In our 2020 August Market Update, we are seeing a continued and extreme shortage in listings. Seriously, if you want to sell now is the time.

Almost everything we bring on the market goes right away. The only exceptions are those with special circumstances. Perhaps they are cash-only sales, for instance.

As our friends at the Cromford Report are telling us, things are unprecedented right now and we have no idea where they will go.

“First let us look at the monthly average sale price per square foot for all areas & types. This stands at $190.87 today, This is significant because it breaks the record of $190.61 set as long ago as May 5, 2006. The difference is that May 2006 represented the dying peak of a bubble which would see prices fall dramatically from June 2006 through March 2009.

The current reading does not look like a peak at all. Not only is the latest reading a record, it has opened up a large gap compared with this time last year.”

The Cromford Index, the measure of how much of a buyer’s market or a seller’s market we are in, is shooting up faster than a Falcon One Rocket.

Does this mean that prices will continue to shoot upward? What could bring it down? It seems that the real estate market, renovations and construction of new homes seems to be the only good thing on the economic news casts.

Those who have job security are able to purchase, or they are getting renovations done on their homes. However, the only way out of this is to get more homes on the market.

I was thinking that people and corporations that bought up hundreds of thousands of cheap homes during the last recession to turn them in to short-term rentals would sell them. However, the rental market is also mad, so it seems they just turned them in to long-term rentals, if they needed to at all.

They took those homes out of regular market circulation and they have not come back.

So, it seems for the August market update, all we can report is that prices are going up, houses are selling in days and we have no idea what will happen.

Sounds like a recipe for challenges to come. If you have been thinking of selling, the market needs your home!

Call us at 602-456-9388.

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 struggle through this most unusual summer.

If you missed our last list, see here.

Stay safe. Stay healthy!

1) Move your Money for Justice. Local First AZ is promoting an effort to encourage you to move your money to local banks and credit unions that have a better track record supporting local businesses, particularly local business owners of color. The big drive actually ended last week, but we encourage you to look in to it. I moved all of my personal and business accounts about 8 years ago from Wells Fargo to Desert Financial Credit Union. Not only was I distressed by the role that the big national banks played in the Great Recession, but I also wanted to know that my money was being re-invested locally. There are so many good reasons to move your money to local credit unions, especially as we struggle through the pandemic.

2) Small Business Grants are Still Available. Sticking with Local First a little longer, it is notable that small business grants are still available. There are several sources for these grants, which you can see listed here. The county, the city and semi-public agencies all have applications and processes in place to help small businesses survive. And, let’s face it. This is going to be a long haul.

3) Water Harvesting Classes. UrbanFarm.org has a whole array of classes that you can take safely on line. However, water harvesting is one that I wish I had taken before I made certain decisions years ago. Water harvesting is increasingly popular in Arizona. It can be as simple as using appealing landscaping to direct rain water to retention spots around trees. Or, it can be as complex as pulling water in to cisterns for use later. When I put a new roof on my house in 2014, I did not realize that you may not want to use water harvested from asphalt shingle roofs for edible plants. I might have made a different choice. It’s another reason we should use more sustainable materials for our roof tops.

4) Farmer’s Funds. In addition to support for local farmers that the Downtown Phoenix Public Market gives through its new on-line farmer’s market platform, organizers are raising money for farmers in remote rural communities that are struggling with food insecurity. You can learn more at their website here while you order treats to pick up at this next weekend’s farmer’s market.

5) Paths Less Traveled. It is definitely hot out. So, if you are cooped up and you are trying to find some places to visit, be very careful. I find that you can still get a beautiful hike in and see a stunning sunrise if you are willing to head out at about 5am. Hey, you do what you gotta do when you can’t stand looking at that same cobweb in the corner of your room. (Too specific?) Anyway, here is a nice list of social-distance-friendly places to visit, at the City of Phoenix events page.

6) Hazardous Waste Disposal. I was afraid that the hazardous waste disposal days that the City of Phoenix has always hosted would be put on hold during the pandemic. But I was wrong! You can still recycle old computer parts and batteries and you can drop off hazardous waste. A new list of locations and drop-off days will be published in late August.

These guys at the city handle hazardous waste all day. What made me think they did not have the skills to grab stuff out of my car at their waste drop-off days, as usual? Silly me.

But, look, here’s the thing. We recycle less than about 5% of all of the Lithium-Ion batteries that we put in all of our devices. That’s terrible, especially when you see the permanent damage that is done to our beautiful landscape as we look for more rare earth metals for more batteries. It is completely unnecessary, if we would all take 30 minutes once every 6 months to drop off old computer parts, batteries and chemicals.

Imagine the jobs we could create if we all recycled batteries that could be re-built in to new batteries here in Arizona! Can you tell I’m passionate about this one?

So, please check this out. Drive to the drop-off locations, stay in your cool car and the the professionals do the rest!

Donna Reiner, a local historian and a good friend of Get Your PHX, has written many articles over the years for the Arizona Republic and others about Phoenix history and memorials. This month, she is sharing her article on the Pueblo Grande, a point of pride for Phoenix.

We use her services when we list properties of historic significance to help us tell the stories behind the homes.

We are happy that Donna is allowing us to re-publish some of her articles on a monthly basis. If you or your business ever needs a historian, let Donna know at laydeescholar “at” hotmail.com.

Exploring in Phoenix, you may have encountered signs that state: Phoenix Point of Pride. Some of those signs are in nearly pristine condition, but others need some loving care. But did you ever ask yourself, what are those signs all about?

In the 1990s, Phoenix created a commission whose charge was to honor outstanding landmarks within the city’s boundaries. Residents submitted their choices, votes were taken, and over the course of five different campaigns and 15+ years, Phoenix settled on 31 Points of Pride.

One of those points which speaks to the history of the area and how we manage to survive in the desert is Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park. Located at 44^th Street and Washington and conveniently across the street from a light rail stop, Pueblo Grande Museum is the only National Historic Landmark in Phoenix (quite the honor).

For those who are new to the area or have not yet visited Pueblo Grande Museum, a bit of history is in order. In 1924, Judge Thomas Armstrong, Jr. donated the land where the ruins are to the city. He wanted to ensure that the ruins would be protected so residents would know more about the area’s pre-history and additional research could be conducted. Five years later and a museum opened on the site. The city hired an archaeologist to help manage the area. That archaeologist was the first city archaeologist in the US.

Work continued on the construction of the building using adobe blocks made on site, scrambling for other supplies from deteriorating buildings, and $14.95 worth of nails. The building was completed in 1935, although upgrades, additions, and renovations have occurred to better display and protect the artifacts found on the property as well as other archaeological digs conducted throughout the city.

Our city archaeologist is quite busy and makes sure that site evaluations are done when necessary. So it’s 90 years since the museum opened and Pueblo Grande has a lot to share with the public. During this year long celebration, visitors have the opportunity to see some of the museum’s “treasures” in two sites other than the museum (but don’t forget to visit there too as some of those scrounged building supplies are on display in the 90^th anniversary exhibit).

One site is in Sky Harbor Airport’s Terminal Three where you can see baskets and pots. The other site is in the Gallery@City Hall (200 W. Washington). In this exhibit you can enjoy seeing some of the “finds” in the various digs conducted downtown. From a headstone marker found in a privy in Heritage Square to metal knuckles found in the Pioneer and Military Cemetery, or arrowheads found in Block 22 to a tiny carved bead in a light rail excavation, you’ll be surprised by what is on display. Pueblo Grande Museum truly deserves to be called a Point of Pride.

While the Point of Pride Program no longer exists, the landmarks have endured for all of us to enjoy. Now watch for those signs and stop and visit.

We saw a big “clean energy fail” this week at the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC).

If y’all have followed my rants very long, you know that I’m a big fan of renewable energy, sustainability and public policy. I’ve also written that realtors really should be the most ardent proponents of clean energy and water conservation.

So, I decided to listen to big Corporation Commission meeting last week because there is a move to upgrade our Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff (“REST”).

If you don’t know, the Corporation Commission set rates for electricity and other monopoly services like telephone and cable. They also have the right to determine the sources of our energy.

But, the commission whiffed it.

They had a plan that would have built more renewable energy for less cost than fossil fuels and that would have created tens of thousands of jobs in Arizona.

Let’s start at the beginning because this reads like an epic power struggle, pun intended.

Back in 2005 the Commission passed a REST that required Arizona utilities to install 15% of their energy from renewables by 2025.

Later, the commission also required utilities to promote and help customers install energy efficiency measures. Specifically, they require that every year about 1.5% of the utilities’ energy needs be met by energy efficiency installations.

This can mean creating rebates for customers to buy more energy efficient A/Cs or light bulbs. It can also mean working with companies to make their offices, warehouses and factories more energy efficient.

Let’s get some facts and myths out of the way:

1. The cost of renewable energy has been going down dramatically over the past decade. There is now more renewable energy installed in America than coal, because coal is dirty, expensive and carbon intensive. Solar panels or wind turbines even with battery back-up is cheaper than coal and competitive with natural gas power plants.
   
2. As a result, the utilities are ahead of the first REST annual targets from 2005. In other words, the REST did what it was designed to do.
   
3. Utilities will always resist energy efficiency measures because they make money selling electrons. They don’t want to sell less product, even if it is in the public good –even when we give them access to a captive monopoly market, as we do in Arizona.
   
4. They have been resisting renewable energy for several reasons. Sometimes they philosophically refuse to see the science of climate change, as the past president of APS did. Sometimes they say they need new infrastructure to handle in on-again, off-again nature of renewables, which would be too expensive (debatable). Sometimes they are just so calcified in the way they’ve been doing business that they don’t want to change. Fear, after all, is a big motivator to resist change. To be fair, there are people within utility companies that want to see a change, and they seem to be gaining steam within APS, TEP and SRP.
   
5. The many coal-fired power plants in the state have done long-lasting harm to Navajo and Hopi people, among others, the likes of which will take decades to clean up. I covered this issue in a previous post.
   
6. For many of the reasons above, utilities won’t install renewable and energy efficiency unless they are required to do it. We know this from experience. Utilities have failed to meet the energy efficiency (“demand side management”) targets set for them over the last few years.

Since the last REST, we’ve seen a soap opera array of developments –a power struggle for the future of energy. First, we saw rooftop solar installers expand their business in response to market demand. APS was threatened by this. Somebody was taking away their business. So, we saw APS get in to the business of using dark money to influence ACC elections and change laws to work against rooftop solar. Prior to this point, APS had never before spent money in Corporation Commission.

We saw people fighting back and lots of investigative reporting over the years about APS’s election activities, to the point that the company promised to stop using dark money (although they would not reveal what they spent in past elections).

We’ve watched as neighboring surpassed our 15% by 2025 goal –upwards of 50% or even 100% by 2050.

We saw power companies increase fees on customers who wanted to install solar panels on their homes. We saw bills from the legislature, supported by power companies, to hinder rooftop solar deployment.

We saw repeated efforts to force the utilities to install more renewable energy so that Arizona could compete in business attraction, clean skies and protecting communities that are disproportionately harmed by fossil fuels. Most notably, there was a ballot measure in 2018. Both sides spent upwards of $50 million, but the measure failed.

Luckily, new leadership has come in to APS, which has a much more realistic and positive outlook toward renewable energy and energy efficiency (“EERE”). They even put together a 100% “clean” plan by 2050, although they currently resist the most important part –requiring them to meet specific targets by specific years between now and 2050.

So, that brings us to last week and the “clean energy fail.”

In short, there was a bi-partisan effort by Commissioners Burns (R) and Kennedy (D) to put forward a plan to reach 100% Clean energy by 2050. The three other commissioners, Marquez-Peterson (R), Dunn (R) and Olson (R) fought this plan and tried to force a vote on a plan that would have claimed to do the same thing, but it was toothless.

In other words, it had no actual requirements for the utilities to install clean energy by any particular deadline. The utilities hate deadlines because they say it prevents them from having “flexibility” in planning.

It’s funny, though. They are ahead of their goals to get to 15% renewable by 2025, and that had deadlines! The reality is that utilities don’t do these things unless the are required. Further, those deadlines resulted in over $2 billion in benefits to Arizona customers, just from APS and TEP.

Further, businesses will tell you that predictability, “regulatory certainty,” is the most important thing for them. Regular targets help them plan for business expansion, planning, etc. Tech companies, especially, in Arizona want these targets.

Why did this happen? Here’s the AZ Central reporting on it.

But, as I was watching from my office while doing work, I got a sense that Dunn, Marquez-Peterson and Olson were up to more than they let on in their comments.

Marquez-Peterson needed a public “win” with clean energynin a political environment where renewable energy is more popular than ever. Further, there are conservatives who want more clean energy, too.

So, what is stopping her?

She’s stuck between progress and a loud conservative wing of her party. She’s up in this election against a strong set of pro-clean energy, Democrats who are running on the utility accountability message.

So, she needs to be able to say that she’s doing something on renewables, but still not upset the right wing of her party. She needs to walk the tightrope, but to do that means not contributing meaningfully to our clean energy future.

Dunn and Olson are not up for election. Olson’s term ends in 2022 and Dunn failed to get his petition signatures for this election.

So, there you go. Politics over planning.

That was the Clean Energy Fail.

I’ll keep watching and reporting. Hopefully, by the end of August, we will have a new plan. If not, then we will have to wait for a new set of commissioners in 2021.