Lakeview Trails North Complete

In the builders category, at least. The home-builders are Ashton Woods, Morrison Homes, Greystone, U.S. Home, and our deal with David Weekley was finalized on November 1. If you're unfamiliar with the background, I mentioned back in August that we were entering a contract with David Weekley Homes, a builder from Texas that is entering the Arizona market. If you go to their website and click on the Phoenix links, you'll find some information about Estrella Ranch, which is their first project in Arizona, but nothing yet on Morrison Ranch, of course. We are excited to work with them, and offer some new looks and options in Morrison Ranch. They should have their models up next year, along with the other builders.

On a related matter, you will notice that the sewer installation along Higley Road is now underway, in full swing, in fact. They should be finished within a couple of weeks.

As to the housing market in Phoenix, I'll pass on to you The Mister's understanding of the situation for your perusal in layman's terms (terms that I understand). He thinks that the housing decline has bottomed out; builders are seeing fewer cancellations on new homes, and the sales numbers are holding steady or increasing. As for the market of lots on which to build, there is more depression in the near future. It depends on the builder, and how big the corporate machine is, and how seasoned the management (some of the managers have never experienced a downturn in the market because the upswing in Phoenix has lasted longer than normal), but some builders are already "dumping" their lots in inventory - selling them to other builders for at or below cost. The Mister thinks that there will be an increase in dumping over the next few months, to satisfy corporate headquarters and to reduce their inventories. So be prepared for some more of the gloom and doom stories in the paper, because each time a builder sells off a large chunk of lots at a loss, the pundits will be very gloomy about the housing market in Phoenix. These juicy deals won't last too long, though, because as the number of homes sold starts to go back up, the builders will change their forecasts about how many lots they need in inventory, and they will again be buying or at least holding on to what they have. This should happen at the beginning of next year.

So, as they say, the darkest hour is just before the dawn; The Mister thinks that darkest hour is right around the corner (in the builder's market, not in the housing market, per se), with the dawn right behind.