Wow, it almost has already been a year again since I have blogged about where to celebrate Forth of July in the Phoenix Metro area.

Most of the links in last years post point to updated information, however Scottsdale’s Family Barbecue will be celebrated at the Scottsdale Stadium.

photo credit: phxpma

If you are not sure where to celebrate Independence Day in the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area and looking for another 4th of July community or special event then go check out phoenix.about.com.

The Arizona Republic has also a list of events here.

There is a very good chance that the Phoenix DUI Taskforce saturation Patrols and other law enforcement will be out and around the valley this coming holiday. Needless to say who they will be targeting…So if you are going to party make sure you have a designated driver or use public transportation. Some of yo may think there is not much public transportation action going on in the valley, however the light rail is coming very soon. Having said that, RailLife.com is a great source for learning more about the areas and venues surrounding the light rail line and Nick Bastian covers the 4th of July festivities in Tempe on the RailLife Blog.

Enjoy Independence Day 2008 and be safe!

One of our most enjoyable traditions in Phoenix is the historic district home tour. We have an astonishing number of historic homes and homeowners who cherish their properties and gladly share them with the public. This time Windsor Square is opening its neighborhood, homes, and gardens to visitors for the Sixth Biennial Historic Home and Garden Tour.

Next Sunday, April 6, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., you will be able to visit all of the 12 historic homes that are on this tour in Phoenix’s most northern historic district. Presented by the Windsor Square Neighborhood Association, the Home and Garden tour is a self-guided walking tour that gives visitors a look at unique architectural styles in homes that date back more than 75 years.

Windsor Square was originally envisioned as an area of fine homes, but the district’s development suffered from bad timing and a world war. Begun in 1929, the original developers’ high hopes fell to the realities of the Depression. Then as building began in earnest in the early 1940’s, everything was put on hold again during World War II. With the return of the GIs and the post-war building boom, Windsor Square grew to be considered Phoenix’s first suburb. Today’s 260 homes are bordered by Central Avenue and Seventh Street, Pasadena Avenue and Oregon Avenue.

With styles ranging from modern to traditional, attendees will see interior decorating ideas and unique approaches to the outdoors. For this year’s tour, the organizers have added a special feature to each home: a themed special event presented by a professional designer. Look for a garden party, a birthday celebration, and other festive scenes. Keep an eye out, also, for Phil Gordon, Phoenix’s mayor and a Windsor Square resident, who plans to be touring the homes as well.

Along with the historic homes, visitors will enjoy fine arts and crafts from street vendors, taste delicious foods, and be entertained with live music. All this for only $12, and children visit free.

You will find the tour at the Northeast corner of Central and Camelback, behind AJ’s Fine Foods. Tickets will be available on the day of the home tour at Medlock and 2nd Street (one block east of Central, north of Camelback Road). Vehicles may enter the neighborhood off Central Avenue at Medlock Drive or off Camelback Road at 2nd or 6th streets; on-street parking is free.

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Need a bit more incentive? The good folks of the Windsor Square Home and Garden Tour will donate 20 percent of tour proceeds to the Central Arizona Shelter Services (C.A.S.S). for Families and Children.

Mark your calendar now: Sunday, April 6 – Windsor Square Historic Home and Garden Tour. For more information, visit the Windsor Square website.

The homes do not have garages, walk-in closets, or entertainment centers. They were built in the 1920’s and ’30’s before people thought lots of storage space was essential in a home. But for every modern convenience they may seem to lack, the historic homes of Willo more than make up for them in charm and grace.

Once a year, a dozen or so homeowners in Phoenix’s Willo Historic District open their well-loved and well-cared for houses for the annual home tour. Homeowners invest a great deal of time and care (and yes, money) in restoring and maintaining the unique features of these homes. Styles run the gamut from English Cotswold to Spanish mission, French provincial, and Tudor revival.

Once farmland on the outskirts of Phoenix, Willo became a suburb in the early part of the 20th century, and almost two dozen subdivisions were built through the beginning of WWII. As Phoenix grew after the war, commercial development began to encroach. But in the 1980’s, Willo residents lobbied successfully for historic district status.

This Sunday, February 10, 2008, you can enjoy the 20th Annual Willo Historic Home Tour & Street Festival from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Willo is just west of Central Avenue between Thomas and McDowell Roads from 1st to 7th Avenues. Visitors can stroll the tree-lined streets from house to house, or take a trolley that will carry people throughout the neighborhood. Here is a sneak peak of 2 homes that will be on the tour.

There is also street fair with handcrafts, antiques, local artwork, and plenty of food choices. Tickets are $15.00 the day of the tour and can be purchased at 3rd Avenue and Holly. Free for children 12 years and younger when accompanied by a paying adult. You can also buy tickets for $12.75 online in advance (by 9:00 p.m. February 9) and pick them up at the event. You can find more information and purchase tickets here: http://willohistoricdistrict.com/hometour

Hope to see you this Sunday in Willo!

Steve Belt covered the launch of Google Street View in the Phoenix and Scottsdale Area last October. I was fascinated and, for the most part, I was thinking that Google Street Maps would be a great additional marketing tool. I was right, and Realbird.com is one of the first platforms I know of which is taking advantage Google Street View. Even without Google offering an API, Realbird.com now offers the capability of integrating Google Street Maps on their single property websites via an embeddable widget, transforming them into virtual tours of the neighborhood.

On the flip side, Steve pointed out a valid issue, that of people being concerned about their privacy:

The controversy of Street View stems from the fact that some of the images captured and stitched together include people going about their daily lives.

Until now, I was not too personally concerned with privacy issues, but that changed when I saw “The Untapped Powers of Street View on Google Maps” on the Bloodhound Blog. The Vacationeers are hilarious but their skit raised my concern about my privacy a little bit.

No, I am not too worried about aliens and I am not paranoid - but you should have seen my dads face when I told him that Google notified me that he left the trunk-lid open on his Cadillac when he was over at my house. (My dad is 74, does not speak any English and the only thing “Computer” he knows is FreeCell on a Windows 2000 machine - he thought the department of homeland security had zeroed in on him).

I I promise, the bald guy is not me.

Now, how about the guy at the bus stop up the street scarfing down a Big Mac… while picking his nose?

How about this former listing?

Darn, It looks like I have to get new license plates.

I never thought that Google Street Maps would ever be so close to home. So next time watch out for the gray van with the sci-fi looking turret cruising your neighborhood.

The Valley of the Sun is a great place for outdoor activities and sporting events all year round. This coming weekend, Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe are jointly hosting the P.F. Chang Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon.

This fun event (and I freely admit that I prefer being a spectator) is not only for endurance junkies but also for music junkies alike. Over 60 bands will turn 39.3 miles into one big street fest. There are two routes; one is a full marathon and the other is a half marathon.

On the Friday and Saturday before the marathon, near the start line at 14th Avenue and Washington in downtown Phoenix, over 100 exhibitors will be present at the Health and Fitness Expo inside the Phoenix Convention Center. The post-race concert celebration will be held at the Tempe Beach Park.

For all of you who have to go places and things to see in the Phoenix Metro Area, Be Warned!!! There are going to be a lot of road closures and so if you thought about holding an open house anywhere near the marathon routes (the full course and half course), you might want to re-think it as it will probably not be a good idea this Sunday… even though it is on the lucky 13th.

Our house is right near mile marker 22, near the end of the marathon course. We will literally be able to see a lot of the action from our front porch and a genre of R & B, Alternative Pop Rock, Christian Rock, Americana and Blue Grass is just within a short walking distance. However the question of where the beer tasting is remains open. After all, it is a healthy beverage but a driver license will be required for the sampling…

Independence Day is a great family holiday, and we have plenty of choices for day and night fun with food and fireworks.

On Wednesday, July 4, head to Steele Indian School Park in Phoenix for the 22nd annual Fabulous Phoenix 4th from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. There you will find three stages with continuous entertainment with everything from popular local bands to Brazilian/Reggae, Dixieland, a Chinese Lion and Dance, and Traditional Mexican Youth Folklorico. The Kids World will feature juggling and stilt walking, and Teen Zone at the amphitheater by the lake will have music, games, and activities. Click here for the full schedule of fun. The climax of the evening is fireworks, of course, that start at 9:35 p.m.

The price for all this fun is right: Admission is free! There is also a free shuttle from the North Phoenix Baptist Church. Kids inflatable and carnival type rides at the event are a dollar or two, and there will be a food court.

This is a rain or shine event, so be prepared for whatever the weather is that day. Severe weather can cause changes, of course, so check the Phoenix Fabulous Fourth site on the 4th if there’s any doubt.

So bring your blankets and lawn chairs to enjoy the show and fireworks. You can bring a cooler, but no alcohol or glass. Pets have to stay home this time. For more information call 602-534-FEST or visit the website.

Scottsdale takes a more laid-back approach to the celebration of Independence Day with their Family Barbecue. From 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the North Amphitheatre in Eldorado Park, you can enjoy swimming, a watermelon eating contest, races, live music, and arts and crafts. The hot dogs are free as is admission and parking. There will be barbecue grills for you to use, and families are welcome to bring food to cook and eat at the picnic. There are no fireworks at this event, but maps of nearby fireworks locations will be available. For more information, call 480-312-2771.

For more Festiveties in the East Valley check out the The Phoenix Real Estate Guy.

Whether you like an old-fashioned picnic or the thrill of crowds and fireworks overhead, get out and celebrate Uncle Sam’s 231st birthday.

A few years ago, Maria Capogreco’s friends told her she was taking a big chance opening a deli in the Roosevelt Historic District. But she had faith in the future of what once was – and soon would be again – a thriving urban neighborhood. She was right.

The former working class community had been a streetcar neighborhood during its heyday between 1895 and 1930. The area saw both California and Craftsman bungalow styles built on the narrow, deep lots along its streets. During years of decline, the neighborhood seemed destined to be a blight on Phoenix, but caring residents had another plan.

Many other neighborhoods have become historic districts, but Roosevelt led the way in 1986 as the first to earn that designation. Phoenix officials now point to Roosevelt, which is bounded by McDowell Road, Fillmore Street, Central Avenue and Seventh Avenue, as a model for turning around sagging urban areas by enlisting residents to work with cities as they revitalize communities.

Roosevelt’s renewal meshed very well with the city’s progress in redeveloping downtown. The light-rail system was designed to run right through Roosevelt on Central Avenue, and nearby the downtown campus of Arizona State University was in expansion mode. Add to that new housing, hotels, and a University of Arizona medical school, and you have a lively area. All this activity is intended to bring people back downtown to the rejuvenated city core…and it’s working.

Redevelopment on this scale takes money, and the city worked with business owners, developers, and residents to find the money needed. Federal Community Development Block Grants and Phoenix bond monies fueled the work, but private investors spent ten times more investing in the future of Roosevelt. With new lofts and storefronts, restored historic buildings and rehabilitated housing, Roosevelt is now a thriving urban neighborhood. More than 200 buildings have been renovated, and tree-lined streets welcome visitors to Phoenix’s popular art walk events, First Fridays.

There have always been artists in Roosevelt, and one whose work you can’t miss is Robert J. Miley. His work is seen throughout the world in public and private spaces, and we have several of his sculptures right here. One especially inspiring work is “Release the Fear,” located on Central Avenue.

Miley is a founder/organizer of Release the Fear, a community organization that seeks to heal those hurt by violence. It is a grass roots, non-profit organization whose mission is: “To reverse the paralyzing effects of violence in our communities by promoting healthy resolution of conflict through the healing power of education through art.” Miley’s 22-foot tall sculpture of collected, melted-down weapons symbolizes this awakening.

The Roosevelt historic district has come a long way in the last half-dozen years, and is now a desirable home and business area in the rejuvenated core of Phoenix.

Luckily I brought my tiny Minolta Dimage XT and I was able to record some video. Be forewarned, the quality is horrible (320×240-pixel MPEG video with 29 frames per second) but it was better than having no camera at all.

I think that this little video could be a good source of information for home sellers, investors and REALTORS® who are unfamiliar with the auction process or have never attended such an event and consider consigning a piece of property at a real estate auction.

There is to say that it will be interesting to find out how many properties actually went under contract and how many of these contracts will actually close escrow.

Escrow Officers from Magnus Title and Loan Officers from Great South West Mortgage were present at the auction event to assist any potential buyers and sellers.

Perhaps I will post more about this as soon as I get more information, in the meantime check out the video.

Real Estate Video by - Real Estate Blogger

Michael explained all the features and possibilities while we were chatting on meebo on his blog. During our chat conversation Michael surprised me by offering accssess to the Altos Reports while they were betatesting- I was thrilled and offered to help during betatesting and on several occasions I helped by comparing MLS data to the Altos reports.

Finally, Altos Research Reports are available for Phoenix and I could not resist displaying the median home price charts on the blog.

Look over at the right side of this page, and scroll down until you see the Market Stats heading with a chart right under it. That chart shows you the median price of real estate. The range of prices is on the left axis, and the time span is on the bottom.

Pause for a moment and you’ll see that the chart changes every couple of seconds, and scrolls through Phoenix, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Peoria, Avondale, Surprise, and Buckeye, AZ. You’ll also see a significant difference in the charted line depending on which chart you’re looking at.

For instance, Mesa and Glendale show a steady decline, Scottsdale shows a sharp drop and steep recovery, and Paradise Valley keeps going up. Of course, you have to look at the price ranges to get a clear picture.

• That decline in Glendale is $7,000 down from a high of $300,000, or about 2.3%.
• But the range for Scottsdale is only $5,000 with a high of $799,000, which is only 0.63%.
• And in Paradise Valley that increase is $150,000 but it’s on a base of $2,825,000, so that’s 5.3%.

This is just the surface and a sample of the excellent work done by Altos Research. Their real time real estate market intelligence makes fascinating reading, even for people who are not turned on by statistics. Most important, the information can help keep you ahead of the curve whether you are a home seller, buyer, or real estate investor. Their weekly market profiles show pricing trends, and the executive summary shows not just median home price trends, but also other important measures such as days on the market and inventory. So why are Altos Reports different?

A lot of systems will provide you with an estimate of a home’s price using previously sold properties as sales comparables. While this number is nice to know, it lacks in a few critical areas. For example, the sample size of comparable sales is often too small (just a handful of homes that sold over a given time period) to draw any reasonable conclusions about what the market is doing right now. In a real estate market that may change rapidly, this information is insufficient to help you make informed decisions .

In other words, most people are too focused on recent sales data versus looking at absorption rates and the trend of asking prices when trying to predict where the market is headed.

I admit it, I love this kind of in-depth information. Thanks to Altos Research, I’m able to make it available to my blog visitors, too. Just click on the chart in the sidebar and select “Please send me the Altos Research Report” in the Required Contact Reason dropdown-box and don’t forget to include your ZIP code……

So a couple of days later, there I was at the corner of 1st Avenue and Adams in downtown Phoenix, introducing viewers to the elegant and historic Orpheum Lofts building. Built in the 1930’s in Art Deco style, the building is an urban landmark. Now, of course, it is loaded with contemporary amenities, and offers some of the finest loft living in the city.

My job was to present a condo unit in the video, describe the rooms, and generally make people feel welcome in what could be their new home. Sounds easy, right? We real estate agents do that every day. Sure.

This video is not an advertisment for a real estate listing for sale, it is for demonstration purposes only:

It is different when there are cameras rolling, you are winging it, and remembering the right words becomes a challenge. Believe me, improvisation is not as easy as it looks. We worked from 2:00 in the afternoon until 8:30 in the evening for the neighborhood video, but James and the crew assured me that in there was enough to make a two minute video!

So…judge for yourself. The loft video tour is now ready for prime time, and I’d love to know what you think of it. I will post the neighborhood video very soon in one of my next posts…

I believe this is where real estate marketing is heading – reaching out through the Internet to create that personal connection with our clients.

Special Credit for this project goes to:

• Elizabeth Clark of American First Realty for letting me use her listing to do this demo.
• James Smith from Realtor.com, a division of Move Inc. who talked me into doing this.
• Julie Bliesner from Enterprise, a division of Move Inc. who could put up with my lack of short term memory.
• Ben Lake from Enterprise, a division of Move Inc. who probably got more out-takes of me than usable footage. (he revealed to me that a good camera man and good editing can make anybody look like a star…)