Its that time of year again. The Devour Culinary Classic is February 26th through March 5th.

The Devour Culinary Classic is the region’s premier annual event hosted by Phoenix Art Museum, Local First Arizona and the Devour Phoenix Restaurant Coalition. Now offering a week-long series at multiple venues in Phoenix, the events showcase the fine food and drink restaurants, producers and purveyors of Arizona while furthering metro Phoenix as a dining destination worthy of international prestige.

An event for every taste, the series culminates into the ultimate two-day Devour Culinary Classic featuring culinary curators and purveyors who support the Arizona food, wine and restaurant industries. Attendees have the chance to partake in innovative culinary demonstrations, meet top chefs and restaurateurs as well as taste an enormous array of culinary excellence from the region’s best chefs, restaurants, local food artisans, brewers, and vintners.

In 2017, the Devour Culinary Classic will celebrate its eighth annual event with over 100 of Arizona’s best culinary personalities from restaurant owners and chefs to food producers, wine makers, distillers and craft brewers who will come together to create an incredibly unique culinary experience for 4,000 lucky guests. Attendees can expect the utmost in lively food experiences: partake in innovative culinary demonstrations and taste workshops, meet the makers of your favorite edibles and drinkables and taste an enormous array of culinary excellence from the region’s best.

And since Devour is put on by our besties at Local First Arizona, of course we want to make sure you know about it!

The new Recyclebank innovation from the City of Phoenix allows you to get credits at local businesses for recycling your trash.

Recyclebank, Phoenix’s new partner in waste diversion and sustainability, invites Phoenix residents and other members of the community to a family-friendly event 5 to 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 31, at the Arizona Science Center, 600 E. Washington St. The goal of the event to introduce the Phoenix community to a new rewards program that educates participants on how to divert more waste from the landfill while earning redeemable points.

The rewards program works by going to recyclebank.com, where participants can easily sign up to activate their account. The website offers several sustainability articles and waste diversion tips participants can read and then earn points that will be added to their account. The site also has videos, recycling tips, craft ideas using recyclable materials, as well as opportunities to enroll in any of Phoenix’s solid waste programs, all of which allow participants to earn points.

Points can be redeemed for savings at local businesses and national chains, such as Bunky Boutique, AMC Theatres and Target.

For mobile device users, the Recyclebank app can be downloaded for free.

At the free, family-friendly community event, guests can enjoy activities that help them understand the importance of sustainability through hands-on demonstrations presented by the Arizona Science Center staff. In the Urban Heat Island demonstration, guests will explore ways to change landscapes to adapt to hot environments and conserve water; the Plarn demonstration, guests learn how to make yarn out of the world’s most thrown-out objects; and in the Water Roll demonstration, guests become a sustainability scientist and learn about water conservation.

There is no cost to attend the event, but RSVPs are strongly encouraged at Eventbrite.

Recyclebank’s rewards program is part of the city’s effort to educate the community about recycling more, recycling right and other waste diversion programs. Under the Reimagine Phoenix initiative, Phoenix strives to reach its goal of a 40 percent waste diversion rate by 2020 through enhanced solid waste programs, public-private partnerships and expansion of its community and educational outreach.

The Green Cleaning Tip for February from our friends at GoingGreenHouse.com is particularly useful if you have any stainless steel in your home and you don’t want to use poisonous chemicals.

Many of our major household appliances are stainless steel. If you’ve owned one for long enough, though, you know it’s not exactly “stainless”.  Greasy fingerprints and water stains are all too common on refrigerators, dishwashers, and stoves—and it definitely doesn’t look pretty. Luckily, there is an amazing, all natural way to clean the unsightly mess from your stainless appliances. All you need is olive oil and vinegar.

You’ll need:

• Spray bottle
• 1 part vinegar and 1 part water mixture
• Microfiber cloth
• Olive oil

1. Start by cleaning your appliance with the vinegar and water mixture. Be generous. Use paper towel or cloth to wipe clean in the direction of the grain. This should remove the basic debris, like stuck on food or sticky fingerprints.
2. Dip your microfiber cloth in a small bit of olive oil. You can always dip again if you need more.
3. Polish the appliance in the direction of the grain. The fingerprints and water marks should start to disappear.
4. Buff out any streaks, and BAM! Now you’ve got a shiny appliance again!

It really is as simple as that. If you’ve used this natural magic to clean all your stainless appliances, and are bummed you have nothing left to make shiny, you can also do something similar to your stainless steel sink! Yep, that’s right!

Now, obviously the sink gets a lot more use than the other appliances, so olive oil would not be used for this, but hang on to that vinegar and water mixture!

You’ll need:

• Spray bottle
• 1 part vinegar 1 part water mixture
• Baking soda
• Water
• Microfiber towels

1. Spray the vinegar and water mixture all over the sink to clean the initial mess. For added shine (and fresh, citrusy goodness) cut a lemon in half and rub all over sink and faucet.
2. Mix baking soda and water together until it forms a paste.
3. Scrub the sink with the paste. For extra tough stains or spots, let it sit for 20 mins. Then rinse clean.
4. Dry with microfiber cloth.

All this heavenly shine from just a few ingredients you probably already have lying around the house! So, if you’re tired of your dull, messy stainless steel appliances, give this a try! It’s amazing!

Green Cleaning Tip for February

Our January Get Your PHX will be at JoBot….the reincarnated Jobot, that is.

And we want to take this opportunity to start a conversation with you about how you see the future of Roosevelt Row.

When Jobot announced that they were closing their doors on 5^th and Roosevelt Streets, I think we can agree that a shock a shock ran through our downtown community. It wasn’t just that we were losing another local business, or that 5^th Street was changing faster than we were ready for. No, it was that we felt the fate of the Roosevelt Row’s future was sealed because a giant had been brought down.

For many, Jobot represented a haven. Stories flooded the comments section of owner John Sagasta’s post about when they first came to Jobot. How it was the only place they felt they fit and that it represented a community of artists, welcomed resident ‘derelicts’ and changemakers alike… it was the hub for people who love Phoenix and are Roosevelt Row lifers, for better or worse.

The future seemed grim indeed…

But the storm has now cleared and Jobot has made a triumphant return. Now in its new location at the 3^rd Street split inside the Roosevelt Point high-rise, John Sagasta and his crew have retained the feel of Jobot in the industrial space with high-ceiling space. Behind the counter is an enormous art piece of the view from the patio of the former location taken from a photo by a fan. The new patio features the tilted red and white striped umbrellas we all know to be a Jobot exclusive.

The new location at the corner of a row of retailers inside Roosevelt Point’s ground level is also triumphant. The longtime success of Roosevelt Row is arguably due to the funky uniqueness created by the galleries, restaurants, bars, bike shops, tattoo shops, etc. In a word it has been the businesses that have created the community and will keep the community thriving.

So raise your pint with us this month as we congratulate John Sagasta and toast to their long future on RoRo!

When: Thursday, January 19^th from 5:30-7:30PM
Where: Jobot: 333 E. Roosevelt St.
Details: Free raffle ticket for each attendee, more to be announced!
RSVP: Click here and see our Facebook invite here.

Is the closing of Jobot Coffee in December the canary in the coal mine for the Roosevelt Row Arts District? While this closing was mostly a result of a dispute about rent, I see this as a regrettable result of costs going up for the long-time businesses and artists in our arts district downtown.

Source: Phoenix New Times

This is an area that was recognized in recent years as one of America’s best arts districts. But recently, the changes have been so drastic that people are questioning the future of arts in downtown.

As you drive south on 3rd St from McDowell, you no longer see the mish-mash of small structures and lots that used to be home to the arts. Now, you are met with a veritable canyon of apartments, which serve as a sterile gateway to downtown. They lack the affordable store-front space necessary for artists to thrive. They are over-built (there has been a 6 to 1 ratio of apartments to owner-occupied condos developed in Phoenix over the last two years), and they are too expensive.

We’ve also seen these developments squeezing local favorites. Art Haus is gone. The building that replaced it, with the help of APS almost unilaterally vetoed in-progress modifications by monOrchid to install a roof-top bar by moving electricity cables (unannounced) from one side of the dividing alleyway to the other. The wires would be a hazard to anybody seeking to enjoy a roof-top space because they are now within arm’s length reach of the rooftop space. So those plans were scraped and that money was lost.

It further hurt the community that, in a fit to undermine an arts district improvement plan that they saw as too personally expensive, a few businesses and their lobbyists at the Arizona Legislature torpedoed the plan while also making similar community improvement plans around the state virtually impossible.

So, this and other developments beg the question: can an arts district survive its own popularity? We know that three major groups drove the development of downtown over the last 20 years, making it a viable spot for ASU and others to expand. Those groups were the LGBT community, the arts community and historic preservationists.

Is it destined that any area that becomes popular like this will ultimately move out the people who made it popular? If so, where will they go? This thought has brought some of my friends to tears, who have worked for years to make downtown great. What of their vision, of the blood, sweat and personal treasure that they poured in to this area? Does it now belong to out-of-state apartment investors?

Or, is it possible as some of my friends maintain, that the city can support local artists and their business models?

Watch for public conversations about this in 2017. I don’t know yet where they will come from or who will lead them. But, I promise to report on them when they evolve. Could the canary in the coal mine spur positive changes?

We need to find a response to this trend as a community, or face losing that which makes us unique.

We are huge fans of the Desert Botanical Garden. We often send friends and clients who are moving to the valley to the garden to understand more about the beauty and sensitivity of our Sonoran desert.

So, we were thrilled to learn that in the latest round of ArtPlaceAmerica grants, the “Desert Botanical Garden will complete the design and construction of an 18-acre urban farm and amphitheater as a solution to the lack of access to nutritious food in South Phoenix. Building and programming the area’s first farmers’ market and community performance space, they will dismantle the stigma of farming for local residents by turning this food desert into an affordable, local-food oasis.”

As modern realtors, we know that the old mentality of scraping valuable habitat and spreading homes out in to the desert is counter-productive in the long term. The future is about smart density. part of that future also includes urban gardens. So, congratulations to our friends at the Desert Botanical Gardens for this new development.

As we do monthly, here’s a green cleaning tip of the month from our friends at Going Green House cleaning. We like their green cleaning tips and the fact that they make the choice to clean using all natural, non-toxic products. We like to think we are helping move the ball forward on sustainable living.

This month, April and her crew are extolling the virtues of one product, Dr. Bronner’s.

If you’ve been to an organic grocery store, you’ve probably seen rows of Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap, in a variety of scented mixtures, promising to have 18 different uses—and if you’re a devoted fan of the product, you know that there are MANY more than that.

Named after the olive oil based soaps that originated in Castile, Spain, Castile soap comes in liquid or bar form. It uses only vegetable oils like coconut, olive, hemp, and sometimes avocado, almond, or walnut oils instead of animal fats, so it is certified vegan.

Castile soap is also biodegradable and non toxic, making it a good friend for the environment. It’s also safe to use for pets and kids. If you’re particularly concerned about the heavy, toxic chemicals your current household cleaners and detergents contain and are looking for an all natural solution, this is a great place to start!

To mix up a batch of all-purpose cleaner that works great on countertops, toilets, and everything in between:

1. Choose your favorite Dr. Bronner Castile soap
2. Fill a spray bottle with water about ¾ of the way full
3. Add a ¼ cup of Dr. Bronner’s
4. If you want an anti-bacterial spray, add 15 drops tea tree oil
5. Fill the rest of the bottle with water
6. Finally, shake it up and it’s ready to make your home sparkle!

If you’re looking for a superb floor cleaner, with a fresh, but not overpowering smell, Dr. Bronner’s has a solution for that, too!

1. Choose your favorite Dr. Bronner Castile soap
2. Pour ½ cup of soap into a bucket
3. Dilute with 3 gallons of hot water

This all natural mop mixture is also what April and the Going Greenhouse gang use to make their client’s floors fresh and flawless!

For beautiful windows, try this recipe for window cleaner:

1. Add a tablespoon of Dr. Bronner’s into a quart of water in a spray bottle
2. Shake it up, and it’s ready to work it’s magic!
3. Follow up with a mixture of half water/half vinegar to prevent streaking

Use caution with Castile soap and vinegar, though. The more alkaline Castile soap mixing with the acidic vinegar can leave objects and surfaces with a white film that is difficult to remove. They also cancel each other’s potency if mixed together, so it’s best to use separately.

If this green cleaning tip hasn’t convinced you to ditch the harsh, unfriendly cleaners you may currently use, try it for yourself! You can purchase Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap at organic grocery stores like Whole Foods, Sprouts, or even at big box stores like Target.

I can tell you that we’ve tried this green cleaning tip

at home. We’ve had good results and I like the fact that we can control the scents of the soaps on our own, using extracts from mint, spearmint, tea tree oil, eucalyptus, and others. Its worth the effort to know that you are making a difference.

…paper butterfly, not included. Do not use to oil trees. They don’t like it.

Your cleaning tip for the month comes from our friends at Going Green House Cleaning.

The word of the month is Tea Tree Oil.

Okay, that’s three words. Whatever. You know what I mean.

There is a reason they call it “medicine chest in a bottle.”

Tea tree oil, also known as melaleuca, is an essential oil with a plethora of uses! It is known to treat a variety of medical conditions and records show it’s been used for thousands of years. Whether you need it for cleaning or to treat acne, tea tree oil should be something in everyone’s medicine cabinet! Here are a few ways you can use this versatile oil:

1. Topically: always dilute with a carrier oil like coconut oil for a 1:1 ratio before applying to skin
2. Aromatically: use an oil diffuser or directly inhale it
3. DO NOT ingest: tea tree oil should not be taken by mouth for any reason. It is poisonous if ingested, and side effects can include dizziness and digestive issues.

If you want to use your tea tree oil for cleaning, there are many fantastic ways to do that!

• Mildew: mix 1 cup vinegar with 25 drops melaleuca in a spray bottle. Spritz on mildew and let it sit for 10 minutes. Wipe with a damp cloth. It is a natural mold fighter!
• All-purpose cleaner: mix 1 quart of warm water with 15 drops melaleuca in a spray bottle. (DO NOT use on granite or marble)
• Laundry: add 1 teaspoon of melaleuca to your wash. This will help prevent bacteria and fungal infections because of the oil’s antifungal properties.
• Purifying air: place a few drops of this oil in a diffuser to disinfect and deodorize the air. It is also said to reduce anxiety and help with sleep.
• Bathroom scrub: use 10-15 drops tea tree oil, water, vinegar, baking soda, and castile soap.
• Toilets bowls: ½ cup baking soda, a few drops of tea tree oil, and ½ cup peroxide. Scrub with a toilet brush then leave it set until someone uses the bathroom.
• Carpet freshener: mix ½ cup baking soda with 20-40 drops of tea tree oil and another great smelling oil of your choice. (if you have pets, we advise you stay away from tea tree oil though) Mix together in a shaker container and let permeate for 24 hours. Sprinkle lightly over carpet, allowing it to sit for 15 minutes, then vacuum.

And these are just the ways melaleuca can freshen up your home! Tea tree oil is an amazing, versatile substance that not only can clean up your home, but can soothe a burn or remove ticks. Definitely something you want to have in your medicine cabinet at all times!

So, were you waiting for the election to purchase a home?

Well, the election is over and people are asking me whether its safe to purchase a home, or whether we should expect market turmoil under our new president.

They’ve seen stories like this one from the Arizona Republic, which speaks to scarcity in the housing market and makes a tenuous tie to the presidential election.

Here’s another article from Slate indicating that people have been putting off major buying decisions due to the election. While I’m sure some people have held off on major decisions, we have not seen that among our clients. We’ve been busy!

Even so, if folks have been waiting for the election to decide until now, we will know it in about a month. If monthly sales numbers bounce, then you will know that people are re-entering the market. I’ll look back in about a month and let you know what we see. If you are inclined to believe that people have been waiting to act, then you will want to act before that bounce happens.

More than anything, let me put these fears to rest: the real estate market is not likely to undergo some serious upheaval any time soon.

First, here’s some advice that I found to be accurate in this article, which really points to how short-term fears about a presidential election might benefit a few, but are not a good reason to act quickly for most. Here’s the key take-away quote:

“I don’t think it’s a wise idea to try to time any markets, especially housing,” says real estate expert Kurt Westfield at WCE Equity Group. “Housing markets are very localized, subject to microeconomic shifts. The election takes place on a much larger macroeconomic scale.”

Second, let’s talk about the nature of the real estate market and why you should not act in haste. Nor should you hold off if you need to buy or sell. In other words, just act on your housing needs as they are today.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that the markets move very slowly. I know. It did not feel that way in 2008 when people’s homes seemed to lose value in months. But, when you look at that data, it still took months, not days or weeks for major movements to take place.

Sure, you will see small changes around the end-of-year holidays when people are focussed family and parties, but that’s an annual deal and does not change the market too much.

The thing you should most be aware of in the short term (3-6 months) is interest rates. While they are still historically low and probably won’t jump too quickly, a one percent increase represents a lot of money over the life of a loan. We know that the Federal Reserve Bank is talking about interest rate increases, so we encourage you to speak with your lender about what he or she is seeing.

In other words, don’t hit the panic button on interest rates. Just keep an eye on it. Make your decision based on what you need when you need it.

Let’s turn for a second to the long-term view (18 months to 2 years) just so I can make one point about Donald Trump’s threats to deport 11 million people. If his threats are carried out in whole or in part, then you will definitely see a major hit to our real estate market, according to Tina Tamboer of the Cromford Report.

I want to be careful here and temper that previous comment. That is IF he can forcibly deport people or IF they choose to leave on their own. And even then, the affects would be seen 3-6 months after he takes action.

According to Tina, we would see a dramatic increase in supply of homes (as people move away) at the same time we would see a huge reduction in demand (as immigrants would no longer purchase homes). Yes, immigrants own homes.

But this would also impact those folks who own rental properties. Many of whom voted for our next president. Further, according to Tina, the impact would not be localized to certain neighborhoods. The impact would be valley-wide.

In the even longer term, according to Tina, Arizona’s population is aging quickly and we don’t have younger people to replace the aging population who can afford to purchase homes.  Otherwise in the next 15-20 years we will have a huge excess of homes and prices will depress significantly.

This means that we need to find some solution to the immigration issue, which allows immigration in to Arizona.

You know, the very thing that the next president ran against.

We can help you make the right decision on your sale or purchase. Contact us at 602-456-9388.

If you live in APS territory, you’ll want to take note of this:

From: Media Relations (MediaRelations)

Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2016 1:13 PM

Subject: CONSUMER ALERT: NEW SCAM TARGETING APS CUSTOMERS STATEWIDE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 26, 2016

Consumer Alert:

New Scam Targeting APS Customers STATEWIDE

90 incidents reported in last 10 days

PHOENIX – APS issued a warning today about a new scam where criminals

masquerading as APS employees are calling customers demanding immediate

payment of their electric bill under the threat of having their power turned

off. Potential victims are instructed to purchase prepaid cards in a

specific amount, and then call a special number to make the payment. In some

instances, the call back number goes to an automated phone system that acts

and sounds like the actual APS Customer Care Center.

While it is impossible to know how many customers have been targeted or have

fallen for the scam, APS security has received reports of more than 90

incidents across the state in the past 10 days. APS encourages customers who

have been targeted to report the incident to local law enforcement along

with APS at (602) 371-7171 or (800) 240-2014 (outside metro-Phoenix).

To keep customers from becoming a victim of consumer scams, APS provides the

following guidance<https://support.aps.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/175>:

*         APS never requires payment via a prepaid card.

*         The only valid phone numbers to call the APS Customer Care Center

are listed on customer bills and at aps.com<http://www.aps.com/>.

*         If there is ever a question about the validity of an email,

website or person claiming to be an APS representative, call the APS

Customer Care Center immediately at (602) 371-7171 to verify this

information.

*         Recognize the signs of a phishing email: mismatched fonts, missing

hyperlinks, improper grammar and misspellings.

*         Never share credit card information with an unverified source.

Customers who pay by credit card at aps.com<http://www.aps.com/> will be

directed to the KUBRA EZ-Pay website, which asks them to enter a “captcha”

validation code. A “captcha” typically uses a set of letters and numbers

that the user is required to manually retype and submit. Any other credit

card payment site is fraudulent and should not be used.

APS<http://www.aps.com/> serves about 2.7 million people in 11 of Arizona’s

15 counties, and is the Southwest’s foremost producer of clean, safe and

reliable electricity. Using a balanced energy mix that is nearly 50 percent

carbon-free, APS has one of the country’s most substantial renewable energy

portfolios, and owns and operates the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station,

the country’s top power producer and largest producer of carbon-free energy.

The company is also a proven leader in introducing technology and services

that offer customers choice and control over their energy consumption. With

headquarters in Phoenix, APS is the principal subsidiary of Pinnacle West

Capital Corp.<http://www.pinnaclewest.com> (NYSE: PNW).

Media Contact:

Steven Gotfried

(602) 250-3040

Website: