“Chandler is preparing to spend millions of dollars trying to shore up one of its most sickly economic indicators, the home foreclosure rate, which surged by 95 percent over the last year.

In the coming weeks, the City Council is expected to consider expanding an eight-month-old program to buy up bank-owned properties and renovate them for sale as affordable housing. The council this month also passed a resolution declaring the entire city an “economic recovery zone,” making it eligible to issue $8 million in bonds to pay for infrastructure projects like roads and drainage, meant to create jobs and stimulate the local economy.

Dennis Strachota, the city’s management services director, said Chandler’s home foreclosure rate rose 95 percent from the third quarter of 2008 to the fourth quarter of 2009. Similarly, unemployment increased from 4.3 percent in October 2008 to 6.6 percent last October, and Chandler’s poverty rate now stands at 7.3 percent, he said…”

Read the full article: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/149953

“Jim Cramer, a retired mechanical engineer, was looking for a new home in Glendale.

What he got was a Spanish Colonial compound that stretches over two lots and includes guest quarters, a pool and a garage that fits 10 cars.

‘It’s like I’m running a mini-hotel now,’ Cramer said, referring to the family and friends who now visit.

Cramer was the first to take advantage of the double-lot option being promoted at The Reserve at Eagle Heights, which is near 75th Avenue and Loop 101. The developer, Western Pacific Properties, has begun offering lots side-by-side or back-to-back, giving space for amenities such as those that Cramer wanted.

That demand for larger lots is being seen at The Reserve, where new homes start around $568,000, and at developments with more moderate price points.

‘Nobody wants a tiny lot. You buy a tiny lot because that’s all you can afford,’ said RL Brown, a Valley economist specializing in the housing market.

While larger yards may be more desirable today than at the height of the real-estate boom, many developers are finding that buyers overall are more frugal about the size of their homes…”

Read the full article: http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/2010/01/15/20100115gl-reserve0115-ON.html

“AAR asked market watchers in four regions (Maricopa County, White Mountain, Tucson Metro Area, Flagstaff) around the state to review recent housing data and provide forecasts for the year to come. Each region—and each neighborhood—is moving through the cycle of lower sales prices, higher inventory and distressed property supply at its own rate. But all are feeling the effects of the recession…”

Read the full article: http://www.aaronline.com/AZR/Dec/09Market2010.aspx

“Home-foreclosure activity has spilled across every geographic and socioeconomic border this year, proving that no community was too cautious, clever or well-funded to remain unscathed.

Subprime lending gave the home-foreclosure crisis its initial push, but the problem could not have reached existing proportions without feeding on a host of broader economic problems, according to real-estate experts responding to the latest Valley Home Values data, provided by Information Market.

‘It has nothing to do with the value of the home,’ said Mike Wasmann, president of the Arizona Association of Realtors. ‘It has to do with people not having any money…’”

Read the article: http://www.azcentral.com/business/realestate/articles/2009/10/11/20091011biz-vhv-main1011.html

Effective January 1, 2009, state law now requires that the state name at the top of Arizona license plates must be visible. Any license plate holder or cover that prevents the license plate from being clearly legible is in violation of this new law. A.R.S. 28-2354(B.)