Gary and Claudia Scott - Scottsdale, AZ Real Estate

The beautiful town of Fountain Hills, Arizona, offers visitors spectacular desert and mountain views from the comfort of a hotel jacuzzi suite or a sparkling resort pool. With a southwestern sunny climate and located just minutes from Scottsdale, it's no wonder travelers include this cozy town on their itinerary.

But don't let the small town feel fool you; besides a spectacular water fountain (one of the tallest in the world!) that shoots a stream of water over 550 feet into the air, Fountain Hills has a lot to offer visitors such as luxurious hotels and fine resorts with all the amenities including pools, spas and tennis courts, great hiking trails, watersports and other outdoor activities, beautiful golf courses, wonderful restaurants, and for your gaming needs, Ft. McDowell Casino.

So starting making your travel plans to relocate or visit Fountain Hills today!

Search the MLS for Homes in the Fountain Hills "85268" Zip Code

The Get Motivated Business Seminar presented at America West Arena on Feb 4, 2010 was both an entertaining and inspiring day! The advertised goals of the event were things like goal achievement, team building, communication, time management and increased productivity but I found motivational life changing nuggets of wisdom from these dynamic speakers. Speakers included ports icons Kurt Warner and Steve Nash, successful businessmen Steve Forbes and Zig Ziggler, Rudy Giuliani, General Colin Powell and Laura Bush. Now, how can you not learn something from such successful individuals?

This diverse cross section of powerful speakers shared their passion and internal drives that brought them success in spite of failures. Although each story was unique, there were two underlying motivations that they all shared. They all had a drive to be the best that they could be and they continued to follow through any adversity they encountered along the way. Many of their personal stories brought both laughter and tears but they all forged on to become successful in their individual careers. Determination to succeed, a faith in God and themselves, a willingness to sacrifice and a desire to make a contribution motivated them to accomplish many great life achievements.

The audience was encouraged to listen and learn from others, to give more than you take and to appreciate those around you. Do not let failure define you, but use the difficult times to grow and become the best that you can be!

Do you view your cup as half empty or half full?
It is all in your faith, attitude and motivation to overcome!

You would think that after living in Scottsdale for almost 30 years, we would have already attended this art show. But, it took an invitation from past clients to get us there. We really enjoyed the magnificent art work, meeting many of the artists and eating a great lunch! We will definitely make this an annual event! The Celebration of Fine Art show at Scottsdale Rd & the 101 Freeway is celebrating it’s 20th year of presenting very talented artists in an studio like venue. The show began Jan 16th and will run through March 28, 2010. The 40,000+ sf tent houses many unique well known and upcoming artists.

Watching the various artists create an art work before your eyes and being able to talk with them about their techniques and learn about their passions makes the event a truly unique experience. Gosh, makes one wish for the talent to be so creative.

After an excellent lunch in the food court with our past real estate clients Pat and Loren, we began our tour of the artists. Each artist has their own studio area where they display some of their completed works and then also have an area dedicated to working on a new piece. From paintings (both oil and water color) to metal work. work carving, and glass blowing, each artist produced his own signature masterpiece. There was also jewelry, woven baskets and sculptures. All candy to the eye.

We met several artist friends of our clients. What fun it was to become acquainted and listen to their stories. We visited with well know artists David Jackson , local artist Fiona Purdy and New York artist James McGulpin.

One of the artists actually pled "guilty" to inspiring Loren to become so interested in learning to panit, that he decided he needed a bigger home for his art studio. That was 2001. Pat and Loren asked us to sell their existing Scottsdale patio home and help them find a larger Scottsdale home. Every year when as Pat and Loren return to town for the winter we get together with them. Over the years we have watched Loren improve his art skill and you should see the bears that Pat makes. They are truly amazing people. We love to see the new art pieces that they continually add to their home. One of these days, they may even need an even bigger home just to display the beautiful artwork they have gathered!

Please view our slide show of some of the artists and stop by to the
Celebration of Fine Art to check it out for yourself! It is definitely worth the trip!

So, you have decided to lease your Maricopa county property.
You have moved and your property is now vacant. The market is slow, you either can't sell your home or you do not want to sell your home because you think it is worth more than the current comparables are indicating. For whatever reason, now you have become a property manager or have hired one.

Here in Maricopa County, if you choose to lease your property, you have some obligations to the county. If you lease your property for more than three months in any given year, you MUST update the Legal Class form "Owner Occupied" to ' Rental Property". If you do not register your property as a rental and the county discovers that you did in fact lease it, there are substantial fines. The information regarding rental property can be found on the Maricopa County Assessor web site. Changing the status is easy and inexpensive. Much cheaper than paying the fines!

• NOTICE!!! If you own Residential Rental Property in ARIZONA!
• Online Residential Rental Property Registration Form
• Printable Residential Rental Property Registration Form

Once you have legally registered you rental, you may be responsible to pay rental tax to the city in which the property is located. The tax is paid monthly only when the property is leased. Each city within Maricopa County has different rules regarding how much and when the rental tax is paid.

Here in Scottsdale, property owners that have residential rental property in the City and have more thantwo (2) such rental units available in the State of Arizona are subject to City tax at the 1.65% tax rate. For those owners with less than 3 renal properties, there are rules regarding wheather you live in or our of state, whether you manage your properties or have an in state property manage and the length of time the property is leased in a given calendar year. Check out the Scottsdale Real Property Rental -Scottsdale Privilege & Tax Use publication and the City of Scottsdale Tax Rate web site to make sure you are handling your rental properties legally.

Happy Leasing.

The National Association of Realtors(NAR) continues to monitor the historical trends and current status of the real estate market across the country. While some of these numbers may be broad they also provide general local statistics for several major cities. Every state, city, community and subdivision is unique. However, a general report is a place to begin if you are thinking of relocating or if you simply want to have a better understanding of your area. The media information often lags the true market status by a few months while they wait for the data to be dissected. The latest reports included in the NAR site are through Quarter 3 - 2009. (we are now in Jan 2010). The data will provide the trends and give us an idea where the market is heading.

Since we live, work and play in Scottsdale, a suburb of the greater Phoenix metro area, I have selected to find out more about the Local Phoenix Report from the NAR web site. The chart below is a subset of the useful information provided. The Phoenix market accelerated in the real estate boom years 2004-2005 and then fell drastically when the housing bubble finally burst in 2006. Following the bleak years of 2006-2007, the 2008 market began to show signs of life. And, in 2009 the high inventory, foreclosure , low interested rates and low prices coupled with the first time home buyer tax incentive and the attractive FHA financing option, the market was once again very active. However, the sales volume of activity in 2009 was very different from that of 2005. Lenders, still stinging from the creative financing and easy loans were beginning to tighten their guidelines and ensure that home buyers were actually qualified to purchase. Overall, the general statistics including the info from the chart below show that prices have declined to the 2002 level. The good news is that we ‘hit bottom' in April 2009 and prices are once again increasing. Bottom line, if you bought your home before 2002 and did not borrow on it when the prices were higher you still have equity.

Now is an excellent time for first time home buyers to jump in to the market and
take advantage of the $8000 tax credit. If you currently own a home and may be
thinking of relocating, downsizing , retiring or transferring,
may be eligible for up to a $6500 tax credit.

Check the NAR 2009 Local Market Reports for your
city/area or for cities that you are considering relocating to.

If you are thinking about the greater Phoenix metro area please select this hyperlink to view properties.
AZ-real-estate-sales.com home search

If you would like more specific detailed, up to date info about a
specific, zip code, city or subdivision, in the Phoenix metro area ,
feel free to contact us at any time

garyandclaudia@cox.net
480-948-0550