HouseMaster Home & Termite Inspections welcomes Arizona Home

HouseMaster owners from Prescott AZ, Victorville CA, Santa Barbara CA, Tucson AZ, Farmington NM, Albuquerque NM, Riverside CA, San Francisco CA, and Charlotte NC met for two days to learn more about Sewer Line Video Inspections, Social Media, Positioning Businesses for Sale, and general story swapping about home inspection best practices. Lots learned and good times had by all.

The Arizona Republic Mar. 31, 2009 01:03 PM
by William Hermann

Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman says it was no surprise to him that "BusinessWeek" magazine this week selected Tempe, Arizona as one of the best cities in the nation for starting up a new business.

"We've worked very hard for years to make Tempe friendly to companies that are going to start a business, so it makes sense we were honored," Hallman said. "We have a net import of 60,000 workers every day, more than 40,000 students come to our Arizona State University campus, our city codes are not an unnecessary burden to businesses and our transportation system is excellent."

BusinessWeek searched cities across the nation with populations ranging from 20,000 to 200,000 to compile its list of the best place to start a business in each state. The magazine profiled entrepreneurs "quick to tout the ease of doing business in small or midsize cities."

According to a magazine release on the award, "BusinessWeek asked entrepreneurs in each city what people should know about starting a business there. Many said factors such as affordability, availability of talent, existence of a thriving business community and quality of life helped them choose where to open shop."

Tempe Chamber of Commerce President Mary Ann Miller said she welcomes the award as the sort of thing that validates what she has been saying all along.

"People out there considering starting a business-whether because of an opportunity, or because of these times, by necessity-can see that there is a place--Tempe-that makes it easier for you to get your business started," Miller said. "A little bit of good news, encouraging news, like that, may be all you need to choose this city."

The award is the latest in a series for Tempe, including the inaugural Smart Growth award by the Urban Land Institute, the 10 Greatest Streets award for Mill Avenue by the American Planning Association and the Arizona Economic Engine award by Arizona Business Magazine.

Labels: Tempe; business; entrepreneur; small business; business owner

Ex-miltary personnel make up about ten percent of the franchisees of HouseMaster Home Inspections. President Kathleen Kuhn believes veterans are a particularly good fit for her company because of the similarities involved in training for and consistently executing the home inspection process and training for and executing a military operation. Her company actively recruits veterans, advertising in publications that target the military and participating in Recruit Military Career Fairs, held in various markets throughout the country.

In addition to offering a fifteen percent discount on the franchise fee to veterans, HouseMaster arranges for existing ex-military franchise owners to act as mentors to new ones.

"They make good mentors for them because they see eye-to-eye," Kuhn said. "For example, another veteran might have related to Wendy Rogers' concern when she was in a marketing training session to become a HouseMaster franchisee. The former Air Force jet pilot confessed that she found the thought of marketing and making sales calls really intimidating. Having a $2 million jet around you that you are controlling, THAT is intimidating!"

Twelve years later Rogers and Kuhn still laugh about that conversation as Rogers and her husband Hal Kunnen enjoy running their Phoenix AZ franchise, one of HouseMaster's most successful operations.

Labels: Air Force, home inspection, Kathleen Kuhn

Housing prices in 20 major cities fell at record monthly and annual levels in January, and Phoenix has the dubious distinction of leading the declines, according to the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index.

The private report released Tuesday shows prices down 2.8 percent from December nationally and 19 percent from a year earlier. While those are record losses, they pale in comparison to the 35 percent annual drop in home values in the Phoenix metro area. Las Vegas was close behind with a drop of 32.5 percent. San Francisco and Miami were next.

The S&P Case-Shiller index compares price changes recorded when homes are resold.

The 20-city index has fallen for 30 straight months. Month-over-month home prices fell in all 20 markets during January and are now at late 2003 levels.

All told, prices have plunged 29 percent nationally since they peaked during the second quarter of 2006, according to Case-Shiller. Average Phoenix home prices are off 48.5 percent from the peak, a bigger drop than in any metro area. Other major losses were absorbed by: Las Vegas, Miami, San Francisco and San Diego. Each has seen home prices decline more than 40 percent from their peaks.

All 20 index cities were in negative territory, with Dallas being the least affected at a loss of 4.9 percent.

Labels: "home inspection", "time to buy", housing prices, Phoenix home inspection, price index

Winning Isn't News

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

London's Sunday Times called it 'the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.' A terrorist force that once numbered more than 12,000, with strongholds in the west and central regions of Iraq, has in over two years been reduced to a mere 1,200 fighters, backed against the wall in the northern city of Mosul. The destruction of al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) is one of the most unlikely and unforeseen events in the long history of American warfare.

We can thank President Bush's "Surge strategy", in which he bucked both Republican and Democratic leaders in Washington by increasing our forces there instead of surrendering. We can also thank the leadership of the new general he placed in charge there, David Petraeus, who may be the foremost expert in the world on counter-insurgency warfare. And we can thank those serving in our military in Iraq who engaged local Iraqi tribal leaders and convinced them America was their friend and AQI their enemy.

Al-Qaida's loss of the hearts and minds of ordinary Iraqis began in Anbar Province, which had been written off as a basket case, and spread out from there. Now, in Operation Lion's Roar the Iraqi army and the U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment is destroying the fraction of terrorists who are left. More than 1,000AQI operatives have already been apprehended. Sunday Times (London) reporter Marie Colvin, traveling with Iraqi forces in Mosul, found little AQI presence even in bullet-ridden residential areas that were once insurgency strongholds, and reported that the terrorists have lost control of its Mosul urban base, with what is left of the organization having fled south into the countryside.

Meanwhile, the State Department reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government has achieved 'satisfactory' progress on 15 of the 18 political benchmarks 'a big change for the better from a year ago.' Things are going so well that Maliki has even for the first time floated the idea of a timetable for withdrawal of American forces. He did so while visiting the United Arab Emirates , which over the weekend announced that it was forgiving almost $7 billion of debt owed byBaghdad, an impressive vote of confidence from a fellow Arab state in thefuture of a free Iraq .

But where are the headlines and the front-page stories about all this good news? As the MediaResearch Center pointed out last week, 'the CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and CNN'sAnderson Cooper 360 were silent Tuesday night about the benchmarks 'that signaled political progress.' The war in Iraq has been turned around 180 degrees both militarily and politically because President Bush stuck to his guns. Yet apart from IBD, Fox News Channel and parts of the foreign press, the media don't seem to consider this historic event a big story.

Copyright 2008 Investor's Business Daily. All Rights Reserved.

REAL ESTATE MARCH 26, 2009, 9:35 A.M. ET New-Home Sales Rise 4.7%

By KELLY EVANS
Sales of new homes rose in February for the first time in seven months, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday, another sign that the housing market is thawing.

The increase was fueled by higher activity in the South and West, where deals on foreclosures and other "distressed" properties, particularly in California, are helping to drive interest.

Economists React: Has Housing Hit Bottom?Real Time Econ: California's Signs of TurnaroundDevelopments: Manhattan Rents Still Falling Higher Prices May Follow Home
Sales of new and existing homes are picking up month over month, and prices may soon follow. But the crosscurrent is whether unemployment will continue to rise, says USC real-estate economist Delores Conway. Stacey Delo reports.

The data "have allayed some fears that the housing market would continue to freefall," said Omair Sharif, an economist with RBS Greenwich Capital, "but it's way too early to say if we've hit bottom."

Wednesday marked the third consecutive day of positive news in the housing market, a contrast to the drumbeat of bad news in recent months. On Tuesday, a government gauge of home prices posted its first gain in almost a year, while Monday brought news that sales of previously owned homes, the biggest share of the market, also increased last month.

Also Wednesday, the California Association of Realtors said existing-home sales in the state were up 83% in February from the previous year, as the median home price was down some 40%, helping to shrink inventories to about a six months' supply from 15 months last year.

Bette Zerba, a real-estate agent in Phoenix, said a high level of foreclosures is prompting similar activity in her area.

"I thought the market looked spectacular right now and wanted to take advantage of it," said one of Ms. Zerba's clients, Rosanna Fischer, 40 years old, a first-time home buyer. She offered $175,000 on a 2,000-square foot bank-owned home with a pool in Glendale, Ariz., last week.

MarketWatch Hot Stocks: Retailers
1:00
Shares of retail companies rose on Wednesday after government data showed durable goods orders and home sales rose more than expected. Home Depot was a leading gainer.
Sales of new homes nationwide rose 4.7% last month to a 337,000 annual rate, though they still are down sharply compared with this time last year, and increased competition from cheaper existing homes could hamper their sales ability in the coming months. The median sales price for a new home was $200,900 last month, down from $251,000 in February 2008, but still high compared with the median sales price of an existing home last month of $165,400.

Falling prices and low mortgage rates are helping to stir buying activity, along with the government's $8,000 tax credit, part of the stimulus bill, for buyers who purchase a home before Dec. 1. The number of new homes for sale -- some 330,000 units -- is the lowest in almost seven years, a sign builders are beginning to work through bloated inventories after cutting back on new construction.

Separately, data Wednesday showed that orders for manufactured goods rose last month for the first time since July, another signal that the U.S. recession isn't deepening. The Commerce Department said orders for manufactured durable goods -- items such as autos, furniture and appliances designed to last three years or more -- rose a seasonally adjusted 3.4% last month to $165.6 billion, the first monthly gain since July.

Last month's rise in orders, however, only partially reverses January's revised 7.3% drop, which is sharply lower than first estimated, and orders are still down nearly a quarter from the previous year. A key gauge of business spending -- orders for capital goods excluding defense and aircraft -- also rose after posting a revised 11.3% plunge in January.

Meanwhile, inventory levels of durable goods declined last month, a sign that the jump in orders is helping to pare bloated inventories, paving the way for a future production increase. But households are likely to remain under pressure for some time: Economists still expect the unemployment rate, now 8.1%, to flirt with double digits later this year or next.

ABOUT THE HOUSE // MARCH 18, 2009 // How Your Home May Qualify for Bailout Cash

Energy-Efficient Upgrades Yield Valuable Tax Credits; Perks for the New Pellet Stove
By GWENDOLYN BOUNDS

I'm not among the one-in-nine homeowners who currently qualify for aid under the new federal housing-rescue plan. But Uncle Sam may still foot the bill for nearly $19,000worth of upgrades at my house. And he could for you, too.

Potentially lucrative new and expanded tax incentives for energy-efficient and renewable-energy home improvements may offer some consolation to homeowners who feel they are falling between the cracks with the government's various economic stimulus efforts.

They include up to $1,500 in tax credits for adding qualifying windows, doors, insulation, roofs, heating and cooling equipment, water heaters and even wood and pellet stoves to your house in 2009 and 2010. Perks for installing pricier solar technology, small wind-energy systems or a geothermal-well system include a tax credit of 30% of qualifying expenditures with no upper limit through 2016.

Improvement Incentives
Some enticements for homeowners:

Energy-efficiency upgrades -- windows, insulation and the like -- are eligible for a tax credit of 30% of qualifying costs up to $1,500.Renewable-energy systems -- solar, wind and geothermal, for example -- may qualify for a 30% tax credit.Heating stoves that use renewable biomass fuel -- wood, pellets, plants -- now qualify for a tax credit.The credits helped spur Joe Lombardi of Pleasant Valley, N.Y., to recently sign a contract for a solar-electric system with Hudson Valley Clean Energy in Rhinebeck, N.Y. He expects to get about $10,500 back via the renewable-energy credit on a system costing him roughly $35,000 after a state rebate. He also plans to invest in a heat pump to work in conjunction with the new solar system, which could net him another $1,500 via the energy-efficiency credit. "That's significant," says Mr. Lombardi, who has been considering investing in a solar system since the late 1970s. "I'm an environmentalist. ... It also adds value to the house."

Notably, these incentives are tax credits, which lower your tax bill dollar-for-dollar, versus a tax deduction, which trims money off taxable income. The Internal Revenue Service is expected to issue firm guidelines on details of the credits soon, and consumers should consult tax professionals for clarity on filing.

To be sure, consumers still have to put out cash to get the incentives, and the products that qualify are those generally deemed to be at the highest efficiency levels, which can cost more. Plus, the $1,500 energy efficiency credit currently lasts only last two years, which means consumers must find the fortitude to spend at a time when their instinct may be to save. "This is a pretty lucrative deal, and I don't think the government can continue to do it going forward because it's expensive," says Steven Nadel, executive director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a not-for-profit based in Washington, D.C.

The credits fall into two primary camps. One is energy efficiency, which covers certain improvements to an existing home's structural elements, such as windows and insulation, as well as for the purchase of qualifying high-efficiency heating, cooling and water-heating equipment. The second is for renewable energy, which includes solar, wind, geothermal (heat generated from the earth) and fuel-cell technologies (which convert the chemical energy of a fuel, such as hydrogen, into electricity).

In a nutshell, the energy-efficiency tax credit increases to 30% of qualifying costs from 10%, and the cap also rises to $1,500 from $500. (That's a $1,500 total credit for all applicable improvements combined in 2009 and 2010.) It also extends the credit to include stoves that use renewable biomass fuel -- wood, pellets, plants -- as well as to certain roofing materials; in certain cases, installation costs can be included. Appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers and clothes washers aren't eligible. For new construction, consumers won't qualify for the $1,500 efficiency credit but are eligible to receive the renewable-energy credit and a separate energy-savings incentive.

With the 30% renewable-energy credit, the richest change is that for systems placed into service after 2008, there is no longer a cap on claims (except for fuel cells). Previously, it was $2,000 for solar systems. "It's a big deal -- it's a really big deal," says Jeff Irish, owner of Hudson Valley Clean Energy, which sells solar and geothermal systems. He says he doesn't expect to raise his prices because of the credit, particularly given the current state of the economy. "We just want to sell more systems."

Manufacturers are hurrying to figure out which products will earn credits under the government's rules, which means testing them for various standards of energy efficiency. The shakeout could have significant impact on future product lineups. "We have one wood stove that apparently doesn't qualify, and it's our third best-selling stove," says Dave Kuhfahl, president of HearthStone Quality Home Heating Products Inc. "We're wondering if it will ever sell again."

Still, manufacturers aren't waiting to educate dealers and consumers about this potential sales chit. Hearth & Home Technologies, a division of HNI Corp., mailed a letter late last month to dealers of its Harman-brand stoves with a list of models they could start promoting in conjunction with the credit. "We are trying to be proactive, so when the dead-on rule comes, they are up to speed," says Dane Harman, Harman's founder. One of his dealers, John Enea of Home & Hearth in Cortlandt Manor, N.Y., echoes the sentiment: "The government is helping us sell stoves."

Others are ramping up advertising campaigns that, in essence, will compete for consumers' tax-credit business. Insulation makers such as Icynene Inc. and BioBased Insulation have prominent Web pages outlining details of the federal tax breaks. Same with makers of several brands of high-efficiency tankless water heaters, including Bosch Group, Takagi USA and Rinnai Corp. For its part, Andersen Corp. and has been playing up the $1,500 perk online and is preparing an ad campaign to explain the tax credits.

"We are hoping [the credit] really does inspire people," says Maureen McDonough, Andersen's director of corporate communications. While windows are always a significant investment, she says, "it seems like something people might be more interested in now."

Related Articles
Cracking a Valuable Homebuyer CreditOf course, tax credits can only do so much to stanch the spending slowdown amid rising unemployment, which last month surged to the highest rate since 1983.

And in the case of solar electric and geothermal systems, costs can still be in the tens of thousands of dollars even after the tax credit. For instance, an estimate I received this year for a solar system to power my electricity clocked in at $49,003 after a state rebate. The new 30% federal tax credit would knock an additional $14,701 off the bill, while a $5,000 state tax credit would help some more.

But that would still leave me with some hefty out-of-pocket expenses. A less-expensive solar system to heat water would cost about $4,111, down from $9,135 after a 30% federal credit and 25% state credit. If I invested in both solar technologies, and tossed in, say, new qualifying insulation, I'd be looking at nearly $19,000 back from the federal government in tax credits over the next few years.

However, consumers who spent on some energy-efficient and renewable-energy improvements in 2008 may be out of luck. For instance, the $3,600 I forked over for a wood stove in July apparently won't earn me a dime under the new plans. "The little bit of backlash we are seeing is from people who bought in '08," says Mr. Enea of Home & Hearth.

Write to Gwendolyn Bounds at wendy.bounds@wsj.com

US60 (Superstition Freeway) Widening Project Update: Friday, March 13 - Friday, March 20, 2009

Westbound US 60 Double Right Lane Closure
The westbound US 60 two right hand lanes will be restricted overnight Sundays through Fridays from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Additionally, the westbound McClintock Drive on-ramp and westbound Rural Road off-ramp will be closed during this time. These restrictions will not be in effect during the day and on weekends.

Westbound US 60 Mill Avenue On-Ramp Closure
The westbound Mill Avenue on-ramp was closed beginning on March 6 for approximately 30 days. Please use posted detour routes. The full closure of the westbound Mill Avenue on-ramp is the second in a series of ramp closures which will provide faster and safer construction. Throughout the project, similar restrictions will impact freeway access at Mill Avenue, Rural Road and McClintock Drive.

Please travel safely in the construction zone and follow detour routes and posted speed limits.

Inspector John O'Coin inspected a mere 4-year-old, 4500 square-foot home in Chandler AZ today with the gas safety shut-off valves in the attic. The shut-off valves were 4 feet behind the gas furnace in a place which was completely INACCESSIBLE and covered with insulation. Basically in an emergency, the gas would not be able to be turned off.

1) The city inspector certified the home when it was built.

2) The gas company was supposed to check all safety features when turning the gas on at the home.

3) The licensed installer should have known where to install the safety shut-off.

Bottom Line: In this case, the home inspector was the ONLY one who found these issues in this home.