The monsoon season has finally arrived in the valley. Rainfall totals exceeding 2" in some communities have been reported, with the typical street flooding and flooding washes.

This is a good time to remind everyone about the "Stupid Motorist Law". This law makes it illegal to pass traffic barriers and cross a flooded wash. Violators who have to be rescued will be required to pay for their own rescue! Don’t think about it. It is a dangerous practice, not just for the violator, but for the emergency crews who have to risk their lives to rescue them. The nice thing about monsoon flooding is that the washes will recede in an hour or two. Just be patient, you’ll get home sooner and safer.

On another note, there are areas in the valley with extreme soil conditions. They may be expansive soils, or worse, they may be prone to earth fissures. When buying a home, you need to know if the home of your dreams is built on one of these types of soil.

Expansive soils can crack your foundation.

Areas subject to fissures are even more dangerous. These are cracks in the earth that may be 10-20 feet wide, at least as deep and a quarter mile long or more. We haven’t had homes swallowed yet, but a horse was recently killed by a fissure related incident.

The majority of earth fissures occur in the southeast valley.

If you are buying a home, be sure your agent checks to see if your home is in an area of extreme soil conditions. If it is, get a soil survey.

Jim Little, Your Sun City Realtor
http://jclittle.com/
Ken Meade Realty
17001 N Del Webb Blvd
Sun City AZ 85373
800-877-1776
623-977-1776

By the way…if you know someone who is interested in buying or selling real estate, please call me with their name and phone number. Thank you!

In Arizona, the typical listing agreement will include specific permission to do 2 things.

First, permission to put up a for sale sign. For most people with homes for sale this is a given, of course they want a sign. In Sun City and Sun City West, these signs are the best advertisment you will have. Many people like to drive the streets and see what is available. We get more calls from signs than newspaper ads.

The second permission is for the use of a lockbox. This can cause some concern for people. They often believe that the home will be less secure. In the greater Phoenix area we use the Supra box. This is an electronic box that requires a sophisticated electronic key to open. The key itself records the agent id, time and date of entry. This information is kept on Supra servers and must be updated daily or the key will not  open any boxes. This is a reasonably secure means to provide access and still maintain security.

An additional safeguard with the Supra box is hours of showing. Supra boxes have default hours of entry. They come set to only open between 8AM and 10PM. I own my own boxes and can set them to hours that my clients feel comfortable with.

By the way, some agents do not use the Supra box, but use a cheap combination box available at any hardware store. They than publish the combination on MLS data sheets. No record is kept, anyone could have access any time. I don’t know why they do this, but I guarantee I will never do it. It is in no way secure.

How important is access? We still have a buyer’s market. There are over 750 homes for sale in Sun City, and another 300 in Sun City West. If your home isn’t readily available to show, there are plenty of others, many just like yours. The buyers and their agents will just look at another. Your home may have not been exposed to the family that would have bought it. Lack of access is the fifth major reason why homes don’t sell in the Sun Cities.

Jim Little, Your Sun City Realtor
http://jclittle.com/
Ken Meade Realty
17001 N Del Webb Blvd
Sun City AZ 85373
800-877-1776
623-977-1776

By the way…if you know someone who is interested in buying or selling real estate, please call me with their name and phone number. Thank you!

Crescent Crown Distributing has announce that it will build a regional headquarters an distribution facility at the Surprise Pointe commericial park.

Crescent expects to employ 250 people initially, growing to 600 jobs in the near future. The company also has a distribution center in Phoenix, which it will keep open. That facility employs nearly 600 people.

Crescent is a beer distributor, representing many high end brands such as Heineken, Miller, Labatt and others. The company expects to sell more than 16,000,000 cases of beer in Arizona in 2007.

Surprise City Councilman Joe Johnson said. "This brings real jobs the average citizens of Surprise can Get."

The Surprise Pointe development is expected to bring as many as 6,000 new jobs to Surprise. The positive aspects of this include shorter commutes for Surprise residents, increased non-residential property tax incomes, and less congestion on streets in neighboring communities. In addition, Surprise will no longer be a bedroom community for Phoenix and Glendale.

Surprise Pointe has a very strategic location, being near freeways and railroad tracks, in a major and growing metropolitan area, and within less than 6 hours from the Los Angeles/Orange County/San Diego markets.

Jim Little, Your Sun City Realtor
http://jclittle.com/
Ken Meade Realty
17001 N Del Webb Blvd
Sun City AZ 85373
800-877-1776
623-977-1776

By the way…if you know someone who is interested in buying or selling real estate, please call me with their name and phone number. Thank you!

Growing, Growing Grown!

Forbes.com reports that Surprise Arizona is the third-fastest-growing suburb in America according the the Arizona Republic. In the same article, the Republic says that Money magazine rated Surprise AZ as first in the nation for the rate of new job growth.

Four of the top ten fast growing suburbs were in the West Maricopa County area. The other three were Buckeye, Avondale and Goodyear.

Most Family Friendly!

Suprise was also the city with the highest percentage of married couples in the U.S. with 69% of the households comprised of married couples. Source: socialexplorer.com

For more information about Surprise, click here

To learn more about homes and condominiums for sale in these or other west valley neighborhoods, such as Sun City, Sun City West, Sun City Grand, Peoria or Glendale Arizona, please visit my website here or call me.

Jim Little, Your Sun City Realtor
http://jclittle.com/
Ken Meade Realty
17001 N Del Webb Blvd
Sun City AZ 85373
800-877-1776
623-977-1776

By the way…if you know someone who is interested in buying or selling real estate, please call me with their name and phone number. Thank you!

Surprise is the growth center of the northwest valley, located west of Glendale, Peoria, Sun City and Sun City West.

The town was a small, one-mile square village when it started in 1937. It has since become Arizona’s fastest growing city 4 years out of the last 5. The population is now over 100,000. For more about the population growth in Surprise, see my earlier article. click here

Surprise has a healthy mix of resident ages. There are many family oriented developments such as Marley Park Kingswood Park, West Point, Mountain Vista Ranch, Greenway Parc and others too many to mention. Homes for sale include many resales, as well as new homes that are being built daily.

In addition to the family developments, Surprise also includes Del Webb’s Sun City Grand. This is a priemie acctive adult community offering wonderful recreation and social opportunities for those who meet the age requirement of one resident 45 years old or older.

Surprise is a neighbor of Luke Air Force Base, just south on Litchfield Rd. Many of the fine men and women serving at Luke live happily in Surprise.

Current prices of homes for sale in Surprise range from $110,000 to $1,695,000. There is something here for everyone. The home values in this community are exceptional. Most of the housing stock is less than ten years old.

Schools and shopping are convenient, as is access to Interstate 10 an Loops 101 and 303.

The City of Surprise has built a Cactus league stadium for spring training activities of the Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Royals. The Dodgers will be coming to the nearby town of Glendale in the near future.

The Cactus league stadium is part of a city park complex including a water park, and the main city library.

All in All, Surprise is a wonderful place to live. For more information on new and resale homes for sale in Surprise, please contact me.

Jim Little, Your Sun City Realtor
http://jclittle.com/
Ken Meade Realty
17001 N Del Webb Blvd
Sun City AZ 85373
800-877-1776
623-977-1776

By the way…if you know someone who is interested in buying or selling real estate, please call me with their name and phone number. Thank you!
 

Homes for sale in Sun City Grand, Westbrook Village

If you like many others believe you have to be 55 years old to live in an active adult community, have I got news for you.

Both Sun City Grand, and Westbrook Village have lower age restrictions. You may buy a home and live in it at age 45 in Sun City Grand. Homes for sale in Sun City Grand range from $129,000 to $889,000.

Westbrook Village has an even lower age limit. You can buy a home and live in it in Westbrook Village at age 40. Homes for sale in Westbrook Village range from $149,000 to $539,000.

How can these communities do this? The federal rule is that 80% of the homes have at least 1 occupant over 55 years old, and no occupant under 19 years old for longer than 90 days. If the bylaws of the community allow it, and the community governing body will keep the records, households can be allowed occupancy of younger people up to 20% of the total. The key is keeping records, which Sun City Grand and Westbrook do.

Think about it, you can enjoy the benefits of active adult community living while you are still young enough to enjoy it.

Jim Little, Your Sun City Realtor
http://jclittle.com/
Ken Meade Realty
17001 N Del Webb Blvd
Sun City AZ 85373
800-877-1776
623-977-1776

By the way…if you know someone who is interested in buying or selling real estate, please call me with their name and phone number. Thank you!

Countrywide Financial, one of the largest mortgage originators reported that They made 45 Billion dollars in mortage loans in June. This is a 4% increase over June of 2006. The company accomplished this in spite of vastly reduced activity in the sub-prime and adjustable rate mortgages.

The company still finds the housing market soft, but a 4% increase in same month production is nothing to sneeze at.

In addition to the higher volume of loans, the company is also hiring new people, adding 830 new jobs since May. This in a time many lenders have cut their work force.

Jim Little, Your Sun City Realtor
http://jclittle.com/
Ken Meade Realty
17001 N Del Webb Blvd
Sun City AZ 85373
800-877-1776
623-977-1776

By the way…if you know someone who is interested in buying or selling real estate, please call me with their name and phone number. Thank you!

In today’s Arizona Republic, Cathrine Reagor reports a few things of interest to home buyers and home sellers.

1. New home building continues to slow.
2. Condo sales are bucking the trend. Sales of existing condos are up about 8%.

Regarding number 1, good news for sellers of existing homes, they do not have to compete with builder inventories to sell their homes. This fortells a very clear signal to buyers that this is the time to buy a resale home in a convenient neighborhood with established schools, roads and shops. Wait too long and you will either have to pay higher prices or move to new subdivisions miles from work and amenities.

Rising condo sales predict the long awaited market turnaround. It will be slow, but is definitely coming now.

Jim Little, Your Sun City Realtor
http://jclittle.com/
Ken Meade Realty
17001 N Del Webb Blvd
Sun City AZ 85373
800-877-1776
623-977-1776

By the way…if you know someone who is interested in buying or selling real estate, please call me with their name and phone number. Thank you!

As if triple digit heat isn’t enough, in Arizona, July is the start of the monsoon season.

The monsoon season is a change in weather caused by a seasonal change in the wind direction. Here that means the wind direction no longer typically comes from the west, but now from the south.

These monsoon winds bring very humid air from the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean causing sometimes phenomenal thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening. Often dust storms (the red cloud) accompanies the monsoon storms.

It is important to prepare your home for these storms to prevent unnecessary damage to your home or property. Here are a few tips.

• Seal roof joints.
• Seal around windows with caulking.
• Check weatherstripping around doors and windows.
• Trim palm trees (flying fronds can damage property and hurt people and pets).
• Check other trees for loose branches.
• Stake younger trees to keep them from blowing over in the wind.
• Secure patio furniture, especially umbrellas and tables, they can fly a long way.
• Have emergency supplies and a battery powered radio in case of power failure.

Please remember, this list is not exhaustive, there are many other things you can do to keep yourself safe during our summer storm period.

Jim Little, Your Sun City Realtor
http://jclittle.com/
Ken Meade Realty
17001 N Del Webb Blvd
Sun City AZ 85373
800-877-1776
623-977-1776

By the way…if you know someone who is interested in buying or selling real estate, please call me with their name and phone number. Thank you!

Home Sales up in Sun City and Surprise Arizona

The West Valley’s Daily News-Sun newspaper, citing a study by Realty Studies at Arizona State University Polytechnic reported today, July 13, 2007, that Sun City and Surprise resales of homes were strong when compared to the same month last year.

Sun City Arizona home resales were 115 homes in June 2007 compared to only 75 resales in 2006.
Surprpise Arizona home resales were  255 homes in June 2007 compared to only 175 resales in 2006.

I said in my post on July 11, 2007 that I felt the consumer was regaining confidence and felt the market had bottomed out. This latest news confirms that, at least for these two communities, the backbone of the the northwest valley. See my earlier post here. http://activerain.com/blogsview/144540/Low-Prices-Higher-Interest .

Since all wise investors want to buy low, now is the time!

Jim Little, Your Sun City Realtor
http://jclittle.com/
Ken Meade Realty
17001 N Del Webb Blvd
Sun City AZ 85373
800-877-1776
623-977-1776

By the way…if you know someone who is interested in buying or selling real estate, please call me with their name and phone number. Thank you!