In light of the pandemic, and the lack of group activities or events, here are some links that we hope will be helpful to you as we fight this pandemic.

If you missed our list from April, see here.

Stay safe. Stay healthy!

1) Helping Those Less Fortunate. We know undocumented immigrants pay more than their fair share of taxes*, yet these working families are not eligible for any of the funding meant to support people in this time of need.

Regardless of where you stand on the immigration debate, I hope you can agree that it is good policy to encourage people to stay home. For that to happen, people need help paying their bills –regardless of where they are from.

The Arizona Community Foundation is collecting a relief fund to help. I just donated and I hope you will, too. We contributed!

*IRS estimates that 6M undocumented immigrants file a tax return and pay taxes. New American Economy estimates that they pay $20B in federal taxes and Inst. on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates about $11.64B in state and local taxes

2) Governor’s Executive Order. You’ve been hearing a bunch about the Governor’s Executive Order about sheltering in place and keeping a safe distance.

But, have you read it?

Well, I would not blame you if you have not. It’s long. But this update is shorter. And, if you want to see the changes that are going in to affect this week, from the horses mouth, here is the place to look.

I think the thing to remember in all of this is that the virus does not follow our laws. If we all start congregating and organizing group hugs, more people will die. As they say, “follow Fauci” when it comes to the science and public health.

I have confidence that we can adapt to our new (and temporary) normal. We are a bunch of smarties. So, let’s do that!

3) Local First Continues Support for Local Businesses. When the pandemic started, Local First jumped in to high gear. They have stayed there and will probably do so through the pandemic.

When you are thinking of what restaurants to support and local businesses to shop from, please add locals to your list.

Also, if you need support for your business, have a look at their website for all kinds of tools.

4) Local Closure News and Tours. The City of Phoenix has a web page dedicated to giving you updates on local closures and emergency regulations that the City has in place to help us all.

It was also a nice surprise to see that they are flexing their ingenuity muscles with virtual tours of certain landmarks around the city. They have lists of activities to do at home with your kids, and all kinds of goodies.

They even have recipes from your favorite restaurants. Get that?

For all the talk of a bad market, all of the properties that we brought on since the economy began to shut down in mid-March have either sold and closed or are in escrow.

As you will see in our June Market Update, there is still a shortage of listings in the market, as there was before the start of the pandemic. There are still people who need homes!

Have a look at our listings page here to see what we have –both already sold and active.

If you have been thinking of selling, I think that we can confidently predict that you will do fine now if you list.

If you are thinking of buying, don’t be surprised if prices start moving back up again.

The first one we listed is a one-bedroom condo at the mid-century Nonpareil condo complex at 11th Ave and Osborn. This is shady, well maintained, updated and so convenient to the Sprouts, Safeway and restaurants about 500 meters away.

The second one is a 3br/3ba, 1,852sf property on a 9,135sf lot with a pool, custom play area, lots of updates, a workshop and tons of storage. That had multiple offers in just two days!

Our premium property is a unique 6br/4ba, 3,036sf property with a garage on a 9,304sf lot in the Medlock Historic neighborhood. The owner made extensive renovations to open up the floor plan, to the kitchen, bathrooms and flooring. This home should close in early July.

I gotta say, we really expected this one to sit on the market for longer, but it

Stay tuned, as we expect to see more properties come on the market in the next month or so!