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Alexis - It just so happens that I'm doing extensive research on land in the area. Where is lot 106 in the Foothills III section? I see you also have lot 105. From what I have seen, the sales right now are from 6,000 to as much as 15,000 per acre. I would imagine it has to do with the view, terrain, how far into the mountains the lots are etc. Some lots have underground electric and others like Kennedy does not. I know it would make a difference to me. I know that there was a couple of recent sales on the "Real Arizona" website. I think it is realarizona.com The actual link is - http://www.realarizona.com/tubac-foothills-real-estate-listi…
The guy seems to be the major realitor for the area. My guess is the pricing is probably in line with what it should be. Two recent sales were for $8,600 per acre (approx) and another very large lot (almost 40 acres) was for 6,000 per acre. Again - all the lots in the Foothills are
selling mostly in the $7,000 to $12,000 range (average).

I'd love to know where lot 106 is? I'm in the market... ;-) As a buyer - I can tell you we are not worried about the "assessment" as much as our two motivations. 1) Buy, sell in 5 years and a splittable parcel is more desireable in that case 2) If the land is stunning, we'd want to buy and build but best case is buy, split in 5 years and build. We'd be willing to pay more in case #2 ;-) 3) Comps but not in the formal assessment sense of the word. Anotherwords, once I narrow it down to 2-3 lots - it will be value and potential for the money. Cheers.. - Feel free to email me if you want to give me more info. - Fri Oct 19 2007, 08:01

Just wanted to come back and thank you all for your advice and let you know the outcome of my problem. The builder has refunded all but $2,000 of our $19,000 and to top it off is offering that if we buy with them later on they will put the $2,000 towards the purchase of a new build. With all the bad stories on the internet about builders - I will tell you that Avatar Homes rocks! They have obtained our complete loyalty and You guys rock too! - Fri Oct 19 2007, 07:14

Just got an email from my agent...

"I spoke with her (builder's broker) yesterday and explained your situation. She understood perfectly your issues about the home not being your dream home.

I never did tell her about keeping your money (towards future home with them), but I did emphasize that you all want to buy a home from them in the next year or two. She would like to keep you happy.

She said that she needed to just do some research to find out how much money they have already spent on your behalf. This would be for plot plans, etc."

Thanks all - I'll let you know what happens as things unfold. Guess we're in the negotiation stage. Any further advice or comments are welcome. Looks like we're on the home stretch and it was a lot easier than I thought. But - we'll see what they think they should keep. They have $19,000 of our money. $2500 of it was in excess of what I needed to send them which was $15,750. - Wed Sep 12 2007, 08:55

Ed - Yes there are some great answers here and I fully intended to "give credit". Give me time here ;-) I just logged on this morning and found all these amazing and thoughtful comments.

First of all - Thank you all so much for your input. I do have an agent, and although somewhat new to Arizona, she is also a friend and I feel she has my best interest at heart. She plans to speak with the head broker/salesperson today. I have plan A and plan B. First being that she ask for a portion of the money back and account in writing for exactly what they feel they "spent" and therefore deserve from the deposit. If, for instance, they put down cost for obtaining a variance.. no go. The variance's were due to their mistake, not mine. No materials have been bought nor concrete poured but I can see some money going towards the design center. I won't be happy with money going towards the salesperson for the builder because she is totally useless and I do have emails that provide a paper trail.

If that doesn't work - I will speak with them or have my agent speak to them about putting money towards a future house or let them take the earnest money and write up an agreement where X dollars go towards upgrades at the prices I have today. Prices won't increase much in 2-3 years.

If that doesn't work, I will write to the president of the company who touts in all their materials about how important it is to make their customers happy. If that doesn't work - I'm going to get a lawyer. I'm one to use a lawyer as a last resort.

In any case I will certainly come back here to let you know how it worked out. I've given my agent all the info you guys have given me. Thanks again!! - Wed Sep 12 2007, 06:49

Thanks Ute - My agent is talking to them today to see if they will negotiate. I hope they agree because I want us to have a win win situation so I can go back to them in the future to build the size home we want in another location. I love their homes and the quality of work. It took me 3 - 2 week vacations in Arizona to find my dream house and if they don't try and work with us on this - I feel like I wouldn't want to deal with them again. Just a matter of principle. It is a lot of money they are holding and since no work has started, I think it is only fair. If they refuse, I am going to have to run this by a lawyer and see what our rights are. I'd rather work things out with the builder and do our dream house with them down the road. - Tue Sep 11 2007, 12:01

Marion - I'm actually looking to buy land now in Rio Rico. I'm waiting for our builder to give us back our earnest money for the home we were buying at Bella Vista North. I'm doing searches right now for property in Santa Cruz or Pima County. My major priority is mountain view and hopefully ability to hook up to gas. - Mon Sep 17 2007, 09:29

If you have parcel numbers you can go to the Santa Cruz County website and put in parcel numbers for free. You will find out information on 2005, 2006 and 2007. Size of home/lot etc plus what the property sold for and even if it sold multiple times and those prices. You can also find out this information if you have the addresses. Only problem is - anything really recent sometimes is not listed yet. - Tue Sep 11 2007, 11:18