Luminous Mother

At the base of Tumamoc Hill is a wonderful shrine called the Luminous Mother. Many people leave offerings and burning candles to ask for help or to honor loved ones. You can sit on a bench and reflect on your blessings. I wonder about the significance of the photos, stuffed animals, and souvenir plate from Jerusalem.

November Residential Sales Statistics

The Tucson Association of Realtors has released the Residential Sales Statistics for November.

Just when we usually go into the year-end sales slump, we saw a 3.36% increase in units sold from October to November, and a 27% increase in the number of homes sold from November 2010.

The average sale price was $158,434, and the median sale price was $122,000. Both of these figures have increased for two months in a row.

Of the 1,015 homes sold, 59% sold for under $140,000 and 78% sold for under $200,000.

Real Estate Owned (REO) or foreclosures were 39% of the sales. Fifteen percent of the sales were short sales. As long as 54% of the sales are distressed properties selling at below market value, these comparable sales will continue to drag down the values of non-distressed homes.

Worm Composting

Wednesday I am going to the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona to learn about worm composting. Until now, I have been throwing my veggies scraps on the hill behind the house for the wildlife to eat (I know, not good for the wildlife) or, even worse, sending them to the landfill in a plastic bag. This has to stop!

Melissa Mundt is the food production education coordinator at the Community Food Bank, and she is going to get me started on worm composting. She also happens to be one of my fabulous clients.

Learn more about the Community Food Bank and lots of other backyard and community food production projects in this article in the Tucson Weekly.

248 W Calle Patio Lindo

Sahuarita is a well planned community with a town center where you will find a fishing lake, pools, basketball, fitness center, a lounge, tennis and even miniature golf.
Grocery shopping and other services are available just south of the town center. Shaded paths connect all the neighborhoods. And there's Casino del Sol, where you find not just gambling, but concerts, too. Right next to I-10, Sahuarita is about 30 minutes south of downtown Tucson.


My listing at 248 W Calle Patio Lindo is the hard-to-find four bedroom plan.


It has a family room plus living room and an upgraded kitchen with a pantry and an office nook.
A common area behind the back yard adds privacy.
This house sold for $152,000 on May 18.

Centipede

I saw this centipede crossing the road by the Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill. It looks like it is going in two directions at once, but it was moving to the right.

I saw a millipede just a few minutes before that. The millipede was not as photogenic. It was more like a black worm. You had to see its legs moving like a wave to appreciate it.

Does It Pay to Shop for the Lowest Interest Rate?

I just received this from Sue Pullen at Fairway Independent Mortgage:

Since Loan Officer Compensation Reform took effect recently, loan officers are no longer being paid based on the income they bring to their company. The bottom line is that lenders don't have much wiggle room -- or incentive -- to cut pricing on loans. So the biggest difference between one lender and another won't be based on price: it will be based on competence, knowledge of underwriting guidelines, efficiency, communication, and service - in short, the ability to close the loan on time and without hassle.

I agree with Sue that consumers should choose their loan officer based on the loan officer's ability to deliver a mortgage on time, at the terms they promised, with a minimum of drama. Most home buyers assume all loan officers should be able to accomplish that, so buyers focus on finding the loan officer who promises the lowest interest rate.

Time and again, I have watched loan officers promise the sun, moon and stars, but they deliver last minute surprises, delays, and most tragically, no mortgage. It is frequently too late to choose another lender by the time the buyer learns this hard lesson, and they are unable to buy the house they planned to buy.

The Buildings of Tumamoc

Tumamoc Hill is west of A Mountain, where the city does the July 4 fireworks show. I walked up the hill last night around 7:30 after hearing a lecture at the gorgeous Desert Laboratory Library (above), which is located half way up the hill. It's the same as when I make the walk at 6:30 AM. Hundreds of Tucsonans are huffing and puffing or effortlessly running up and down the hill.


The three beautiful buildings at the Desert Laboratory were all built with local rock between 1900 and 1910. They are on the National Register of Historic Places.