America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song; the lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates, and the music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey. The two never met. Bates originally wrote the words as a poem, "Pikes Peak", first published in the Fourth of July edition of the church periodical The Congregationalist in 1895. At that time, the poem was titled "America" for publication. Ward had originally written the music for a hymn in 1882, though it was not first published until 1892.  Ward's music combined with the Bates poem was first published in 1910 and titled "America the Beautiful". The song is one of the most popular of the many U.S. patriotic songs and still gives goosebumps to American citizens. The "Pledge of Allegiance" to the flag of the United States of America...always gets to us...

Our country has been through so much turmoil in the past 10 years with terrorism, drug epidemics, crime, illegal immigration – but we’re proud to be Americans. We honor our military for keeping us free to pursue our lives, freedom of speech and freedom of religion. 

We love our country and certainly don’t know of anywhere else we’d want to live where we can have the freedom and opportunities to be a success at what you love to do the way you can here in the United States of America. Here we are, enjoying our post-corporate careers, working together to serve people who need to buy or sell.  We are so honored to do so and grateful that we can.

Have a safe and Happy 4^th of July – wave that flag!

Al and Jean

Phoenix has come a long way from its beginning in 1881 as a farming community. Our fair city (which spreads out over about 536 square miles) is growing rapidly. The expectation is that Phoenix will move up from the nations 5^th largest city to the 3^rd over the next few years. Arizona is one of the fastest growing economies in the nation according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis State Data. 

We're in the top 5 states in terms of growth with a 4.3% increase in gross domestic product.  Our job market in greater Phoenix also continues to grow rapidly…this is the place to be. Corporations are bringing their businesses here because of favorable taxes for a more profitable way to do business. Not to mention that our state income taxes are low and the cost-of-living so much less than many other areas...and there is nothing to shovel in the winter.

Not only do we have a growing economy but also the advantages of living in this beautiful, sunny state with endless opportunities; with so much to do and see, fantastic restaurants, entertainment, shopping, medical, facilities, sports. We wouldn't live anywhere else.

Our goal as Realtors is to make every transaction as smooth as possible for everyone involved.  To do that, communication is the key.  Most of the time, when issues occur, they're resolved expeditiously due to our years of experience and eye for detail. But every once in a while, something comes up that we can't control - so we have to find the solution and move forward.

We recently experienced such a situation.  We had the listing on a condo – several buyers made offers in the first 24-hours.  The offer our Seller accepted was full-price, no concessions (buyer asking the seller to pay part of their closing costs), pre-approved (not just pre-qualified), with a large down payment, not contingent on selling another property and the Buyer was willing and able to close on the same date our Sellers needed in order to close concurrently with the home they’re purchasing.  Sounds perfect, right?  The agent was enthusiastic and told us that his Buyer was thrilled to buy this condo. But sometimes people will just be people!

I digress – the purchase contract says that the Buyer is required to bring their Earnest Money Deposit in "upon agreement – a signed contract."  Our documents were signed on a Sunday evening.  We prepared all the documents to send to our Title/Escrow officer and confirmed with the Buyer’s agent that the funds would arrive in the Escrow office on Monday.  When it wasn’t there by mid-afternoon, we contacted the Buyer’s agent who begged for our understanding since his client "has a new job and can’t get away."  We advised him that either he (agent) could pick up the check, have funds wired or a courier could go to the Buyer’s office to pick it up. By the end of Tuesday when it hadn’t arrived, we warned the agent that we would have to send a CURE NOTICE to him to notify his client he needed to adhere to the contract or face cancellation.

Side note:  WHAT IS A CURE NOTICE?  It’s a document giving the Buyer 72-hours to perform, or the escrow is cancelled for non-compliance with the contract.

We don’t fault the Agent in this case because his Buyer wasn’t being truthful or responsible for some reason. He was making up all sorts of stories as to why he couldn’t get his funds in.  The Agent was frantically trying to get his client to take one of those options previously mentioned so as not to break the contract.  We won’t bore you with a many crazy stories the Buyer gave his agent – with promises to get the money to escrow. There was ample time and opportunity for him to comply.  When the 72-hours was up, we sent the signed order to cancel to the Escrow Officer and the Agent.  The Agent still promised we’d have it that day if only we’d give him "just one more chance" but...based on our experience with this Buyer, we could not do that.  Our job is to protect our client. 

Fortunately when we listed the property,  we checked "Take Back-up Offers" on this listing form so during the 72-hours the clock was ticking on the Cure Notice, we noted on our listing that agents could show the property and give us back-up offers with full-disclosure as to the situation.  Within 15 minutes of the cancellation, we had another offer that is going very well.

CURE NOTICES can be used for any situation wherein one party or the other fails to perform on schedule.  Fortunately, until this situation, we’ve never had to use one and we hope we never do.

The point here is that things can happen during an escrow period, and they almost always do...but generally problems can be resolved with some effort, patience and experience.

Your Spare.  Have your service Technician check the air pressure in your spare tire the next time you service your vehicle.

We recently attended a local meeting where a Police Officer shared information on crime.  It doesn't matter where you live or what kind of neighborhood, there are people determined to take what belongs to YOU. 

What is the biggest crime in typical Phoenix neighborhoods?

• Believe it or not – he said breaking into vehicles that have been left parked outside, UNLOCKED with valuable items inside. Of course, there are also experienced bad-guys who can open a locked car.
• Along this same line of thought -  items stolen from garages when the garage door is left open is another huge crime statistic.   

There is information put out via every possible media warning people to be cautious about this.  The Police Department posed this question…" Why is your garage full of things that you could get rid of while your $40,000 vehicle is left outside?  Wouldn’t it be a good idea to get rid of the "stuff" by donating it, putting it in storage or selling it so your vehicle, worth thousands of dollars, can be protected?"  At the very least, if your vehicle must be parked outside, always, always lock it.  And never leave anything of value inside.  People leave electronics, purses, packages – all sorts of things in view.

Newer vehicles have buttons that can be programmed to open your gate or garage door.  If your vehicles don’t have that feature, please don’t leave your garage door opener where it can be spotted by a thief.  Take it with you or hide it from sight but don’t assist the thief. 

Today, with cameras everywhere, videos and photos are shown almost daily of 
criminals walking around neighborhoods at 2:00 a.m. checking to see if vehicles are unlocked.  If so, you’re an easy target.  If you didn’t leave enough "good stuff" and the car is valuable – you’ve also just made it easier for your car to also be stolen.

As the Officer said, the other part of this is leaving your garage door open – not only does it give thieves quick access to steal anything in sight but most of the time, the door into your home is unlocked. Minimally, they get a good view of your possessions for future reference.