From the monthly archives:

June 2009

Real Estate Glossary - Pot Shelves

by Heather on June 30, 2009

in Glossary Posts

No, these are not a place to keep your stash. Or your mis-spent youth. Although they often become the reliquary of all things green.

Starter Home KIT normal

See up above the kitchen cabinets where the fake green plants sit? That’s sort of a pot shelf.

Here are some more.

pot shelves in LIV RM

pot shelves in FAM RM blurry

Just to prove that it’s not only working class families who don’t know what to do with pot shelves:

pot shelves at 2M This photo is from a home listed for sale at $2,000,000.  Two million smackers and still we can’t figure out how to effectively utilize pot shelves. Personally, I put pot shelves in the category of “everybody says they want one, but then nobody uses it once they move in.” Kind of like garden tubs.

Technorati Tags:



heather

Heather Barr is a Realtor. She's a chow hound, a gym rat, and the only political junkie in the USA who can actually keep her political views to herself. Instead, she focuses on educating her clients about the often-confusing world of residential real estate.

{ 0 comments }

A former client’s question prompted this post, so thanks Jon!

According to Wikipedia:

The North American Monsoon (NAM) occurs from late June or early July into September, originating over Mexico and spreading into the southwest United States by mid-July. It affects Mexico along the Sierra Madre Occidental as well as Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah,Colorado, West Texas, and California.

When I was a kid and we moved here in the late 1970’s, the knee-jerk reaction answer to “When’s the monsoon?” was “August”.

With the heat island effect, it seems like the monsoon arrives earlier and lasts longer each year. Last year, the National Weather Service announced they would date the monsoon season in Arizona from June 15 to September 30 each year. In prior years, the weather services had dated the beginning and ending of the monsoon season based on meteorological readings of the barometric pressure, temperature, humidity, etc.

Monsoon With a Dust Storm Chaser

Monsoon with a dust storm chaser originally posted on Kathy Anderson’s AZ Active Retirement Living blog

Monsoon Clouds Over Phoenix Skyline

monsoon over downtown Phx image courtesy of The Downtown Phoenix Journal

Monsoon near Quartzite Arizona, 1976

AZ monsoon near quartzite, AZ 1976 CDouglas Stockdale on DouglasStockdale DOT com photo courtesy of, and copyright by Douglas Stockdale

Video of Monsoon Storms

Here’s a really exciting video about Phoenix monsoons created by the local CBS news affiliate, channel 10 (hat tip to Kathy Anderson for linking me to it). The video clip is undated but it appears to be a retrospective of the 2008 monsoon season, which was one of the Valley’s 10 worst.

In the video, CBS reporters talk to a hi-rise condo owner in downtown Phoenix who shot video of the August 28 (2008?) storm as it swept across town, blew out the windows in his condo, and then proceeded to dump cherry-sized hailstones into his living room!

At about the 6:28 minute mark of the video, there’s a mind-boggling shot of a huge dust storm surging across the Valley. It reminded me instantly of the videos of the 2004 Indonesian tsunami.

Just the Facts, Ma’am

Are you the type who likes detailed statistical information instead of shocking videos? Here’s the National Weather Service explaining the meteorological in’s and out’s of monsoons. Local news AzFamily Channel 3 has some more great statistics on wind speeds and dollars’ worth of damages during monsoon season.

Related Posts and Information on Other Sites

Technorati Tags:


heather

Heather Barr is a Realtor. She's a chow hound, a gym rat, and the only political junkie in the USA who can actually keep her political views to herself. Instead, she focuses on educating her clients about the often-confusing world of residential real estate.

{ 0 comments }

Real Estate Glossary - Coffered Ceiling

by Heather June 29, 2009 Glossary Posts

Usually seen in upscale (read, expensive) homes. Encyclopedia Brittanica online uses this definition:

in architecture, a square or polygonal ornamental sunken panel used in a series as decoration for a ceiling or vault. The sunken panels were sometimes also called caissons, or lacunaria, and a coffered ceiling might be referred to as lacunar.

If the builder or [...]

Read the full article →

Pearls of Wisdom - my renewed love affair with my Blackberry Pearl

by Chris Butterworth June 26, 2009 Technology

After using a Palm organizer for a few years, and then a Treo smartphone (the big bulky kind with the fat stubby antenna) for 4 years, I finally down-sized to a Blackberry Pearl last year, and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED it!  I spent the next few months in awe at how small it was (same size [...]

Read the full article →

It’s a Grind in Peoria

by Chris Butterworth June 24, 2009 West Valley

I need to be in Old Town Peoria this morning at 8:00, so I leave the house at my usual way-to-early time in the morning and head that way.  I like to get where I’m going before traffic gets bad, and I can always find a coffee shop to work from, right?
This morning I criss-crossed [...]

Read the full article →

Banks “Hoarding” Foreclosed Homes?

by Heather June 24, 2009 Buyer Help

Folks in the real estate industry have been debating for months about whether or not there’s a “shadow inventory” of homes banks have already foreclosed on, but have not yet listed for sale.
The theory says banks will eventually open the floodgates, list all their hoarded inventory and home prices will take another shocking nosedive. They [...]

Read the full article →

But It’s A Dry Heat

by Heather June 22, 2009 General Musings

“It’s a dry heat” is a ubiquitous phrase in Phoenix every summer. Like most stereotypes, it’s ever present because it’s true.
To a point.
“It’s a dry heat” works for me personally up to about 103 or 104. After that, it just feels hot no matter what, and my stock reply to “dry heat” is ususally, “Yeah, [...]

Read the full article →

Summertime Sunshine

by Chris Butterworth June 22, 2009 Op Ed

I can’t remember a time, ever, when the first day of summer was actually the first day of summer.  Get ready, Phoenicians, summer’s here.  (it was bound to get here at some point.)
We’ve had one of the coolest summers ever, so far.  But once it gets hot nobody remembers last week.

Your prefers hot to cold [...]

Read the full article →

All About Mortgage Rate Locks

by Heather June 22, 2009 Buyer Help

Just found this document produced by HSH Financial Publishers, the nation’s largest publisher of mortgage and consumer loan information.
It explains mortgage interest rate locks in plain English.  Check it out.
I just found HSH’s website but am quite impressed by their Library of Articles for consumers.
I especially enjoyed HSH’s article debunking the advertising that claims you can “Save [...]

Read the full article →

Help Around the House

by Heather June 20, 2009 Homeowner Help

A couple of weeks ago I met with Amanda Thomas who is the head of Moxie Girl. I was really impressed with her and with Moxie Girl’s services.
Moxie Girl provides all kinds of home and personal “helper” kind of services. They do the kind of stuff that fills up your days but doesn’t add any value [...]

Read the full article →

Phoenix is a Big Grid

by Heather June 19, 2009 Phoenix By Area

Here’s a bit of handy introduction-to-the-Valley sort of info about Phoenix’s street system.
(click to enlarge/”back” to return)
Thoughtfully, our Phoenician forebears laid out our fair city on a big grid. Nearly every street is straight and major streets are 1 mile apart. Numbered streets go north & south, named streets go east-west.
Obviously the big yellow [...]

Read the full article →

Several Valley Schools Named Among Nation’s Best

by Heather June 18, 2009 Buyer Help

The Phoenix Business Journal reports that fifteen of the Valley’s high schools were recently named among the nation’s best by Newsweek magazine.
Newsweek ranked schools by calculating the number of students per school who take either an Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests, divided by the total number of students at the school.
It’s an enduring [...]

Read the full article →