I always wanted to be a Marine, but it wasn't until the first day of rugby practice at the Naval Academy my sophomore year that I knew I was going to be a Marine. One of my coaches—an active duty larger-than-life Marine officer—took one look at me and declared, "Yep, you're going to be a Marine." That was Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Shea, who was killed the following year in combat near Fallujah, Iraq. He was the first person I knew to be killed in action and the first person I think of on Memorial Day, the federal holiday remembering and honoring persons who have died while serving in the Armed Forces. People often confuse Memorial Day as another Veterans Day. The more you learn or the closer
Starting with the basic ARMLS numbers for May 1, 2019 and comparing them with May 1, 2018 for all areas & types: Active Listings (excluding UCB): 17,513 versus 16,329 last year - up 7.3% - but down 6.1% from 18,650 last month Active Listings (including UCB): 23,650 versus 21,440 last year - up 5.6% - but down 3.2% compared with 23,399 last month Pending Listings: 7,326 versus 7,393 last year - down 0.9% - but up 5.3% from 6,958 last month Under Contract Listings (including Pending, CCBS & UCB): 12,463 versus 12,504 last year - down 0.3% - but up 6.5% from 11,707 last month Monthly Sales: 9,676 versus 9,185 last year - up 5.3% - and up 13.9% from 8,496 last month Monthly Average Sales Price p
For Buyers: The median rent paid on single family rentals through the Arizona Regional MLS is currently $1,625 per month, which is comparable to what the mortgage payment would be on a median-priced $270,000 home with 4% down at today’s interest rate (including approximate taxes, homeowners insurance and mortgage insurance). If a buyer were to purchase that home today, within 5 years they would have nearly $35,000 in equity just from making their mortgage payment, not including any appreciation in value. If prices were to rise at a modest 2.1% per year (the average long term rate of inflation) within that same 5 years, then they would have an additional $43,000 in equity just from appreci
