Fireworks will be everywhere in the west valley tomorrow. Here is a partial list, as reported by the Arizona Republic.Avondale: Festivities will be at Phoenix International Raceway, 7602 S Avondal Bl. from 6-10:30pm. Free!Buckeye: Clowns and Jugglers, water park. Verrado High School, 20050 W. Indian School Rd from 5:30-10:00pm. Free but there is a $5.00 charge for the water park admission.Glendale: Hometown Fourth of July Celebration. Glendale Community College and Sahuaro Ranch Park. The GCC pool will open at 1:00pm free admission. Fireworks at 8:40pm.Lake Pleasant Regional Park: $5 per car entry fee. 9-10:000pmLitchfield Park: Litchfield Park Community Center. Activities start at 10:00am With the July Splash Bash. Fireworks at 9:00pmPeoria: Big doings at the Peoria Sports Complex, ple... 07/02/2007

How much can you get for your housing dollar in Sun City? As June 2007 approaches a close, there are 36 homes for sale in Sun City AZ. They range in price from $99,000 for a 2 bedroom 1 bath home of 918 square foot home to $150,000 for a 3 bedroom 2 bath home of 1706 square feet.Is a condominium in your future? Today, June 24, 2007, there are 176 condos for sale in Sun City AZ. You can get a 625 square foot studio, perfect for the occasional winter visitor for only $69,500. You can go all the way up to a 3 bedroom 2 bath condo of 1735 square feet for $150,000 even.Property taxes are between $600-800/year on the average home in Sun City. Compared to most metropolitan areas, very much a bargain.Want to get the most bang for your retirement housing dollar? Come to Sun City! 06/24/2007

Get a Realtor.A Realtor can help you with local knowledge of traffic patterns, flooding of streets, future construction plans, location of dumps, railroads, future freeways and a multitude of other things that will impact your enjoyment and the future value of your home.Your Realtor will represent you, and you alone in the transaction. Oh, did you think the nice sales agent on the property was Your agent? Think again. The developers sales force represents the developer. No one is better at writing contracts to protect themselves at the buyers expense than the developer. Your Realtor will also interpret the documents for you, helping you to understand before you make the decision to buy the impact of the community rules and the subdivision report. Not everyone is willing or capable to re... 06/23/2007

Summer is here!  At last the coffee I left in the car is still as warm at 5:00PM as it was when I left it there in the morning.Besides heat, Summer brings some other nice things to Sun City. The quail babies don't hatch before the days are in the triple digits. The pace of life slows a little with the rise in temperature. When you feel a little warm, take a dip in one of the seven community swimming pools. Fewer bowling leagues means more open bowling.On the subject of bowling, Next week the professional bowlers will be at R.H. Johnson recreation center lanes in Sun City West. That's right, pro bowling tour comes to town! In the summer, no less.How do we survive the heat? It really isn't that hard. Dress in light weight, light colored and loose clothing. (See the suit and tie in my pict... 06/22/2007

One of the most rewarding things about a career in real estate is the people you get to meet and work with. Not just coworkers in your office, or the local title/escrow officers and loan originators, but the agents, escrow and title experts, notaries, loan officers, stagers, trainers etc. from around the continent who willingly share their knowledge and experience with others. I have compiled a partial list of these people here. I would like to emphasize it is only a partial list. There are over 33,000 members of this forum today, I apologize I cannot mention all who have contributed.It is time to introduce you to some of my colleagues here on ActiveRain. This is a list of Realtors, Real Estate agents, and Real Estate professionals that are associates of mine here on ActiveRain. Tacoma ... 06/07/2007

There are far to many wonderful trips to take in Arizona. The image we have here is that this is a vast desert with nothing but sand and saguaros. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Arizona is a state with life zones from the lower Sonoran desert of the south to near arctic tundra in the north.I have posted more interesting and beautiful places, all within a couple of hours of Phoenix and the Sun Cities. To view information on these sites, click here. Please keep these places in mind when planning your next trip. 06/05/2007

During the hot summers, even the crazy "zonies" like me who like hot weather like to get away once in a while. One of my alltime favorite places is Montezuma's Castle.Montezuma's Castle is slightly more than one hour north of Sun City and Phoenix on I17 in the Verde Valley. It is just a few minutes off of the freeway, accessible to most, with easy trails and great places to take pictures.Originally built by the Sinagua (Spanish for "without water") indians, the ruins are a 20 room cliff dwelling. The dwelling is high enough to protect the original residents from enemy attack or flood waters from the little stream below, but close enough to give today's visitors a good view. The visitors center in also quite informative.I have some nice pictures of my own from visiting there, but none as... 06/04/2007

In Cathrine Reagor's column in todays Arizona Republic, it was reported that housing prices were stable, indeed flat in Arizona at this time.Good news? You bet! Our neighbor to the west has some real problems in the resale real estate market. Ms. Reagor announced that 22 out of 26 home markets experienced price decreases. Arizona real estate remains a bargain for a metropolitan area of its size.Also reported was that fixed rate mortgages are creeping up to an average of 6.42%. Keep in mind that rates were over 8 in 2000. Some of us can remember home mortgages with credit card interest rates. Back when I was in college (during the war, the North was winning) rates were 7.5 + points. We thought we would never see such low rates again.If you stop to think about it, the news isn't all bad i... 06/03/2007

Yesterday, the Department of Labor announced that the number of new jobs created in May was almost double the number created in April.This is good for the outlook for sales of both family homes and retirement homes. Families may be able to start moving up at last, freeing up the older generation to move on also. For more on the ripple effect on retirement communities, click HERE.  06/02/2007

Even though I have been with AR for several months, it took me until April to write a blog entry and start commenting with any regularity. Until a month ago, I could never find myself or my website on Google. On April 24, I finally did it! I wrote about it here. http://activerain.com/blogsview/82884/Google-and-MeToday I checked again, and under sun city az Realtor, I'm on page 1! My localism profile is on page 2 when searching for sun city real estate.I am sure if I devoted more attention, or had a little more creativity and writing ability, I could do even better. The AR paradigm works for increasing your search scores, it just takes a little work.Keep at it everyone, new folks, start writing!Jim Little, Your Sun City Realtor 05/31/2007

Today, I took my grandson to one of the Sun City community pools. While watching him, I thought of the many who never had kids and grandkids. They were the ones we honor  today.So, where are the heros you ask? I live and work with many of Tom Brokaw's "Greatest Generation" It is easy to remember Memorial Day, and Veteran's Day too, when you see these heros daily. Here in Sun City, we have many remaining veterans of WWII. We also have veterans of the Korean War. Now that they are getting old enough we are proud to welcome also the veterans of Viet Nam. Welcome Home!Yes, it is easy to remember Days of Remembrance where so many have served. Men and women, they served! Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine (who had the highest per capita asualty rate in WWII). Let's n... 05/28/2007

In the May 12 issue of Arizona Republic, sydicated columnist Ilyce Glink said that listing agents should not use lockboxes. Each showing should be accompanied by the listing agent, that this is how they should justify the commissions charged.Since I feel that the best thing a listing agent can do is not stop buyers from buying the home, I think this is the best reason to use the lockbox. We live in a society with 2 income families. We have a "profession" with part time agents and agents of minimal competence. I am still waiting for a return call from March 2006 on a home listed as call listing agent to show. With so many homes for sale in Sun City, Sun City West and Surprise without the lockbox we would be at a great disadvantage, as buyer's agents and as seller's agents.Comments anyone? 05/26/2007

Arizona now allows the seller to purchase a Third Party Disclosure to provide to prosective buyers. The main difference or enhancement to the Arizona Association of Realtors Seller's Property Disclosure form is that the report provider will search public records and maps for ustable soil conditions, undisclosed underground tanks, superfund and toxic plumes in the aquifers.Realtors all have access to most of this data. I can only see benefit to the soil condition reports, and that is tempered by the fact our maps are old, out of date, and inaccurate. The state must do something about this, especially in areas affected by new development.For more detail, see: http://phoenixrealtestate.blogspot.com/ my other blog.Jim Little, Your Sun City Realtor 05/19/2007

We have seen all of the flack about Zillow. Will it ruin Realtors?  Will it be the next best thing? Should Zillow have an appraiser's license?How about this just in from Cnet, a tech news blog. If you don't like the Zestimate, go to Zillow and tell them you have an extra bedroom. You can also claim other improvements to boost your Zestimate.For more details, here is the link. http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9718119-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20Maybe Zillow isn't all that bad, but it makes Zestimates suspect doesn't it. I can see a fsbo showing some unsuspecting buyer his Zestimate to justify an inflated price. 05/11/2007

An article in today's Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0504biz-money0504.html, says Private Mortgage Insurance is now on the comeback.Since the market is adjusting, and the news is all bad on option arms, 100% subprime, piggyback loans,ie 80/10/10, and all of the other creative programs PMI is no longer a bad word.Some of us can remember when there was FHA, VA, and 80% conventional loans only. What a revolution when PMI came about. Someone with as little as 5% could buy a home! We will continue to have many more programs than we did then, but now PMI is becoming an economic option again. No resets, no teaser rates, no negative amortization, just fixed rates.What make this attractive is that for loans closed in 2007 PMI is tax deductible for couples making les... 05/04/2007

For those of you not fortunate to have a home in Sun City, I thought I would post a few pictures.This has been a warm winter with not much rain. The compensation for this is that this is the best year in the last ten that I can remember for cactus flowers. Unfortunately, the desert wildflower season is poor due to the lack of rain.About the only thing prettier than the flowers in Arizona is the sunsets. I'll try to post a sunset photo soon.   05/03/2007

Home sales In Sun City  Figures are for Houses, Condos, Patio Homes Source: Arizona Regional MLS  Active - 884 Properties Found Square FeetBedroomsBathsList PriceSale PriceAgent DOM Cumulative DOM Min62500.75 $ 69,500$0 11Avg152421.73$ 196,008$0 107129Max362253.5$ 699,000$0 556584 AWC - 19 Properties Found Square FeetBedroomsBathsList PriceSale PriceAgent DOM Cumulative DOM Min87911 $ 98,900$0 2727Avg142321.62$ 179,821$0 99130Max189632$ 269,900$0 298576 Pending - 110 Properties Found Square FeetBedroomsBathsList PriceSale PriceAgent DOM Cumulative DOM Min87911 $ 89,500$0 10Avg150721.70$ 186,602$0 99118Max239633$ 479,900$0 554554 Sold - 491 Properties Found Square FeetBedroomsBathsList PriceSale PriceAgent DOM Cumulative DOM Min62500.75 $ 65,000$ 65,00000Avg146421.66$ 183,852$ 175,662 10... 05/02/2007

Here is a contact received today through AR: From Donald MokoEmail Address:donaldmoko2009@yahoo.frSubject:From Donald MokoIP:196.201.64.115Message:From Donald Mokodonaldmoko2009@yahoo.frTell:22505103844.Abidjan,Cote d'ivoireWest africaDear,INTRODUCING MYSELF, I AM Donald Moko, THE ONLYSON OF THE LATE MR AND MRS Moko. I wish to request for your assistance in a financialtransaction. Dear I get your contact from a member ofthis your sit.I wish to invest in Manufacturing andreal estate management in your country.I have twelve million,five houndred thousand unitedstate dollarls.USD($12.500,000) to invest in thetransaction and I will require your assistancein receiving the funds in your account in yourcountry. I will gladly give you 15% of the total sumfor your assistance.please it is importa... 05/01/2007

Over the last two weeks, much has been said about the Arizona Republic's report that Arizona Board of Appraisers have issued cease and desist orders against Zillow for "giving appraisals without a license". This mornings news said that the legislature is addressing this issue, apparently in Zillow's favor. My question is why now? The first cease and desist order was in July 2006, the second in November. Neither has been enforced, Zillow has continued giving Zestimates. If the Board was correct or serious, why didn't they enforce these orders? If they weren't why did they issue them in the first place?My opinion is that Zillow gives the consumer a way to discover the POSSIBLE value of a home before calling a Realtor to get a more comprehensive opinion of value. As such, it has some value... 04/24/2007

My Promise to Home Buyers •1                    Help with the qualification process•2                    Recommend 3 local lenders•3                    Identify suitable properties•4                    Set appointments and show qualifying properties•5                    Prepare buyers estimated closing costs on selected property•6                    If a new home is selected, help review the Public Report and developers contracts•7                    If a resale home is selected, prepare purchase contract per buyers instructions•8                    Present offer, explain and negotiate counter offers, addendums etc.•9                    Disclose and advise on neighborhood environmental issues, i.e. busy streets, airports, fumes, dumps, flood plain, etc.•10               Get disclosures ... 04/20/2007