Patrick Randles

Pusch Ridge Trail

Who taught my six year old to pose?

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Patrick Randles

Sunstreet Mortgage, LLC

Tucson, AZ 85718

(520)850-7485

Five years after purchasing our home, I am doing some light reading on Labor Day: The CC&Rs for our homeowner's association (HOA). Why, you ask? I happened to google CC&Rs and found an interesting page on Wikipedia. Here is the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CC&Rs

The CC&Rs were designed to protect the neighboorhood, the developer as well as the individual rights of the homeowners. Most of these items make good sense to me, but others will surely disagree.

Here are the highlights:

1. No large commercial vehicles

2.No livestock

3. No clotheslines

4. No mining

5. No illegal enterprises

6. Prior approval is required for most changes including exterior window coverings, antennas and so forth. Nothing unsightly as determined by the architectural review board.

7. A reference to "overnight parking on the street isn't really allowed.

Here are a few items that I question:

1. No basketball hopps without prior approval from the architectural committee. Really?

2. Your swingset must be made a specific style and material (wood). I got the letter on this one. My metal swingset for the kids is illegal and needs to go?

3. All lawns must be mowed and fertilized on a timely basis. This seems a little arbitrary. Is someone going to peek over the back wall to make sure I don't have crabgrass as well?

Every neighborhood has at least one of these, don't they?

But now to get to the real issue for folks in Arizona. As of 1996, if you purchased a home in a planned community, the CC&Rs may have eliminated your "Homestead Exemption".

What does this mean?

The Homestead Exemption protects up to $150,000 of the equity in your home from creditors. If you owe someone money and have less than this amount of equity in your home, you would be protected from having a lien placed on your property. They may place the lien elsewhere, but not on your home. So in AZ, the HOAs wanted to be able to enforce the CC&Rs and by eliminating the exemption, they can now place a lien on your property if you don't abide by the rules and so can any other creditor.

I can't say that I was aware of this when I purchased a home within an association and it comes as a surprise to me. I am going to follow up on this to see if it does apply in my neighborhood. In the future, I will be sure to complete the due diligence and debate the pros and cons of living within the"protections" of an HOA before we enter into a contract.

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Patrick Randles

Sunstreet Mortgage, LLC

Tucson, AZ 85718

(520)850-7485

Photo courtesy of Kate Shepard, Flickr

There are lots of first time home buyers in the market. With the availability of an $8000 tax credit, low interest rates and reasonably priced homes, buyers are looking for the deal of a lifetime. Up until now, I have not been that excited about buyers making offers on short sales, but now it is time to make you folks aware of some of the pitfalls as time is running short on qualifying for the $8000 tax credit.

The main issue is the lack of a quick response. If you put in an offer sometime in September, you could still be waiting for a response in early November, not leaving enough time for everyone to do their job and close the deal before the tax credit expires.

Here is a few of the things I have seen happen with short sales in the last year:

1. Out of state buyer tries for months to buy a short sale. He needs to be down here for a work transfer on a set date. He backed off the short sale route and bought a house, closing in 17 days. A little sticky.

2. A military officer living in Guam is scheduled to move to Arizona. In July, he made an offer on a short sale in Tucson, hoping to have a home when he got here at the beginning of September. It is the 5th of September and we still have not received a response. I hear base housing gets the job done.

3. We get a contract on a short sale in Dove Mountain after a long wait. The seller had not made a payment in over 6 months. After a consultation with an attorney, the seller backs out of the deal in order to see if the bailout will help the cause.

4. Buyer puts in an offer on a short sale. 6 weeks later, no response and the buyer gets transferred by his employer, Caterpillar, to Illinois. This was about a year ago. He has since relocated on a permanent basis. Not that I would want someone to buy a house and then have to turn around and sell it, but the point is that this deal could have been closed way before he ever got word about the transfer.

I think you get the picture. If you have all of the time in the world to buy, short sales can be a great way to purchase a home below market value. If you need to relocate or have a strict timeline (think :Tax Credit Expires!) maybe you should avoid this route.

Happy House Hunting!

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Patrick Randles

Sunstreet Mortgage, LLC

Tucson, AZ 85718

(520)850-7485

Can you see that little thing in the picture? I barely did. As I pulled out a few weeds in the yard this afternoon, I looked down and less than 2 feet away was a little rattlesnake.

I know, you can barely see it. Me too!

But, it is my understanding that the little ones are the most dangerous in terms of their venom.

We have been in the house for almost five years now and we have had 5 rattlesnakes, at least 15 scorpions and a bobcat, not to mention the wild pigs and coyotes we have seen from our yard. About 3 years ago, the kids were playing in the yard and my wife thought we had a broken irrigation pipe. She went out to look around only to find a four foot rattlesnake right under her feet. Fortunately, nothing happened other than a stern warning from that snake.

After that I installed some expanded metal in drainage areas and access points to guard against just such a thing. Maybe I have been keeping the big ones out and letting these little ones come and go as they please.

I think these snakes are beautiful and do serve a purpose in the ecosystem. I grabbed a toy "grabber nabber" as my kids refer to it and dropped that rattlesnake over the back wall.

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Patrick Randles

Sunstreet Mortgage, LLC

Tucson, AZ 85718

(520)850-7485

Jones, Mike Jones that is....As I drove home yesterday, I saw an incredible sunset on Pusch Ridge, an outcropping of rocks colored in pinkish hues. I thought to myself that this would make a great photo for Active Rain to show off the beauty of the Sonoran desert and Oro Valley,AZ.

As you may or may not be able to tell, most of the beauty had faded to gray by the time I got home (see Mike Jones' blog and photo dated 8/25/2009).

I still took two photos and posted them, but as we know from the Honda automobile commercials, "Timing is Everything".

"Johnny on the spot" and "the early bird gets the worm" also come to mind.

And to quote the movie "Glenn Garry, Glenn Ross": "ABC, Always Be Closing." I won't even get the steak knives for this one but I still love that view.

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Patrick Randles

Sunstreet Mortgage, LLC

Tucson, AZ 85718

(520)850-7485