Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Jun 24, 2007, at 6:35 AM, VAN DELL JORDAN wrote:

> Is it understanding or just assumption about
> homogeneity?   And does this effect last for
> generations?  And does it work for all economic
> levels.  Biltmore has always been for the upper
> income, Desert Ridge and Superstition Mountain are
> still very new.

Desert Ridge and Superstition Mountain are being developed according  
to a solid business plan of proven success. I know Biltmore best;  
that is where I focussed my four years in real estate sales here. The  
Biltmore is inhabited by people with more than average amounts of  
wealth, people who own sports teams or play on them as well as  
business owners, entertainers, etc. I sold a condo there that was  
owned by the president of Mercedes Benz North America; he has other  
homes in Europe. Glenn Campbell just sold his house there. Paul  
Harvey has a house there. People of above-average wealth got that way  
by learning how to create and retain wealth. One of the things they  
do is buy homes in areas that are inhabited by people like  
themselves. There is no mix of poor and rich. These people know that  
homes are good long-term investments. They are well maintained.  
Excepting for the mansions on Biltmore Circle, all of the other  
neighborhoods have strong HOAs that make sure everything stays well- 
maintained. And there is an HOA that serves the whole of the  
Biltmore, ABEVA, Arizona Biltmore Estates Village Association.

The two golf courses are owned by a company other than the one that  
owns the Arizona Biltmore Hotel.

The Biltmore is also the place of the Wrigley Mansion, built  
1929-1932 by chewing gum money. At that time, William Wrigley, Jr.  
owned two sections, about twelve hundred acres, extending from  
Camelback Road to Squaw Peak and adjacent mountains and between 24th  
Street and 32nd Street.

That's the real estate homogeneity I speak of. It is much more  
financially predictable than mixed neighborhoods.

Now back to my preferred place, five miles south of Heartwood is a  
ten-thousand-square-foot mansion behind a several-acre manmade lake.  
The property is a bit less than two thousand acres. Between that  
mansion and Heartwood are several single- or double-wides of various  
age and improvements as well as several decent but modest single- 
family homes on tiny to large acreage.

That is mixed, non-homogeneous real estate. Values are all over the  
place. It is anybody's guess what values will be in the future.

And frankly, my dear, I don't give a . . . .