Most of us already realize “normal” is relative. Yet, we are only human. And as such, we can scarcely stop ourselves from the very-human behavior of seizing every available opportunity to try to quantify and define the term.

It probably doesn’t show up on your calendar, but May is Disability Insurance Awareness Month. And you might agree that such a month is useful, when you consider the following:

A survey shows U.S. home prices rose 10.5 percent in March compared with a year ago, the biggest gain since March 2006.

No one can deny the Great Recession left a permanent mark on our nation and its economy. But what effect did it have on the American Dream of home ownership? That’s the question we set out to answer by asking Phoenix-based Benchmark Research Technologies to survey nearly 1,700 Arizona new home shoppers about their attitudes surrounding home ownership in the post-recession era.

The value of home sales in Western states rose over the last year even as the number of transactions slipped, according to an official with the National Association of Realtors.

Used to be, a foreclosure was something people seldom spoke about. Today, times have changed. Right now is the ideal time to buy a new home with record lows in mortgage rates and an increase in available, affordable homes. But if you’ve got a foreclosure or short sale on the books, you might be asking — how long before we can buy again?

Attorney General Tom Horne did nothing wrong in transferring $50 million from a nationwide mortgage settlement to the state general fund to balance the budget, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

Contrary to what a lot of people are hearing and believing, the real estate market in Ahwatukee is much better than what most people perceive it to be.

The number of distressed homes listed for sale in Ahwatukee was 52 percent lower on Feb. 1 when compared to the year earlier, based on data from the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service.

When I start talking about real estate in 2012 all I can say sometimes is, “WOW!” Do you realize that in 2012 the “Phoenix median home prices jumped 36 percent from $116,000 to $158,000 in one year, November to November” (housingwire.com)?

Over the past five years the words “real estate” have led to many discussions and debates. The waves of emotion that came from the run up and bubble caused too much drama in people’s lives. Homes were meant for long-term investments and the five years around it caused some people to make decisions, good and bad. People thought they had a safe nest egg in the home they have poured thousands of dollars into, yet that property is now worth what it was 12 to 15 years earlier. Luckily, the market is starting to move past this.

Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema, D-Arizona, was named to the subcommittees on “Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity” as well as “Investigation and Oversight.”

The city’s Neighborhood Services Department is partnering with the Arizona Foreclosure Prevention Task Force to host a free foreclosure informational event from 3 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 23 at the South Mountain Community Center, Century Room, 212 E. Alta Vista Road.

A new real estate company in Ahwatukee Foothills believes keeping the focus on successful agents is what will ultimately create a successful company.

Representative-elect Kyrsten Sinema was named to the House Committee on Financial Services by the House Democratic Policy and Steering Committee. The committee, which oversees agencies pertaining to the economy, is largely comprised of more senior members.

A lot of people like to make predictions on what is going to happen. Too few of us take responsibility for their successes and, yes, their failures. Here is what I forecast on December 23, 2011 followed by what actually happened and my report card:

The Arizona Animal Welfare League and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are asking for your vote in order to win $25,000 in a nationwide challenge to save more lives.

Columnist Linda Turley-Hansen has written a couple of pieces lately, exhorting us to vote in the upcoming presidential election. In one, she ended with this: Our choice was either socialism or freedom (guess who the socialist is?). In her more recent one, she tells us to vote because Obama is killing the coal industry. In other words, a second Obama term is Apocalypse Now.

A day-long conference on homeowners’ rights under the National Mortgage Settlement will be at the Arizona State University Homeowner Advocacy Unit at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law on Oct. 19.

Wells Fargo announced that Chad Hardy has been named district manager for Wells Fargo Community Banking in the West San Tan Mountain area of the East Valley.

Wells Fargo is honoring Arizona’s teacher of the year on its ATMs across the state. For the month of September most of Wells Fargo’s 544 ATMs in Arizona will feature a screen congratulating 2012 teacher of the year Kristie Martorelli.

If you are considering bankruptcy as an option to deal with mounting credit card debt, tax debt, or the possibility of foreclosure, you should realize that your bankruptcy case can be impacted by the decisions you make in the months and even years prior to filing your case.

Plenty of real estate agents made money for years simply by selling homes, but the Valley’s foreclosure crisis and more recent influx of investors has changed how — or even whether — agents can make a living.