When we meet a new client, especially a first time home buyer, we grab a cup of coffee and preview the home buying process.

Nobody explained the process for me when I bought my first house and I paid for it. It makes a huge difference to know what to expect next in the process; what to be ready for.

You deserve better, and we deliver.

So, it’s high time that I put the home buying process in writing so you can read about it in the comfort of your home, in your jammies with a cup of your favorite beverage.

If you want to see the previous installment in this series, see Part 2 at this link.

Part 3: Prequalification

First, we don’t prequalify you. Your mortgage broker does. So, let’s start with them.

We recommend to our clients that you don’t go with the big national banks as a lender, if you can help it. We have had better experiences with independent mortgage brokers and locally-owned credit unions.

The big banks are massive bureaucracies and we have found that our clients can feel that in how they must inter-act with them. Expect phone trees and wait times.

We find that independent brokers often have more latitude to help you and more time to spend with you.

Regardless, we recommend that you compare. We typically share a list of several lenders with our clients. You will find that interest rates are often time very much the same between lenders. Naturally, you should compare that.

But, what varies quite a lot is how the lenders relates to you. We suggest that you call several lenders. Ask them about their process, how much they charge for you to get a loan, etc.

See this handy document for some good questions to ask. Here’s a handy HUD document on FHA lenders.

As you are doing this, especially if you are a first time home buyer, ask yourself, “Is this a person I connect with?” Are they brushing you off to an assistant? Do they return your calls? Are they patient with your questions?

Only then should you give them your social security number to run a credit check. If they all run your credit, it can drop your credit score, and that could affect the loan you get.

We are just suggesting that you make certain you are ready to work closely with a person for a month before you make a decision.

Next, we like to tell our clients “Let there Be No Surprises.” In other words, tell your chosen lender everything they need to know about your income and your savings.

We had one client years ago who’s deal fell apart because he failed to disclose that he was still co-signed on a car with his ex-girlfriend, and she would not let him off the loan.

This is important. If you get to three days before close of escrow and only then find out that you can’t get the loan, you may lose your earnest money deposit.

Finally, as a practice, we don’t go out looking at homes until your prequalification is done.

It is the worst feeling in the world for you if you get excited about a house after looking at many homes, only to find that you were never prequalified to buy it.

Sometimes clients want us to get out there with them while they wait for “a last few documents that I have to get out of storage for my lender.”

Sorry. We just can’t. We know how that often goes.

We believe that it is better to be prepared before you start. That is why we are sharing this home-buying process with you and why we recommend you have all your ducks in a row before you set foot in a home.

Next up: The search process using the Multi-Listing Service.

The real estate market will react to the coronavirus, but it is really important to understand that it will not react quickly. The real estate market is more like an aircraft carrier, than a schooner.

See the three short videos that I did on our Facebook page. You don’t need an account to view these. In just a few minutes, you’ll get all you need to know.

In short: don’t panic.

It can take months for the real estate market to shift. The Cromford Index is very high right now. Even the last time there was a shift in market conditions in 2013, according to Tina Tamboer of the Cromford Report, it took a few months for that to reflect in the housing market.

Still, if you have been looking for a home, expect more properties to come on the market, as investors (many backed by Wall Street money), hold off purchasing.

Have a look at this chart. Since we’ve gotten serious about the coronavirus, you can see a small up-tick in active listings. That may be the beginnings of buyers reacting to the news. But, as with many things in the real estate market, we may not know until we look back later.

That may not mean that prices will drop. In fact, probably not. There are two reasons for this. First, there is still a scarcity in the market, due to years of companies and individuals purchasing homes that are then used as rentals or AirBnBs, thus taken out of the regular buy/sell circulation.

So, if there is a “flood” of short term rental properties coming on the market, it will likely only increase choices for buyers, but not really push prices down.

Second, there are still a huge number of people out there who need a home –many of them have not shown up in home buyer stats recently because they have decided to sit out the market for a while.

So, if you are a buyer and you’ve been frustrated by the multiple offers, we suggest you circle back to the homes you missed. Maybe even put in a back-up offer if the buyer is a cash buyer. That home may come back on the market because the cash buyer’s situation may have changed.

If you are a seller, don’t fret –especially if you are selling above $400k. First, we will see more change in the sub $400k market before we see changes in the higher prices, for the reasons above.

Second, as also said above, there will be a scarcity for a while.

Unless the virus knocks out our economy for many months, don’t expect major changes.

If you need help planning your strategy to sell or buy, please call us at 602-456-9388.

The weather is perfect in Phoenix in March. This is when we all make outdoors a priority. So, here are some things to consider for your month.

I’m also throwing in a curated list of articles that I think you will find particularly interesting –well, at least I did. I always appreciate your suggestions!

1) A Month of Stuff. The fine folks at Old Republic Title help me put together a list every month of things all over the valley. So, click on this image and scan around for all the things. This is valley-wide, so I have some more Central Phoenix-specific things for you, as well.

2) How to Register to Voter, for Spanish-only Speakers. If you know of a Spanish speaker with limited English skills, please share this video with them. It is too late to register for the Presidential Preference Primary (don’t get me started on that), but this is a big election year and every citizen should feel comfortable with the process.

3) Dig in at Dig It Gardens. Our friends at Dig It Gardens are hosting an event with Local First Arizona on March 18th to talk about how collaboration with other local businesses can help your business grow.

“Collaborating with your fellow local businesses can give you that extra boost to take your business to the next level. Learn how Dig It Gardens is making that happen! Join us and other Local First Arizona business members at our monthly event to build relationships. Open to all active members and businesses interested in joining Local First Arizona.”

4) 2020 Edible Backyard Summit. The guys at Urban Farm U are hosting their annual summit, with 5 days of expert-led presentations revealing the BEST strategies for growing food at home. Free online event March 23-27.

Get a comprehensive understanding of exactly what you need to do to start your garden (or maintain a garden you already have). Feel confident that you have the tools you need to grow successfully and become more self-reliant. Share the bounty with your friends, family, and neighbors… and WOW them with just how delicious homegrown food can be.

5) Name Change, Same Great Experience. The Open Air Market has changed its name to Downtown Phoenix Farmers Market. They are celebrating 15 years of service to the community.

Personally, you could call it Winnie the Pooh’s Broken Unicycle Emporium, and I’d still go there all the time for the amazing food and wonderful community connections. For sure, it would be confusing when you get there and don’t find any broken unicycles, but you get my point.

6) A Simple Equation to Make Phoenix Sustainable. This article is an amazing account of how South Korea went from having trash in their streets to composting and recycling a majority of all of their waste. (For comparison, the world average of waste recycling is about 8% and the US average is less than 20%. Composting is even less.)

This is huge, folks. Compostable materials in a landfill create methane gas, which contributes 50 times more to global warming than does CO2. When composted, the methane from food waste stays in the ground as part of the circle of life.

But the most amazing thing is how a simple pricing structure for how residents pay for trash pick-up made a huge difference in how much the country recycles.

Ah, the humble pool cover.

Worth writing a blog post about? Really?

Yes! Clients ask us about them all the time. Are they worth it?

Yes. In fact, you spend more money by not having one!

Did you get that?

So, check this out. Pool covers cost about $3,000 to install. That can be a lot for many people, but if you finance it, you can get that for about $40 per month.

Consider, if you will, that the services of a “pool guy” can run between $75 and $100 per month for labor and chemicals. Plus, you spend about $30 more per month on electricity to keep that pump running. (That can be less with newer pumps, but it is still money that you don’t need to spend.)

In other words, the cover can pay for itself in about three years: $1,000 per year in maintenance without it vs. total cost of about $3,000 to install.

See? It costs you less to have a pool cover than not to have it.

Having a pool cover also means a fraction of water evaporates off of your pool. The average pool evaporates something like 30,000+ gallons of water per year. Plus, you will use a fraction of the pool chemicals because the sun is not causing them to burn off as quickly.

Further, you can use your pool longer in to the winter, even if you don’t have a pool heater. With a pool cover, more heat is trapped in the water.

If you do have pool heater, you will use it less because the pool stays warmer under the cover.

A good pool cover can also save lives.

Will it add value on an appraisal on your house? Probably not. But it is a great selling point, especially if you explain the value to a buyer.

Not sold? Consider our serious water issues in Arizona. We have a huge number of pools per capita. I’ve heard that we have the most per capita, but I’ve not been able to verify that.

So, if you get a pool cover, you can actually save money and lord over your friends at the next barbecue or cocktail party.

I mean, if that’s your thing.

If you want more info and leads, hit us up at 602-456-9388.

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. 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.

Phoenicians are in love with their cars until……they have to find a parking spot. Is there a free place? Do I have enough coins for the meter or will it take a credit card? Where’s the nearest parking garage or lot and will I have to walk far to my destination? And during the hot summer months, if I have to use a lot or street, is there any shade? All of these questions take serious consideration when Phoenicians begin the parking spot patrol.

While these are modern day “worries,” what was it like back in the day?  First there were not as many cars, and many people went downtown by trolley and later by bus. Believe it or not, parking meters “sprouted” along Phoenix downtown streets as early as September 1937 with a one-hour limit (for a nickel). And yes, Phoenicians were not too happy about this new fangled device. It certainly spoiled the pleasure of parking downtown all day for free.

But after the end of World War II, things began to change. More families had cars and disposable money. Women liked to browse and shop. And kids wanted to go to the movies or hang out at one of the many places that had soda fountains. And eventually we had shopping centers.

A few old buildings had rather small parking areas in their basements, but they simply could not meet the new demands of the car driving public. And then, one business owner stepped up.

George Luhrs decided to build a garage on 1^st Avenue and Madison to accommodate the tenants in his various buildings, but also to provide some public parking. Opening in late November 1957, the Luhrs Parking Center provided space for over 400 cars PLUS a two-pump Texaco Gas Station. Several other small lots opened around the same time and the downtown merchants touted the simplicity to find a parking spot during their January Park and Shop Plan. This turned out to be only a small relief to growing parking issues.

Most people have driven in downtown Phoenix today. The streets are still narrow and have limited parking. And not much has changed over the years. Much of the parking before was parallel. Now it’s a mix of parallel and diagonal, but still not much to go around (and trying to figure out the number of allowable hours one can use on the meter is another issue). Parking at a mall especially during seasonal shopping days can be more of a question as to “Where did I park?” after you complete your spending spree. An app to show available spots can be helpful, but will it save that spot before you get there?

If you follow me in my political and even real estate posts, you know that I am ardent in my belief that realtors need to be aggressive advocates for water conservation, groundwater reform and sustainability.

We have a fiduciary responsibility to our clients. How responsible is it to put a home owner in to a 30-year mortgage on a home in a state that may have economy-destroying water issues in the next 15 years if we don’t institute reforms today?

Hyperbole? I think not.

This study from the US Geological Survey is alarming and our legislature and governor need to take the science seriously. We need at least the following changes:

1. Our state government needs to work with our congressional delegation to change incentives in the US Farm Bill so that Arizona farmers can switch to lower water use crops. Have a look at this fascinating article from a few years ago, which details how cotton farmers –even if they wanted to– would find it nearly impossible to stop growing high water-use crops. You should know that cotton and alfalfa use many times more water to grow than Arizona gets naturally from rainfall. As such, farmers are draining aquifers rapidly to keep up with demand.

2. Less than 40% of the state of Arizona is covered by an Active Management Area (meaning required sustainable use of water). We need to re-visit the Groundwater Management Act of 1980 so that the entire state is covered by Active Management Areas, or similar truly-sustainable requirements.

3. The Corporation Commission should encourage more distributed energy sources, such as solar energy on homes, which don’t require the pumping of billions of gallons of water to cool power plants.

Farming is the number one user of water in the state, power production is number two. These are the low-hanging fruits. If we can deploy more solar panels on homes and businesses, and conserve more water in agriculture, then we can continue to live in the desert with no problems.

4. We need to close the loopholes in the Ground Water Act, which allow developers to pretend that we have more water available for new developments than we actually do, as outlined in this great story from the Arizona Republic.

In short, it happened like this: We created the Groundwater Management Act in 1980, which said that a housing development had to demonstrate a 100-year ground water supply in order to build. If you don’t have the water, you can’t build there.

However, within a number of years, home builders (with the help of realtors) carved a massive loophole in the Act.

It said you don’t need the 100-year supply if you can get water from the Central Arizona Project canal (ie., Lake Mead water). Well, we know what’s happening to Lake Mead. It is dangerously low.

So, they built homes in the desert, telling us that the CAP was endless. They were wrong or wreckless.

This endangers those older homes, as well as any that new developers are irresponsibly planning today.

5. My fellow realtors in the Arizona Association of Realtors should be on the forefront of educating and advocating for water conservation, as well as distributed energy on homes.

As I said at the top of this article, we owe it to our clients.

Look, we are not going to “run out of water.” Under the Groundwater Act, if we have shortages, human consumption takes priority. That means that we will restrict agricultural before we restrict human consumption.

But, what would our economy look like if the news is that we are shutting down agriculture because we don’t have the water for our current populations? Who will move here? Who will start a business here?

There are, of course, other things we can do as well to solve the problem. (Oh, and desalination is NOT one of them.)

That is another post for another day.

Most people’s eyes glaze over at the sound of the word “redistricting.”

If you are one of those people, please grab a cup of coffee and power through it. This is important, whether you are a home owner or not.

For a humorous primer, check out this episode of Last Week Tonight. (Caution: strong language)

For a much dryer take on redistricting, listen to my interview on the Figure It Out Podcast from last month. (Yeah, I really know how to sell myself, huh?)

I’ll try not to go too much in to the weeds on redistricting. I am apt to do so, since I’ve been working on it for two decades now.

But, it is fundamental to a working democracy that we have fair and competitive districts –and crucial that you know the basics of the redistricting game.

Further, this is a “pox on both your houses” kind of issue when it comes to political parties. Just so you know where I’m coming from.

I’m throwing this redistricting issue up on the blog this month because there is yet another bill at the legislature –a proposed referendum on the 2020 ballot– that would deeply undermine fair redistricting.

It is called SCR1018, and it takes a little background to understand. This bill would ask the public to require that the largest district in Arizona cannot have more than 5,000 more voters than the smallest district.

Sounds fair, right? “One person, one vote”, right?

But it is not fair.

Like many things in redistricting, and most relationship statuses on Facebook, “it’s complicated.”

Not complicated like, “I’m gonna complicate the issue until you fall asleep and go away,” kind of complicated.

But complicated because our country has a long history of racism and voter suppression, which required the Voting Rights Act in the first place in order to protect people’s basic voting rights.

The core of the Voting Rights Act says that we must create districts that minority voters (African Americans, Latinos or Native Americans) have a chance to win in.

Why was this necessary? Well, because historically racist map drawers would crack or pack minority groups in to districts that made it impossible for their voices to be heard.

The solution is to allow a certain number of over-all districts in a state to be dedicated to a significant minority group.

So, for instance, if there are not enough Asian Americans in a state to create any districts in a reasonably compact area, then you don’t need to.

However, if there is a large Latino population in the state, you need to account for that by drawing districts that they have a chance to win in.

The complexity comes when you need to vary the size of legislative or congressional districts in order to make this happen.

Based on recent supreme court rulings (as recent at 2015), we can vary the population of congressional districts by a couple precent, and we can vary the population of legislative districts by as much as 10%.

That’s where the backers of SCR1018 come in. They say they believe such population variations mean some districts have more power than others –the districts don’t comply, they say, with the principle of “one person, one vote”.

I would be concerned about that argument if the difference were really that large. In a district of about 220,000 residents, the most a district will vary is 22,000 residents (and about 20% of those are not old enough or are ineligible to vote.)

While that is not ideal, it is nothing like the way the state operated up until 1964, where each county was a legislative district.

Think about that. La Paz county had the same number of representatives and senators as Maricopa County.

Most notably, in order to draw legislative districts for Native American populations, you need to vary the population of a couple districts.

(By the way, there are not enough Native American residents in a compact area to draw one congressional district, even if you could include all 22 tribes.)

Furthermore, these are the steps we have to take to defend the rights of large minority populations in Arizona.

I suppose, if the senator who is running this bill really wanted to not have to worry about the Voting Rights Act, he could stop supporting laws that suppress the votes of minority groups.

So, yeah. It’s messy. It’s not ideal. But until we stop seeing voter suppression bills out of this state government, or even the federal government, we need the Voting Rights Act and we need to protect minority populations.

Oh, and one more thing. Even if voters amended the state constitution in this way, it would be in violation of the Voting Rights Act and would likely be overturned, meaning we waste all that time and money doing something that is unconstitutional.

This opinion piece does a good job of explaining why this is a bad referendum.

When we meet a new client, especially a first time home buyer, we grab a cup of coffee and preview the home buying process.

Nobody explained the process for me when I bought my first house and I paid for it. It makes a huge difference to know what to expect next in the process; what to be ready for.

You deserve better, and we deliver.

So, it’s high time that I put the home buying process in writing so you can read about it in the comfort of your home, in your jammies with a cup of your favorite beverage.

If you want to start at the beginning, see Part 1 at this link.

Part 2: Agency Disclosures and Buyer/Broker Agreements

A lot of people think that agents just sell you a house and run off to buy a new Mercedes. As we explained in the last installment, there are a lot of responsibilities expected of agents.

A good agent will ask you to sign two documents when you get started with the home buying process: the agency disclosure and the buyer broker agreement.

The Agency Disclosure

This really boils down to disclosing that we have a fiduciary responsibility to you, as our clients. It also describes that, in Arizona, there are buyer’s agents and listing agents. While most agents do both, the disclosure lets you know each agent’s role.

More importantly, it discloses that agents are allowed to represent both sides of the transaction during this process only with your written permission.

So, is it a danger to your interests to have one agent on both sides?

Well, the agent still has fiduciary responsibility to their clients. So, they can’t run off and tell one side what the other side is willing to take for a property, for instance.

The agents in this role really becomes like a courier of messages. They can still advise each side on strategy and approach, but they can’t reveal private or confidential information.

Not comfy with this? That’s okay. You don’t have to do it. We are happy to refer one side of the transaction out to another agent.

The Buyer/Broker Agreement

It is always better and safer for you and for us to have an agreement for employment.

Yes, employment.

Under this agreement you are employing us to do a job for you. The only difference is that the seller is paying our commission.

It is important for you because you have assurance that we officially have a fiduciary responsibility to you. If it is unclear whether you are our client, where does our responsibility lie?

It protects us because it gives us certainty that you are serious about buying a house. We need to allocate our time to respect all of our clients, and ourselves.

Some people get hung up on the language in here that says you must be accompanied by your agent if you want to see an open house. We don’t worry about that. Just let the agent at the open house know that you have a realtor. Easy peasy.

The buyer/broker agreement also outlines how much you are allowing us to be paid. There is no industry standard. You most often see 3%, but be aware that agents, as an industry, cannot get together and agree to all ask for the same commission. That would be anti-trust activity.

You have the right to negotiate whatever commission that you want.

Another thing to bear in mind is that sometimes the seller may only offer us a 2.5% commission, rather than three, for instance. We write in to our buyer/broker agreements that we reserve the right to ask the buyer to make up the balance in this case. We do it because we work very hard and we are worth it.

However, we seldom do apply it –only for really complicated transactions that take more time. For a smooth transaction, we would rather you be happy and tell all your friends about just what wonderful agents we are.

By the way, you might also like to know that you can look up any licensed agent to see if they have any formal complaints against them at this link.

Next month: prequalifying for a loan.

The March 2020 Market Update continues to show a market with a shortage of listings, a condition which is likely to persist until June, at least.

According to our friends at the Cromford Report:

For Buyers:
Supply continues to drop as the market heats up with the seasonal rush of Buyers.  Typically we would see supply rising at this time of year as January is a strong month for new listings to hit the market.  However this year new listings year-to-date are down 17% from last year and January 2020 had the lowest number of new listings recorded going all the way back to 2001.  Combine this with a 21% increase in sales volume and the 4th highest January recorded for MLS sales, and it’s no surprise that supply is plummeting. 

While supply is down in all price points, it’s felt the most between $200K-$250K. Supply in this price range is nearly 60% lower than this time last year and a quarter of sales in the last 3 months have recorded over asking price.

Seller-paid closing cost concessions are also down.  Nearly 22% of all sales in the 1st Quarter to date have included some form of seller-paid or assisted closing costs.  That’s the lowest percentage recorded in nearly 5 years.

For Sellers:
The luxury market continues to go gangbusters in 2020.  Sales over $1 Million in 2019 outperformed 2018 by 10%, which makes it the #1 year for in Greater Phoenix in this price range.  January closings were up 52% in this price and listings under contract are up 43%. 

….and back to Get Your PHX and our comments on the March update.

Anecdotally, we have clients looking daily at every possible purchase that pops up.

There are often multiple offers and don’t get me started on the number of truly terrible flips I’ve seen recently.

We spoke to an owner/agent who bought a house for about $275,000 and put maybe $15,000 worth of work in to it –although he claimed he put twice as much in to it. He had it as a pocket listing. So, it was not on the MLS.

He then said he would not sell for less than about $330,000 because, “we can just rent it to the medical residents downtown.”

Comps showed that the property is not worth more than about $280,000, if you could actually show that they did the work. They bought it late last year! It’s only March, and I’m supposed to believe the price went up $60,000, with little renovation to show for it?

Ugh. Just ugh!

It comes down to this: if you are thinking of selling your property, it is crucial that you have agents who know how to spot the lemons and advise you to stay away from them.

Call us at 602-456-9388 and let’s talk strategy.

Looking for an event or two to entertain and educate? There are so many things in Phoenix these days. Here are a few of the things that we think rise to the top for your attention in February.

1) Local First Arizona if hosting a movie and discussion series on food waste called “Wasted: The Story of Food Waste.” Tuesday, February 11th at Film Bar. Events tickets required.

“WASTED! The Story of Food Waste aims to change the way people buy, cook, recycle, and eat food. Through the the eyes of chef-heroes like Bourdain, Dan Barber, Mario Batali, Massimo Bottura, and Danny Bowien, audiences will see how the world’s most influential chefs make the most of every kind of food, transforming what most people consider scraps into incredible dishes that create a more secure food system.”

“After the showing we will have local business owners to talk about what they are doing in food recovery, food waste reduction and composting to make an impact on their community.”

2) Oh My Ears!

Oh My Ears embarks on their 7th New Music Festival this February 20th-23rd. Oh My Ears, also known as OME, is Arizona’s largest presenter of new and experimental music.

The 2020 Festival brings together over 40 creative music makers, ranging from Phoenix to the Netherlands and Hong Kong.

Oh My Ears has a long history of utilizing independently and locally owned venues, and this year will be no different. The 2020 Festival will take place at Crescent Ballroom, the Carver Museum, Phoenix College, Lunchbox, and the Newton.

3) Tour the Phoenix Recovered Materials Facility, February 27th.

Remember those little videos that Marshall Shore and I did, touring the Phoenix recycling facility? Well, Local First Arizona is doing a tour event of one of those facilities just for you.

“Do you ever wonder what happens to your recycling once it leaves your curbside bin? Meet Local First Arizona’s Green Team at Phoenix’s Material Recovery Facility (aka the MRF) where you will see how recycling is sorted and processed. This eye-opening tour is free and you’ll walk away with a new appreciation for recycling and the people who do it.”

4) Urban Farm U is hosting a Grow PHX happy hour on February 13th at Duck and Decanter.

You’ll get a chance to meet some of the Urban Farming U’s contributors at this event, as well as other folks who are trying to improve our city and our environment through urban gardening.

There will also be door prizes.

5) Phoenix Public Market Turns 15 Years Old!

The Phoenix Public Market, the city’s downtown open air market, is hosting a celebration event on February 22nd.

“To celebrate this occasion we invite our community to the farmers market’s 15 Year Anniversary Celebration.

Dine, shop and discover nearly 100 local vendors. Enjoy live music while you grab brunch with friends in the sunshine.

Chef Kevin Lebron will feature seasonally inspired foods at his cooking demonstration, Maya Dailey (Maya’s Farm) will offer pesto-making activities for families, and sit in on our free workshop.

Guests can enter our event photo contest, write a thank you to their favorite market businesses, and go home with free goodies!”

6) Join the pledge to use less plastic with Attainable AF.

Attainable AF is a sustainability consulting firm that advised us on our attempts to make Phoestivus more sustainable.

They are hosting a challenge for you to commit to using your durable bottle for all of 2020. You can help cut the use of 1 million bottles in 2020.

Did you know that Every ONE minute 1x million disposable plastic bottles are consumed globally—90,000 in the USA every minute.

By taking this pledge, you can help encourage change.

7) Help Preserve Arizona’s Historic Spaces

Senate Bill 2551 has been introduced this session to fully fund ($10 million a year) to the State Parks Heritage Fund. As advocates for historic preservation, parks, open space, non-motorized trails, and outdoor/environmental education, you are encouraged to voice your opinion on SB2551 to your state legislator. 

8) Walter Hive Hosts a Fundraiser for its Maker Space

Walter Hive is already a maker space, and provides education for young people of all age. You can learn how to weld, do woodworking, metalworking and any number of amazing arts and crafts.

“Our signature workshop, The Design Series, is state of the art and follows a renowned international arts education model. This collaborative workshop, catered towards teens, works directly with other nonprofits who serve the youth. We introduce art/tech skills including welding, woodworking, laser cutting, programming LEDs, and painting. The participants then design and build an interactive community art project.”

The Big Buzz is their upcoming fundraiser event to build their capacity to reach more people, particularly youth, with their inclusive and empowering educational series.

9) Re-think Almonds!

I’m the Debbie Downer who goes to a cocktail party and brings up how bad Almonds are for Arizona’s water supply, as well as for our bee populations. This, after people I just met were talking about how much they love almonds.

No. Really. It happened.

But, I couldn’t help it after I saw this hum-dinger of an article from The Guardian.

It is worth a read, especially as much of the coverage is here in Arizona.

There are other alternatives that we need to consider, and there is lot we can do to cut down on pesticide use, too.