A housing report from the Arizona Republic. "Valley home sellers frustrated by a lack of action on their listings will soon have another selling tool: the auction block. More than 100 homes are expected to go up for bid in a mass housing sale set for next month in downtown Phoenix."

"Housing auctions, popular during the economic downturn in the early 1990s, are re-emerging as sellers look for different ways to make their home stand out from competing listings. In addition to the 40,000 resale homes on the market, it is estimated that there are as many as 25,000 'spec,' or speculative, houses that home builders have completed or are working on but have not sold."

"Some experts say that any mechanism, including an auction, that reduces some of that inventory should be welcome; though they acknowledge it will take more than 200 homes to make a dent in the local inventory."

"But auctions, especially for houses, can project the image of a cheap sale from a desperate seller. Sellers not willing to make big cuts may be frustrated to learn the buyers are bargain hunters or vulture investors."

"'I think they're just kind of scammy-type predators in a market where they can hopefully get a bunch of buyers and get enthusiastic response,' said (realtor) Doreen Drew in Anthem. 'A lot of times, they don't reach the reserve or the minimum amount. These guys are trying to create a little buzz. And I don't think the sellers have capitulated yet. I don't think they have said: 'I just don't care. Just drop the price to the mortgage and I'll walk away from it.'"

"'Historically, when auctions begin to appear, it's not a good sign,' said Jay Butler, head of realty studies at Arizona State University. 'Rightly or wrongly, auctions are seen as a negative. In real estate, the auction is perceived to be a last-resort process.'"

"Brett Barry of Realty Executives said the two things stopping homes from selling now are price and the condition of the house."

"'If sellers are going to participate, they need to say, 'We've been overpriced.' The typical seller, they are greedy, they will think this is the magic pill,' Barry said. 'What is the magic dust that makes the house sell? To me, it sounds more like a gimmick unless they can get the prices down.'"

"John Burns, a real estate consultant based in California, said holding an auction is a good way for someone like a developer with an oversupply of housing to set the market value. He also thinks auctions will increase as people fall behind on risky mortgage loans."

"'I think the banks in this cycle will wind up with a lot of homes and would rather do this than go through a foreclosure auction,' he said."

"Some residents of a south Gilbert development are questioning if a battle with Chandler Unified School District would have ended differently had homeowners, and not Shea Homes representatives, run their homeowners association. Shea runs the HOA because the development has not reached the necessary percentage of sold homes to have a resident-run association."

"The meeting was filled with residents angered by what they see as a failed last-minute effort by the HOA to prevent the school board on Jan. 24 from adopting district boundaries excluding Seville residents living north of Chandler Heights Road from attending Riggs Elementary."

"Jeff Miller, a father of school-age children who lives in the excluded northern Seville sector, said many residents remain troubled by Shea's initial sales pitch, which included the showing of a model that displayed a school, then referred to as Seville school, especially for Seville homeowners."

"'They (HOA board members) don't have to live with the property-value loss. Your home is sacred, it's one of the biggest investments you make,' said Brad O'Hearne, a northern sector homeowner."

The Daily Star. "A state Senate panel agreed Wednesday to enact laws to attack mortgage fraud, though several members questioned whether the changes will do anything at all."

"Felecia Rotellini, superintendent of the state Department of Financial Institutions, cited situations in which a buyer gives a seller more than a home is worth, with the proviso — not reported to the bank — that some of that money be given back to the buyer."

"But the whole proposal did not sit well with Sen. Pamela Gorman, 'Getting cash back as a buyer doesn't make you a criminal,' she said. Gorman also said everything this legislation would criminalize already is illegal. 'We're not going to say it's illegal, because it already is,' she said. 'We're going to say it's really, really illegal, which I don't think is a useful exercise for this body.'"

"Sen. Robert Blendu said it appears the real reason few people are charged is that neither Rotellini's agency nor the Attorney General's Office has the funds to investigate and prosecute. 'All the laws in the world mean nothing unless there's enforcement,' he said."

"If nothing else, Blendu said, there needs to be better regulation of appraisers, as they are the key to all types of fraud."

"But Rotellini said other types of fraud occur because a borrower provides incorrect information about income or a lending officer purposely inflates that income to help secure a larger loan than the person would otherwise be eligible to get."

"Rotellini said these scams have victims other than lenders. She said people who buy legitimately in areas filled with homes with artificially jacked-up prices not only pay more than they should but could find values plummeting when other buyers default and lenders find out that more is owed on the property than it is worth."

The East Valley Tribune. "A Scottsdale developer announced Wednesday it hopes to begin construction of a 26-story condominium tower on the north shore of Tempe Town Lake early this year with sales opening in March."

"WestStone’s tower is one of a number of planned projects that could bring more than 2,000 condos to the area surrounding the lake, said John Fioramonti with real estate research firm Hanley Wood."

"Fioramonti said he’s seen a frenzied rush to build condos during at least three housing market cycles in the 30 years he’s lived in the Valley. 'The bug starts, and everybody starts building condos,' he said. 'And then they have way too many condos, and they can’t give them away.'"