In between April and June of 2006 the median sales price for single family detached homes in Pinal county was $231,000 and you had to wait in line to buy a home at that price.
Today the median price is $94,000 for those same months.
That is over 60% lower than the peak price of 2006 and people are noticing.
Pinal County was put on the map in Arizona during the real estate boom of 2005 and 2006.
The two cities that flourished were Maricopa and Queen Creek.
Home buyers and investors flocked to these cities to get their piece of the pie during the rapid real estate build up.
With prices being significantly lower than homes located closer to the phoenix metro area many buyers traded a longer commute for more square feet and highly upgraded homes.
Now that home owners have seen their home values decline up to 60% many are abandoning their homes with either short sales or foreclosures.
Paired with this are the glutton of investors who are walking away from their over inflated investments, recognizing it would take many years to recoup their capital and negative equity.
Bad for the economy, bad for banks, but this is good news for first time home buyers and cash investors.
Many first time buyers are seeing that they can trade their rent payment for a mortgage payment and get up to $8,000 from the government to help them with the purchase.
It's an amazing time to be a first time home buyer given the market condition and interest rates.
So far from April 1st through June 22nd there have been 1529 total sales for single family detached homes, 611 of those have been cash sales.
From January of 2008 to May of 2009 the supply of homes in Maricopa alone has dropped from a 20.
9 month supply to a 3.
21 supply.
The inventory is being bought up and we are now seeing multiple offers on what's remaining.
The good news is that the banks are getting rid of these foreclosures and there's still great opportunity for buyers, even with the reduction of supply and competition.
Prices remain great, you just have to be patient with the process.
To take advantage of the prices in Pinal County follow some simple steps:

• Get pre-qualified with a signed "Loan Status Report".
  This is a must before looking at homes.
  
• Determine your price range (what you want to spend, which is probably less than your LSR) and location.
  
• Decide what's on your must have list and your wish list, sometimes you can't get everything you want.
  
• Interview a few Realtors to determine who you want working on your behalf.
  
• Employ the services of your chosen Realtor and be prepared to compete with other savvy buyers.