Larry Feiner’s Blog - Anything Real, Real Estate That Is.

I have a great new listing!  It is hard to find a nice house with  mother in law quarters or separate guest house, but if you’re reading this, you just did!  chsck out the video!

I am really just testing my ability to embed videos.  I hope this works and is even a little entertaining!

There has been a lot of talk lately among real estate professionals about new transfer tax associated with buying or selling property in Arizona.  We are one of 14 states that does not have this type of tax.

It seems that now would be really bad timing to change that considering the number of short sales and foreclosures that dot every corner of this state, so I decided to get involved with the Protect Our Homes Initiative.  at their web site, I sign up to get involvedand recieved the following email:

”

Welcome and thank you for signing up to receive the latest updates and learn more about the Protect Our Homes Initiative. During the coming weeks we will be adding valuable information to our site and providing you with more opportunities to get involved in this important effort. So please visit our site often to learn more about the campaign and get the latest on news and events.

A real estate transfer tax poses a big threat to our homes. A real estate transfer tax is a state or local government imposed tax that is collected when you sell or transfer ownership of your home, land or commercial real estate. It is often the equivalent of a sales tax on your home. A transfer tax would reduce the equity people have worked hard to build. We already pay multiple taxes and fees on their homes. A real estate transfer tax will layer on one more significant closing cost we will have to pay.

The Protect Our Homes Initiative will constitutionally shield your home’s equity from the damaging effects of a real estate transfer tax. Since Governments already collect taxes based on your property or home’s value, an additional tax would equal double taxation! By voting YES on the Protect Our Homes Initiative, you are saying NO to real estate transfer taxes and double taxation for good!

We are grateful for your help and appreciate your willingness to play an important role in our campaign. Please tell a friend about this damaging tax and Vote Yes on the Protect Our Homes Initiative on November 4, 2008. If you have any questions, you may contact us at info@protectourhomes.com or at 1-866-591-1103.

Again, thank you for joining our team. We hope to hear from you soon!

Sincerely,

Frank Dickens
Chairman, Protect Our Homes”

Here are a few other places to check out for more information:

ABCNews- Channel 15 (here in Phoenix) did a story on this issue.  Don’t forget to watch the video in the upper right hand corner.

http://www.protectourhomes.com/ - The home page of the Initiative where I signed up to get involved.  Check out all of their pages to really get a good understanding of the issues.

http://www.aaronline.com/documents/trans_tax.pdf  - Here is some additional information regarding a proposed Arizona Transfer Tax:

And finally, here is what the Arizona Association of Realtors has to say:

“

Three bills HB211, HB2642 and HCR2053 if passed would have placed a sales tax on commission and real estate transfers. One bill included a 3 ½% transfer tax and a 3 ½% commission tax so a real estate transaction would give 7% to the state! The good news? All of these bills have been successfully opposed and are dead! The bad news? As you all know, the current financial year deficit for the State of Arizona is $1.2 billion and forecasters are expecting a 2009 deficit of $1.7-1.9 billion. That’s right folks–BILLIONS! Having no money to spend is making the legislature very unhappy! Now is when they start looking for new sources of revenue income. Now is the perfect time for them to consider a real estate transfer tax!

The time is now then to make a permanent prohibition on real estate transfer taxes! AAR has started a ballot measure to constitutionally prohibit cities, towns, counties or the state from enacting a real estate transfer tax. Signature gathering is underway and we need to collect 245,000 valid signatures by July. Information on the ‘No New Tax on Our Homes’ campaign is available on RALLiNOW.com. If you are interested in gathering signatures, please visit the campaign website at: http://www.nonewtaxonourhomes.com and you can request a petition.”

So please call, comment or write me to get involved!

House #1 A 20-room mansion ( not including 8 bathrooms ) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool ( and a pool house) and a separate guest house, all heated by gas. In one month this residence consumes more energy than the average American household does in a year. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2400. per month. In natural gas alone, this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not situated in a Northern or Midwestern “snow belt” area. It’s in the South.

House #2 Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university. This house incorporates every “green” feature current home construction can provide. The house is 4,000 square feet ( 4 bedrooms ) and is nestled on a high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat-pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground.

The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summe r. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas and it consumes one-quarter the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000-gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the hou se. Surrounding flowers and shrubs native to the area enable the property to blend into the surrounding rural landscape.

Now, for the clincher:

HOUSE #1 is outside of Nashville , Tennessee ; it is the abode of the “environmentalist” Al Gore.

HOUSE #2 is on a ranch near Crawford ,Texas; is the residence of the President of the United States ,
George W. Bush.

Is this an “inconvenient truth?”

You can verify it at:http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp

To Rent or To Buy?

Regardless of which direction you choose, whether its to buy or to rent, I am excited to help.  If it seems like I send more information on buying, it is only because I recognize that this is the best time in decades to buy a house; particularly if you are upgrading from a smaller or less expensive home to a larger or more expensive house!

The bottom of the market is an interesting place.  We really won’t know exactly where it is until a month or two after it happens.  There are signs however that it may be closer that we think.  Take a look at this article in the Arizona Republic.  http://www.azcentral.com/realestate/articles/0417gl-realqa0417-ON.html

I’ve heard it said, that in normal times, you can expect the value of your house to nearly double every decade.  Obviously that doesn’t account for the cyclical downturns like what we are experiencing now, and it seems like history has shown that downturns happen about every 20 to 30 years.  So what these theories tell me, if they hold true, is that opportunity is knocking, no pounding from the other side of the front door that you’re thinking about buying!

I would be happy to open that door for you!

This 2 acre property in the Northwest Valley will be hitting the market soon.  This 4,500 sq ft home is certainly a luxury home and has all of the amenaties that a luxury home buyer could expect!  Take a look at the slide show below!

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Here is an intersting article by Catherine Reagor at The Arizona Republict that offers another reason to like our hockey-playing friends to the north!

Canadian investor Trevor Matheson has taken an interest in metro Phoenix’s real-estate market. So much so that he plans to buy six homes in the area over the next year.

“There are definitely deals to be found in Phoenix,” said Matheson, who plans to hold onto the properties for at least three to five years.

Matheson is among a growing group of investors from north of the border converging on the Valley’s real-estate market to take advantage of falling home prices and a weak dollar.

Last year, 752 Canadian buyers purchased Valley homes, according to the real-estate data firm Information Market.

http://www.azcentral.com/realestate/articles/0409canadians0409.html#

Not sure if the window is in the ceiling, or the ceiling fan is in the wall?…

Wow, this really cool!  People with internet enabled mobile phones can search REALTOR.com whileout driving neighborhoods.  And it has some phenominal GPS features!  Take a look!

REALTOR.COM ® Mobile is a free mobile service consumers can download onto their Windows Mobile phone or PocketPC PDA to help them locate properties listed on REALTOR.COM ® across the U.S. while on the road, at the coffee shop or walking down the street!*

Using a compatible GPS-enabled phone or PDA that runs Windows Mobile, you can click a button and locate homes listed on REALTOR.COM ® located within 10 miles of your current position.

If you don’t have GPS, you can still use the REALTOR.COM ® Mobile application by entering search criteria like a city or zip code, select “go” and you’ll have property listings on REALTOR.COM ® that are for sale anywhere in the U.S. that match your criteria.

Read the rest here and go to http://m.realtor.com on your handset to download and install REALTOR.com mobile application.

Unfortunately , this service won’t work for BlackBerry users.  I feel your pain, as I am Blackberry user, too.

(edit) I think iPhone  users will be happy!

iPhone users can access listings at http://iphone.realtor.com/ using the browser on the phone for immediate access to REALTOR.com. This URL is provided exclusively for iPhone users.