PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A TWO-NIGHT EVENT. DEC. 5TH AND 12.

Friends, it is official. Phoestivus is on and bigger than ever. Not only will we have over 50 vendors. Not only will we have at least 6 food trucks. Not only will we have feats of strength, an airing of grievances and the worlds largest Phoestivus pole (as far as you know).

Not only that, friends. But this:

I saw a movie recently (“Heist: Who Stole the American Dream?“), which featured our own Kimber Lanning, Local First Arizona’s founder and director since its inception. We got to talking about why it’s important to consider moving to a credit union as your bank of choice.For years, I had been thinking about the prospect of closing my national bank account and opening an account at a local credit union.

Well, it is finally time and I need your help. Allow me to explain.

To start, and for the sake of this series, let’s just say that I bank with “CitWellsiBank of America.”

Like most banks, my bank charges these fees unless I carry a certain balance; difficult for a small business to do. I suspect credit unions have fees of their own. However, that money has to go somewhere, but I’d rather have it go to a local credit union and keep the money in the local economy. Did you know that when you spend your money locally, four times that amount stays in local circulation, than if you spend it on a national chain or, in this case, a bank?

Credit unions, by design, are investors in their local economy (I think you could make the case that we wouldn’t have the same damage to our economy if we were all using credit unions that weren’t too big to fail. The big banks prior to the recession were doing big credit default swaps, bundling loans (great 2-minute video clip explanation from William Hurt film, “Too Big to Fail” at the link), and selling off collateralized debt obligations.

So when I was talking to Kimber at the movie, I got to thinking about the things were holding me back and I realized that they are probably the same things that hold back other people:

Time. This is probably the biggest impediment to making the switch. My suspicion is that it’s going to take a lot of time to research credit unions, narrow it down to one, set up all of my business accounts, personal accounts, savings accounts so that it’s an exact replication of what I currently have and like. Not to mention learning new things like how to navigate their online offerings, their apps (if they have them) and how to move money around between banks the process.

Uncertainty. Will the credit union have a similar setup on its website interface? How easy will it be to get cash from a credit union with, presumably, fewer locations and ATMs. Where will I get cash if I need it? The big banks tell us we have to go to an ATM or a branch to get money, but we’re smart consumers; we know we can just visit the local supermarket and get cash back and there’s no ATM fees this way. Am I to expect the same level of trust/uncertainty when considering a relationship with a local credit unions?

Security. We’ve been duped into believing that big, national banks are the only ones who take security seriously. How often are local credit unions information compromised? We know it happens to the big banks. What measures do local credit unions take and how do they compare to the national banks?

Over the course of the next two months, I’ll be doing a series on my personal experience in setting up and moving from my big national bank to a local credit union. The first one, which you’re reading now, is defining The Problem: time, uncertainty, and security.

I’m going to do it for everyone, putting these posts up. And I’d love to have your comments as we do it. Tell me what you’ve experienced. Please help me get started by answering these questions:

1) Have you ever considered moving to a credit union?

2) What has kept you from seriously considering a credit union? What’s been holding you back? Why did you decide against a credit union?

3) What credit union do you recommend (or not recommend) and why?

I look forward to our journey together. (Read Part 2, “Credit Unions: Funnel it Down”.)

jp

The 4^th annual Grand Avenue Festival is this Saturday, October 20^th
and community involvement is a huge component!

The focus for this year’s celebration is the vibrant culture, art, history and adaptive re-use of the Lower Grand Avenue Arts and Small Business District and adjoining neighborhoods.

Opportunities abound!

Coffee, Cookies & Crafts

Hanging Gardens & Woven Fences & Trashy Sculptures

Grand Trashy Hat Promenade

Bands on Grand Performances (free)

Food

Free tours of the Historic Commercial Building and Adaptive Reuse, begin at 8 am and continue hourly until 11 am, courtesy of the Phoenix Revitalization Corporation (PRC), followed by Free screenings of “The Greenest Building,” shown at the conclusion of the tour.

Check out the Festival on Facebook

Official Festival Flyer [download, print, share!]

With widespread attention and growing support for a trolley on the Grand Avenue Rail Project to boot and a Final Report from Greening America’s Capitals, Grand Avenue is poised to bust open in a big way this year…but we need community support…your support to make it happen!

Recent developments along Lower Grand Avenue reveal an emerging, grassroots effort to revitalize the area. In 1998, a federally funded Weed and Seed project, which aimed to reduce violent crime by “weeding” out offenders and “seeding” community services, kick-started a partnership between city, federal, and state agencies, as well as the local faith community, residents, businesses, and nonprofits. This partnership has led to a 40 percent reduction in violent crime over the last 10 years. Artists have colonized the street, taking advantage of inexpensive vacant and underused warehouse and shop spaces.” ~ Greening America’s Capitals

(Greening America’s Capitals selected Phoenix in 2011 as one of five nationwide cities.)

“[Phoenix] asked for assistance to improve the Lower Grand Avenue streetscape, making it more environmentally, pedestrian-, and bicycle-friendly while also maintaining the neighborhood’s artistic character. The EPA design team will explore options that use green infrastructure techniques suitable for arid climates to capture and treat stormwater runoff. Design options might also include improvements to pedestrian crossings, transit shelters, bicycle paths, and trolleys.”

The Grand Avenue Festival is sponsored in part by the Grand Avenue Merchants’ Assoc.; Phoenix Revitalization Corp.; Oasis on Grand; Glass Lab Metal Lab; Abromovitz Grand Avenue Partners, LLC; Arizona Pedal Cabs; Phoenix New Times; Dunlap & Magee Property Management.

Let me tell you a few reasons why I think my new listing on Roosevelt and 10th Ave is a great opportunity.

1) It is a short sale and very well priced. There are so few short sales left. That’s good, but it also means fewer chances to get some great deals.

2) It is very close to all the great things downtown. It is close to Grand Ave. galleries and Roosevelt Row, as well as one of my favorite places to appease my sweet tooth: Treehouse Bakery.

3) It has a garage, which is rare downtown.

4) The owner did a lot of work on the kitchen, which you get to benefit from. Oh, and the wood floors look great.

5) There are two rooms, each of which has its own little den. That’s perfect for first time home buyers or renters.

This home is only $135,000 –or whatever we convince the bank to take!

Please give me call if you’d like to see it at 602-456-9388.

The next time you are around Copper Star Coffee or one of the other locally owned gems on 7th Ave, swing in to the Woodlea Historic Neighborhood and see the my listing at 1109 W. MacKenzie.

Or, you can touch on this link to see the listing right now.

This is truly great renovation. Check out the “before” picture, below. The owners made it their goal to retain and respect the historic qualities of this 1,445 square foot, 3br/1.75ba home on a double lot of land. When you make an offer on this house you actually have to write in the sale of two lots. This is a great big space in an established CenPho historic neighborhood. 

The owners kept the original marble honeycomb tile and flat subway tile in the kitchen and bathroom. They also completely renovated the wood floors and kept the original kitchen vent hood for a touch of historic charm. 

They made detached garage operable again by rebuilding much of the structure. They added fixtures and features throughout the house, but also added new touches like an expanded master bathroom, a 21-SEER air conditioner in the master addition, a patio sitting area. They also re-built the front porch over-hang. Other modern touches include the 6-burner stainless steel stove and recessed lighting.

I was hosting our first open house last week and the neighbors were thrilled with the work that had been done. You will be, too.

I used to live in this neighborhood and I can tell you it is a great place to live, with wonderful people and easy access around town.

Please give me a call at 602-456-9388 to see the home.

==========Pre-renovation Photo===========

This November (right before the holiday season and Phoenix’s peak months for tourism), Union at the Biltmore, located on the east end of Biltmore Fashion Park between Stingray Sushi and Season 52, will open 7,200 square feet of retail space in an exciting effort to highlight the mix or “union” of national shops with 18 one-of-a-kind small retailers from the local Phoenix community.

Matt Haldane of the Phoenix Business Journal reported that  Kimber Lanning, executive director of the Phoenix-based non-profit, Local First Arizona, was a consultant on the project.

Confirmed locally owned independent boutiques include Whoopie Baking Co., Citrine Natural Beauty Bar, Paris Envy and Frances Vintage.

Francis original store on Central Avenue and Camelback Road is not moving. In fact, owner Georganne Bryant has said that she’s hoping this smaller store at Union will drive business to her larger store at the original location.

On August 18^th, the Arizona Republic reported that Union had 11 signed leases out of the 18 total retail spaces available. Without a project like this, many of these stores would not be able to afford the rent.

A Phoenix New Times article said that each shop will be allotted 200-500 sq. feet of retail space with a year-long lease, giving mall shoppers a small preview of what their business has to offer. I read in another article that of the leases are for one year, but a couple of tenants have signed on for three.

Says the Arizona Republic:

Frances owner Georganne Bryant hopes to benefit from the Biltmore name but mainly wants to reach a customer who wouldn’t usually have wandered into her shop on Central Avenue and Camelback Road. Frances sells gifts and clothing for men, women and children.

“I was looking to expand, and I really love Phoenix, and they approached me with the project and it just seemed like a perfect fit,” she said. “It’s just kind of a different traffic area and a different location.”

She plans to use her Union location to draw customers to her larger shop, which will carry items not found at the Biltmore location.

“It’ll be like, ‘If you like this (the 500-square-foot shop), you’ll love this (the 2,000-square-foot shop),” she said.

The project was started by Mary Boyd-Williams (Senior Leasing Manager for Macerich) who’d been thinking for a long time about how to bring local flavor into the Biltmore.

Macerich is one of the largest owners of regional and community shopping centers in the United States, with 95 malls in 19 states; in 2002, they acquired Phoenix-based Westcor Partners and became the dominant mall operator in Phoenix. The Westcor portfolio included some of the leading retail assets in the country, including the Scottsdale Fashion Square mall, Scottsdale Borgata, Chandler Fashion Center, and Phoenix Biltmore Fashion Square.

With the introduction of the Union space this November, Biltmore hopes to start hosting events that highlight the community by bringing in local artists. According to the Phoenix Business Journal,

The shops at Union will mark a soft opening Nov. 8, followed by a three-day grand opening weekend Nov. 9-11.”

The Queen Creek Olive Mill is excited to bring our passion for simple, delicious and healthy cuisine to the Biltmore area with Trattoria del Piero, along with our new retail location for Oils and Olives,” said Perry Rea, owner.  “We hope to create a special culinary and shopping experience where locavores can shop and dine with us while enjoying our family recipes and delicious products.”

 A Complete list of Union at the Biltmore shops:

Bonafide Goods is a new concept from Greg Eveloff of The Clotherie.  Offering a modern interpretation of classic American men’s clothing, hats and accessories, it also will house Phoenix’s first micro-haberdashery.

Customatic.com brings together years of experience designing and building great architecture, furniture and interior items to create custom pieces for the modern home.

Oils and Olives by Queen Creek Olive Mill will offer its popular branded products.  Customers can explore the vast selection of signature extra virgin olive oils, balsamic vinegars, stuffed olives, and tapenades along with bath and body products made with extra virgin olive oil, daily fresh baked breads and a unique selection of other local treasures.

For the People is a modern gift and home accessories store with a focus on functional design. Featuring brands such as Alessi, the store will give customers access to great lifestyle design products and give talented designers an exciting venue to show and sell their work.

Frances & Charlie Newsstand will offer unique, hand-selected gifts including jewelry, candles, paper goods and books, as well as a variety of magazines, newspapers and specialty publications featuring fashion, design, art, living and global news.  

Lilly is a vintage-inspired women’s boutique  offering  the latest fashion apparel, celebrity jewelry lines, chic and unique housewares, distinctive gifts, handbags, accessories and much more.

Little Artika, a Biltmore Fashion Park favorite, returns to the center in UNION.  Offering cool stuff for small humans from lines like duc duc, muu kids, SkipHop, Nurseryworks and DwellStudio, Little Artika delivers outstanding products for children, newborn and up.

Me Myself & Eye is a sunglass boutique that pushes the boundaries of expectation, self expression and individuality by offering the highest quality of fashion-forward sunglasses, readers and accessories. Operated by the owners of Sassy Glasses Optical Boutique, Me Myself & Eye offers the same superior customer service as its parent store with a focus on unique sunglasses and readers.

R & R Surplus carries women’s active wear that can be worn on the street or in the studio.  These relaxed yet fashionable clothes are from the creators of Fitigues.

Royal Coffee will open a second location at Biltmore, brewing their popular roasts alongside a selection of fresh pastries.

Smeeks will bring their assortment of sweet treats and toys to UNION, offering the best old-time favorites – from handcrafted lollipops, toffee, caramels and marshmallows to yo-yos and shrinky-dinks.

Trattoria del Piero will bring to UNION the dedication and passion for good food found at del Piero at the Mill. Featuring all new simple and delicious sandwiches and salads, the menu will include the famous Kalamata sandwich as well as signature cocktails.  Using family recipes, handcrafted extra virgin olive oils and the best local and seasonal ingredients, del Piero has garnered both local and national acclaim and was featured on the Food Network’s “Best Thing I Ever Ate” in 2010. The menu exemplifies a dedication to delicious, healthy and uncomplicated food. Trattoria del Piero will serve breakfast and lunch and a full service restaurant for the evenings complimented by a full bar.

White House Flowers is an appealing, one-of-a-kind florist offering home accessories, gifts and repurposed and renewed treasures with a casual urban look, as well as traditional European-style furnishings.

The Willows Home and Garden offers simple yet sophisticated home décor items along with apparel and in-home design services.  They carry antique objects and a beautiful selection of exclusive lines including: Bella Notte Linens, Italian Vietri table top dishes, Michael Stars t-shirts, CP Shade apparel and a variety of unusual jewelry.

Two weeks ago, Lyssa Hall, Senior Landscape Architect for Parks Development at Parks and Recreation told me about the Final Report on Greening America’s Capitals: Lower Grand Avenue, Phoenix (PDF).

The report provides short, mid and long term strategies for the redevelopment of Lower Grand Avenue into a vibrant corridor.

Here is a major development: it mentions a possible street car or trolley in the future. That is a HUGE win for the Grand Avenue Rail Project (GARP) which I wrote about a few weeks ago as being in danger of losing its Phoenix support when a neighboring city received a proposal to take our trollies and add them to their local museum.

The mention of the possible trolley in the Greening on Lower Grand report is not an endorsement by the city, but I believe that the city needs to get behind this economic development project.

I joined the non-profit Grand Avenue Rail Project (GARP) board shortly after it was first proposed and we are working to get recognition of what a great return on investment this represents. If funded, it would mean that you could ride the modern light rail in from the burbs, jump on the old Trolley and visit all the galleries and sites that will inevitably populate Grand Ave.

But, it is less about transportation than it is about what happens when you have a feature like this in an area like Grand. If you look at the buildings along Grand, most of them were built when Grand was THE shopping street in Phoenix. They are close to the road, the sidewalks are wide. Basically, the architectural environment is in place for new businesses to spring up. Behind those buildings are hundreds of old bungalows that have been largely neglected. A project like this will encourage historic renovation with the fervor that we saw around the light rail line recently.

That represents more dollars in the local economy, new businesses and higher value homes. All from a 1.5 mile trolley line.

And, who knows? That short trolley line could eventually make its way all the way around downtown. This is just a start.

Now, that’s economic development.

Now, as for the process:

It is the Parks and Recreation Department’s mission to be the best Parks Development Division in the nation. To this end, public meetings “community design workshops” were held over three days in Feb and March, put on by the Grand Avenue Merchant Association (GAMA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The result of those meetings was finalized on September 10 by the Environmental Protection Agency and can be found in this Final Report:

The Streets Transportation Department will be presenting the findings from the workshop and report at the Parks, Arts, Families and Seniors Subcommittee on Oct 9th at 10am in Phoenix City Hall, assemble room A. If you are unable to attend the subcommittee meeting, they will be televised and archived for viewing.  

The estimated cost to build the trolley infrastructure, outfit a new museum on grand and operate the system: $10 million. I’ve heard transportation planners say $50. I think that is high for 150 year old technology.

Regardless, believe that the resulting new home sales, infill development and business starts along grand will be worth ten times that. Please contact your city councilmen and let them know that you support the Grand Avenue Rail Project.

The folks at Co+Hoots have been temporarily working out of monOrchid for a couple months while their new office digs are finished, further downtown.

We’ve had a great time together, but when they leave there will be a few coveted spaces open around here. This is a great place to work.

I should know, I work here. We have a coffee shop, inexpensive but urban-hip office space, access to specialists in all fields and other amenities.

Check out this PDF document with the expected upcoming vacancies and the prices.

Give me a call at 602-456-9388 for information.

Thank you again to Mat and Sharry Englehorn of Angels Trumpet Ale House as well as Kelly Aubey of FilmBar for a wonderful evening of beer, food and thought-provoking film.  Also, a special thanks to Kelsey Wong of Co+Hoots for co-hosting. It was a pleasure to work with you, Kelsey!

The October Get Your PHX will be a stay-cation of sorts as we meet Amber Harrold, owner of the new Camelbackpackers Hostel at 13th Ave and McDowell.

I grew up and traveled with the Youth Hostel experience. Whenever I traveled Europe, I would grab a bunk, pay much less than a hotel and meet some incredible people from all around the world.

It is a tradition that never really caught on in the United States, but is growing in popularity. If you live in the Garfield neighborhood, you know that there is a youth hostel there. You can tell by the confused and nearly heat-stroked Germans walking by with shocked looks on their faces, especially in the summer.

However, Amber is starting a new concept hostel for Phoenix. This well-appointed, fresh hostel sits next to one of the premier historic neighborhoods in Phoenix. In Europe backpackers from the very young to the very old use hostels. Amber’s oldest guest was 69.

The Camelbackpackers Hostel is a small hostel by European standards, able to take as many as 16 people. They have two dorm rooms with bunk beds and a private room.

Amber, an army veteran originally from Nebraska fell in love with hostels when she was deployed to Germany. After returning to the US and a job with Pepsi here in Phoenix six years ago, she looked in to starting a hostel.

While their policy is to not allow local residents to use the hostel, many folks use the hostel’s private room as an inexpensive place for relatives to stay from out of state.

Amber takes special pains to make certain she recommends local attractions and businesses for her visiting guests. The Camelbackpackers is a unique gateway through which new people experience the real Phoenix –the Phoenix that all of us Get Your PHX-ers know well.

Amber will tell us about her experiences starting the project, gaining the trust of her neighbors and creating a positive experience for her guests.

Regardless of whether you’ve never had the hostel experience, please drop by and support Amber.

If you owe a debt to someone and they cancel or forgive that debt, the canceled amount may be taxable. Same goes for mortgage debts. Hence, the creation in 2007 of the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Relief Act. The IRS explains the concept surprisingly well. This act expires in 96 days, the end of this year, after the holidays; much sooner than you realize.

People have been opining this whole year about the possible extension of the $1 billion mortgage debt forgiveness relief provision at the end of the year. I’ve been hearing the following:

“Should I short sell before the end of the year?”

“Can I count on the hopeful January 1 extension?”

“The $1 billion mortgage debt relief provision allows me to avoid paying taxes on mortgage debt forgiven by my lender, but it expires at the end of the year! My chance to short sell and still seek tax relief is disappearing quickly!”

“But I hear these holiday months aren’t as slow as one might think. Oh, no! I’m almost out of time to avoid the tax repercussions of selling my home short!”

Let’s be clear on what the act does.

The 2007 Mortgage Debt Relief Act allows taxpayers to exclude up to $2 million of forgiven debt on their principal residence in calendar years 2007 through 2012. With one caveat: The discharge of debt must be directly related to the decline in the residence’s value or in the financial condition of the taxpayer.

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act was originally going to expire at the end of 2010, but lawmakers decided to extend it until the end of 2012. If it does expire, anyone who receives mortgage forgiveness on day one of 2013, or after that, will have to face paying income tax on a forgiven debt.

Isn’t it in the President’s budget?
Didn’t it pass the committee level in the Senate?

Yes/But… We don’t know the outcome of the election in November and nothing is moving in Congress for the next 6 weeks. This time bomb very likely won’t be voted on before the end of the year, what with their attention consumed with the nation’s budget crisis.

Furthermore, given that it takes 3 to 6 months to close on a short sale…Are you really willing to take the risk that the act will be extended?

What’s the bottom line?

List now and be more certain that you will avoid that tax liability. I strongly advise you consult with a tax attorney!

[referee photo: compujeremy] [house photo: surprise truck]