**Mesa, Arizona Real Estate** Teri Ellis, Broker, CRS, ABR, GRI, ePRO

Do you find yourself being stress-free when you are prepared? How about being prepared financially? How about food and water? As we can now look back and see, the economy can change and life can change. People lose jobs, become ill, and any group of problems can and will occur. As the oldest of eight, my dad had a nervous breakdown and couldn't work for a year. We lived on our food supply - and with the help of friends and family. We canned, we baked bread, we did what we needed to do through that difficult time. I don't even remember it being difficult, but I suspect my parents did.

How stress-free we would all be with the knowledge that we had plenty of food, water and a financial reserve. Ideally, each family SHOULD stock up a three-month supply of food that they eat and that they like and which is already a part of their normal daily diet.

Food: This can be done by purchasing a few extra items each week to build a one-week supply of food. Then you can gradually increase your supply until it is sufficient for three months. These items should be rotated regularly to avoid spoilage.

This could include peanut butter, tuna, chicken, and other foods that your family will eat.

Water: Store drinking water for circumstances in which the water supply may be polluted or disrupted.

Store water in sturdy, leak-proof, breakage-resistant containers. Consider using those plastic bottles commonly used for juices and soda. If the water comes directly from a good, pretreated source, then no additional purification is needed; otherwise pretreat water before use. Keep the containers away from heat sources and direct sunlight.

Financial Reserves: Establish a financial reserve by saving a little money each week and gradually increasing it to a reasonable amount.

Bottom line: Be and STAY prepared! For more, detailed information, visit: Provident Living!

Mesa, Arizona Real Estate. Call me at: 480.216-3334 for information on purchasing or selling a home in Mesa, Arizona or surrounding towns. OR email me: Teri@TeriEllis.com. Feel free to visit one of my websites: HomesAzRE.com, MoveToMesaAz.com or MoveToSunnyAz.com. Or stop by my blogs at: MesaAzRealEstateVoice; or Phoenix Valley Real Estate Blog

I’m already starting to see that the information for the Mesa Temple Easter Pageant is needed. Though I prepared much of this post last year, I’m updating it here. The Easter Pageant information is as follows: English: April 1-2 and 7-11 at 8:00 p.m. Spanish: April 2-4 at 8:00 p.m. The Pageant lasts about an hour. Be sure to allow time to tour the Visitor’s Center as well - very special! For more information about the Temple, about the Pageant, or about Mesa and what it offers to the homeowner, just give me a call at: 480.216-3334.

The Mesa Arizona Temple (formerly the Arizona Temple) was the seventh operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Located in the city of Mesa, Arizona, it is the first of two LDS temples built in the state.

The LDS temple in Mesa was one of the first to be constructed by the church. Announced in 1919, only a few short years after Arizona had achieved statehood, it was one of 3 temples announced and constructed to serve outlying Mormon settlements in the early part of the century, the others being constructed in Laie, Hawaii and Cardston, Alberta. While neither of the three settlements were particularly large in their own right, they were considered thriving centers of largely Mormon populations. The long and arduous trip to existing temples located in the state of Utah would prove costly and even dangerous for the faithful of the era, and temple attendance was (and is) an important part of the faith, and as such it was seen as necessary to construct temples in their communities.

Numerous colonies had been set up in Arizona by the Mormons during the last half of the nineteenth century, and plans had been discussed for a temple in the area as early as 1908, but the start of World War I stopped these for a while. Plans to build a temple in Mesa, Arizona were finally announced on October 3, 1919 and a 20-acre site was selected and bought in 1921. The site was dedicated shortly after on November 28, 1921 and on April 25, 1922 the groundbreaking ceremony took place. President Heber J. Grant conducted the ceremony.

Following the earlier traditions set forth in the building of temples such as the Salt Lake Temple, the new structure in Mesa was a centerpiece of an organized and planned community for the faithful that lived nearby. Upon its completion in 1927 it was the third largest temple in use by the church and the largest outside of Utah, and remains among the largest temples constructed to this day.

In a departure from the style of temples constructed prior, the Mesa temple (along with the temples in Laie and Cardston) was built in a style suggestive of the Temple in Jerusalem, lacking the spires that have become a mainstay of temples built since then, and was in fact the last LDS temple constructed without a spire. On the outside walls are depictions of the gathering of God’s people in the Old and New world and on the Pacific Islands. The temple design is similar to ancient buildings found in the Southern U.S. and South America.

When construction was finished on the temple, the public was able to take tours through the temple. Two hundred thousand people were able to take a tour through the Mesa Temple. The temple was dedicated on October 23, 1927 by Heber J. Grant. By that afternoon, the temple was being put to use.

The Mesa Arizona Temple was renovated and rededicated on April 16, 1975 by Spencer W. Kimball. In 1945, the temple was distinguished by becoming the first to offer temple ordinances in Spanish, the first time in a language other than English.

Mesa, Arizona Real Estate. Call me at: 480.216-3334 for information on purchasing or selling a home in Mesa, Arizona or surrounding towns. OR email me: Teri@TeriEllis.com. Feel free to visit one of my websites: HomesAzRE.com, MoveToMesaAz.com or MoveToSunnyAz.com. Or stop by my blogs at: MesaAzRealEstateVoice; or Phoenix Valley Real Estate Blog

Yes, our Phoenix Valley and Mesa do have areas that can AND will flood!

Arizona Homeowners - Do you need flood insurance? Do you know if you live in a flood hazard area?

Years ago, before the newer communities began setting up those retention basins - you know - the ones that fill with water during the monsoon or rainy seasons, the water would flood homes and backyards, etc. As a child growing up in Phoenix, I knew the monsoons were here when the wind would blow and the dust would smell like rain. Fortunately, the home I lived in was not in a flood area. We had berms around our property, and my dad irrigated our yards, and we had no flooding problems!

BUT, certain areas of our valley are still in a flood zone. The water has to go somewhere, and since we are so flat, it runs from the higher areas down to the lower areas. Just a FEW tips for those who DO live in a flood zone:

• Make an itemized list of personal property and take pictures of your home to assist your insurance adjuster in settling claims;
• keep your insurance policies, list of personal property and pictures in a safe place;
• know the name, phone number and location of your insurance agent;
• identify the safest route from your home to high ground in case you have to evacuate in a hurry and keep a working portable radio and flashlight on hand;
• have sandbags and other materials readily available to use for protection if you live in a frequently flooded area
  

If you are not sure, and/or you now live in an older area of Phoenix or Mesa, call the Street Transportation Department's flood plain management section at: 602.262-4960. If you do live in a flood zone, you will need to make sure you have flood insurance!

Mesa, Arizona Real Estate. Call me at: 480.216-3334 for information on purchasing or selling a home in Mesa, Arizona or surrounding towns. OR email me: Teri@TeriEllis.com. Feel free to visit one of my websites: HomesAzRE.com, MoveToMesaAz.com or MoveToSunnyAz.com. Or stop by my blogs at: MesaAzRealEstateVoice; or Phoenix Valley Real Estate Blog

I track how many active listings we have on a regular basis. Recently, I've noticed that our inventory has dropped BELOW the 50,000 active listings mark, and more homes are selling. SO, I decided to bring my readers up to date with two graphs. One for the Active, Sold and New Listings and Inventory as of March 1, 2009. That is shown in the first graph below:

The second graph is a history during the years of 2007 through March 1, 2009. Notice that at the end of January of this year, we had 11.66 months of inventory compared to 9.83 at the end of February. I checked out active inventory this morning, and we had 49,563 active listings. This shows 52,861... Close attention to these numbers should be paid by potential buyers - this market will not last forever. Once the months of inventory gets down to six or seven, we then are in a buyer-seller market. Right now, definitely a buyer's market.

I will continue to gather these tabulations and share them each month to better prepare my sellers and buyers on our current market. Today, my PENDING listings show 9,394, and SOLD during February, 2009 - 5,510.

Mesa, Arizona Real Estate. Call me at: 480.216-3334 for information on purchasing or selling a home in Mesa, Arizona or surrounding towns. OR email me: Teri@TeriEllis.com. Feel free to visit one of my websites: HomesAzRE.com, MoveToMesaAz.com or MoveToSunnyAz.com. Or stop by my blogs at: MesaAzRealEstateVoice; or Phoenix Valley Real Estate Blog

For those in the Phoenix Valley who want to dispose of their batteries, oil, up to five gallons of paint, antifreeze, pesticides, pool chemicals, computers, five road tires per household and household appliances that use refrigerants, including refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners and heat pumps, there are two places in where anyone can bring these items.

8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. - March 12, 13 and 14 - at Paradise Valley Park - 17648 North 40th Street, Phoenix; and

8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. - April 23, 24 and 25 at North Phoenix Baptist Church, 5757 North Central Avenue, Phoenix

The City will also pick up household appliances at your home for a fee. Call for a collection appointment: 602.262-7251, or email to pwserve@phoenix.gov or visit the website at: Phoenix.Gov/publicworks.

Residents are also encourages to donate or recycle televisions and other elecftronic equipment rather than throwing them out as garbage. Unwanted electronic items, including televisions, can be taken to one of the city's monthly household hazardous waste collection events or to the city's transfer stations.

We all need to be particularly careful not to just dump everything into the garbage. These services are offered for free....just take the stuff and drop it off.

Mesa, Arizona Real Estate. Call me at: 480.216-3334 for information on purchasing or selling a home in Mesa, Arizona or surrounding towns. OR email me: Teri@TeriEllis.com. Feel free to visit one of my websites: HomesAzRE.com, MoveToMesaAz.com or MoveToSunnyAz.com. Or stop by my blogs at: MesaAzRealEstateVoice; or Phoenix Valley Real Estate Blog