...Ennntttt!  Wrong Answer Luddites Here is just one (1) afternoon of results of utilizing social media. Case in point:  This morning our Tucson MLS announced that it had (finally) enabled its member agents to search for (or exclude) short sales when looking for properties on the system. At about 1:45 or so, I tweeted that the new feature was only on the standard search, not the map or address searches By 10 minutes 'til 2, my tweet appeared as a status update on Fac... Read Full Story

Well, the other day I posted a photo of Pinal AirPark...actually a photo of the mountains & the sunset - with Pinal AirPark part of the foreground.  Don't have a big ol' zoom on my little Kodak to really get the planes close-up. Readers asked me to get better photos of the mothballed passenger airliners (plus I felt a little guilty - just a little), so I went by the entrance on my way out elsewhere to get a nice shot to share.  The guard at the gate told me that photos weren't a... Read Full Story

Tucson's "Monsoon Season" began June 15th, according to the National Weather Service (they just decided to make an official date starting last year - instead of relying on weather conditions...go figure).    This is when we start to see lots of beautiful clouds roll in from the southeast, sometimes bringing rain, more often just adding to the Sonoran Desert scenery.   I was taking photos of a home on 5 acres northwest of Tucson, in Pinal County today in an unincorporated area sometimes refer... Read Full Story

Just to the west of I-10 as you are heading north from Tucson towards Phoenix...a smidgen past the town of Marana, is Pinal Airpark.  Home to hundreds of passenger airliners that are either waiting to be recalled into service or stripped down and their parts recycled. This may well be one of the most valuable junkyards on the planet! It isn't a sight one expects while motoring along the highway, enjoying the desert scenery.  Just a couple of miles north is a new home development called Red R... Read Full Story

  As much assistance as REALTORS® provide to clients, there are certain things that are illegal, unethical and impossible for us to talk about.  Perception-based judgements like "is this a good neighborhood" and "is the crime rate high or low here" are impossible to answer...especially since one person's idea of what is good or bad may be completely different from anothers. Telling a client what the racial, ethnic or religious makeup of a neighborhood is a direct violatio... Read Full Story

Okay, I admit it - it isn't easy to come out & say that our city government has done something right...but they have: On the top of the Pennington Street Garage in Downtown Tucson, they put photovoltaic solar panels on the roof to generate electricity.  It not only provides shade for the cars on the top level (gasp! - no more oven-like conditions if you're late to work?), but the power generated is equivalent to the power requirements of over 7,900 homes. Kudos to the planning & transportatio... Read Full Story

Like many folks in the real estate world, I've been using a BlackBerry for years. It (or any of the other smartphones) can be one of the most useful realtor tools in your arsenal. One of the joys of owning a smartphone is the fact that it does so many things. One of the frustrations of owning a smartphone is that it does so many things...who has time to read the owner's manual anyway?...besides, you ever wonder why they write them to be so useless for the public? One thing I like that RIM has... Read Full Story

As my practice primarily consists of buyer representation, I regularly get questions from clients about Home Warranties and their value.  Please know that I highly recommend that every buyer client of mine purchase one - not as a replacement for Homeowner's Insurance, but as a way to add "peace of mind" and help prevent claims on your insurance if something breaks or goes amiss in the first year of ownership. That being said, please keep the following in mind: No Home Warranty covers eve... Read Full Story

On this day when we take a moment to thank our fathers (and perhaps unearth the ugliest tie in the world to give as a present), I would do something a little different than I've done in the past...take my thanks public. Tom Simpson, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, is my Dad.  Beyond being thankful, I am also proud to be his son.  He has been, and is still a role model for me.  His ethic of hard work, love of learning new things and being honorable in all that you do remain goals for... Read Full Story

Some of my favorite moments during the week are when the office is empty at the end of the day & the sun is going down.  I like take a break to enjoy a little beauty by stepping onto the balcony just a step outside my office. Amazingly enough - this photo was taken with the camera on my phone! If you would like to make this kind of sunset a regular part of your day, lets find you a home in Tucson!  The first step is finding a home - go directly to my Easy Home Search page. Read Full Story