If you are involved in a real estate transaction as a buyer or seller and either the brokerage firm your agent works for or the other party’s broker goes into bankruptcy, don’t panic; Arizona real estate laws protect the status of the transaction.

On March 17, 2010, the Real Estate Commissioner for the state of Arizona issued a revised advisory to all licensed real estate professionals to make sure that sales persons and brokers understand the laws with regard to bankruptcy and accurately notify you of your rights. The following points are the two most important for buyers and sellers to be aware of  if a brokerage foreclosure happens during your transaction:

Buyers and Sellers Close Per The Terms Of Their Purchase Agreement.

This means that the bankruptcy will not affect the agreed upon terms of the sale, and it can proceed as it would without regard to the broker’s bankruptcy.

Buyers And Sellers May Continue To Use Their Agents to Assist In The Closing As Long …

A natural cave above Cabrillo Canyon on the South Mountain preserve.

A single story home on an interior lot in Cabrillo Canyon is available for $589,894.00. UDC designed Cabrillo Canyon is a mature neighborhood in the Ahwatukee foothills (Ahwatukee is one of Phoenix’s twelve villages), which abuts the rugged edge of South Mountain and the mountain preserve. What makes this pretty home even more special are the soaring views of South Mountain. The rocky preserve is visible from every lot, and the mountain glows in reddish hues above the homes.

UDC was a high-end tract and semi-custom home builder before being absorbed under the Shea Homes umbrella in the 1990′s. Prior to that  UDC was one of the most popular builders in the Phoenix tract-home market based on its well conceived floorplans, attractive elevations and exterior finishes. Architectural details which were standard in most UDC  homes were usually only found in higher-end custom neighborhoods and Cabrillo Canyon was one of the most desirable of the UDC designed …

Do you have a glut of foreclosures in your neighborhood with tall weeds, dead lawns, dying palms and/or overgrown plants? In this economy, asking your HOA to increase its fees to maintain the yards of foreclosed properties may not appeal to you, but it’s a good idea, and here’s why: when a property with gravely neglected landscaping is finally sold, the new buyer will undoubtedly negotiate to deduct the estimated costs of landscape maintenance or improvements into their offer. Each  time a foreclosure sells it becomes the floor price of comparables (sales comps) in your neighborhood, and the floor will affect the value of all the homes within the neighborhood (including yours) extending in a 1/2 mile radius.

Asking your HOA to instate fees for abandoned landscaping refurbishment is better than creating neighborhood clean up programs comprised of other homeowners, because your HOA will contract a licensed and professionally insured crew to perform the needed work. It’s one thing to randomly pull a few …