Learn about fair housing practices and laws at a free, three-hour workshop from 9 a.m. to noon this Friday, June 21, at Calvin C. Goode Municipal Building, 251 W. Washington St., 10th floor, room CCG East.

Old Navy in the Ahwatukee Foothills Towne Center will be closing at the end of this month to relocate to the new Phoenix Premium Outlets on the Gila River Indian Community.

A report issued by the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University indicates the recent upswing in home prices has come at a steady, sustainable pace, meaning homeowners should not expect another bubble to burst.

Combining the three area ZIP codes of 85044, 85045 and 85048, April property sales totaled 172, up 8.9 percent from 158 in April of 2012 and 25.5 percent higher than the 137 sales last month. The Median Sales Price in April was $249,500, up 31.3 percent from $190,000 in April of 2012 and up .6 percent from last month. April 2013’s average sales price was at its highest level compared to 2012 and 2013.

Ahwatukee is seeing an increase in real estate activity compared to the same time last year.

Americans are more confident in the U.S. economy than at any point in the past five years, thanks to surging home values, a brighter job market and record-setting stock prices.
Stock averages last month extended the year’s explosive rally.
Further gains in consumer confidence could help the economy withstand the effects of higher taxes and federal spending cuts that kicked in this year. Spending by consumers drives about 70 percent of economic growth.


A zoning administrator for the city of Phoenix has denied a zoning variance for a medical marijuana dispensary to go into a location in Ahwatukee Foothills.

Arizona-based Maracay Homes recently spent $4 million to design new floor plans based on consumer requests in a post recession economy. Those new floor plans — the New Arizona Living Collection — include secondary living rooms that can be used as playrooms, laundry rooms by master bedrooms and expanded outdoor spaces, said Maracay President and CEO Andy Warren.

Searching for the perfect active adult community to enjoy during retirement creates all sorts of questions. Do you want to live somewhere else? If so, where? Do you want warmth and sunshine? Do you want to stay close to family? Do you want a condo or single-family home? With questions like these, doing your homework is important. As is starting early.

Editor’s note: This is part two of a continuing summer series on the proposed South Mountain Loop 202 Freeway.

Selling your first home in a buyers’ market? You can get the best possible price if you know how to negotiate.

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.

As of the day I am writing this there are 130 active rental listings on the MLS in Ahwatukee and 416 have been rented in the past six months.

Q: What type of business services or products do you provide?

A zoning adjustment hearing to discuss allowing a medical marijuana dispensary to go into a location at 48th Street and Warner Road was postponed due to an application error.

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

I’m sure by now you’ve heard that we have a short supply of homes to sell. As I have been saying, this shortage is pushing up the price of homes that do go onto the market.

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.

A medical marijuana dispensary in Ahwatukee Foothills was on the agenda for a city zoning adjustment hearing Thursday but the meeting was postponed.

Comprehensive Property Inspections

In the galaxy of big-screen superheros — a rather glum lot — Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man is the snappy one.

This Pulitzer Prize-winning play, staged by Arizona Theatre Company, follows up on the events of “A Raisin in the Sun,” adding new levels of intricacy to the discussion of race and real estate in America.

Since the beginning of 2013 there have been some announced changes for buyers looking to obtain an FHA loan. FHA is an insurer of mortgage loans and is popular because of the low down payment option. I had the opportunity to ask Dawna Lepler of The Lending Company a few questions many of my real estate clients have asked over the past few months.