Bubba’s 33 coming to Center Pointe intersection
Gozen, Takos & Beer, Hansen House and Chevron celebrate openings
Another new restaurant is coming to town. The Yuma
City Council authorized the construction and operation of Bubba’s 33, a new 7,743-square-foot restaurant, at the southwest corner of 4th Avenue and 16th Street, the interaction known as Center Pointe. It will be next to another coming-soon eatery, Slim Chickens (Yes, that’s still coming).
I had never heard of Bubba’s 33 so I looked it up. According to its website, the restaurant serves burgers, pizza, wings, sandwiches, dinner entrees, salads and desserts.
Kent Taylor, the founder of Texas Roadhouse, started Bubba’s 33 in 2013 with a focus on “madefrom-scratch food, friendly service and a fun atmosphere.”
The website adds: “Here, you get the best of both worlds: a family-friendly atmosphere and a garage bar. While we like to hang loose and have fun, we’re serious about our fresh food and service. That’s why all our food is made in-house from scratch and all our drinks are the stuff legends are made of.”
Bubba’s is “cool and casual” with the decor showcasing sports memorabilia to eclectic finds and neon lights. Sounds like a fun time to me!
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The building housing the former Hunter Steakhouse, and more recently, Blue Fox, has been brought to life again with a family-style restaurant serving “authentic” Japanese-korean cuisine, including “high quality” sushi.
Gozen, located at 2355 S. 4th Ave., celebrated a soft opening on Wednesday. It has a special lunch menu from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, happy hour specials every day from 2-5 p.m. and “reverse happy hour” from 8:30 p.m. to closing (except on major holidays and special occasions).
To reach Gozen, call 928247-9334.
Fun fact: Gozen is a Japanese term meaning “young lady” or “young lord.” It is sometimes applied as a title for female warrior samurai, according to Wikipedia.
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This past week Shay
Oil Co. opened its newest Chevron fuel station and convenience store at 12871 S. Frontage Road, off Interstate 8, in the Foothills Village Shopping Center.
The site of the former Foothills Eatery was sold in early 2023 to Shay Oil Co., owner of 22 Chevron gas stations and convenience stores located from San Luis to Tacna and Quartzite.
The new station sells both gasoline and diesel, and the store offers popular snacks and beverages. It also has propane, an ATM, family restroom and free air and water.
It’s open 24 hours, seven days a week.
“We’re excited to be able to offer the residents and visitors to the Foothills Boulevard area a place to fuel up and recharge with their favorite snacks and
than 30% of their income on their monthly housing payment. The analysis factored in a 15% down payment and the average rate on a 30-year loan in February, which was around 6.8%.
Lower mortgage rates would boost homebuyers’ purchasing power. Financing a $400,000 home with a 30-year mortgage with a fixed rate at last week’s average of 6.82% works out to about $215 more a month than if the rate was at 6%, for example. Monthly payments on the same loan two years ago, when the mortgage rate averaged 4.72%, would be $534 less.
Many economists expect that mortgage rates will ease this year, but not before inflation has cooled enough for the Federal Reserve to begin lowering its short-term interest rate.
The Fed has indicated it expects to cut rates this year once it sees more evidence that inflation is slowing from its current level above 3%. How the bond market reacts to the Fed’s interest rate policy, as well as other factors can influence mortgage rates. Current indications are mortgage rates will remain higher for a while longer.
For now, the uncertainty in the trajectory of mortgage rates is working in favor of home shoppers like Shelby Rogozhnikov
and her husband, Anton.
The couple owns a townhome in Dallas and want more space now that they’re planning on having their first child. They’re looking for a house with at least three bedrooms that’s priced within their budget of around $300,000.
They’re not feeling any urgency, but they are eager to avoid a surge in competition should mortgage rates decline in the coming months.
“I know interest rates will go down eventually, but I feel like when they go down housing prices
might go back up again,” said Shelby Rogozhnikov, 38. a dental hygienist. “I have the mortgage rate thing to worry about and my biological clock, which has less time on it than the mortgage rates, so it’s now or never.”
Real estate agents from Los Angeles to New York say bidding wars are still happening, though not as often as in recent years in some places.
“Overall, the bidding wars are not nearly as extreme as they were in markets’ past,” said Tony Spratt, an agent with Century 21 Real Estate Judge Fite Co., in the
Dallas-fort Worth area. “We’re still in a sellers’ market, but it’s much more mild than it was.”
Home shoppers also have more properties to choose from this spring than a year ago. Active listings – a tally that encompasses all the homes on the market but excludes those pending a finalized sale – have exceeded prior-year levels for five straight months, according to Realtor. com. They jumped nearly 24% in March from a year earlier, though they were down nearly 38% compared to March 2019.
The still-relatively tight inventory is helping give sellers the edge in many markets around the country, but not all.
In Raleigh, North Carolina, home listings are taking longer to sell, and that’s made sellers more flexible on price or with helping cover repair costs, said Jordan Hammond, a Redfin agent.
“Before we saw sellers could really do what they wanted,” she said. “They didn’t have to contribute at all to the buyer’s purchase. And now that’s kind of flipped. I’m seeing more buyers pushing sellers.”
Still, the thin inventory of properties on the market means home shoppers who can find a property for sale in their price range may want to put in an offer rather than wait, because there’s no guarantee a better option will come along right away.
Those shopping in areas where
new-home construction is more prevalent may have better luck this spring.
In response to higher mortgage rates, more than one-third of builders cut home prices in 2023. Many also offered buyers incentives like mortgage rate buydowns and below market-rate financing.
Builders also stepped up construction of smaller, less expensive homes, which helps explain why the median sale price of a new U.S. home fell nearly 8% in February from a year earlier to $400,500. That’s the lowest level since June 2021.
Home shoppers and sellers who wait until summer to test the market will also have to factor in how they may be affected by proposed changes to policies around real estate agent commissions.
Last month, the National Association of Realtors agreed to make policy changes in order to settle federal lawsuits that claimed the trade association and several of the country’s biggest real estate brokerages engaged in business practices that forced homeowners to pay artificially inflated commissions when they sold their home.
The policy changes, which are set to go into effect in July, could lead to home sellers paying lower commissions for their agent’s services. Buyers, in turn, may have to shoulder more upfront costs when they hire an agent.