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Your Community Articles
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Here is the place where the community gets together to talk about what matters most to them. If you have an article you'd like to submit that's related to our community you can submit your articles directly to info@85212.com. They will be reviewed and posted here. This is Your Community Connection, your input is valuable.
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Local Mesa Business is participating in MS bike ride
Author :: Samantha Slusser
Date :: Wed 03/10/2010 @ 08:27
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MS BIKE RIDE: Physicians Physical Therapy looking for donations and support of the community
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MS BIKE RIDE: Physicians Physical Therapy looking for donations and support of the community
On March 27-28th, 2010 the 24th Annual Bike MS: Round Up Ride will host more than 1,000 participants as they ride over 150 miles in two days to make a difference in the lives of people living with multiple sclerosis.
The event takes place in historic Florence, AZ. The race is designed to provide a scenic, challenging ride for both the experienced cyclist or energetic novice.
In March 2009 they raised over $550, 000 for MS research and local programs for clients, family and caregivers.
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society, founded in 1946, is a voluntary health agency dedicated to mobilizing people and resources to drive research for a cure and to address the challenges of everyone affected by MS.
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, often disabling disease, of the central nervous system affecting the brain and spinal cord. MS impacts the lives of more than 2.8 million Americans. One new case of MS is diagnosed every hour. MS usually strikes adults in the prime of life -between the ages of 20 and 50-and affects women twice as often as men. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of the disease cannot be predicted.
Tricia Grossman from our Mesa-Gateway clinic will be participating and is looking to raise some money for this very worthwhile cause. If you'd like help donate on behalf of Tricia Grossman to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society please call our Mesa-Gateway clinic at 480-357-6500 or email Tricia Grossman at triciag@pptsonline.com
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Desert Ridge Player Wins National Home Run Derby
Author :: 85212 Administrator
Date :: Mon 01/25/2010 @ 08:21
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Desert Ridge Baseball Player and Senior Travis Flores wins National Home Run Derby
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Congratulations to Desert Ridge's Travis Flores who won the Power Showcase High School Home Run Derby this past weekend in Florida. The international competition was attended by 72 high school players. Flores hit eight home runs in the final and 17 overall.
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Community Holiday Lights List
Author :: 85212 Administrator
Date :: Mon 12/07/2009 @ 07:33
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A List of Area Homes Decorated for the Holidays
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Augusta Ranch:
9739 E Knowles Ave
9726 E Knowles Ave
9629 E Keats Ave
9715 E Laguna Azul
2258 S Drexel
2258 S Drexel
9311 E Milagro
Villages of Eastridge
2209 S Boca
10426 E Keats
2020 S Archer
10221 E Lakeview
Santa Rita Ranch
10723 E Portobello
2939 S. Labelle
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Home Buyer Tax Credit Expanded
Author :: The Kenny Klaus Team
Date :: Mon 11/16/2009 @ 09:28
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Home Buyer Tax Credit Info
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$8,000 First-time Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance
· The $8,000 tax credit is for first-time home buyers only. For the tax credit program, the IRS defines a first-time home buyer as someone who has not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase.
· The tax credit does not have to be repaid.
· The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home’s purchase price up to a maximum of $8,000.
· The tax credit applies only to homes priced at $800,000 or less.
· The tax credit now applies to sales occurring on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010. However, in cases where a binding sales contract is signed by April 30, 2010, a home purchase completed by June 30, 2010 will qualify.
· For homes purchased on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before November 6, 2009, the income limits are $75,000 for single taxpayers and $150,000 for married couples filing jointly.
· For homes purchased after November 6, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010, single taxpayers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000 qualify for the full tax credit.
The $6,500 Move-Up / Repeat Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance
· To be eligible to claim the tax credit, buyers must have owned and lived in their previous home for five consecutive years out of the last eight years.
· The tax credit does not have to be repaid.
· The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home’s purchase price up to a maximum of $6,500.
· The tax credit applies only to homes priced at $800,000 or less.
· The credit is available for homes purchased after November 6, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010. However, in cases where a binding sales contract is signed by April 30, 2010, the home purchase qualifies provided it is completed by June 30, 2010.
· Single taxpayers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000 qualify for the full tax credit.
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Teach your Young Children to Share through Early
Author :: Bob Seifert
Date :: Thu 10/29/2009 @ 04:18
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Add Article Summary...
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Teach your Young Children to Share through Early
Lessons in Cooperation
By: Bob Seifert, Primrose School of East Mesa
Cooperation is a basic life skill that allows us to make friends, work successfully in groups and get along well with others. Babies are not born knowing how to cooperate or share. This ability is learned through interactions and experiences with parents and other significant care givers. Around age three, children begin to practice real cooperation through their play by sharing and taking turns.
“Cooperation and sharing are key character traits that teach children how to get along with others,” said Dr. Mary Zurn, vice president of education for Primrose Schools.
“Parents and teachers encourage and model these traits because they are critical for children to understand. They help children to form friendships and to have harmonious and respectful interactions with others. Sharing is a necessary daily activity that builds a foundation for positive character development and is a common thread that runs through caring, cooperation, generosity and citizenship.”
Dr. Zurn offers parents a few tips to teach children cooperation skills at home:
Model Cooperative Behavior: You are your child’s first teacher, and your behavior greatly influences the way your child acts and feels. Modeling cooperative behavior and talking to your child about lending a helping hand sets the expectation that these are important values. For example, you could say “If we work together to clean up the kitchen after dinner, we’ll all be able to listen to the new book you borrowed from the library.”
Family Projects: Plan a family project that includes a task for each family member, such as starting a vegetable or flower garden, mapping out the family vacation or playing a game. Help them see the fun in working together to accomplish a goal.
Cooperation Soup: Cooking is a perfect time to learn about cooperation because children can actively help by gathering ingredients, measuring, mixing and then serving and eating. Read the story of Stone Soup and discuss how the soldiers tricked everyone in the village into contributing to a wonderful pot of soup that everyone could enjoy.
Book Club: Introduce the concept of cooperation by reading books about characters who share, such as The Little Red Hen. Discuss what happens at the end of the story. Ask your child to tell you how they would respond if someone asked them to cooperate on a project.
Making Music: The way children respond to music is magical. Listen to a short piece of music and discuss how the members of the chorus, band or orchestra worked together to make a beautiful sound. It’s easy to gather a simple set of rhythm instruments that children can use to keep time with the music or just sing along with a song on a CD. If you record their production, they will love hearing it over and over knowing that they accomplished it together.
For more tips from Dr. Z, book suggestions and the recipe for Cooperation Soup, visit
www.DrZandMe.com.
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Wall Street Journal Real Estate News
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Helmsley Estate Sells Manhattan Hotel
The Helmsley Carlton House is being sold to a partnership between private-equity firm Angelo, Gordon & Co. and Extell Development for about $170 million.
WTC Development Talks Continue
Negotiations continued between developer Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority who are trying to resolve an impasse over the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site before a critical deadline Friday.
Fortis Sues Lender Kennedy in Debt Case
Kennedy Funding, a New Jersey lender to cash-strapped real-estate developers, has plenty of experience going after debtors who fall behind on their payments. But now it's Kennedy's turn to get squeezed.
European REIT Rollout at Hand
With European property markets beginning to recover from the market downturn and global recession, there are signs that the REIT revolution could be at hand.
General Growth Debt Bet Pays Off
A handful of investors dug to the bottom of the discount bin and snapped up General Growth's convertible bonds at three cents on the dollar. They now trade at 103 cents.
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Wall Street Journal Money & Investing News
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Traders Bet on Change in Fed's Language
Some investors think a pick up in U.S. economic activity will convince the Fed to hint at plans to raise the fed funds rate later this year by on Tuesday dropping a commitment to low interest rates for an "extended period".
Rally Is Tale of Wounded Stocks
The riskier end of the U.S. stock market is back in favor. That includes small stocks, stocks badly hurt by the financial crisis and those most dependent on global economic growth.
Wachovia in Talks Over Alleged Drug-Money Laundering
The Wells Fargo unit is in talks with the Justice Department to settle U.S. allegations that a failure in bank controls enabled Mexican exchange houses to launder drug money, according to people familiar with the situation.
Abu Dhabi Fund Reports Returns
The emirate's secretive Investment Authority, in its first annual review, reported an annualized return of 6.5% a year over the last 20 years.
No Need to Sound the Inflation Alarms Yet
U.S. manufacturing has staged an impressive rebound, but the improvement hasn't been evenly spread, with sectors heavily exposed to the ailing housing market still hurting.
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Daily Real Estate Blog from AZCentral.com
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Latest loan modification report card
More U.S. homeowners are receiving mortgage modifications, according to the latest report card on the program from the federal goverment.
The number of permanent modifications climbed to 170,000 in February from 116,000 in January, according to the U.S. Treasury Dept.
There's been criticism from housing advocates that many three-month trial modifications started by lenders have not been made permanent. It's clear from February's increase, Treasury was not pleased with the results and are pushing lenders harder.
Treasury reports another 91,800 permanent modifications have been approved by servicers and are pending borrower acceptance.
An addtional 72,000 new trial modifications were started in February.
The goverment is estimating these loan ...
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Another free workshop for struggling Arizona homeowners begins today
The HOPE NOW Alliance, working with the federal government's Making Home Affordable Program, are in Phoenix again hosting a free "Homeownership Preservation" event. It starts today and runs through tomorrow Friday March 12th.
A similar event was held at South Mountain High School last summer.Homeowners facing foreclosure can receive free housing counseling at the events.
The current workshop is being held at the Glendale Civic Center and starts at 1 p.m today and runs until 7:30 p.m. Tomorrow, the doors are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Civic Center is located at 5750 W. Glenn Drive in Glendale.
If you attend the workshop, ...
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Arizona share of new federal foreclosure aid - $125 million
Of the $1.5 billion allotted by the federal government to help states hardest hit by housing bubbles that burst, Arizona will receive $125 million.
Arizona is one of five states to receive the money, all states where home prices have dropped more than 20 percent. The money was divided among the states based on drops in home values, unemployment rates and foreclosure figures. The four other states and the funds they will receive: California, $670 million; Florida, $418 million; Michigan $155 million; and Nevada, $103 million.
This money will supplement the $75 billion Home Affordable Modification Program, announced by Obama ...
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Arizona's share of new federal foreclosure funds
The Arizona Housing Department is waiting to hear how much of the $1.5 billion in additional foreclosure aid, announced by President Barack Obama in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, the state will receive.
The U.S. Treasury Department is supposed to announce this Friday (tomorrow) what share of the money each of the five states, including Arizona, hardest hit by foreclosures will get.
The Treasury Dept. is also expected to give the five states guidelines on how the money can be spent to help homeowners facing foreclosure. One way the Arizona Housing Dept. would like to spend the money is to continue to ...
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Pre-foreclosures on the rise again in Phoenix
Pre-foreclosures in the metropolitan Phoenix climbed in February, dashing hopes that the housing market is starting to recover from the crash.
In January, pre-foreclosures, known as notice of trustee sales, fell to their lowest level since late 2008. The significant drop had some housing market watchers hopeful more lenders were working with borrowers on loan modifications early on and more borrowers could afford their monthly mortgage payments.
But in February, there were 7,604 pre-foreclosure notices filed by lenders in metropolitan Phoenix, up from the 6,762 in January, reports the Information Market.
Foreclosures did fall last month to 4,271, from 4,452 in January. But ...
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Federal refinancing aid extended
The federal government has added a year to the Home Affordable Refinance Program, known as HARP.
Part of the $75 billion housing aid package, HARP allows homeowners who are underwater, meaning they owe more than their house is worth due to falling home values, to refinance to a lower interest rate.
Now, homeowners who owe up to 125 percent of what their home is worth have until June 2011 to try to refinance under the plan.
About 190,000 homeowners have been able to use the program to refinance so far.
The original limit was 105 percent, which helped very few Arizona homeowners. ...
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Arizona foreclosure help legislation
Arizona Democrats have introduced a package of legislation to help tackle the state's foreclosure crisis, and protect homeowners.
HB 2715 would give homeowners facing foreclosure another 60 days to work out a loan modification.
HB 27404 calls for allowing renters in foreclosure homes to stay in the house and continue to pay affordable rents, and homeowners who lose homes to foreclosure to remain as renters;
HB 2766 requires a landlord to give a renter at least 30 days notice if they have to move out of a foreclosure home
HB 2321 requires homes to be maintained during the foreclosure process.
HB 2739 creates a mandatory ...
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Phoenix home building slows as tax credit expiration looms
The federal tax credit for homebuyers boosted new home sales in metropolitan Phoenix last year. But now the expiration of the credit looms, and new home sales and building have slowed down again.
In January, new home closings in the Phoenix area fell to 479, the lowest level in decades, reports the Phoenix Housing Market Letter. Last November, Valley new home sales surged to 1,3124 as builders offered deals to rival foreclosure prices, and buyers rushed to take advantage of the tax credit. In December 2009, there were 956 new home sales.
Home building also slowed in January. There were 678 permits ...
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Phoenix-area home prices up in latest Case-Shiller index
Metro Phoenix home values inched up in the latest S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home-price index. Between November and December of 2009, home prices ticked up 1.2 percent in the Valley, on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Overall, the 20-city index climbed 0.3 percent for the period. Phoenix was one of only five cities to post an increase in home prices. Los Angeles posted the largest increase, 1.4 percent.
Year-over-year, the Valley saw home values drop 9.2 percent on the index. While the data lags due to the time it takes to research home prices across the country, Case-Shiller is considered the best national index tracking ...
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Arizona to share $1.5 billion in new federal foreclosure aid
Arizona is one of five states that will split $1.5 billion from a new federal program aimed at helping regions hardest hit by home foreclosures.
President Barack Obama announced the new funds Friday in Las Vegas as part of a government push to reduce the number of homes falling into foreclosure by assisting unemployed homeowners and other struggling borrowers.
Because foreclosures damage home values and have been a critical factor in the collapse of the housing market, any recovery will have to be preceded by a slowdown in repossessed homes.
Almost a year ago in Mesa, Obama announced the $75 billion Home ...
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