beautiful example of what Scottsdale  real estate can  be and sets that standard for others to follow.Reserved exclusively for Winfield luxury real estate homeowners is a 75-acre mountain that is a unique landmark and just one of the community’s first-class amenities. At its base, the Club at Winfield gracefully hugs the boulders in a contemporary style that accentuates both views and dramatic land forms. Over eight miles of trails wind throughout the community to allow you to fully enjoy the splendor of this beautiful land.With a backdrop of soaring glass windows and a reflecting pool is the clubs spacious lobby. This is your portal to the other amenities of the Club at  Winfield. It’s the ultimate gathering area with a casual atmosphere and extraordinary views. Intimate gathering areas cluster around indoor and outdoor fireplaces.   Open-air dining patios and terraces capture cool desert breezes, breathtaking sunsets, and the sparkle of distant city lights. The private Clubhouse is approximately 13,500 square feet and was designed for people with an active-lifestyle or for those that just want a place to go and relax.  In addition to the Clubhouse is another building used as an activity and tennis center.

The Winfield Clubhouse offers the following amenities:

State of the art Fitness Center
Standing Rock Cafe
Sauna and steam room
Aerobic programs
Tennis pro
Private meeting rooms
Men’s and women’s locker rooms
Social programs
Heated Olympic-size pool with beach entry
8 lighted tennis courts featuring two clay courts
Media lounge & billiard room
Massage rooms
Whirlpool spa

When you own Winfield luxury Scottsdale real estate you’re surrounded by beauty at every turn. Significant open space is  adjacent to many of the home sites to preserve view corridors and highlight natural arroyos, desert trees, and cacti. It’s truly a great place to live. It’s the ultimate in Scottsdale AZ luxury real estate.

Click Here For Current Listings in Winfield

Video Tour of the Winfield Community

Transportation: Sky Harbor International Airport is about 35 minutes away.   Scottsdale airport is about 15 minutes

Shopping:
Carefree Town Center, Target at the Summit, and Terravita Marketplace are close by for all your shopping needs. Desert Ridge is a regional shopping mall a short 10 miles down Scottsdale Road.

Culture and Theatre
Arizona Broadway Theatre – http://www.actorstheatrephx.org/
Arizona Opera Company – http://www.azopera.org/
Arizona Theatre Company – http://aztheatreco.org/
ASU Public Events – http://asugammage.com/
Ballet Arizona – http://www.balletaz.org/
Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre – http://www.broadwaypalmwest.com/
Celebrity Theatre – http://www.celebritytheatre.com/
Dodge Theatre – http://www.dodgetheatre.com/
Desert Foothills Theatre – http://www.desertfoothillstheater.com/
Herberger Theater Center – http://www.herbergertheater.org/
Phoenix Theatre – http://www.phoenixtheatre.com/Home.aspx
The Phoenix Symphony – http://www.phoenixsymphony.org/
Valley Youth Theatre – http://www.vyt.com/

Medical Facilities: Desert Foothills Medical Center, Mayo Hospital and Scottsdale Memorial North are located near this community.  

Recreation: Tonto National Forest allows for hiking, boating, horse back riding and mountain biking. Lakes Pleasant & Bartlett offer water recreation and fishing.

Other Informational Web Sites:

Winfield Rentals      Find all of the current homes for rent in Winfield.

Winfield Sales                 Find what has previously sold  Winfeld.

Residential real estate tips for buyers in Phoenix

Real estate in Phoenix has something for everyone. For those who have families and prefer to stay in small, yet comfortable houses, there are condos for sale, townhomes, and Patio homes. Similarly, for people who wish to live in large and luxurious houses, there is Phoenix AZ luxury real estate with houses for sale that can exceed 20 million of dollars located in pristine areas. If you are new to Phoenix AZ or are currently living here but buying real estate for the first time, here are some useful residential real estate buying tips to help you find your dream house:

Before you start looking for houses for sale in Phoenix AZ, decide what features that you really need, and which are the ones that you can manage to do without. This would help make your search for your house quick and simple.

As well as deciding your housing needs, you must also determine your budget. You must know beforehand as to how much you can afford to spend or how much you can actually arrange through a home mortgage or from friends/family for buying a house in Phoenix. If your working in the area and have a commute tolerance this is also an important factor to consider.

For finding residential real estate in Phoenix or elsewhere it is very important to use the right methods of search. The National Association of Realtors found that 87% of home buyers start their search on the internet. The internet has a wealth of information but all real estate portals are not the same. Like anything else you have those that are excellent and then you have the good, bad, and ugly.

As a buyer, photos help the home hunting process along with the details of the home, a map of the location, city and community information, tax and more to help create a short list of homes to review in person.

To find the perfect house for yourself, you may also use the services of a real estate agency renowned for providing the best residential real estate services for buyers in Phoenix. The best REALTORS ® provide real time access to the local Multiple Listing Service for the most current listings available.

To make your search for houses for sale in Phoenix fast and convenient, you may visit http://www.phoenixrealestatequest.com/ The website offers useful information, advice, real estate services, and featured listings of residential real estate for buyers in Phoenix and residential real estate for sellers in Phoenix.

The prices of Phoenix,  Scottsdale real estate and Paradise Valley had risen over 50% in 2006. As the bubble pushed prices to levels well above the historic trend, likewise the housing crash coupled with the harshest recession since the Great Depression has pulled prices down well below economic value and historic trend. The Housing Indexes of Case-Shiller and ECRI recognized a national bottom in April of 2009. Michael Douville, a Wall Street Real Estate Columnist says,Now is the time to buy property. An opportunity of this magnitude presents itself once in a lifetime. The adage ˜Location, Location, Location™ used to describe real estate investing needs to be changed to ˜Timing, Timing, Timing™. œ Phoenix housing, including real estate in Scottsdale Arizona, is undervalued in my opinion, and an incredible opportunity exists.

The speculators of 2005-2007 were doomed to failure. The over-valuation scenario was stretched to extremes and the investments had no chance of success. The resulting calamity has also stretched valuation models to extremes; the drop did not stop at fair value though, but continued tumbling again to extremes. Prices in Metro Phoenix continued to decline in many opinions past fair value, and have over corrected dropping 30%, 40%, 50%, and even over 60% from the highs. Locally, The Cromford Report has indicated the overall market bottomed in April 2009; the year-over-year pricing of the market segments show a recovery in place. The largest segment, and most impacted on the downside is the City of Phoenix, which leads the recovery with a 27% appreciation from April 2009 to April 2010. Scottsdale, still suffering from tight financing and correcting prices, shows an 11% decline. However, appreciation from the beginning of 2010 for the greater Phoenix Metro Area is reported by The Cromford Report to be over an 8% annual pace. Scottsdale real estate and Paradise Valley are showing improvements as old inventory is being cleared. IHS Global Insight, a respected economic forecasting group, in its 4th Quarter 2009 Update projected Phoenix, Mesa and Scottsdale Real Estate as over 22% undervalued. Has the market corrected from extremely overvalued to extremely undervalued? If so, then timing is again the real estate investor’s friend.

Scottsdale is an integral part of Arizona and it is a place that has seen immense growth.  People from all across USA flock in great numbers every year to own a home in Scottsdale Arizona. The reasons for this are a plenty. The chief reason for such great property boom in the city is the quiet nature of a small town yet the sophistication of a large city. The sophistication, Scottsdale Arizona offers along with all the amenities of a big city makes it the hot choice for people searching property in Arizona. However, when you decide to do a property search in Scottsdale Arizona, you must keep few very important things in mind. Here is a list of some of them in detail.

Scope: Always make sure that your property search in Scottsdale Arizona has a very wide scope. If you decide to limit your scope then you might not get a good deal. An unlimited scope ensures that you are able to extend your search horizon. This gives you a better opportunity to dig out better places in Scottsdale Arizona before zeroing in on your favorite one.

Property Listing: Compare all the property listings against a checklist. The checklist should include the state of infrastructure in that locality, the running price and the civic amenities available nearby. The property should be well connected to good roads, be it a residential or commercial property. Although Scottsdale Arizona is fully equipped with all the modern infrastructures but when it comes to investing money in property you must not keep a single doubt in mind.

Map Search: This is something very important when it comes to searching property in Scottsdale AZ. A map search in Scottsdale Arizona gives you a better understanding of the city and helps you understand the external perks of making an investment in a particular location of the city.

Real Estate Research: It is always advised to do a bit of Scottsdale real estate research before you decide to search property in Scottsdale Arizona. Finding the right people is the key to striking a good property deal.

Price Inquiry: This is the most important aspect of your property search in Scottsdale Arizona. An inquiry of the price of that locality is more vital than it might be thought. It would be disheartening to get duped and agree to pay a higher price than what your neighbor has paid.

I hope these inputs help you with the right property search in Scottsdale Arizona.

Keller Williams is a leading property search listing house in Scottsdale Arizona. For more details log onto: http://www.realestateinscottsdaleaz.com/

The Commerce Department reported that consumer spending rose $34.7 billion or 0.3% in February, matching what economists had anticipated. Personal income increased $1.2 billion or less than 0.1%.

The Standard & Poor™s/Case-Shiller 20-city housing price index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in January. It was the eighth consecutive monthly gain and follows a 0.3% increase in December.

The consumer confidence index rose to 52.5 in March from a slightly revised 46.4 in February. Economists had anticipated a reading of 50. The index was benchmarked at 100 in 1985, a year chosen because it was neither a peak nor a trough in consumer confidence.

Factory orders rose 0.6% in February, slightly above the 0.5% increase economists had anticipated. It was the sixth straight gain and follows an upwardly revised 2.5% increase in January.

The Institute for Supply Management reported that the monthly index of manufacturing activity was 59.6 in March after reaching 56.5 in February. It was the eighth straight month of expansion and the best reading since July 2004. A reading above 50 signals expansion.

Total construction spending fell 1.3% to $846.23 billion in February. It was the lowest spending level since November 2002 and followed a 1.4% drop in January.

The unemployment rate held at 9.7% in March. However, employers added 162,000 jobs last month, the most since March 2007. For the week ending March 27, initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 6,000 to 439,000. Continuing claims for the week ending March 20 fell by 6,000 to 4.6 million.

Upcoming on the economic calendar are reports on pending home sales on April 5, consumer credit on April 7 and wholesale trade on April 9.

In the latest plan from the Obama Presidential administration to assist defaulting homeowners, the focus has moved from keeping homeowners in their homes to instead moving them on their way out of their homes.

The latest program will allow owners to sell for less than they owe and will give them a little cash to speed them on their way and is a change from many of the recent proposals and programs the government has initiated.

The plan aims to address the concern that millions of foreclosures could delay or even reverse the economy’s tentative recovery.

This new plan will go into effect on April 5, 2010 and could encourage hundreds of thousands of delinquent borrowers who have not been assisted through loan modification programs to sell their houses through a short sale.

Under this new program, there would be up to three payouts aimed at bringing together the first mortgage holders, second mortgage holders and the borrower in order to streamline the short sale process.

First, the first mortgage loan servicer will get $1,000 to agree to the short sale. Then another $1,000 can go to the second mortgage holder, if there is one on the home. And finally, the government would also give $1,500 in relocation assistance to the homeowners themselves.

On the bank servicer’s side of the equation, the new process is supposed to be a way to promote short sales on homes that may eventually go to foreclosure anyway and the servicer would receive more proceeds this way.

On the borrowers’ side of the equation, there is the likelihood of suffering less damage to credit ratings. In addition, they will get the lender’s assurance that they will not later be sued for an unpaid mortgage balance.

And finally for the real estate market, the plan is supposed to equal fewer empty foreclosed houses waiting to be sold by banks.

In addition, under the new program, a lender will use real estate agents to determine the value of a home and thus the minimum to accept. If an offer comes in that is equal to or higher than this amount, then under the plan, the lender would in theory have to take the offer.

Of course, when a homeowner has a second or even third mortgage this can complicate the scenario a bit more as well and perhaps not make it quite as easy as that. In addition, lenders will also still want homeowners to prove financial hardship as a reason to short sale their homes as well.

How quickly this new program is implemented and how effective it will be is still yet to be seen. However, as always, as new information becomes available we will provide updates and information accordingly.

Consumer spending rose 0.5% to $52.4 billion in January, slightly more than economists had anticipated. Personal income increased 0.1% to $11.4 billion.

The Institute for Supply Management reported that the monthly index of manufacturing activity was 56.5 in February after reaching 58.4 in January. Nevertheless, it was the seventh straight month of expansion. A reading above 50 signals expansion.

The Commerce Department reported that total construction spending fell 0.6% in January after falling 1.2% in December. Economists had expected a decrease of 0.7%.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications for the week ending February 26 rose 14.6% to 629.9. Purchase volume increased 9% to 214.5. Refinancing applications jumped 17.2% to 3,054.3.

The monthly index of non-manufacturing activity rose to 53 in February from 50.5 in January. A reading above 50 signals expansion. Economists had anticipated a reading of 51. The reading was the highest since October 2007.

The National Association of Realtors reported that its pending home sales index, a forward-looking indicator based on signed contracts, fell 7.6% in January after a revised 0.8% increase in December.

The Labor Department reported productivity rose at an annual rate of 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Labor costs fell at an annual rate of 5.9%.

Factory orders rose 1.7% in January, slightly below the 1.8% increase economists had anticipated. It was the fifth straight gain and follows a 1% increase in December.

The unemployment rate held at 9.7% in February. Employers cut 36,000 jobs in February, far fewer than expected. The four-week average for continuing jobless claims fell 134,000 to 4.5 million.

Upcoming on the economic calendar are reports on wholesale trade on March 10, international trade on March 11 and retail sales on March 12.

Analysts, policy makers and investors closely follow economic indicators that track the condition of the housing market. Here™s some background information on these important indicators.

Housing Starts
Housing starts is considered the most important report on the housing sector due to its large ripple effect in the economy when buyers purchase appliances and household furnishings. Construction of single-family homes accounts for about 85% of the industry. Work on multi-family units makes up the rest of the market and is considered highly volatile.

Home Sales
New homes sales account for less than 10% of the market. They are tabulated when the contract is signed. This is different from the way that existing home sales are tallied. They™re counted when the transaction closes and thus reflect contracts signed a month or two earlier. Existing home sales account for more than 80% of the market.

Another important home sales figure is the pending home sales index. This is a leading indicator of existing home sales, not new home sales. A pending sale is one in which a contract was signed, but not yet closed. Because it usually takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale, it™s considered a leading indicator.

Housing Price Indices
There are two housing price indices: the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) index. The FHFA index is a national measure that tracks houses bought with mortgages purchased by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and excludes many of the foreclosure sales and properties bought with non-conventional mortgages. Homes with these loans did not experience the sharp rise and subsequent decline in prices throughout the last decade and represent a more stable pricing index.

In contrast, the S&P/Case-Shiller report is focused on large metropolitan areas and includes distressed properties and those bought with non-conventional loans such as jumbo mortgages. These home prices tend to be much more volatile.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two now government controlled mortgage giants will not be allowed to introduce new loan products in the mortgage market while they are under the control of the U.S. government. That is the recent news that federal regulator announced in a letter to Congress.

In reality, since this past summer, Fannie and Freddie had been allowed to submit new loan products for review through a process established by the companies’ federal regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency. However, no new products were submitted during that time and now due to the both companies large financial losses and impending changes for both companies, they have been blocked future product submissions.

Edward DeMarco is the FHFA’s acting director and he said that he “concluded that permitting the enterprises to engage in new products is inconsistent with the goals of conservatorship.” He cited the “critical and substantial resource requirements” from the companies’ current efforts to stem ballooning loan losses and the fact that the companies operate today “only with the support of taxpayers.”

However, this block of new products will not apply to foreclosure prevention efforts, which are considered separate from new product offerings.

This is just the latest in a host of changes that have occurred at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since the government has had to step in to take over these two companies to keep the mortgage market for conventional loans in place. With no immediate end in sight from government control of these companies it appears that no new mortgage products will become available anytime soon from Fannie and Freddie.