Arizona is a beautiful place full of fantastic neighborhoods and if you’re moving here, you’ll probably need a little help deciding what community is right for you.

Jeannie Bolger and I have created a guide for new home buyers with links for information about schools and attractions for different parts of the valley.

This guide will be really handy for people moving in to phoenix neighborhoods or for companies to have on hand for their employees.

If you know of somebody thinking to move to Phoenix, or a company that is expanding in Arizona, please share this resource with them.

Download it here and keep it on hand in your office. Ken Clark’s Relocation Guide

Of course, Jeannie and I are just a phone call away if you need anything.

If you’re planning on donating a turkey this year, you can donate at any of these locations.  

• United Food Bank (East Valley )November 21-23: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
• Donate at any Fry’s Food Store location by adding your donation amount to your grocery bill. A donation of $2.50 will provide enough food for 17 meals. A donation of $10 will provide enough food for 70 meals.
• Lee Lee International Supermarket is hosting a holiday food drive at all three Arizona locations until Tuesday to benefit two Arizona food banks. Donations from the Chandler location will go to the St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance in Phoenix, which is most in need of beans (canned or dried), canned fruit and vegetables, canned soups, stews, chili and pasta, cereal, diapers, juice, peanut butter, rice and tuna (canned or vacuum packed).

St. Mary’s food bank has a few different locations available to donate:

• They will be collecting food donations at 31st and Thomas until Thursday 8am to 5pm at the Thomas and 31st Location, as well as
• St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance is collecting cash and turkeys 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday at The Stockyards Restaurant, 5009 E. Washington St., Phoenix. The Stockyards Restaurant, Valley of the Sun United Way, Rock Springs Pies, The Celebrity Theater and the Arizona Centennial Chopper will sponsor the drive.

Don’t have time to drop one off? There are plenty of online options for giving.

• Try Buy-A-Bird online! buyabird.org is an online shopping site where you can buy stuffed animal birds which directly donates to the St. Mary’s Food Bank Thanksgiving Drive
• The Real Gift Foundation’s 12th annual Thanksgiving Dinner Drive is taking place now.They plan to deliver 3,650 pre-cooked Thanksgiving dinners to homeless children (and their families) who attend more than 70 public schools throughout Maricopa County. In order to deliver the dinners, The Real Gift Foundation needs to raise more than $80,000. Just $25 dollars will feed a family of six. To donate, visit www.therealgift.org or call (602) 482-5800

Donate today and give back to your community for the holidays.

Christmas has come early! Statistics and Graphs galore! If you’re looking for a home here in Phoenix, here is a trend that you might want to know about.

As a general rule, fewer  people buy houses between October and February. With the beautiful winter weather here in the valley, you would think sales would rise. But, most home buyers move in the late spring and summer in order to change schools. So, what does that mean for real estate agents….other than that we should probably go out and get second jobs waiting tables or pre-stocking for Black Friday?

What does it mean for you? Well, it’s great news if you’re a soon to be home buyer. As you can see by the graphs, sales per month is down between October and February while the monthly supply stays relatively the same. Aren’t graphs amazing?

Continue for more witty comments, below the graphs.

So, follow me here. If the sales per month are down and the inventory stays largely the same that is great for you if you are a buyer. It means that sellers are more desperate to sell. Not only are you going to have a greater selection, you might have an opportunity to negotiate the price!

So, get out into the beautiful weather and buy! If  you have any questions I’d be happy to help, just give me a call 602-456-9388

I’m sure you have all heard about the wonderful G.A.I.N events going on in local neighborhoods all over Arizona.

This past weekend marked Getting Arizona Involved in Neighborhood (G.A.I.N) day celebrating the success of crime prevention in Phoenix through community involvement.  This weekends GAIN event included block watches, apartment complexes, neighborhood groups, parks and business across Phoenix who participated in block parties to show their support.

Recognizing the local community’s commitment and involvement in the Block Watch programs throughout Arizona neighborhoods is a valuable way to better our community. The G.A.I.N event is connecting the local law enforcement with the neighborhood citizens that support their day-to-day efforts to keep the neighborhoods safe. As Downtown Phoenix grow, we need to stop and appreciate those who help keep our community safe and strong.

Remember it’s never too early to start thinking of ways you can help make G.A.I.N a successful event in your neighborhood.You can find out more about G.A.I.N and ways to plan your own event at the phoenix.gov website.

This list there is of the events from last weekend, but bookmark the site for future reference.

This just in from the desk of my friend Jeannie Bolger, of Nova Home Loans:

There were some changes other than weather as of October 1^st this year. For those of your looking to buy a home, there were several mortgage changes effective last Saturday.

For those looking into FHA (Federal Housing Administration) loans the maximum loan has been reduced state wide. As you may recall, in 2008 a temporary boost to Federal Housing Administration-guaranteed loan was passed. That boost expired October 1^st and

In Maricopa County new loan limits are:

Anyone looking into VA Funding has noticed a decrease, sometime more than a full % for purchases, on funding fees.  Across the board these are positive changes, as the VA loan is already perhaps the best loan option available for today’s veterans and active duty service men and women.

Regular Military Funding:

Reserves and National Guard:

Beginning October 1, 2011, USDA Rural Loans have annual mortgage insurance (3%, paid monthly) and reduced the upfront guarantee fee on purchases from 3.5% to 2%. Unlike FHA insured loans, USDA’s annual insurance fee is for the lifetime of the loan, which is definitely something to think about when considering loans.

Loans can be complicated, but they don’t have to be. Contact Jeannie at (602) 385-4812 today for help.

And, of course, give me a call at 602-456-9388 for property questions.

Irrigation in place as we moved dirt last Saturday.

Over the course of a weekend a once vacant lot on the corner of 6^th and Garfield became fertile ground for beauty and science. As we mentioned in our post last week, this past weekend volunteers, organizers, and even a couple politicians gathered for the planting of Valley of the Sunflowers.

Not too long ago, Sean Sweat, an Intel employee, met with some friends and discussed the potential for this lot. Luckily, he was talking to the right people. Kenny Barrett and Cindy Dach, of the Roosevelt Row CDC, and Braden Kay of the ASU Global Institute for Sustainability are good friends to have when you’ve got big ideas.

RRCDC is a non-profit downtown which promotes the interests of the downtown community by supporting public events and fostering urban renewal. Kay introduced the project to Bioscience High School, which also overlooks the lot. Bioscience High is currently building a biodiesel car, and was conveniently looking for a source of oil.

With help from the Roosevelt CDC and two start-up grants from Intel, They were able to propose his plans for a temporary sunflower field to the City. The hope of this and many other revitalization efforts is not only too beautiful but bring business downtown.

Of course the City was hesitant at first, but because VOS already had the plans and the money, it didn’t take long for the city to get on board. Because the project was temporary and funded, the city leased the lot to Valley of the

Sunflowers for free, putting it on the fast track to realization.

It was the “temporary” use of the lot made this project possible. The lot is currently allocated to the Arizona Cancer Center, which plans to start construction in the next two years. Until construction begins the two acre lot will be put to good use by VOS. They are planning two grow cycles, keeping stick notes and directions, so this project can be recreated again.

So how can you help? Well they’re still looking for an oil press and a tractor, if you’ve got one lying around. If not you can donate time through the RRCDC website or head to their kick starter page and donate to the cause.

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.

My colleague Leif Swanson sent me this.

You would be surprised how many people take almost no action whatsoever to get ready to sell their home.

This is a cute video that lays out the most important things to do to get ready to get the most money out of your home sale.