November 1: Battle of the Sexes Tennis Festival

As many of you know, I am on the board of The Guerrant Foundation, a non-profit whose main purpose is to provide small business loans for the world's poor. Ann Guerrant, the company's founder, is a friend of mine and I have seen first-hand how passionate she is about her mission and how careful she is with the money we raise.

The Guerrant Foundation provides small business loans as little as $40 to as much as $400 that change people's lives. This kind of work provides small business owners with a starting point, which they can then build off of and thrive from. Check out a short video about the foundation here.

I am on a mission to raise $5,000 this year for the foundation by November 1, 2014. That is the date of our most important event of the year, the Battle of the Sexes Tennis Fundraiser. 8 women (including myself) and 8 men will be battling it out on the court to see who will prevail, in an ode to the 1973 Battle of the Sexes match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.

I just wanted to take this time to cordially invite you to the event, which will be held at The Phoenician Resort on November 1st, from 2-4pm. There will be plenty of music, food, raffles, and of course, tennis.

Please consider making a donation to this noble and growing foundation today. Whatever you are able to give helps. All you need to do is CLICK HERE to donate.

Check out some of the photos from last year's event below, and GO HERE to see the entire photo album!



If you have any questions about the event, please feel free to give us a call. We'd be glad to answer them for you.

Fixing Water Damage in Your Home

There are many great Phoenix area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a Market Analysis so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (602) 413-8195 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

We have had some really crazy weather in Phoenix lately. 6 inches of rain in one day? It doesn't seem possible, but we are now dealing with the repercussions of the flooding and have been running into a lot of issues lately with water damage. We want you to make sure your home is safe from lingering damage, so we have invited Bruce LaBell, from Royal Home Inspection Services to explain to us the steps you need to take to protect your home from water damage.

Home inspectors like Bruce are first going to look to see what's happening on the outside of the home. If your home lies on a negative grade, you are in danger of letting water seep into your home. If water appears to seep in, the next step is checking the walls.

After they check the outside of the home, inspectors will then head inside to determine the extent of the water damage. To do this, they will use moisture-sensing tools to determine if water has, in fact, leaked in. The next step is opening up the wall in the affected area to dry everything out.

Once all the water damage is dried, Bruce or another one of his mold assessment technicians will test to make sure no mold is growing inside of the house. It's important to catch mold early on because it starts growing in 24 hours and starts spreading in 7 days.

If you have any questions about protecting your home from water damage or are curious about what your next step should be, please give us a call. We can get you in touch with somebody who will be able to take care of your needs.

What's Going on with Interest Rates and What Does it Mean for You?

There are many great Phoenix area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a Market Analysis so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (602) 413-8195 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Today, we have our good friend Tom Ross from Nova Home Loans joining us to talk about a favorite topic of his - interest rates. While the general trend for current rates is in the low 4% range, it's hard to be definitive since the rates themselves are largely determined by an individual's credit score.  

If you haven't heard, Fannie May has recently made a huge announcement. Their policy usually stipulates that you must wait 7 years after a foreclosure before you can get a conventional loan. However, if you filed for bankruptcy and included your home with it, you can now get a home loan 4 years after foreclosure. This is huge because there are probably many buyers out there who don't even know they are now eligible for a loan!

Home sales are currently down 20% and we're seeing a pretty balanced market, so now is a good time for buyers to start their home search. If you know anyone that is looking to buy a new home, don't keep us a secret. You can reach Tom at (602) 791-5861 or Tom.Ross@NovaHomeLoans.com. We're always here to help make your real estate venture a successful one!