You are selling your home. The landscaping is
immaculate. Your home is freshly painted inside and out. Your pool water is as blue as blue can be.
Your neighbor vacated their home. They have been foreclosed upon. The bank owns the property now. The weeds are knee high. Two windows are broken. The pool is green and smells. Four new phone books sit waterlogged on the front porch with about a thousand door hangers from every pizza parlor, landscaper and cable company in town. The only thing that's shiny is the agents for sale sign.
The banks price on the same home is $100,000 less than yours. What do you do?
You call the banks real estate agent and ask them to straighten up the place. The agent explains that the bank won't authorize any money in what they consider a sinking ship. The bank is already going to lose over 100 grand and they won't trim weeds or drain pools.
You go over to the home and pick up the debris, but you sure won't mow and weed. You make sure the gate is closed and the pool is secure. Your trespassing, but in the name of safety.
Your agent is planning an open house this weekend. You break down and go mow the lawn of your neighbor. Then you pull weeds. Again, you're
trespassing and you shouldn't have to do this, but it's impacting the sale of your home.
You hear about a near drowning across town and it makes you think about the
abandoned green pool next door. You hear about
mesquito's breading in stagnant water and it makes you think about the pool next door. So you call the Arizona Department of Environmental services to report the green pool. Yes, they have a line for that purpose. The number is 602-506-6616. They take the address down and spray the water for
mosquito's. But, they won't empty the pool.
Finally, you contact your
HOA. The board decides to maintain the front yard next door and at three other addresses. They can then bill the bank or owner by placing a lien on the property. Will they get the money when it sells? Yes, if it's a lien. But, even if they don't your
HOA should plan on loss of monthly dues and/or property upkeep on some foreclosed properties.
February sales increased over January which many are saying is a positive sign for the housing market. The AZ Republic article After Months of Declines, Home Sales Up indicates that sales of existing homes increased 10.7% from Janaury to February this year for Metro Phoenix. For homes and condos sold by members of the South East Valley Association of REALTORS, the increase was 18.5%.
Do you have any Arizona photos that you want to share? I'm looking for bizarre pictures that need explanation. Unusual pictures that make you think. Or fun photos that bring a smile to your face. Email the shots to us and we'll post the best ones.
It's a barn in the city. I might have even mentioned it in a previous blog post.
Maybe your agent is using these grey boxes. These are what we used before. It's safer than the key boxes, but not all agents can access this type. An agent with a lock box key like the one in the picture can access it, but more and more agents are using an infra red key to open the lock box and they can't get access with this lock box. I use my Treo phone with infra red to gain access and I can't open the grey boxes. When we moved to the blue boxes, GE gave us a blue box for each grey box we turned in. I'm not sure why any agent kept a grey box.
This is Chandler's newest facility. The Tumbleweed Recreation Center at Tumbleweed Park. It's located on McQueen at Germann Road.
It's a great facility with this huge courtyard in the middle open to our wonderful weather. Next to it is a two court basketball gym.
The gym can be separated with a curtain like this. So, open play can be on one side and a scheduled class or league can be on the other side.
All the weights and cardio and the indoor track are upstairs. As you run, you get to go by the machines. Plus, you get to look out the windows at the courtyard, the street and park. You also get to run above the basketball courts.
There are two racquetball courts. Lots of cardio machines, lifestyle resistance machines and free weights.
Got kids? They have a place for them to play too. I didn't take pictures of the teem hayloft, a lounge for teenagers with active arcade games, air hockey, foosball and an open stage.
