We have a new listing or two to share with you. One came on the market a few days ago and the other is coming on in mid-April. Watch our listings page for more information and photos on both.

1802 N 7th Ave, Phoenix. 3br/2.75ba, 2,275sq on a 10,400sf lot. $1M

This new listings is a huge, beautiful, total remodel with its new entrance on Coronado. The address will soon change to Coronado, as well. The home has everything you’ll want: massive accordion glass patio doors, a massive living room and expansive kitchen with lots of storage and counter space.

GE Cafe Line white & copper appliances bring together the kitchen. The owners have put extensive attention and expense in every detail of this renovation, down to quality doors, flooring and accessories. Don’t miss the separate laundry room and kitchen pantry.

The bedrooms are roomy and the bathrooms sparkle. The front door has been moved to Coronado for more privacy and the garage has been vastly improved. Many visitors at the Encanto/Palmcroft Historic neighborhood home tour commented on how refreshingly quiet the home is.

Coming soon. 1302 E Orangewood Ave. Phoenix. 3br/1.75ba, 1,960sqf. Price TBA.

Current owner has made significant improvements to this new listing over the years.

The kitchen, bathrooms, flooring and back yard patio cover are all additions while this owner has owned the property.

The current resident owns a kitchen installation company and used the best materials and labor on the kitchen he uses daily.

The home has been well maintained and is move-in ready.

The home sits in a quiet neighborhood, close to shopping, freeway access and entertainment. You can step directly outside to use the walking/biking path along the famous Arizona Canal.

From the front yard or the back yard, you get to enjoy a panoramic view of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve.

As a runner who uses this canal a lot, I can tell you what a great thing it is to spend time on this important waterway, watching the sun rise or set.

We expect this property to go live as a new listing the second week of April.

Active Now. 1201 E McKinley St, Phoenix. Infill Opportunity. 2br/1ba+. $445,000

Infill development special! This opportunity is about the land and the location!

This is a solidly-built historic property, and represents an opportunity to fully rehab inside of this cute little home while also building multiple cash flow units on the rest of the parcel.

The historic home occupies only about 25% of the parcel, which is zoned R-3 Multiple Family Residential, on a corner lot, leaving plenty of room to develop out and up!

Build multiple income properties here!

Roomy parcels like this are very rare in Garfield these days and offer an opportunity to build homes in this very popular downtown neighborhood.

Donna Reiner has written many articles over the years for the Arizona Republic and others about Phoenix history and memorials.  She is a regular contributor to our newsletter. This month, Donna tells us about the Pioneer Band from the early days of Phoenix, in the 1890s.

People love parades where they can ooh and ah over the colorful and unique floats, see the mounted horse riders, and perhaps some baton twirlers. But for some of us, it is the bands that draw our interest with their music and routines. What talent with all the groups!

So, imagine the Phoenix Brass Band which was formed in 1880, consisted largely of non-musicians? What??? How could that be? And my goodness, what did they sound like? There certainly is no record to answer that question, but there was definitely going to be a band or two in our future to entertain Phoenicians.

For the next 10 years, various bands played in Phoenix. Most of them were brass bands (that means instruments like tubas, horns, cornets, trumpets and trombones). But come January 1, 1890, the Phoenix Brass Band had morphed into the Phoenix Pioneer band and quality performances were definitely noticed.

The band played for the 1890 Memorial Day Parade and then the 4^th of July Parade. At that point the Arizona Republican noted: “The Phoenix Band’s playing on the Fourth astonished even its most ardent friends. The band has made splendid progress in a few months….”

More parades, summer concerts, requests to play at various fairs including the inaugural Territorial Fair, and at times daily practices. Occasionally the band was “stiffed” when those groups that hired them did not pay up in a timely fashion. Still, they did continue to practice and provide music to the citizens of Phoenix whenever requested and primarily for free.

By 1892, the band met weekly on Saturday nights for rehearsals at Fireman’s Hall and had increased its membership to 16 players. Political rallies, both Democrat and Republican, wanted the Phoenix Pioneer Band for entertainment.

1894 saw the band become a military band complete with new uniforms. Four years later the group decided to merge with the Central City Band. This newly formed group would now have a maximum of 30 members and still retain the Phoenix Pioneer Band name.

The Arizona Republican is replete with news in the early 1900s about band members, current and former and their doings; in-fighting; concerts on the open-air plaza of old city hall; pioneer celebrations at Riverside Park; performances at Eastlake Park; and their weekly Sunday outdoor, usually, concerts. And the program of music was often published in the paper too.

And the band played on with the final mentions of it actually performing found in spring issues of a 1928 Arizona Republican. But….old bands and musicians do not just fade away in the dust of history.

A few months ago, in the spirit of that original Pioneer Band, a new Phoenix Pioneer band has formed with a mixture of musicians, experienced and inexperienced, amateur and professional, just like when it was first organized in 1880. And as for the music, whenever possible, it is exactly what was played well over 100 years ago. Perhaps you might want to join the fun at this link.

I’m wondering how many of you have a right to vote in the Salt River Project (SRP) board elections and don’t even know it.

It starts with this crazy fact: SRP only allows utility customers who own property to vote in their board elections. You get one vote for every acre you own. It’s a feudal acreage voting system.

We all can vote on who runs the Corporation Commission, which governs the other large utilities, but not SRP.

It’s a hold over from when SRP was first created. It was originally a co-operative of farmers and mines that got together over 100 years ago to irrigate their land and channel water for mining. Over time, they figured out they could dam up the water and generate electricity. The’ve since added the usual array of dirty power plants, like coal and methane gas.

Also over time, that acreage was divided up in to small home parcels, and the voting rights were divided in to portions of a vote.

But, think about that. Some rancher with thousands of acres can out-vote thousands of other customers with a swipe of a pen. They probably don’t use thousands of time the amount of energy. Although they probably do use quite a bit more water than one home.

How do you know if you have the right to vote? Well, you need to go to this web page and find out. If you are unsure, just request a ballot here and you will find out. Request a ballot by Friday, March 25, 2022 at 5 pm MST. Elections take place on Tuesday, April 5, 2022. If you have questions or need additional information, call the SRP elections information line at (602) 236-3048, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, or e-mail election@srpnet.com.

There are three major types of property voting rights:

1. You are an SRP customer for power.
2. You are an SRP customer for water.
3. You live in an area that SRP used to serve, but many decades ago gave over to APS. This covers huge swaths of central Phoenix. So, you might have a right to vote in that election and not even know it. I vote every chance I get and I live in Willo!

That last category is great if you want a rebate from SRP every year. It’s called SRP Shareholder Compensation. They cover the difference between what you would have paid had you stayed under SRP and what you do pay under APS.

But, I digress. Let’s go back to this “back-assward” voting system.

Could SRP get hip to the post-US Constitution times and allow all people to vote? Sure! But that would mean somebody would give up power.

Speaking of giving up power, there is an inspiring group of people who are trying to break SRP’s lock on power. It’s worth a look.

Here’s another reason why this is crucial. SRP is singing a pretty song about cutting carbon emissions, but is still putting highly-polluting methane gas in to service. Read about the planned 840MW power plant that SRP is planning for the already environmentally distressed town of Randolph.

Why does this matter to you? Well, if SRP keeps using methane gas (what the industry misleadingly labels as “natural”), SRP will be paying more for gas to fuel the plant in the future than they would for solar, wind and batteries. This is a reality. Gas is a volatile commodity. The sun is not.

Oh, and speaking of sun, SRP put more extra fees on home owners that install solar that probably any utility in the country. That needs to change, too.

“How are we fairing in terms of supply March vs. March?”, you ask?

“As in March of 2022 vs March of 2021?”

I’m happy to tell you! This information tells you a lot about where things are moving, as investment funds continue to gobble up about 1 in every 4 home sales.

Well, here’s what the Cromford Report has to say about it.

• “Active Listings (excluding UCB & CCBS): 4,588 versus 4,491 last year – up 2.2% – but down 5.9% from 4,876 last month
• Active Listings (including UCB & CCBS): 8,305 versus 9,094 last year – down 8.7% – and down 0.9% compared with 8,380 last month
• Pending Listings: 8,333 versus 8,027 last year – up 3.8% – and up 6.9% from 7,798 last month
• Under Contract Listings (including Pending, CCBS & UCB): 12,050 versus 12,630 last year – down 4.6% – but up 6.6% from 11,302 last month
• Monthly Sales: 8,000 versus 8,035 last year – down 0.4% – but up 12.7% from 7,096 last month
• Monthly Average Sales Price per Sq. Ft.: $284.55 versus $231.11 last year – up 23.1% – and up 3.6% from $274.70 last month
• Monthly Median Sales Price: $445,000 versus $349,000 last year – up 27.5% – and up 2.7% from $433,500 last month”

In English, please?

“The downward trend in supply that started in late October continued throughout February, but slowed down. We have slightly more inventory than we had this time last year, as long as we exclude UCB and CCBS listings. We have fewer active listings in total, but UCB counts have fallen by almost 20% compared to a year ago.

Demand is slightly below last year but given the sharp increase in interest rates, it is holding up pretty well. The market is cooler than a year ago, but not by much. The contract ratio stands at 263, down from 281 this time last year, but still abnormally high. In a normal market, this would be somewhere between 30 and 60.

Prices are rising at colossal speed. The average $/SF has risen 6.2% in the first 2 months of the year and are likely to continue rising until May at least. The median sales price is up from $425,000 to $445,000 in 2 months and looks likely to break $470,000 by the end of the second quarter. The third quarter is always a slower period and we may get some respite from the rising prices between June and September.

There are plenty of observers suggesting the market is due for a downturn, but the market is not giving off any data to support that opinion. Supply remains extremely low with no sign of significant new supply of homes to buy. Demand is down a little but seems to be extremely resilient and although it is lower than last year, it remains very strong by historic standards. A change may happen, and you know we will report it if it is there to be seen. Right now there is no change to report.”

So, if you are looking to buy, be prepared for prices to continue to push upward.

If you are looking to sell, get it listed before the summer heat comes on.

Call us at 602-456-9388 to build a strategy for success.

Still hiding from the cold a little? Well, as cold as it even gets in Phoenix. Let the February Good Reads keep you company.

SRP’s Got Bad Gas. Salt River Project, or SRP, despite telling the public that it has a great plan to burn only clean energy in the future, is planning on adding 840 megawatts of methane gas capacity near Coolidge. (Notice that I said “methane gas”? That’s because I reject the fossil gas industry’s marketing efforts to get us to think that “natural” gas is somehow clean. Methane is 80 times more damaging to the earth than CO2. In any case, they are locating the plant next to the small town of Randolph, thus forcing the residents to endure even more pollution.

I Feel Redeemed. Back in 2004, in the legislature, I had a bill that would have dramatically increased solar on big box stores.  GOP and APS killed it, naturally. It is great to see Environment Arizona’s study showing solar on superstores really is the low-hanging fruit that could combat climate change while saving companies money.

OK. This is the Last Climate-Related Link. I apologize for the hyper-focus on climate, folks. But, as a realtor I believe it’s my duty to help my clients and friends protect their long-term investments in Arizona –their homes. A new report by National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration found 2021 was the 4th hottest year ever. Extreme weather killed hundreds of Americans & cost us more than $140 Billion.

Our February shortage report illustrates why this is a great time to sell your home –or especially any investment properties you have. It looks like demand might be weakening a bit. While still high, buyers may be fed up with paying increasing prices.

Here are the basics, in review of January – according to our friends at the Cromford Report:

• Active Listings: 4,876 versus 5,180 last year – down 5.9% – and down 15.6% from 5,776 last month
• Pending Listings: 7,798 versus 7,070 last year – up 10.3% – and up 22.6% from 6,359 last month
• Monthly Sales: 7,114 versus 7,354 last year – down 3.3% – and down 23.3% from 9,271 last month
• Monthly Average Sales Price per Sq. Ft.: $274.45 versus $217.47 last year – up 26.2% – and up 2.5% from $267.87 last month
• Monthly Median Sales Price: $433,500 versus $339,000 last year – up 27.9% – and up 2.0% from $425,000 last month

“The downward trend in supply that started in late October continued throughout January, taking us to another record low – the lowest number of active listings at the end of January we have ever recorded. Last year’s 5,181 struck as as extremely low at the time, but we have 6% less in 2022. However most of the missing supply is at the high end of the market. Most cheaper areas have more supply than this time last year.

Demand looks very strong when you look at pending listings, up more than 10% compared with this time last year.

January closings were down about 3% compared to last year. and using the Cromford® Demand Index we see that although it remains high, it is starting to weaken. This is probably a result of buyer weariness with the prices going up another 2% to 2.5% during January. The median is up $94,500 over the past 12 months, an increase of almost 28%.

The outlook for February is for prices to keep rising and demand to weaken slightly. It is not certain whether demand will weaken enough to cause supply to rise or if we will continue to struggle with desperately low numbers of active listings. Only a very steep rise in supply will work if we are to see prices stabilize, never mind start coming back down.”

Donna Reiner, has written many articles over the years for the Arizona Republic and others about Phoenix history and memorials.  She is a regular contributor to our newsletter. This month, Donna tells us about the Valley Garden Center.

Gardening in the Salt River Valley has a long and rich history. While the local Indian tribes planted vegetables, the early settlers (women) decided that flowers and trees were a way to retain the memories of their former homes. They brought seeds and had seeds and cuttings sent from back home which is how we got some of our ubiquitous weeds. With water, these gardens flourished and also provided a contrast to the natural desert vegetation.

The Valley Garden Center (VGC), which is composed of garden clubs, plant societies, and other horticulturally oriented associations, has been a part of the Salt River Valley since 1939. During World War II, VGC had its first club house on small lot at 1^st Street and Culver which the organization purchased for $4500.

They installed a Victory Garden and broadcasted (on the radio) weekly horticulture programs. Ready for a larger parcel, VGC sold that lot to Barry Goldwater for $35,000 in 1946. Wisely, the group invested the funds in US Bonds.

The Center signed a 99-year lease with the city in December 1946 for a strip of land in Encanto Park on 15th Avenue, bounded by Coronado and Holly Streets. Now the work began to have a new and much larger building to serve the needs of a myriad of garden clubs.

Over the course of the years, the organization erected a club house designed by Edward Varney and Associates (dedicated in January 1949), created six thematic gardens on the property, provided free guided tours, maintained an extensive horticultural library, worked with Encanto Park on the development of a Nature Trail, and published four editions of Practical Gardening in Southern Arizona. These are quite useful even today, so look for them in your nearest used bookstore.

The Center’s Rose Test Garden was the only one approved in Arizona by the American Rose Society when it “opened” in 1948. Later moved in 1961 to its present location north of the VGC building, an invasion of nut grass in 1968 forced the removal of the rose bushes and drastic treatment of the soil. Nevertheless, the Center persevered with the construction of new rose beds which sprung forth in 1972.

Many of you have probably seen the display of color when driving on 15^th Avenue between Palm Lane and Holly Street. But don’t just drive by. Stop and smell the roses, you’ll be glad you did.

Since it is January, you may need to wait until the end of next month to see new growth and April to see new blooms. It is worth the wait. Park at the Garden Center and check out the demonstration gardens with different design themes located to the north of the Center’s building. Perhaps you will discover an idea or two for your landscaping project: koi pond and wooden teahouse, sculpture, tropical garden, patio garden, and, of course, a desert garden The Valley Garden Center provides a place that showcases the history and importance of gardening not only in Phoenix, but also in the valley.

We’ve been fighting dark money in Arizona and across the US since the US Supreme Court made its fateful ruling in Citizen’s United in 2010.

And after 6 years of fighting dark money in Arizona, 2022 might be our last opportunity to defeat it.

But we need citizens to stand up and help right now. Please learn more here.

Here’s the History

Even though most people think of the Citizen’s United case as the Supreme Court case that allowed corporate spending in elections (“corporations are people”), they forget about the lesser-known half of the decision. Specifically, that even though the court said “money is free speech,” they were clear that they expected that speech could be disclosed.

As famously said by the very conservative Justice Scalia, “Thomas Jefferson would have said the more speech, the better. That’s what the First Amendment is all about. So long as the people know where the speech is coming from.”

In a related case he said, “Requiring people to stand up in public for their political acts fosters civic courage, without which democracy is doomed. For my part, I do not look forward to a society which, thanks to the Supreme Court, campaigns anonymously . . . hidden from public scrutiny and protected from the accountability of criticism. This does not resemble the Home of the Brave.”

In other words, if a corporation (including unions and non-profits) want to spend to influence elections, the people have a right to require them to disclose how much and where they are spending.

So, why has this not happened? Well, first the Republicans/right fought it because they were initially benefiting from this, and they philosophically agreed with unlimited campaign spending. Even sadder, though, enough of the Democratic/left decided they’d better spend dark money, too, even though most of them philosophically disagree.

You tell me which is worse.

(If you want a history of how campaign corruption has baked in to our system over the last 100 years, culminating with dark money, check out Jane Mayer’s book, Dark Money.)

Dark Money in Arizona

Almost immediately after the 2010 decision, corporations began spending money in Arizona. Most notably, Arizona Public Service, under the direction of campaign consultants, began spending dark money in the Arizona Corporation Commission election, the very body that regulates them.

In 2016, the Republican state legislature passed Senate Bill 1516, which codified dark money in Arizona Statute. In other words, our state law turned a blind eye to where money was coming from to influence elections (from the governor’s race all the way down to school boards). I attempted to get enough signatures from the public to force that bill on the ballot. But we simply could not meet that bar. I thought it was our last chance, but it was not.

In 2017-18, former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard stepped up to the plate and took it on himself to put a measure on the ballot to allow the public to vote on whether we should disclose where dark money comes from. We knew that the measure would win if it made it to the ballot.

After all, the city of Tempe passed a city measure with an astounding 93% of voters in favor. The dark forces behind dark money, of course, were organized. They not only defeated the Tempe measure in Arizona’s conservative (and stacked) Supreme Court, but also put in place measures at the state capitol that invalidated tens of thousands of good petition signatures. The effort died in the courts in the late summer of 2018.

In 2020, Terry tried again. But he ran up against the Covid pandemic and had to close up shop.

In 2021-22, he’s at it again. As you can read in this article, they are only 100,000 signatures away from their goal. However, given the July deadline, that means they have to average 600 signatures per day.

That’s where we need your help!

If we fail again, it will be even more difficult to convince volunteers to try. It truly is our last chance.

If you’ve never gotten involved before, now is the time.

Donna Reiner, has written many articles over the years for the Arizona Republic and others about Phoenix history and memorials.  She is a regular contributor to our newsletter. This month, Donna tells us about a five-acre camp Sombrero at South Mountain, designated just for girls scouts.

Two hundred and forty-four years ago, Abigail Adams wrote a letter to her husband, John Adams, asking him to please “remember the ladies” in the “new code of laws.” We know, however, that she was not successful in persuading Adams to take action.

Maie Bartlett Heard, on the other hand, did take action after her husband, Dwight Heard, had donated land on South Mountain to the Roosevelt Boy Scout Council in the late 1920s. She decided to donate approximately five acres to the Girl Scouts.

Announced at the Maricopa Council of Girl Scouts (now the Arizona Cactus-Pine Council) annual meeting in the fall of 1948, Mrs. Heard officially presented the deed to the council’s coordinating camp chair. To the delight of leaders and eventually thousands of girls, this camp started as a summer day camp experience and a winter week-end camp.

While the camp site was initially labelled as primitive (no facilities), things began to change in 1950 with the construction of a ramada and a NAME. Judy Styles, a young scout in Troop 164, won the council contest with her suggestion of Sombrero.

Sombrero also became a place for activities other than camping. In May 1952, Ida Redbird, a well-respected Maricopa pottery artist showed scouts ancient pottery making techniques in an all-day workshop.

According to Girl Scout archives, the camp director “obtained permission for Ida Redbird to return to the reservation after dark due to the curfew laws in place at the time.” Do you remember those?

In 1981, one of the council board members learned that the Fraternal Order of Police had property adjoining Camp Sombrero which they wanted to sell. The board visited the property and subsequently made plans to purchase the land. Along with the acreage came a lodge, pool, and staff house. Much needed accoutrements which were later improved and expanded.

Sombrero was most convenient for many of the valley troops providing a remote feeling, but close to home. It offered Day Camp for Moms and daughters, Dads and daughters, workshops on desert survival, cooking over an open fire, archery, and many other innovative programs. Of course, swimming was often the highlight after a day filled with action.

In 1992, Rosa Parks was in the Valley of the Sun promoting her book, Rosa Parks: My Story. She visited Camp Sombrero, graciously signed books for the girls in attendance and spoke about literacy and the freedom to learn. What a powerful experience for those girls who met her.

Today Camp Sombrero is a fond memory, often of dust and blazing sun, for many of us who attended, worked there as staff, or volunteered as leaders. After a five-year fundraising campaign, the Girl Scouts -Arizona Cactus-Pine Council opened the Bob & Renee Parsons Leadership Center for Girls & Women at Camp South Mountain in 2017.

The modern facility still has a pool and camping opportunities, but also space for meetings and classrooms to meet the needs of an ever-changing community.

Watch our listings page this coming week for a unique new listing. This 1,650sf, 2b/ba condo at the famed Villa del Coronado will be listed at $375,000.

This third-floor balcony property overlooking Villa Del Coronado and the lights of downtown is a rare and special find. The home has been remodeled in recent years in the important ways, such as a newer master bath, kitchen and interior laundry.

The dramatic built-in bookshelves in the spacious living room remain in respect of the mid-century aesthetic of the home. This property is also rare, as one of few in the community with a two-car garage.

This is a very stable co-op community, with strict rules governing leasing. In other words, there are very few leased units.

All utilities and property taxes are included in the monthly HOA fee.

This property was built in 1957 as a new concept in living. At the time, the builders has similar concepts in La Jolla, Santa Barbara, Pasadena, Long Beach and Los Angeles. Co-op living was advertised as a way to save money, own your own space and share costs on pools, common area and maintenance.

Not much has changed since then. Although now, you can walk to the Phoenix Art Museum, light rail, Phoenix Theater, restaurants and much more.