Homes in Southern Arizona

What You Need to Know about Home Loans

admin — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Do you know what you need to know about home loans? Many people see the cost of a house and think that they can afford it, but there are other fees that people do not take into consideration. If you want a winter retreat or retirement home in the southern part of Arizona than you really need to know what you are in for before you buy your home. Along with the cost of the house, you will be assessed taxes, realtor fees, and a slew of other fees that will increase the cost of your loan. You will also have to pay interest on your home loan. The rates are currently pretty low so now may be the best time to get that house in Arizona that you want. If you cannot put a large enough down payment on your house than you may have to also pay for private mortgage insurance. This is a fee that is placed on a mortgage loan because the buyer does not have at least 20 percent of the cost of the home to use as a down payment. There are a bunch of fees that are involved so read the fine print.

Escaping Winter in a Second Home

admin — Sun, 22 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Are the winter blues getting you down? Escaping to a warm winter retreat may be just the way to cope. Popular locations to purchase a second residence for the winter months include locations in Texas and Florida. Another fantastic location to consider that vacation or retirement home is in southern Arizona. Even during the coldest month of January the Tucson area is an ideal location to spend the winter months with its average temperatures still in the mid sixties. The deserts of Arizona have little rain, less than one inch January through March, and lots of warm sunshine.

Purchasing a second home for leisure will be one of the best decisions made in a lifetime. You will be gaining equity in a piece of real estate while having a retreat for yourself and your entire family to escape to and enjoy for many years to come. The Arizona real estate market has faced a variety of problems throughout the past few years and now is the time to find a great deal. Many foreclosures and short sales are available for purchase allowing you to obtain the property under its actual value. Beat those winter blues and find yourself a new get away in a second home.

Why do Families Need Vacation Homes

admin — Mon, 09 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

If you are planning to go on vacation and thinking of some place where you’d stay when you are out of State or country, you may want to choose between a hotel room and vacation home. In this article, we will try to convince you that it is much better to rent a vacation home than a hotel room.

Firstly, when you stay in vacation home with family, you will feel more comfortable as you are allowed to use as many rooms as you may need, not to mention all those extra beds you may need for your entire family. Vacation homes offer much more privacy than small hotel rooms (where you’d have to fit your entire luggage and beds in a small area) at more affordable price.

In case you are on a budget and want to stay for a longer duration then vacation homes are best as a option because you also have a freedom to cook your own food in the kitchen which is not only economical but would even satisfy your as well as other family members taste buds!

Aside from this, you can even request the owner of vacation home to allow you to pay smaller amount, more so if you’ve been successful in gaining the trust of the owner. You can’t request such a thing in the hotel as their rates are fixed and non-negotiable.

Retire in Southern Arizona in the town of Pima

admin — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

As time continues to unravel some people grow tired of where they are currently living. Sometimes it’s the neighborhood and other times it’s simply the desire to venture somewhere new and exotic. Most of the time the weather has a lot to do with the decision to move, especially for those in the colder northern states.
Florida is the first state that comes to mind when people retire and want to journey southward. But before you make that final decision, consider the town of Pima in southern Arizona.
Unlike Florida, the climate in southern Arizona is completely dry. People move from all over the world to southern Arizona for all the health benefits brought about because of the arid air. There are also plenty of security options, i.e. adt, and other alarm system firms, as well.
Retiree’s will also want a smaller town that lowers the risk of danger or hassle. Southern Arizona delivers with the town of Pima. At 1,989 people, according to the 2010 census, the town of Pima has a diverse ratio of age groups presented with the median age resting at 30.
Come visit Pima as a vacation destination during the winter months and you will fall in love with Southern Arizona.

Consider Toll Brothers

www.homesinsouthernaz.com — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

If you want a quality builder for your desert oasis, then you should be happy to know that one of the country’s premier builders, Toll Brothers, has a marked presence in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area.And if you’re one that wants validation about the professed quality of product or service, you’ll be pleased to know that Fortune Magazine rated Toll Brothers as “number one in financial soundness, quality of products, and long-term investment.” How’s that for validation?Currently Toll Brothers has 17 communities dispersed in:

Phoenix
Cave Creek
Scottsdale
Litchfield Park
Gilbert

Prices start from the mid 200,000s and top out in the low 1,000,000s with many communities falling in between.As an example, the Palo Verde Collection at Montevista in Cave Creek has several single family home options available ranging from 404,995 for the San Pietro model (2264 square feet) to 527,995 for the Sendero model (3718 square feet).The homes are built in a gated community that is ideally situated near golf, fine dining, special events, and entertainment venues.Toll Brothers have been building homes for over 40 years with an unwavering commitment to quality and customer care as evidenced by the accolades awarded by Fortune Magazine.The homes they build are specifically designed to harmonize seamlessly with the natural and scenic beauty of the surrounding landscapeand as anyone who appreciates desert living, this is of critical importance.The builders are also involved in “green” building elements such as engineered wood products, house wrap and air sealing, and low flow plumbing for those that appreciate the importance of sustainability.And in keeping with the quality that is their mainstay, Toll Brothers utilizes top brand products such as Bose, American Olean, Shaw, and Andersen when building their homes.The builder currently has many incentives available including “extended delivery” to help you sell your existing home so make sure you inquire about these when you stop into the Toll Brothers communities.

Find Quality Builders for Your Arizona Home

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:05:33 +0000

The home builder you select is one of the single most important decisions you’ll make in building a house. It is imperative that you find a builder who is flexible, reliable, and willing to customize a design to create exactly what you want. Nothing is more frustrating than finding yourself in the midst of building a home and having a builder you can’t count on. Fortunately , there are a number of quality and respected home builders in Arizona that are sure to make your building experience as enjoyable and stress-free as possible.Trend Homes is a privately owned company that was founded in Salt Lake City in 1966. The company is focused on creating unique architecture and valuable homes. Trend has also recently implemented an energy efficient construction policy to ensure that their homes are sustainable and eco-friendly. A range of personalizing options allows you to customize your home anyway you want.Another well-respected Arizona builder is Elliott Homes, founded in 1914. Elliott offers a range of services from helping you buy a house, to picking out a building design, and they even sell custom lots for community building. Like Trend, Elliott emphasizes green building. The products used to build the home, along with building site practices, ensure that they do as little damage to the surrounding community as possible. Elliott also adds parks and trees to many of the neighborhoods they build.These are only a few of the many home builders you will find in the area, but both are guaranteed to provide you with a quality home and service. Before deciding on a builder make sure to look through financing options, customizing availability and the local reputation of the company in order to find the best builder your money can buy.

Add a Touch of Italy with a Tuscan-Style Home

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:08:03 +0000

The warm desert climate of Arizona makes it a great place for a Tuscan style home. The presence of earth tones and attention to architectural structures such as porticos and lavish patios create a warm feel that is both beautiful and homey.The exterior architecture is one of the first things to consider for your home. Stone and stucco combined with rounded roof tiles and arched porticos are key elements of a sophisticated European-style home. Tuscan homes usually have plenty of windows so that natural light is one of the main illuminators of the home, providing that warm, cozy atmosphere. Another key element of a Tuscan home is some sort of patio or outdoor kitchen. With similar warm weather and constant-sunshine found in Tuscany, Arizona has a climate that requires an outdoor area to enjoy the weather. A simple fountain and lush greenery can add to the peaceful environment that is idea for this outdoor room. Add another natural flourish with stepping stones leading to a garden or just around the patio.Once you’ve settled on the main features of the exterior, it’s time to consider the inside. Rich wooden tables and furniture keep with the earthy feel and wrought iron stair railings or light fixtures create the rustic appearance that this style is after. In order to maximize the use and presence of natural light, keep artificial lighting to a minimum and only use it where necessary.Using this home design, the kitchen is arguably the most important rooms. Tuscan kitchens are so popular; many people use them even if their entire home isn’t this style. The Tuscan kitchen can take on a range of looks. Deep woods and marble countertops offer a darker, mellower feel. Another idea, use lighter crme or ivory-colored tiles and wrought iron handles and cabinet knobs to create a more sophisticated Grecian look.

Higher Education: A Southern Arizona Rivalry

www.homesinsouthernaz.com — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:04:34 +0000

Young adults growing up in the southern Arizona area are often faced with a difficult life choice around the age of 18. Usually this dilemma is not decided alone in the spur of the moment, but is subject to their parents’ preference and the resulting household culture of blue and red or maroon and gold. Since 1899, when Arizona and Arizona State first met on the football field, the two universities have been locked in a constant battle ranging far beyond its original gridiron glory. As members of the soon to be Pac-16 conference, the two schools still square off in football every year (the heated rivalry has been dubbed “The Duel in The Desert”), but today the institutions also spar for the area’s best students and the acclaim of educational awards.Separated by just over 100 miles on the I-10 interstate, the schools’ fates are geographically joined at the hip. The Arizona State Sundevils make their home in Tempe and the surrounding Phoenix area, while the Arizona Wildcats call Tucson their own. ASU is comprised of over 50,000 undergraduate students, constituting the largest public research university in the United States. While originating in the original Tempe campus, the University has expanded over the last decade to include other nearby Phoenix locations, all housed under the same administration. Students may choose from the university’s wide selection of 250 majors housed in 17 different colleges and schools. After major upgrades in both campus facilities and academic offerings, the US News and World Report named Arizona State as one of its top 5 “Up and Coming” universities in 2010.Rival Arizona enrolls a smaller student body, though still considered a large university with almost 30,000 undergraduate students. The Wildcats have a long history in Arizona, founded as the state’s first university in 1885. For its lofty academic profile, the school is recognized as a Public Ivy, a term reserved for a selection of public universities with exceedingly high standards of educational quality. The U of A offers 334 fields of study, in total, working towards bachelors, masters, doctoral and professional degrees. The campus itself has a distinctive southwestern flair and was first featured in film with the the 1984 film Revenge of the Nerds, doubling as the home of the Adams College Atoms.No matter which esteemed university they select, southern Arizona is the proud home of tens of thousands of college students, all receiving a top notch public education.

Tombstone, Arizona

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:57:02 +0000

In the heart of what once was the wild, wild West, the city of Tombstone is a staple of southwestern legend and lore. Perhaps best known for its storied history of gunfights and dust ups, the old silver mining town now serves primarily as a tourist attraction, enjoyed by southern Arizona residents settled in today’s much safer communities.

Founded in 1879, the town takes its uniquely grave name from an old warning about what one might find there. As the tale goes, gold prospector Ed Schieffelin came across some passing travelers who, upon hearing of his mining endeavors in the area, advised him, “The only rock you will find out there will be your own Tombstone.” As history would have it, Schieffelin didn’t find the gold he set out for, but instead he found a plentiful supply of silver ore pumping lifeblood into the southern Arizona boomtown during the early 1880s. A shortage of water, a limited supply of silver and repeated fire damage led to classic Tombstone’s ultimate demise, maintaining very few residents into the 20^th century.

Despite its struggles, Tombstone has been preserved as a window in to our unique heritage in the expansion era. As a stopping point for some of the shadiest figures in the area, the city earned a rough reputation for its lawlessness and vigilante justice. “The city too tough to die,” as it came to be known, was home the most famous shoot out in Old West history, the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Portrayed in countless Western flicks, the altercation has come to signify the struggle of frontier law enforcement to subdue a region overrun with outlaws and hard to control cowboys.

Today’s Tombstone makes light of its largely violent past, with the site of famous gunfight hosting reenactments every day at 2 p.m. The modern day O.K. Corral also displays life size figures of the participants, including historic heroes Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, in the precise spot they were standing when the shoot out began. The exhibit also preserves old time Tombstone through a series of photo galleries, both entertaining and educational for the whole family.

Turn Your Southern Arizona House into a Well Decorated Home

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:51:57 +0000

Whether you’ve just moved into a new house or have been living in Southern Arizona for a while now, the right decorations can change the feel and look of your house for the better. Instead of doing all the shopping and designing yourself, hire a professional Interior Designer who knows the ins and outs of the home design world. This way, you can tell your designer about your personal style and what you envision for your house, and then sit back as they make it happen for you. Spend time on what needs to be done around your new house as your interior designer compiles a selection of design options for you to choose from. In the end, all you have to do is point, pay, and violayour house is a masterpiece. Here are some of the best Interior designers in the Southern Arizona area:Lori Carroll & AssociatesThis Interior design firm is a full service agency that provides you with everything from design concepts to final installation. Lori Carroll, the owner and chief designer, got her Bachelor of Science degree in Interior Design from the University of Arizona. A certified member of the American Society of Interior Designers and the International Interior Design Association, she has been featured in major publications and won numerous local and national awards. Her passion for design is guaranteed to transform your house into a picture perfect living experience.Liz Ryan Interior DesignLiz’s well run company makes sure your individuality and style shine through after your house has been impeccably designed by her employees. Her down to earth organization skills and unrivaled attention to detail make working with Liz Ryan Interior Design an enjoyable experience that provides an even more enjoyable outcome. Check out her award winning designs at http://www.lizryandesign.com/awards.htm to see if this is the right design company for you.