Y’all might remember my listing at 90 West Virginia. It is the 1930s Fairhope School, newly renovated to a 4,100 square foot home. This is the flagship property in the famous Willo Historic Neighborhood.

Here is the original blog post about it.

Well, the price has just dropped to $750,000! This is an incredible price for a luxury home of this historic significance and quality. This home was awarded best historic restoration of 2009 by the Phoenix New Times.

Stay tuned for notices about open houses. We don’t open this house to the public often, so please drop by to see it!

Good news on the Home loan front. President Barack Obama has signed HR 2112! Oh, you don’t know what that means? Trust me it’s exciting.

Here, let me quote you!!

FHA maximum Loan Limits effective October 1, 2011 through December 31, 2012 – Mortgagee Letter 2011-39

 FHA Loan Limits that were in effect from January 1, 2011 through September 30, 2011, as announced in ML 10-40, shall apply for case numbers assigned from November 18, 2011 through December 31, 2011 – Maricopa County $346,250

 FHA Loan Limits with case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012 will remain the same as those that were in effect from January 1, 2011 through September 30, 2011 – Maricopa County $346,250

 FHA Loan limits with case numbers assigned before November 18, 2011 are subject to the LOWER limits that were in effect from October 1, 2011 through November 17, 2011 (some exceptions apply) – Maricopa County $271,050

So what does all of that mean?

Moral of the story is:  FHA Case #’s assigned Jan 1, 2011 through September 30, 2011 maximum loan limit for Maricopa County was $346,250 –

Case numbers assigned October 1, 2011 thru November 17^th, 2011 are subject to the REDUCED loan limits of $271,050 for Maricopa County – And yet another change FHA Case numbers assigned November 18^th, 2011 thru December 31, 2011 will jump back up to $346,250

Basically, you can borrow more under FHA….

Don’t you love how long it took them to say what I said in seven words?

Stay Tuned for more FHA changes.  Please call Jeannie Bolger, Sr. Loan Officer – Nova Home Loans if you have questions. 

Exciting Right?

For those of you who were at last month’s Get Your PHX event, you saw the beauty of the Audubon Center first hand. This Friday the Audubon Center will be holding River Nights, a fundraiser party featuring music from Sergio Mendoza y la Orkestra, Four Peaks Beer, and delicious street tacos from Taqueria Guadalajar, to benefit their education and conservation program.

The customarily free-admission Audubon Center offers interactive exhibits, an interpretive loop trail, connections to the Rio Salado Habitat’s sixteen miles of hiking and riding trails, which draw in local students year round as well as veteran members. The center hopes to bring in a young professional crowd for future support with this Fridays chic, lounge-themed evening.  Valerie Ramos, who is coordinating the event, wants to engage and education the “next generation of leaders” through events and activities at the center.

The Arizona Audubon Center believes exposing urban young people to the beauty and complexity of the natural world is existential, in hopes that they are inclined to protect it as adults. The center believes there is ample habitat for birds and other wildlife, even amongst our urban sprawl. They work daily to promote interaction and appreciation of the natural environment and   educate and motivate local youth to become the conservation leaders of tomorrow.

River Night will be this Friday, November 4 from 5:30-9:30 pm at the Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center at 3131 S Central Ave. Admission will be $25 advanced admission or $30 at the door. For more information, visit www.riosalado.audubon.org or call 602-468-6470.

You know that Phoenix continues to “grow up” when it develops a healthy sketch comedy community. Enter stage left: First Friday Night Live.

Amongst the hustle of the First Friday art walk lies the Firehouse, a gallery which plays host to provocative exhibits, musicians, and local fire dancers all month long. After the First Friday vendors pack up and the art walk teens return home before curfew, the firehouse continues to burn the midnight oil. This Friday, the cast and crew of First Friday Night Live will kick off their second season of sidesplitting sketch and stand up on the stage behind The Firehouse.

The cast of seventeen local actors and comedians along with a group of dedicated writers collaborate all month long creating, writing, and practicing original scenes. In addition to the six nightly sketches, the hour and a half performance will include stand up from the cast, musical guests, as well as the firehouse’s signature fire dancers.  In total, the cast and crew are more than 60 dedicated members strong.

Michael23, a local artist and show founder is looking forward to the second season and the knowledge that comes with it. The first season ran September to March, with two “uncomfortably cold nights,” in January and February that changed the course of this season. To avoid the cold Arizona nights, FFNL has decide to split the season, staging shows October to December and then March to June with two FFNL events in between.

The show is put up every month on a “shoestring budget,” says Michael, “We hope to break even at the end of this season.” Tickets are available pre-sale for five dollars online or the Firehouse Gallery and Lawn Gnome Publishing Bookstore on first Friday. Tickets at the door are seven. You can even buy season tickets for forty dollars on their website which comes with a free t-shirt to boot. The show also streams live online, for those who need there FFNL fix in bed.

If you’re interested in finding out more about FFNL or joining the production you can find information on their site.

First Friday Night Live’s first show of the season premieres at 11pm this Friday at the Firehouse.

Those of you who have been to the arts market in the Roosevelt Arts District may not know that it’s yet another brain child of the Roosevelt Row CDC. The A.R.T.S. Market serves small businesses and art vendors at First and third Fridays year round. Vendors looking to participate can secure a location for $50 for both First and Third Friday, or $80 for just First Friday.

Courtesy of Roosevelt Row

Does that seem a bit backwards? First Friday is prime property for vendors and artists looking to get their name out. But, with every artsy teen strolling the street in their winter tank tops, some adults may shy away from the crowd. Third Friday, though quieter then the hustle of First Friday Crowd, attracts a more serious adult, art crowd. Roosevelt Row, in all their wisdom, struck up this deal for vendors who show a commitment to participate in an A.R.T.S. market as well as to the growth of the district.

Vendors have to meet basic guidelines, which are outlined on the Roosevelt Row cite, and aren’t judged on aesthetics. And the deals don’t stop there. On November 12, Roosevelt Row will be hosting a pie social to benefit the Bioscience High School. After the pie social there will be an art walk where booths are only $25 for the night. On the nights that pie isn’t available Food vendors can grab a spot too by contacting the food trucks coalition who are acting as art walk partners.

Next first Friday is October 8th. We’ll see you there!

The City of Phoenix is now offering a $15,000 loan towards closing costs and down payment to purchase a newly renovated “Move-in Ready” homes through their Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

The Neighborhood Stabilization Program is an effort in response to the number of vacant foreclosures in Phoenix neighborhoods. Housing programs are popping up all over the Southwest in hopes of turning foreclosures into affordable, refurbished homes and enhancing neighborhood curb appeal.

NSP is offering an extensive catalog of renovated properties in established neighborhoods as well as providing guidance through the entire process.

To qualify, home buyers must meet these requirements:

1. Applicants must meet the income guidelines for household Family size. For Example, A family of 4 must have an income at or below $78,600 annually to receive the loan.
2. Candidate should be able to qualify for a 15 or 30 year fixed mortgage
3. Though you don’t have to be a first time home owner, you can’t currently be on title on any residential property.
4. Applicants must be able to contribute one half of the home’s required cash down payment for a min. $1,000. For example, a $100,000 home would require a $1750 down payment.
5. All loan hopefuls have to take a two hour one-on-one credit counseling and an 8 hour home buyer education class

A word of caution: I have helped buyers through this program. Half of the time it went smoothly and relatively quickly. The other half of the time it took longer and everybody was pulling their hair out. Now, to be fair, that was mostly because the listing agent’s contractors were not doing the basic things that the city inspectors asked of them.

Further, that was in 2010. Now NSP has homes that are already renovated. So, this is a whole new world from when the program just got started.

Regardless, families state-wide are in a great position to be homeowners in great phoenix neighborhoods. My friend Jeannie Bolger, of Nova Home Loans let me know all about this program and, as a mentioned a few weeks ago, she is experienced in these loans and could be a huge help in the process.

You can visit www.phoenix.gov/nsphome to view the Move In Ready list of available homes or give me a call today at 602-456-9388.

It was nice to see this article in the Arizona Republic yesterday talking about a “rebound” in the condo market in Phoenix.

I don’t know if I would go so far as to call it a rebound. In fact, several of the projects the article talks about are still not sold –they turned in to apartment buildings instead.

However, the article does point out something that I’ve been saying for a while: an increasing number of people want that dense, urban experience. That is why 44 Monroe, for example, filled up with renters so quickly.

So, while you can still get a great condo downtown and in CenPho right now for much, much less than you could in 2006, and while the market for condos has not completely righted itself it is true that the inventory of condos in CenPho has dropped sharply over the past year. They are being gobbled up!

This demand should be an indicator to anybody, whether buying a house or a condo, that urban centers are going to be in great demand once the market stabilizes. If you are holding on to your house to sell later, have hope. If you are thinking about getting in to CenPho, now is a good time because it will be more expensive a year from now.

I’ve made the jump from John Hall to HomeSmart. I’m sure this means nearly nothing to most of you. But I want to explain to you why and what this means.

I chose to work with my former broker, John Hall & Associates, because they were locally owned. Re/Max, Realty Executives, Century 21 –these are all nation-wide broker and really, really big companies.

But, like many of you, I believe that we need to keep our dollars in our local economy. The fees that brokers take from agents could go to some corporate headquarters somewhere in Ohio, or they could stay here and add to our economy. This is why I am a member of Local First Arizona and I support locally-owned businesses.

Well, John Hall sold itself to a company called Realty One Group, out of Nevada. It did not take me long to realize that this was in opposition to what I believe.

I was happy to learn, however, that HomeSmart is locally owned and originates in Arizona. They have well over 1,000 agents and a very effective system for processing transactions.

This means little or nothing to you, the buyer or seller. But I want you to know that, even in decisions like this, I am committed to CenPho and my state.

I appreciate your business.