Cambridge Properties Top 3 picks for 2013
Are you thinking that the recovery has finally turned a corner? After the investor storm last year are you ready to purchase some property in Arizona? Where are the best deals?
Do I want to buy a condo or single family house? Something to live in or something for me to rent? Where are the best 2013 Phoenix real estate deals?
1. Luxury Homes: With the rest of the market going up the Luxury Market is still in a bit of a downturn. If oyu have the money to spend then the $1m+ homes are for you. There are so many deals in Arizona luxury homes right now you’ll have your pick.
2. Condos: Last year you couldn’t even look at homes under $300k unless you had a pocket full of cash to pick it up quickly. IN the sub $300k market right now the best deals are found in Condos. This Market is doing so well that there are even new developments going up, such as Pinnacle Pointe in North Scottsdale.
3. South Scottsdale/Skysong: During the downturn one of the first things to fall from the topic of conversation was revitalization. You may not remember but the up and coming area right before prices went crazy was south Scottsdale. One of the few places to find a good deal is the area around McDowell and Scottsdale Rd.
Are you looking to jump back into the market? Now is the time. These aren’t the only deals in town but they are our top Recommendations.
Cambridge Properties new website!
If you haven’t had a chance too please head over to our new website. We’ve made it easy to search the Arizona MLS. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us right away.
We hope to get your feedback on how we can improve the site.
Is having a Garden really cost effective? It is, but…
One of the more popular websites today is Reddit.com, which is a user generated behemoth. At any time on anyone of it’s many “subreddits” (sections devoted to specific topics) you’ll find someone asking for help and some really great answers.
As we speak there is a discussion in the frugal section where a user asked the question “Does r/frugal think that gardens are actually financially frugal?” The top comment is such great advice we wanted to share it with any of you would be home gardeners. Even if cost isn’t an issue for you it’s still sounds advice:
“It is, if:
- You identify the plants you eat a lot of and are expensive and grow those. Eat a lot of potatoes? Probably not a good idea to grow them, because they’re so dang cheap. Like chives? Well, they are really easy to grow, and cut herbs are expensive in the store, so go ahead. . Raspberries are also super easy, and pretty expensive. My general rule is: grow leafy vegetables, herbs, and berries. Buy root vegetables and squashes, plus anything that doesn’t get enough heat here.
- Find out what crops grow well and easily for you, in your climate. For me, beans are tasty, yes, but we just don’t get a big enough crop to make it worthwhile. However, I grow a lot of kale, because it just does fantastically here- in fact, since some self-seeded, I don’t have to do anything but harvest now.
- Develop your soil’s fertility cheaply or for free. For example, I’m getting a truck load of composted horse manure from a friend for the price of gas. Compost kitchen scraps and lawn clippings, check out coffee stands and see if they’ll give you coffee grounds. All of these are free or nearly free sources of fertility that will make your garden really produce.
- Don’t get carried away and buy a pile of tools. Really, unless you have a big garden, all you need is a shovel, a trowel, and maybe a rake and garden fork. You do not need to buy rototillers or other fancy and expensive doodads.
- Realize that gardening is a skill, and may take some time to develop. Some people are fantastic their first year, but many have entire crops fail before they figure out what they need to do.
TL;DR: Find out what crops you eat a lot of, aren’t cheap, and basically grow themselves for you. Get free and cheap sources of soil fertility. Only grow what you will actually eat. Figure out how to minimize effort and time investment while maximizing yield.”
It’s great to see people who posses specific knowledge and skills share that knowledge with other people.
Micro Kitchen Design makes us want to buy a micro house to put it in.
We’ve mentioned tiny houses on our blog before and one of the big problems with them is that you often have to sacrifice to make it work. With the worlds growing population and emerging markets gaining clout it’s nice to see that design is something we won’t have to comprise on.
This Red dot winning design is a modular mini kitchen that can be configured in different way to meet any need. It’s going to be a while before Arizonan’s begin to run out of space but when we do, we know what the kitchen will look like.
Bloomingrock.com: Champion of the Grand Ave. Rail Project.
From Bloomingrock.com
“Today’s post is by contributing writer Kirby Hoyt:
Historically, cities have been designed around their prevailing modes of transportation. When Phoenix was first conceived, there were two modes of transportation: the train (for long distance and shipping) and the horse-and-buggy (for local and hauling needs). The streets in Phoenix were designed in a grid that emanated from the railroad depot and ancillary buildings, kind of a play on the Law of the Indies. Within six years of the incorporation of Phoenix, the beginnings of an extensive streetcar system was put in place, with the first streetcar operating on six miles of track using horses to pull cars, and by 1893 the system was completely electrified. It then operated for more than fifty years. Unfortunately, in 1948 the streetcar saw its last day due to a “suspicious” fire that destroyed all but six cars, Coincidentally, this was about the time National City Lines, a company with investors from Firestone Tire, Standard Oil, Phillips Petroleum, General Motors, and Mack Trucks together were buying up streetcar lines across the country and decommissioning them, forcing people to either buy automobiles or ride buses.”
Schoolhouse Electric: 1960’s IBM wall clock re-issue
Midcentury is a term thrown around a lot lately. I feel that part of the reason there is such interest in that time period is that it’s seen as the zenith of both modern design and American Manufacturing. That convergence of two emotionally powerful aspects of our society are perfectly combined in the Schoolhouse Electric 1960’s IBM Wall Clock. Learn more about how this clock was brought to life through a collaboration between Schoolhouse Electric and IBM for their 100th anniversary.
1960s IBM Clock from Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co on Vimeo.
From REALTOR.COM: Inventories Hover at Historic Lows
DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 2012
While buyer demand is picking up, many consumers increasingly are finding fewer choices in housing these days. The number of homes for sale continues to remain at record lows with the nationwide inventory of for-sale single-family homes, condos, townhomes, and co-ops is about 19 percent below inventory levels from a year ago, Realtor.com reports in its analysis of July housing data of 146 markets.
“Low inventories, combined with rising list prices and lower times on market, are positive signs that the overall market is in a stabilization mode,” Realtor.com reports.
Median asking prices were 2.63 percent above list prices in July, and the median age of the housing inventory has fallen about 9 percent in that time period, Realtor.com reports.
California cities have seen some of the largest drops in inventory levels in the past year, as well as some of the largest price increases.
13 Metros With Largest Inventory Drops
The following metro areas have seen the largest drops in inventories of for-sale homes in the past year (July 2012 compared to July 2011):
1. Oakland, Calif.: -59.30 percent
2. Fresno, Calif.: -47.81 percent
3. Bakersfield, Calif: -44.71 percent
4. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash.: -42.23 percent
5. San Jose, Calif.: -41.76 percent
6. San Francisco, Calif.: -40.26 percent
7. Stockton-Lodi, Calif.: -40.24 percent
8. Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif.: -40.03 percent
9. Atlanta, Ga.: -38.27 percent
10. Sacramento, Calif: -36.43 percent
11. Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Lompoc, Calif.: -34.89 percent
12. San Diego, Calif.: -34.55 percent
13. Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz.: -34.37 percent
By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR® Magazine Daily News
Friday DIY: 25 things to do with your old denim
We’re thrilled to present this smartWise Bread story here on Savvy!
Recycling fabric is a powerful green living and cost saving strategy. Denim is one of the coolest fabrics to do it with. It’s sturdy, gains character with age and can be acquired very inexpensively at yard sales or in your own “old clothes” closet. Some of the coolest ideas I’ve found?
RELATED: 16 Ways to Make Your Clothes Last Longer
- Pot holders. In my opinion, these look far better out of used denim than the new stuff. And you can incorporate your own style via choice of trim or a patch stitched to the outside. Here’s a link to some tips for making your own.
- Cool quilts. You can do this in many forms. Different shades of denim patchwork options abound and are certainly sturdy and fun. Unfortunately, one of the coolest ideas I’ve ever seen I’ve been unable to find pictures of. It was done with pieced denim, but they had left on all the details like pockets, buttons, belt loops, etc. It made for a really fabulous unique quilt with a lot of attitude. If anyone has a link to a picture of one of these, please post below in the comments section.
For more ideas, read on.
- Hanging sleeves for storing plastic bags and cleaning rags. This is an idea I came up when trying to find a workable solution for giving up paper towels. I needed something convenient to store my cleaning rags in and made several out of the legs of old blue jeans.
- Pocket books and backpacks. These are tons of fun as beach bags and particularly popular with the younger crowd. Easily jazzed up with pins various bits of clip on “flair”. Here are one and two separate links for various sets of project directions.
- Patches. If you happen to have a bunch from different events, great. Otherwise, I’ve seen some really unique custom patches you can make yourself that add tons of style. I personally like the make your own option, because it opens up many more possibilities for self expression and designer style.
- Embellishments. Sometimes bead stores offer classes on “jazzing up jeans” where they will teach you how to add studs, crystals and various beads as well as other items. Lots of room for individuality with this option as well.
- Pimp the heck out of them. Options abound here. Pimp My Jeans is a great site to look for inspiration when jazzing up old jeans. They also have a great idea pictured there for a way hip fabric grocery bag of pieced together old denim. You’ll be strolling to your favorite New York grocery in style with that one. Here is an additional link for airbrushing designs on your denim. My favorite though, is this way cool how to video from Threadbanger that shows you how to get a vintage tint as well as providing some easy fabric distressing techniques. Really, really cool.
- Embrace the frayed edges and go hip with some slamming shoes and a great bag. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen fashion experts give this same advice on TV. What’s funny though is I seem to notice more people with money trying it out than people who are supposedly on a budget. It’s a very cool look to have a faded set of jeans with a few rips and tears paired with a newer sweater and some dressy shoes or boots.
- Help dress a scarecrow. Fairly timely, considering the season.
- Make a 3-pocket electric gadget protector. I found this set of directions on Instructables. Love that site! Looks like a cool addition for a daypack or purse.
- Journal, photo album and school book covers. Say what? I found this neat online project for a jean-covered journal held closed with a funky belt. Really fun. Tried to snag a pic and give them credit, but they preferred to keep everything in house. You can see pictures of the completed project on this site, though.
- Hot or cold rice pack. I’ve always just dumped my rice in an old pillow case and tied a knot in the top. But these rice packs look cute, if you have the extra time. The one pictured got me thinking about all those old floral jeans from the eighties getting a new life, but really, any kind of old denim will do.
- Turn pieces of them into a jacket. Here’s a project I found for a crazy quilt-style jacket. This is very similar to the type of quilt I mentioned above. Lots of room here to do your own thing.
- A little too out there? Try out a waist coat made from recycled denim. I can really see it with a crisp white shirt. Actually, it looks like a big vest to me, but what do I know about waist coats? Either way, it’s pretty cool.
- Sassy, rough edged skirt with urban style. I like this jean skirt because it’s really a bit out of the ordinary and has tons of attitude. A bit of trouble snagging a pic of this one, but you can see it on the link.
- A wheelchair tote. This is too cool. Know someone who could use one to stay organized? Here are instructions on how to make a wheelchair tote.
- Coffee cozies. Love these! As with some of the other projects, you can really put your own spin on them. I found several blog posts on doing your own. This first one is quite similar to the one pictured below. The second? Slightly different with a button closure. Still cute though. If I had my sewing machine out of storage, I’d seriously be looking into making a few of these for Christmas package tuck-ins.
- Custom camera bag. Here’s a set of directions for a denim camera bag. Personal verdict? Pretty neat idea.
- Unusual covered gift box. I thought this one was particularly out of the norm. Should make a fun package for a teen present, don’t you think? Here’s a link.
- Reusable lunch sack. This one was decorated with primary colored embellishments because it was designed for children. But I think you could be as individual here as with some of the jazz-up-your-jeans ideas listed above (patches, airbrushing, crystals). It’s made from a pant leg. How cool!
- Picture frame. Not the most formal project idea ever, but a fun idea that would be great for a teen room bulletin board. It’s a photo frame made from a jeans pocket.
- Blue jean table. Pretty darned unusual, I must say. This is another item that is shown with more of a children’s room look. But I think you could pull this off with leather accents in a wild west art gallery or with silver studs and tears for a more urban feel. A bit quirky, but if you like that sort of thing . . .
- Christmas stockings. Here’s a set of directions for making stockings out of old blue jeans(PDF). Use whatever trim and lining ideas you want. Definitely not for those Victorian style holiday planners.
- Knee pads for gardening. Here’s a set of directions for knee pads. You might need to use an old denim skirt or jumper for this one, but I still think it has merit, if you happen to have the time.
- Beer cozies. Check out this homemade deep pocket cold beverage cozy. There aren’t detailed directions, but there are pictures from several angles. So if you sew, you can probably get the idea.
That’s about it. A few of these ideas I think would be easier with old denim jumpers or skirts than blue jeans, but since they all involved the same basic topic, I opted to include them. If you know of a fabulous recycled denim idea, please post so the rest of us can enjoy.
Scorching Phoenix Plans For An Even Hotter Future by PETER O’DOWD
It’s been a record hot summer in many cities across the nation. Phoenix is no exception. This Sonoran Desert metropolis already records more days over 100 degrees than any other major U.S. city. Now, climate models predict Phoenix will soon get even hotter.
A hotter future may mean a more volatile environment — and along with it, natural disasters, greater pressure on infrastructure, and an increased physical toll on city residents.
While some city planners around the country discuss ways to mitigate climate change, planners in Phoenix assume that change is already under way. Now, they are working to prepare the Phoenix metro area, and its approximately 4 million residents, for a new reality.
‘How Are We Gonna Live Here?’
The view is bleak from John Larsala’s front drive in West Phoenix. The tree in front of the house is dead, and the grass is dead, too. In fact, there’s no grass at all anymore.
On a household income of $18,000 a year, Larsala can’t afford the water charges required to keep his yard green. “All these trees are dying, because I can’t put water on it,” he says.
So Larsala’s children and their friends play basketball in the barren yard. That is, until June comes around and the blazing Phoenix summer finally forces everyone inside.
For three months, Larsala will shut the doors and windows tight. To save money, he soaks his kids in a cool bath and delays using the air conditioning until just before bedtime.
“Whether you are inside or whether you are outside, the heat costs you money,” Larsala says.
When told that climate scientists predict the state will get even hotter in the future, Larsala is taken aback.
“It’s going to be hotter than what it is right now? Who gonna live here? How are we gonna live here?”
Sustained Heat Waves Ahead
Phoenix actually suffers from two heat problems. One is a product of growth. Desert nights don’t cool down they way they used to, because energy from the sun is trapped in roads and buildings, a phenomenon researchers call the “urban heat island effect.”
As Phoenix grows, so does the problem, says Nancy Selover, the state climatologist.
“We keep thinking we’ll probably see a night when we only get down to 100 as a minimum temperature, which is kind of shocking,” Selover says.
Standing outside in a low-income neighborhood near Phoenix, Selover points out that many households here are using “swamp coolers,” or evaporative coolers. These cooling units are cheaper than air-conditioning — but they’re also less effective.
If Phoenix’s temperatures rise, “it’s going to be pretty unbearable,” Selover says — and without adequate cooling, potentially deadly.
Phoenix’s second problem comes from global climate change. Researchers predict it will make droughts longer and temperatures higher in the region.
Data from the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program predict sustained heat waves above 114 degrees will be a yearly crisis in Phoenix by 2040. And each one, researchers project, will last a sweltering three weeks.
A Laboratory For What Works
Selover says these coming changes present Phoenix with an opportunity.
“As a desert city, Phoenix is kind of a laboratory for us to figure out what works and what doesn’t work, to try to mitigate those things.”
In the future, Selover says, “we may well have to live differently.”
Now, city officials are starting to think about what that new lifestyle might entail. One idea is to cover 25 percent of Phoenix with shade trees.
But some, like architect John Meunier, argue for much greater lifestyle adaptations.
Meunier studies pre-industrial desert cities around the world, looking for lessons to apply in modern desert cities like Phoenix.
Sitting at a light-rail stop downtown, he says creating sustainable futures in cities like this one has”everything to do with managing without having to use a lot of extra energy and power.”
To do that, Meunier says planners could encourage 10 times as many people to live around Phoenix’s light-rail stations. Getting more use out of the system would take cars — and heat — off the street.
These people would also live in taller buildings. Meunier says desert cities in Yemen, for example, take advantage of tall buildings to shade narrow streets.
“It’s crucially important. I mean, not being exposed to the direct sun’s rays makes a great big difference,” he says.
Instead of exposed front yards and backyards, older desert cities employ well-ventilated courtyards, Meunier says. Mediterranean cities paint roads and rooftops white to reflect sunlight.
It’s the way Phoenix has been built, Meunier says, that will make its residents vulnerable to rising temperatures.
“I’m not arguing that we should all live at a higher density,” Meunier says. “What I am arguing is that there’s a lot to be gained by having more of us live at higher density.”
Learning To Build Better
For Meunier’s ideas to become reality, developers will have to make the choice to build differently.
Some of them already have. Take the city’s light rail north about three miles, and you can get a close-up view of how buildings like Meunier envisions might actually work.
The Devine Legacy is a housing complex designed for people with lower incomes. Right next to the rail line, every window is dual-paned, and the building is also superinsulated. Together, those features make a typical Devine Legacy unit 40 percent more energy efficient.
Walking through the front gate leads you to a courtyard. Four-story buildings rise up on either side of you. There’s shade everywhere, and a breeze moves through the space. Even on a 113-degree day in Phoenix, it feels much cooler.
“Having a cool place to live is more important to me than food,” says resident Felicia McMullen.
Before she moved here, McMullen says she was sick and stressed. She sometimes spent $300 a month to cool her suburban home.
Now, McMullen says, “I don’t have that problem.” Her last electric bill was $60 — and the stress is gone.
Ernesto Fonseca, a planner who specializes in sustainable communities, helped test Devine Legacy’s energy use before it opened late last year.
He considers the complex a small victory in what may someday be a more complicated effort to stay cool.
“People in extreme climates learn to live with it,” Fonseca says. “And that’s part of a resilient society.”
Fonseca thinks a lot about this idea of resilience. He says it means that people who live in Phoenix must do more than try to solve the causes of escalating temperatures — they must also learn to withstand the changes as they happen.
Because, as Fonseca says, “We don’t have a choice.”
Peter O’Dowd works with the public radio collaborative Fronteras. Read more from their series “Heat Wave.”
Cambridge Properties is one of the Top Paradise Valley agencies
Looking to sell your home in Paradise Valley? Or are you interested in moving to Paradise valley? Cambridge Properties has been working in the exclusive 85253 zip code for years. Weather you are looking to move into a beautiful all inclusive community like Montelucia, or build your own dream home on Camelback mountain Cambridge Properties knows Paradise Valley.
For years Cambridge Properties has been selling luxury high rises and custom homes to the valley’s most discreet real estate buyers. Clients who want only the best agents that really know Paradise Valley should look no further than the team at Cambridge Properties.
Give us a call today! 602-787-6346 or feel free to search all Paradise Valley MLS listings on our website CambridgeProperties.com
AZcentral.com to get a paywall, will it work?
It’s been a few years since the first PayWall’s were erected across the web, famously the New York Times the Wall Street Journal have seen some better than expected success. Other media outlets like the Washington Post however refuse to go the pay model but it looks like that infamous “Paywall” is coming to a local news site near you!
AZCentral.com has gained a reputation as the online goto source for Arizonan’s looking for state news. But is their monopoly on AZ culture strong enough for the Republics’ PayWall to generate serious revenue? Arizonans by our very nature are not intensely loyal, we come from all over the country and some people still like to get their news from “back home.”
The Arizona Republic fought hard in the early days of the web bringing many independent bloggers under on roof to create a powerhouse of local content, these days if it’s not on AZcentral it might as well not be happening. But can that last? Is AZcentral truly a factory of sought after original content? Or is it merely a great aggregator that will soon be replaced by young scrappy independent sites?
Time will tell if this was a smart move, but until next week get your fill of all the local stories you can handle!
Bloomberg Business Week: Consumer Bureau Proposes New Rules on Mortgage Servicing
The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today proposed new regulations that would revamp how American homeowners interact with mortgage servicers.
One set of rules aims to provide homeowners with clearer, timelier information about changes to interest rates and options for avoiding foreclosure. A second set of rules requires servicers to credit payments promptly, correct errors, stay accessible and limit foreclosures if homeowners are working on loan modifications.
“Millions of homeowners are struggling to pay their mortgages, often through no fault of their own,” CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in an e-mailed statement. “These proposed rules would offer consumers basic protections and put the ‘service’ back into mortgage servicing.”
Cordray summed up the policy underpinning the rules as “no surprises and no runarounds.” The bureau is seeking public comment on the proposals by Oct. 9, and will finalize them by January 2013.
The proposal would cover major bank servicers, such asBank of America Corp. (BAC), as well as smaller non-bank players like Ocwen Financial Corp. (OCN)
Isaac Boltansky, an analyst with Compass Point Research & Trading LLC in Washington, said in a research note that the new rules would support a “secular shift in the mortgage servicing industry” away from big banks toward specialty servicers like Ocwen.
“We expect the big bank servicers to offload a sizable portion of their servicing assets,” Boltansky wrote.
Secondary Market
Tom Deutsch, executive director of the American Securitization Forum, said the new rules aimed at consumers should also take the secondary market into consideration.
“Servicing standards must strike the appropriate balance between providing meaningful protections for borrowers and ensuring the contractual certainty necessary for the capital markets to fund sufficient mortgage credit for American consumers,” Deutsch said in an e-mailed statement.
Bob Davis, an executive vice president at the American Bankers Association, lauded the bureau’s goals while warning that some rules could create hurdles.
“We want to make sure servicing doesn’t get tangled in so much red tape that high quality, responsive servicing is no longer viable,” Davis said in an e-mail.
The new regulations go beyond the standards for mortgage servicing that state attorneys general wrote into a court settlement reached with major banks on March 12, according to a senior CFPB official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. For example, the CFPB proposal requires servicers to acknowledge receipt of complaints or information requests within five days, and respond to the borrower about the inquiry within 30 to 45 days.
To contact the reporter on this story: Carter Dougherty in Washington at cdougherty6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Maura Reynolds at mreynolds34@bloomberg.net
Thinking short sale? Think FAST the Mortgage Debt Relief act is set to expire!
Chances are the you or someone you know is underwater in their home. Most people who are underwater are waiting to sell in the hopes of recouping as much of their lost investment as possible. Why? With the Mortgage debt relief act of 2007 when your short sell your home your not responsible for the remainder of your loan AND you won’t be taxed on it as income.
Many people are embarrassed to short sell or simply don’t know that they are eligible for this type of forgiveness. All of this takes on a new sense of urgency when you realize that the Mortgage Debt Relief act is set to expire December 31st 2012.
A short sale can be scary but the right brokerage with the knowledge to help you navigate the process might just the support you need to get through it relatively unscathed. That’s why Cambridge Properties is the expert in luxury short sales in Paradise Valley, Scottsdale and Phoenix.
Want the full story on Curiosity? Here is a definitive guide for the…curious.
The Guardian UK had a great live blog going while the rover touched down. Read along and relive the historic moment here.
Housing prices are coming back, here’s a chart to prove it!
We can listen to reports telling us the housing market is coming back until we are blue in the face. At Cambridge Properties we are the leaders in Luxury Urban living but we’re also visual learners, so we made a graph.
What we find most interesting is that although most people are widely reporting that the uptick in housing is only due to investors picking up lower end properties, you can see that the trend in higher priced homes is going up as well.
This is good news for our clients, Cambridge Properties is the leader in Luxury urban living and it’s good to see our market is starting to come back as well!
We can’t always write about real estate, so here is an amazing interactive representation of every runner who’s ever ran the 100meters.
Click here to see an interactive map of all the people who’ve ever run in the 100 meters:
Interesting Graphic on why some homes sell faster than others
Some of this info is a little dated but for the most part it’s a great information to think about!
Home Solar Power Discounts – One Block Off the Grid
Who cares about the Libor scandal? YOUR MORTGAGE THAT’S WHO.
If you have a fixed interest mortgage rate you can stop reading this article right now. That is, unless you have student loans, credit card debt, or a car loan. What we’re getting at is that if you have any form of debt or loan here in the US chances are, one or more of those debts is tied to the Libor Rate.
What is the Libor rate? In simple terms, it’s the Grandaddy of all interest rates, it’s the rate that all others are tied to. What this means is that as the Libor rate goes so does your interest rate. That’s why when it was discovered that big banks were conspiring to artificially adjust this rate for their own benefit, people got upset.
Upset, however, is an understatement. Here in the US this Scandal hasn’t received much coverage which is surprising, seeing as many consumer loans here have been affected. People are going to start paying a lot more attention however after it was announced that the Central banks are meeting to discuss whether or not to Scrap the Libor rate all together.
We realize this couldn’t be a more boring subject to pay attention to, so we here at Cambridge Properties promise to keep taabs on this story to help keep you informed. Here is the headline from the more in depth Reuters article, “Central bankers and regulators will hold talks in September on whether the troubled global Libor interest rate can be reformed or whether it is so damaged that the benchmark of borrowing costs should be scrapped.”
Central Bankers are not the type to use undue hype and hyperbole, which is why the statement that it’s now, “very clear that radical reforms of the Libor system are needed” is so concerning.
Still searching for properties on Craigslist? At least use this tool to make it easier.
Still using craigslist to search for a home or apartment? Although we don’t recommend using craigslist for a multitude of reasons, if you’re going to use it we at least want to make sure you’re doing it right.
CLMapper is a neat little extension for your chrome web browser that plots the location of Craigslist apartment ads onto an adjoining map. It’s a neat little trick!
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/omonmigaleaafgpkgoammpclbcdepjpi
Co+Hoots a creative co-work environment, right here in Phoenix!
When you think about open floor plan, multi business working space the image that comes to mind is of hip young professionals in San Francisco or New York. The usual school of thought is that these collaborative environments only work because rents are so high and people need to band together to save cash.
While these spaces may have been born out of such necessity, their popularity has grown because of the energy they foster. When you own your own business it can be hard to stay motivated, nobody is there to hold you accountable. When you work in a space like CO+HOOTS though, you’re accountable to all the great ideas and plans you had when you first started because you’re surrounded by people with similar goals.
What could possible be better than a co-work environment downtown? Maybe the fact that they are now moving to the newly dubbed “Washington Row” inspired by the soon to launch SeedSpot that we’re so fond of.
Are you thinking about moving your business to Washington Row? Let us know we’d love to write about it!
Is Phoenix the next Silicon Valley?
It looks like the people over at Forbes have been reading our blog. In a recent article the financial and business news outlet posed the question all valley residents should love to hear, “Is Phoenix the next Silicon Valley?“.
We’ve known for a while that projects like SeedSpot are inspiring valley residents to drop their day job and go for that idea they’ve mulling over. It’s reassuring that powerhouses like Forbes are taking notice too. Arizona has always been business friendly but our business culture has always seemed a little traditional.
All it really takes to light the spark of innovation is for people to believe that it’s possible, and with article’s like this one we’re all starting to believe.
Cambridge Properties 