Source: CAP Board

About seven years ago my friend Roger Clark (no relation) at the Grand Canyon Trust (the folks who are cleaning up or working to retire coal-fired power plants in the Southwest) suggested that we should consider covering the Central Arizona Project with solar panels.

If you don’t know (and you really, really should), the Central Arizona Project delivers about 1.5 million acre-feet of water to central and southern Arizona from the Colorado River on the AZ/CA border. One acre-foot is about 325,000 gallons of water, so about 488 billion gallons. You use, on average, about 60 gallons of water per person per day, just to live here. Basically, if we did not have this canal, we could not have nearly the population in Arizona that we have now.

Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado all take water from the Colorado River system. Very, very little runs down through Mexico to the Gulf of Baja, and what does run there is full of fertilizer and chemicals. But that is another story.

Regardless, we need to save as much water as we can. The canal loses about 4.4 percent of its water to evaporation. That equals about 66,000 acre-feet of water, or about 21 billion gallons of water. That’s a lot of water slides, people.

This canal is not covered because, as the CAP Board website tells us, the cost of installation would have quadrupled from what it was at about $3.6 billion to about $14.4 billion. So, they say it is cost prohibitive to cover the canal.

That is where Roger Clark believed that we could kill two birds with one stone. We could cut down on that evaporation while generating electricity. Why do we want to generate electricity here? Well, because in order to pump the water to Phoenix, we use about 400 megawatts of coal-fired power from a plant here in Arizona. What if we could pump that water primarily with solar power? That would be a huge drop in the amount of CO2s that we produce, as a state. Even if we can’t reliably pump the water all the time (like, when there are clouds), we could still sell the green energy elsewhere.

So, Roger, et. al were told that they were crazy and that it was all pie in the sky. I was told the same when I talked about it as a legislator and when I worked in the energy field. Since then, I’ve only dared to hope that one day I could help make this happen —way off in the future.

But the future can be now. This is where the “I Told You So” Department gets to do its work. Please see this article from India where they covered about 1 kilometer of a similar canal with solar panels and generated about 1 megawatt of electricity. The local electricity corporation did it with a contract with Sun Edison.

So, here are four reasons why this is great news:

1) Our canal is 336 miles long, or about 541 kilometers. If you assume 1 megawatt per kilometer, and take out about 25% of the total length to assume that they can’t put panels everywhere along cities, etc., you can have a power station on our canal that generates about 400 megawatts.

2) Unlike other massive projects that take up vast amounts of land in the desert, and which could possibly disturb sensitive habitat, this land is already accounted for.

3) You may not eliminate the entire 4.4 percent evaporation. But you would probably save half of that, at least. That is over 10 billion acre feet of water! Personally, I think we should commit to send some of that to the Gulf of Baja so that they can rebuild that massive Baja Delta and maybe, I dunno, rebuild and stabilize their local economy!

4) If we generate excess power that is “green power”, we get to sell it at a premium to the power hungry folks in California –the Whole Foods of power consumption. That means money coming in to Arizona, instead of going out.

So, as you probably know, I totally geek out on big infrastructure projects like this. I love them because they are also crucial for us to find more sustainable ways to live in the desert.

I hope that Paul Newman, Sandra Kennedy and Marcia Busching make it in to the Corporation Commission so they can work on this. It would also help if we got Heather Macre on the Central Arizona Water Conservation District Board.

I am very proud to announce that I have been asked to join the Elite Group at Homesmart.

What does this mean?

It means that  I had to demonstrate my competence and excellence to other elite agents.

Elite Group Agents must have sold a certain (high) volume of homes in the last year and they must have proven sufficient experience, knowledge and professionalism to excel in this rough market.

It means I’m gonna start driving a Cadillac and wearing obnoxious clothes.

Actually, no. That’s not true. I’ll stick to my trusty Prius and conservative attire.

What does this mean to you? 

It means that you can trust that I will do a great job for you, that I understand this market, that I will listen to your needs and that I will represent you the way you deserve to be represented.

I’m sure this may seem like a marketing club for realtors. But I am immensely proud of this. I became an agent in 2008 when the market was collapsing, knowing that if I worked hard in the tough times, I would be that much more qualified when times get better. Further, I reached this milestone in my career in a very short time in this market.

I worked my tail off for my clients to earn this designation and I will continue to apply what I learned then to your needs now.

If you have questions about the Elite Group or the housing market at all, please contact me at 602-456-9388.

Which is better:

The freedom of a condo? Or the land value of a house? You’ve found the area where you want to live. You have your financing arranged. But, you are stuck.

[Image:davecito]

This week and next I’ll be sharing some ideas to help you sort it all out by comparing the pro’s and con’s of each option. Today, I’m going to focus on the bonus features of a detached, residential house. (If you’re leaving toward a condo, you’ll want to read this, though, as you’ll get advice, too, since I’ll be comparing the two options.)

1.   The land Will Never Go Away

90% of all millionaires become so through owning real estate.”
~ Andrew Carnegie

Let’s face it. Buildings fall down.

But unless you live on an island in the Mississippi, your land will probably not go away.

This is a drawback for condominiums. Although many are built to last, some have been thrown up so quickly in recent years, they may not last 30 years.

Ask yourself this question:

Which is more important to me at this time in my life: being free from yard and home maintenance or buying something that I will have 20 years from now?”

[image: PrimeImageMedia.com]

2.   No Shared Walls

In a condo development, you may hear your neighbors. If you are the kind of person who does not like to see the same neighbors almost every day in close proximity, you may consider a house.

You can build a privacy wall or grow bushes around your home. Your back yard can be a fantastic get-away.

Ask yourself this question:

Do I enjoy the sense of community that I can have by sharing a common living area. Or, do I prefer more space that I can call just my own?”

How much more are you willing to pay for that luxury?

3.  Greater Flexibility to Improve and Remodel

Most condominiums, if built with block construction, give you some flexibility to re-arrange inside. You may be able to remove some walls and expand rooms.

However, once you start talking about windows, balconies, and patios, the restrictions begin to pile on.

If you have a house, you can go crazy repainting, adding features, and personalizing your home.

However, you must still adhere to city code for things like wall height and that massive Trojan Horse water slide you are planning to build in the back yard.

Get to know and love these two links:

City of Phoenix Historic Preservation

City of Phoenix Residential Building Permits

4.  Your Property Value is Tied to the Success of Neighbors

In a condominium, all owners pay into a fund that maintains the common property, including landscaping and insurance for things that owners share, such as walls and a roof.

In a house, you don’t have to pay these monthly assessments. But, then again, you have very little power over your neighbor, who has decided to park a massive pink RV between your two homes.

Or, if your neighbors don’t take crime prevention seriously, will your neighborhood likely improve or decline?

Ask yourself this question:

Am I willing to spend the time volunteering with the neighborhood association in order to protect my property value?”

Hint: You will want to ask a similar question for condos.

5.  Keeping Up Appearances

People often talk about keeping up appearances in the negative, as if it is all about superficiality.

But in a neighborhood, keeping the street looking good has a very direct impact on your property value.

If you are inclined toward a condominium because you don’t have to mow the lawn, consider this:

• The Average HOA Assessment = $200/month
• Average gardener = $100/month

6.  Other Things to Consider with Houses

Growth potential tends to be higher.

Condo boards politics can be tricky.

Houses are more adaptable for growing a family.

Always meet the neighbors before you buy, as part of your inspection period.

Kenneth “Ken” Clark
REALTOR(r)
At Your Service!
HomeSmart
(602) 561-5881
Ken@GetYourPHX.com

 

Nobody has any idea. But I predict that, while it won’t be as dramatic as our last, it may go on for a while.

Here’s the analysis:

After the presidential elections in November, regardless of the winner,  prices will continue to move upward. How do I know this? And why does this sound like a weather report prediction?

It’s because the coming change in home-buying patterns is showing evidence of a refreshing rain moving our way. After a six-year long summer of dry, cloudless skies, we’re beginning to smell the change in the air. A break from the scorching heat is a ‘comin.

To say it without the weather analogy, the increase in buying will continue, in part because a lot of companies are holding off on major projects and hiring until after the elections’ fallout. However, that upswing won’t be dramatic because our national debt and energy prices will continue to be a drag on our economy.

In regards to prices, we don’t see where new inventory in our Phoenix market will come from, especially in CenPho. Tight inventory means higher prices.

Mark Zandy, one of the nation’s preeminent housing analysts was on the Diane Rems Show yesterday morning talking about prices and how they are continuing to move upward as distressed properties are going away.

In Phoenix house prices have gone up 30% from last year. Yes 30%.

Take a look at the graph below, showing the Monthly Average Sales Price Per Square Foot. You can’t see the wind, but you can tell how and where it’s moving by watching the things it affects.

This chart shows a snapshot of four years worth of housing prices on the move. The brown line on top, the one with the greatest upward spiking is 2012.

My expert conclusion?

The heat is unbearable and so many people are walking around with sunburned proof of the long, hot summer. If you’re thinking of buying, make your move and buy now.

I want to say this very clearly: while prices will be going up for the foreseeable future, they won’t return to 2007 levels for years. So, if you are thinking to BUY, do it now before you lose another 30% of your buying power. If you think you want to hold off SELLING until you hit 2008 prices again, don’t expect to see that again until 2020.

If you want more information, please contact me at 602-456-9388.

The killings at the Sikh Temple in Wisconsin are tragic and speak to a deeper illness in our society. It is an illness that we cannot address in one day or even one year.

But what we can do in one day is make a statement. We stand together. We can educate. We can reach out.

We are writing together because we were both touched by last Sunday’s events. Clearly, we are grief stricken for the victims of the shooter. And we are floored by fact that this confused and misguided murderer misdirected the anger resulting from stereotypes around cultures known to wear turbans.

This is so tragic and telling in so many ways. It is tragic that any person would kill civilians and worshipers of any religion. But it speaks volumes about our country and our culture that so many people do not understand who Sikhs are, let alone other groups at large. In this person’s haste to hate and destroy, he attacked anybody who even remotely resembled the target of his hatred.

This presents an inspiring opportunity for our communities to learn more about each other and in particular this powerful Ashram community embodying the maxim “All are One.”

We, the authors of this blog post have our own connections to this community. Harpal Kaur Khalsa is a Sikh member of the Guru Nanak Dwara Ashram here in Phoenix and has participated in the community as a teacher of kundalini yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan for the last 5 years. Ken Clark, a resident of downtown, is not a Sikh, but who has benefited from the kindness of the Ashram’s members.

What we share in common, too, –and what we want to share with you– is an understanding of the role of the Ashram in the Coronado Historic Neighborhood. We believe that the Ashram represents a largely untold story in central Phoenix.

The Ashram has been operating since 1972 and will soon expand its new Gurdwara to serve its growing congregation. There are only about 30 million Sikhs, worldwide and only a few hundred thousand in the United States. The congregation in Phoenix may only number in the low thousands. But their influence is felt strongly here.

The Ashram has been a stabilizing force in the neighborhood, even in those years that the Coronado Neighborhood saw its worst blight, crime and dilapidation. Members of the Ashram educate the children of Sikhs and non-Sikhs, alike, in the Kahlsa Montessori schools in Phoenix. They provide a place, not only for yoga classes, but for refuge and contemplation.

In this way, they are unique, but also no different from any Christian, Jewish or Muslim congregation in America. As such, we hope you will join us as we unite to make a statement about this community’s support for our neighbors. We hope to introduce you to this congregation if you have not yet met them. We  hope to illuminate this unique group of people so that a tragedy like this will never happen again.

Please join us as we attend the AZ Sikh Candlelight Vigil at Cesar Chavez Plaza (201 W. Washington St.) on Thursday, August 9th at 7:30pm.

In Peace.

Harpal Kaur Khalsa                                                  Ken Clark

Well, the Fairhope House is back on the market. This is bad news for the people who wanted to buy it and for the sellers, but it is great news for you. Here is why. This is a short sale. That means the sellers accepted an offer and then turned to their original lender on the property to get permission to sell at that offer price.

The lender did an appraisal and decided the property was worth $730,000. So, the buyers were not at that price and walked away. While sad, this gives an incredibly valuable piece of information that you could not get in a normal sale or a foreclosure: the drop-dead, bottom line price. This is a pre-approved sales price!

So, please see this link. The new sales price is $730,000.

Now, any buyer can walk in knowing exactly what the buyer’s lender will accept. (If they are lucky, the buyer will get under contract, do an appraisal and might even force the price down further!).

So, please help spread the word. Help us prevent this outstanding property from sitting in the ghostly limbo of foreclosure-land for possibly months. This is an incredible opportunity to own THE FLAGSHIP PROPERTY IN WILLO.

Call me with questions at 602-456-9388.

From the “Cool Goings-on Desk”:

The Grand Avenue Arts & Small Business District is holding a logo design contest for the 4th Annual Grand Avenue Festival, scheduled for October 20, 2012.  The purpose of the contest is to create a unique logo representing the Grand Avenue Festival by letting artists show their creativity and style. The winning design will be featured on all promotional materials including; festival brochures, posters and a variety of community advertisements.  Additionally, the winning artist will receive their name or business entity acknowledged on the festival brochure as an in-kind sponsor.   

About the Festival:  The focus of the festival is to explore the history of Lower Grand and spotlight adaptive re-use projects and sustainability in the neighborhood. This celebration honors the local arts and small businesses, and encourages recycling and re-use so please be mindful of our mission when designing your submission. 

Eligibility: The contest is open to everyone 18 years of age and older, or with a parent’s consent for younger gifted individuals.

Submission Requirements: Preferred file type is .ai or a vector .eps (will accept .pdf, .jpg, .tif but they must be highquality, minimum of 300 dpi at a physical size of 3″ x 3″); all fonts must be converted to outlines; logo submissions must print well as both color or black & white

Entry Info and Deadline: Contest entries must be received no later than 5pm, August 3rd, 2012, for consideration.  The festival planning committee will notify the winner no later than August 10th, 2012. Contest entries should be sent to grandavelogo@gmail.com

Intellectual Property Rights: The winning designs submitted for this contest become the property of Grand Avenue Arts & Small Business District and the Grand Avenue Merchants Association (GAMA). By submitting the design, the entrant warrants that the work is original and free of all copyright or other encumbrances that would prevent its use by the Grand Avenue Arts & Small Business District and GAMA for any of the intended purposes.

Privacy and Personal Data: Submissions are confidential until the completion of judging and until the announcement of the winner. Only the submissions of the winner will be disclosed and published. The designs and all personal data of all other submissions will be kept confidential, other than announcing the total number of submissions received. 

Questions: All artists and their suggestions are welcome! For more information, please contact grandavephoenix@gmail.com

Feel free to share this announcement !  Here’s a PDF of contest entry requirements or you can visit the Grand Avenue FB  Events page.

Houses are being scooped up really quickly right now.  This is no exaggeration: good homes are selling within 24-48 hours now. I’ve seen how frustrating it’s been for some of my clients when they don’t get the properties they offered on.

So… Here are five things that I am asking my clients to do to increase there chances of getting the property that they want. (There are other things, but I can’t give away all my trade secrets!)

1.  Check MLS in the evening, rather than the morning.

Most agents don’t get up early and post new listings. They do it at night. I try to check for new listings in the evening for this reason. If you see something you like, shoot your Realtor an email.

2.   Look closely at the neighborhood on the Internet before visiting the property.

If you are looking at one property in a neighborhood you don’t like, you might miss another property that you do like. So, let’s use the Internet to our advantage. Type the address of the property in to Google Street View and have a look around. We agents already have an opinion of the neighborhoods that we know. But we can’t always predict what you like.

3.  View the property within hours of identifying it, not days.

My “Get Your PHX Team” is adapting to the market conditions. When a property comes on that one of my clients wants to see, the member of our team who is available immediately will try to get them in to see the property, quickly.

4. Have your prequalifcation letter or proof of funds ready.

Realtors cannot show properties unless the buyer has all their financing sorted out. In this market, we need to make decisions in hours. Further, sellers want to verify the buyer’s purchase method. So, everything has to be ready to go.

5. Print/Scan/Fax

These days, we are allowed to sign contracts, then scan or fax them. For this reason, I have my team carry blank contracts to a property in case a buyer wants to make the offer immediately. However, if we don’t write a contract on the spot, we may need the buyer to print/sign/return documents quickly. If a buyer doesn’t have this capability at their office or home, it’s important for them to let us know before we view properties.

The rush that we Realtors feel in this market is frustrating. We understand that nobody likes to feel pressured. Yet, we want the buyer to get what they need and we sincerely appreciate their patience and accommodations. By doing these five things, we are more competitive in getting buyers the property they want.

[image: woodleywonderworks]

Thank you to all the folks at 180°Automotive for a great July 2012 Get Your PHX event.  We had over 20 raffle prizes to hand out and lots of happy attendees. The success of the free raffle makes me think that we should make that a regular thing. So, if you represent a business looking for local exposure in a group of hip, well connected professionals, please respond to me at this address and let me know what you’d like to raffle off.

But, special thanks to Christine Cassano and Monika Woolsey for helping to organize the raffle. Of course, thank you to Bogi Lateiner, Heidi Abrahamson, Kate Benjamin, Christine Cassano (get well soon) and Tracy Perkins for participating in our honoring of their inspiring contributions to CenPho.

So, we are going to enjoy the August Get Your PHX in the best way we know how: with a cold beer in hand at the new Phoenix Ale Brewery.

I’m very excited about this event because we are not only celebrating good beer, but we are also building a new history in Phoenix. Did you know that Phoenix used to have a number of local breweries until the big corporate brewers gobbled up the market? Obviously, we have seen a resurgence of domestic brewing in America over the last 25 years. Naturally, you can find franchise restaurants that brew their own batches. But we are starting to see more local brewers who tailor to a local market –finding that there is sufficient interest in their product to survive.

I am happy to announce that our August hosts will be George Hancock and Gregory Fretz, owners of the Phoenix Ale Brewery, along with their Head Brewer John Donehower. We will get a tour of the brewery, get a taste of the beers on special and George is arranging for a special appearance of LunchaLibre, a local food truck.

This is no average beer. I discovered Phoenix Ale Brewery when I tried their Watermelon Wheat Ale at Urban Beans last month. I was very impressed with how they handled this delicate, complex taste. The quality of the brew made sense when I discovered that George Hancock was one of the founders of Pyramid Ale almost 25 years ago. Brewmaster Donehower has also put together the Camelback Indian Pale Ale, Fretzy’s Unfiltered Ale and the Ironwood Imperial Porter. George also tells me that they are introducing a new Imperial Hefeweizen called Wheatstalk. So, you will be some of the first folks to get to taste that.

I’m looking forward, not only to learning from George, Gregory and John’s experiences, but also in helping to support a new era in local urban brewing.

Please RSVP on Facebook here.

August 2012 Get Your PHX
Thursday, August 23rd at 5:30
Phoenix Ale Brewery
3002 E Washington
Phoenix AZ 85034  Map it

From the “In Case You Had Not Already Heard” department….

This news is a few days old, but I wanted to touch on it because this says a lot about all of the work y’all have been doing to emphasize supporting local.

The Arizona Capitol Times spoke with Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton about it:

 

Not only is the city following a policy that provides for prudent and efficient investment, but provides additional funds for consumer and small-business loans in the local economy.”

Another reason for the city’s investment is to hopefully get a higher rate of return on some of Phoenix’s other investments. This move isn’t a totally unique one as several cities around the country have been implementing plans like this to manage their money in the fallout from the financial crisis.

It sounds like a novel idea and it stimulates and benefits the local economy, so why aren’t their reports of a high number of states and cities implementing such a plan? Says the Capitol Times…

Investing money in local banks isn’t easy. State law requires that the city’s bank deposits be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to prevent it from losing taxpayer money if the bank fails. The maximum federal insurance on low-risk investments that the city might utilize, such as a certificate of deposit, is $250,000. That could require the city to work with many banks if it hopes to invest anywhere near $50 million locally.

For these reasons, Phoenix mostly invests in U.S. government securities.

Jeff Dewitt, the City of Phoenix Finance Director said the city probably can’t invest more in local banks likely could not invest more in local banks given FDIC insurance limits. The East Valley Tribune also reported that Phoenix has a team of in-house investment managers who oversee its deposits and ensure that city funds are protected while earning the highest yield possible. Dewitt said the city is inviting local banks to submit applications with their investment pitches. He said proposals must be completely FDIC-insured or collateralized and offer a higher rate of return than U.S. Treasury notes.

As Local First so wonderfully reminds us,

The flow of these dollars will recirculate throughout the local economy, creating jobs and securing a strong economic future for our community. If you are a locally-owned and operated bank or credit union: Phoenix’s Finance Department will be accepting applications from local banks that have an interest in providing CDs and other FDIC-insured products to the city.  Local banks can contact the city’s Finance Department at 602-262-7166 for more information or to submit an application.”