bangmai

This is the worst time of year to be looking, and May, June are likely the best in Snowbird areas. Agents keep telling me how the market goes right along through the heatwaves. Traditionally, people move in the US during the Summer, as to not traumatize the little angels with a move during the school year. May be a bit less so in Az, but a lot of homebuying is done by out of staters, not Mexicans, who will move their kids four times during a school year, for whatever reason.

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/arizona-hoa-foreclosures.html

gc=golf course....

here is a bit more swanky condo with some decent a,enities...was on a golf course...gc went bankrupt...hoa fee is 260. http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/8331-N-21st-Dr-Unit-105_Phoenix_AZ_85021_M26798-06998

Well in AZ, an HOA can actually force a sale for payment....but just their power to assess fees...swimming pool problems....anything with private guard gate will be sky high, unlike Chiang Mai/BKK where they make nominal amounts. Manufactured Homes are often in HOAs with pricey fees...a lot of Sahauro is like that....buyers will have to get the equivalent of a trailer loan to buy....you may not own the land in many cases.

OK. I kust remembered the classy neighborhood, on the South Side of the U. It's the Sam Hughes neighborhood, Uni professors might live there if they've been around a long time...Houses 300K and up...about 1/3 of Berkeley prices, but still not a good place for a slacker.

OK, this is 265K....60 years old...nice lot...near Broadway/Campbell....I could show you an identical house in a working class neighborhood of west phoenix for 80K....so is it worth 185K to live near a U, when you don't work there? But, if you had quite a bit of cash, it would be a sound investment, that you can still live in....there are no more places to build there. http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2135-E-10th-St_Tucson_AZ_85719_M22256-29960

In the long run, the renters get killed. I wouldn't blame someone, who refused to buy in an HOA, and that's why there is upside to single family homes in the growing cities. If you keep going north on Campbell; it becomes Catalina Foothills, that's where all the overpaid school administrators from Tucson Unified SD live, because they know TUSD is so low class (even with U of A sitting in the middle of it). Look in North Tucson, near Oracle and Tangerine....it's kind of upscale. Oracle near Speedway is crack motels...did used to have a nice cheeseburge/chips/budwiser for 99 cents at Curves Canaret...now free tacos at midnight, 4.95 steak dinner, free burgers w/fries on Fridays.....5 Dollar lap dances...ok a bit raunchy, but nothing like that in DC or even BKK.....http://curvescabaret.com/cms/

And this would be the equivalent in PHX which was about 200 meters from the 18,000 usd house...http://www.cheetahsaz.com/

I realize it's not your style, but if you saw what they were charging at the regular or even gay places it might be a bit more interesting. 1 Dollar Heinekens? I went in ther 50 times and never did a lapdance...10 there, but would tip 1 usd for two beers, or even sit at the bar, and get left alone.

For going to Asia...you will have to go to LAX or SFO from either PHX or TIA....UAl has quite a few flights out of TIA..they even did non-stop to Washington-Dulles for a while. PHX has 20 times more, but the international lineup is weak, except for Mexico.

Glenn/Campbell is a very walkable area, but with the U and UMC very close by, it is pretty high rent. I looked at a condo there two tears ago. 1 br, 500 sf was 60,000 usd...I gave it a miss, but it was ok...the one I could have bought in NE Portland for 54K, would have been a better investment, mostly do to good mass transit in Portland. If I wasn't working; I would look for a lesser known place. I would take Glenn/Campbell over Tempe, but there would be better work opportunities in Tempe. 650 for a decent apartment+ in either...housing cost at 800 per month? No car? Financially, you would be better off in Nogales in the 35K home, living rent free without a car, and taking advantage of fun stuff in Sonora....The capital of Sonora is Hermosillo, and I would consider living there. Foreigners could buy real estate in their name because the rule in Mexico is more than 100Km from a land border r 50 Km from the beaches....for the same reason I like CM more than HH, I would take Hermosillo over all those beach tourist traps. There is Home Depot and Walmart in Hermosillo, a winter league farm team for the LA Dodgers and a big Spanish influence, which means more Gloria Estefan; less Cuntsuelo the tamale maker. Which reminds me of the big differences in the Mexicans in Tucson vs. Phoenix. The Tucson ones have a lot of Apache Indian in them, and they are the short, sanitation worker type, and unfriendly...the Phoenix Mexicans are a lot better heeled and come from wealthier parts of Mexico. Newspaper in Hermosillo: www.elimparcial.com Check out "calsificados" for real estate. Good cuban cigars down there, and prices on "contrabandio" are way too low to even mention here.

The marketing promos follow the volume, which is where the promos are...I've seen them drop off 35 cases at Dayli on a Saturday evening. I've frequently seen them handing out stuff, based on what you were drinking. I noticed the Chang dresses no longer say Chang, but are still sexy. They didn't even change the Tiger dresses, because they simply have a Tiger print on them. I suppose the interpretation of its illegality will be forthcoming, because they did say something about "association." Perhaps they will only be satisfied with them wearing Burqas.

In the above house at 4300 feet, I had swamp; no a/c, low electric bills. The say stucco is actually better than brick for the heat...another thing midwesterners insist on with their lawn; a brick/block house...makes a good pizza oven, sleeping at night can be tough.

It will be a shock. It took me some time, but now, I love the desert. Low humidity. You can actually leave potato chips out in a bowl for days and they won't go bad! Of course, you have to sleep with a bottle of water by your bed...or invest in a humidifier. Our neighbor installed a whole house humidifier. It was nice.

Speaking of shocks, the good old high desert finger "tap tap tap, Zap!" procedure before you fully grasp the car door handle.

must have been the electronics in your GM...I never noticed it, but then again, I don't do the Khmer Shuffle when I walk. However there was a static electricity related explosion at the TRW airbag factory in Phoenix one time...a pile of small metal scraps...it was a mess. Humidifying is ok in the winter, but you can't use it with air-con, but if you have a programmable thermostat, you can control the heat so it doesn't come on and blast for two hours in the morning...the people who turn it off completely at night, then turn it on in the morning, have this issue..along with sore throats.

Be careful what you wish for as far as the green lawns...that could mean your house is in an HOA, which means you can get fined for leaving your garage door open, or not having your hose rolled up, and you will need their approval for everything from shingle color to mailbox style. All cities have blight laws, so it's really best to let them take your complaints....google HOA nightmare....lol.

but not buying a property based on its landscaping is like not buying because of the bathroom paint color. Don't focus on things that can be easily changed.

My back and front yard in 85648. Paid 47,500 3/1/2 car carport on 1.02 acres. That's Mt. Wrightson in the bg of the first...9453 ft. also, Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins..In the last one you can see the deer, and Miller Peak way in the background at 9470 ft.

Typical yard in a cheap townhouse in Tucson.

Brown / Sand / Dirt.

I've never had a "yard" like that.

What is it good for?

What do you do in it? Breed scorpions?

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"pink rock" at 20 bucks per ton is the way to go. Usually it's the midwesterners who move to the desert and insist on having a grass lawn, which isn't native to the desert and humidifies the dry air...one reason the environmentalists hate the golf courses...but at least the golf courses have access to non-potable water. Your sewer bill is determined by your water usage, which gets progressively more expensive. No lawn, water/sewer=25 per month...and you can flush your toilet, wash clothes, shower....without restrain...maintaining 4000 sf of grass....now 80 per month for water and sewer, and another 80 per month for landscapers, that you don't need with the rock.

TBH, a number of people I've known had to go there for work and didn't like it.....it is beautiful, and their economy is doing pretty well, at the moment. If you can show an income of 12K per year, you can get health insurance for almost nothing, even where they didn't expand Medicaid.

A lesser known US city. Lots of Romney bumper stickers....very few Africans.

People have reported problems as a result of fixed deposits maturing during the seasoning period. I think the conclusion on that was if it matures, don't do anything except let it automatically roll new one, at of course a poor rate, but it will have the same account number (i think) and you can get something better after your pleasant visit with Imm.

Even with a mortgage free house, you could still be looking at 1000 per month for taxes, hoa, utilities, insurance, and minimal maintenance.

hilarious...looks like the lefties are getting pretty nervous. I've just been wondering where all the charges of racism by former tenants of Trump are. I know people that have been in more trouble for housing discrimination, and they only owned three units.

Stand by your man....

The only difference with this and the way it works in America is that you pay more for the better connected visa lawyers in the US; not less, and there are plenty of them cutting in line at the Embassies in DC. Same goes for Defense attorneys...those, who formerly working for the prosecutor's office can charge more because they have the connections. How many meters from the US Consulate do you have to go to find an agent for matters there? Is it even 200 meters? Who's next of the privileged to be scrutinized? Wasn't John of John's Place' brother a high up in the BiB? And doesn't he own his property? So he can give the best prices in the Tha Phae area? That's really not fair to all the cowboys that have to pay higher rent and have a more difficult time with BiB....Should he be put out of business, because a few of the bars that charge double have chairs big enough for the morbidly obese, and nice hand railings to get on the toilet. Think about it.

actually you are saving close to 2900. The "other guys" are 5500 +VAT. I do have morals, but as others have mentioned, if it was the Taliban that could get me in and out of there for half the price, I would use them. Heck, even if it was the late owner of The Game, in the visa business.....if the price was half; sign me up. The way some of the expats tout these expensive visa services reminds me of how much some older folks enjoy going to the doctor...it must make them feel important or something. I am going to try it myself. I saw a nice new washing machine today on sale for 5490...a Toshiba. Not a bad prize for having a chat with some farangs at 5 oclock in the morning. I'm a little anxious, as a first timer, but after passing through Immigration so many times, it seems like there are plenty of Bozos to spring the traps...two passports.....problems with the deposits....overstay.....a family situation way, way more complicated than the Brady Bunch, and of course people who look like they just woke up from sleeping in a gutter on skid row. I may even go for long pants.

I thought Cleveland had a good vibe, and upstate New York is nice....cheap housing, also plagued by sky high RE taxes. Great Italian food in Rochester, used to be some old Tech companies there like Xerox, Kodak, and IBM....they were not a part of the semi-conductor revolution, though. I liked Pittsburgh, too, and talk about the good Italian food...but in their case and also Cleveland, Detroit, and Baltimore...you've just got that old failed industrial base, and people can't move on, like a lot of the loggers can't get over the decimation of the timber industry. You go to a bar in Pittsburgh, and they are still brooding over their beers about the steel crash and the good ole days of local xxx, and they're too good to work at walmart, etc...and those damn Chinese that we tax 260% on their steel imported into the US, well they've ruined everything. Gets old. They ratchet up the taxes, and property values go down, so they have to keep ratcheting...a vicious cycle. I'll dig up some RE photos of Baltimore...it's a lot like Oakland, a port City, pro sports, a strong blue collar heritage, but it also has Johns Hopkins, and it's the new commuter Hell for people making good money in DC, but can't afford city life, there. Sky high taxes.

Two row houses one in DC, bad schools, not a great neighborhood...the other in Baltimore, bad schools not a great neighborhood..not the worst...one is for sale for 42,500 the other is 1,095,000. Can you tellwhich is which? 30 miles apart.

that is why bankruptcy laws are put in place.

court decides. period.

but in a non-judicial foreclosure State, what happens if you do not pay is determined when you sign, and you agree to it. The closest it get to a judge is the courthouse steps, where the auction is usually held. The non-judicial states like Virginia and Arizona cleaned up their messes a lot quicker, while the process is being dragged out for year in Illinois and Maryland. They even have lawyers that can guarantee they will drag it out for years, at times. The end result is always the same, and the scammers never save a dime, while they are living rent free for 2-3 years.

New Yawk? or Bahstun?

does he have an O-ring implanted in his lips? He is continually pouting while talking and I can't concentrate on what he is actually saying,...no big loss there, I guess.

When he speaks his mouth looks like a butthole with teeth.

When all this is over, he'll live on as a disgrace to his country, like Joe McCarthy. On the other hand he is throwing the GOP into turmoil, which is ok with me. I hope he goes third party.

So you've seen a lot of buttholes? Perhaps, you think Barney Frank is more fit for the job?