Vol. 15 Issue No. 5 | February 4 – February 10, 2009

Continental Mountain property now offered as 457-acre parcel

By Curtis Riggs | February 4, 2009

Reacting to the present market

MARICOPA COUNTY – Investors who purchased 457 acres on Continental Mountain last year are reacting to the present dismal real-estate market by offering to sell the property as one large parcel instead of selling it in 40-acre pieces.

Joanne Eannacone, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, is marketing the property for the Sienna Corp-oration out of Minneapolis. She said the investors are asking $40 million for the entire 457 acres.

Many in the community have strong emotions about the land because of its high visibility and past attempts to develop it.

Emotions ran high last year when there was talk of splitting the land into 40-acre parcels. Many were upset by talk of the Town of Cave Creek supplying water to the venture.

“That would have been nice money coming into the community,” she said about the possibility of Cave Creek receiving development impact fees from homes built there.
There are a couple of problems with plans to collect any impact fees from the property.

First, the land is not in Cave Creek. Secondly, Cave Creek could not annex it because none of the town’s boundaries border it.

“Some of the properties are not easy to build on so in this market they are not as easy to sell,” she said. “That is why they are looking at selling it in one piece.”

Eannacone said interest in this property, and others she is marketing, have picked up since the first of the year.

“There was a guy who came in on Monday who wanted his privacy, but he wants utilities to already be there,” she said. The Continental Mountain property is off the grid.

She calls the $40 million a wholesale price because 457 acres in the local market would retail for $51.5 million

“This is a different tactic,” she said. “We’ll see if there is interest from one investor.”
Eannacone also said properties priced at $300,000 or less in the local market are beginning to sell.

“Since the beginning of January there are a lot more buyers and a lot more interest in properties,” she said. “Two weeks is not a trend, but there is definitely more interest now.
She estimates a third of the potential buyers are from the Valley or throughout the rest of Arizona.

“It’s a spectacular time to buy,” she said. “Prices may never be this low again.”