Many of these cars aren’t cruising around to provide safety for the residents, but instead hide behind the curves to ticket you on Sunday morning, weekday afternoon or any other time you least expect them. One of the deputies’ favorite locations is Craycroft Road, North of Sunrise. They often hide in the cul-de-sacs on the East side of Craycroft, not-so-long ago developed and abandoned by a home builder.

There are plenty of other spots, some of them indicated on the map above. This map covers mostly Alta Vista, Finisterra, Silverton, Cimarron Foothils Estates, Ventana Canyon Estates and Miramist. If you are going North on Kolb, please make sure that you don’t cut traffic onto Sunrise Dr. through the SE business area. The article in one of the local newspapers indicated that 15 people were fined within one hour with $170 tickets.

Also, don’t expect this situation to get better anytime soon. With a forecast for Arizona to hit a 30 percent budget gap in 2010, many Pima county deputies might find it attractive to “taxate” wealthy citizens.

If you know of any other police traps in the Foothills area, please add it in the comments and I’d be happy to expand the map I created.

“BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” is now becoming a reality in Tucson and Pima County.

Every driver in Arizona is now under complete surveillance by the authorities, mainly by cameras installed at numerous intersections in Tucson, Pima County, Phoenix and other areas of Arizona. I don’t know about you, but it really gets on my nerves to see their eye pointing at my windshield like a gun.

Most of those cameras are surveillance cameras, but there are number of speed cameras that issue tickets as well.

Here is a map of those speed traps:

Remember the locations of speed cameras in Pima County (if you want to avoid getting speeding ticket):

* Northbound and southbound N. La Cholla at W. Sunset Road
* Northbound and southbound S. Mission Road at W. Nebraska Street
* Eastbound and westbound E. Ina Road at N. Camino de Las Candelas
* Northbound and southbound N. Swan Road at E. Calle Barril
* Northbound and southbound Alvernon Way near Station Master Drive
* Eastbound and westbound Valencia Road near Camino De La Tierra
* Eastbound and westbound Valencia Road near Wilmot Road
* Eastbound and westbound River Road near Country Club Road
* Northbound and southbound Ruthrauff Road near Rillito Street
* Northbound and southbound Nogales Highway near Hermans Road

For more information and amounts of the fine, visit http://www.pimasheriff.org/PhotoRadar/.
Meanwhile, if you already got speeding ticket in Arizona, read:
http://www.worldlawdirect.com/article/903/fighting-speeding-ticket.html

This is quite different compare to the previous Auction. Most of the Condos auctioned last year were nicely renovated with granite counters, tile and carpet flooring, stainless-steel appliances.
This however is not the ONLY difference with the last year Auction. It looks like J.P.King has a different style than Real Estate Disposition Corporation. Instead of Auctioning separate units from a certain base price, “16 Absolute sales” would mean the following to the Buyers:

• First 16 lots are comprised of ALL THE AVAILABLE CONDOS on the list.
• The highest bidder of the first lot WILL CHOOSE which Condo he likes to pick. This Condo is taken of the list.
• The same for the next 15 lots.
• The seller is committed to sell those Condos for the final bid price.
• For the rest of the Auction – 42 Condo Conversions left on the Auction list will be bid separately and it will be up to the Seller to Accept or Reject final bid price.

Nevertheless, the place seemed to be quite crowded with prospective Buyers and Investors and a brief interaction with one of them revealed the following:

The bids at the Auction are expected to be quite less than last year. The main reason of course is the overall Real Estate market deterioration. However, significant role will play Buyers’ increased difficulty in getting financing for Condo Conversions.

Most likely banks will require at least 40%-50% down payment, so everyone who is pre-qualified at 20% down doesn’t stand a chance. Lately, banks put Luxury Condo Conversions into HIGH RISK category. This statement didn’t sound as a specific to this particular development, Tucson or Arizona, but rather as a general observation or insider’s knowledge. After all, how much Real Estate market in Tucson is different than in Phoenix, San Diego, Las Vegas, and Miami? Each market has its own specifics, but all of them got overbuild, over-converted, overpriced… Now they are full of short sales, foreclosures, auctions. Though, some might rightfully argue that Tucson is in better situation than other mentioned places.

Nevertheless, banks are especially cautious right now about lending money to the troubled areas. And Catalina Foothills’ Luxury Condominiums community – Villas at Sabino Canyon – is definitely one of them. At the first auction Condos were selling at about 50% discount… Most of the current owners are “upside down” on the property… Over 50% of the units are rentals… Special Assessment might be needed to boost HOA funding…

If all this doesn’t scare you and you are well capitalized to take a gamble, do your due diligence and come to the Auction. Bare in mind that the last few paragraphs are based on what we heard from the investor who already owns a few Condos in the Villas at Sabino Canyon and will probably acquire more.

Some of the largest models are:

4558 Sq. Ft., 5BR /4.75 BA, 1+ Acre and 3-car garage – $599,990 (down from $766,346) – MLS # 20810682 in The Preserve at Sycamore Canyon (Sahuarita & Harrison).

4350 Sq. Ft., 6BR /4 BA and 3-car garage – $499,990 (Former Model) – MLS # 20900646 in Sycamore Canyon (Sahuarita & Harrison).

3500 Sq. Ft., 5BR /3.75 BA and 3-car garage – $449,990 (Former Model) – MLS # 20838107 in Sycamore Canyon (Sahuarita & Harrison).

3500 Sq. Ft., 5BR /3.5 BA and 3-car garage – $399,990 (down from $490,025) – MLS # 20841640 in Sycamore Canyon (Sahuarita & Harrison).

3002 Sq. Ft., 5BR /3 BA and 3-car garage – $449,990 (Former Model) – MLS # 20900780 in Tierra Linda (Emigh west of Sandario).

2722 Sq. Ft., 5BR /3 BA and 2-car garage – $399,990 (down from $513,559) – MLS # 20841635 in River’s Edge (Lambert Lane & Pusch View Lane).

For more information on these and smaller models, please give me a call:
Anjelina Belakovskaia -Tucson Real Estate Agent
520-370-0700.

Here is the summary (click on image to open .pdf):

On August 21st starting at 10 pm until August 25th at 5 am there will be an interstate closure in Tucson, AZ that will move all traffic between St. Mary’s Road and 29th Street to the east side of the freeway in order to begin reconstruction on the Westside. Motorists will be detoured to the frontage roads during the closure.

On August 19th starting at 10 pm through August 25th at 5 am, the ramp from northbound I-19 to westbound I-10 in Tucson, AZ is scheduled to be closed. I-19 traffic will be detoured to the westbound I-10 frontage road.