A renter has no way of knowing the community "standards" about where to store their garbage cans, and no way to know what the landscaping "standards" are of the community unless the landlord shares these issues with them.

In today's market often times when a home owner wants to sell, but then sadly learns they will not end up with anything near what they want dollar-wise for their home, they end up deciding to rent.

Many of these landlords are not professional landlords, and do not have standard procedures and forms to give to their renters, and some do not even think about sharing the Home Owner Association (HOA) rules with them.

So they end up renting their property and are then shocked to get letters from their HOAs when the renter does things against the HOA rules -- but in fact the landlord never shared the HOA rules with the renter.

If you find that you are a home owner who is needing to rent your home, we can refer you to some excellent property managers. You do need a property manager - don't try this alone! But if you decide you are ready to sell, then give us a call, as we can help you get that job done.

To read more about landlords and HOA rules, visit our blog post on Benjamin.com's Blog about this topic.

We just completed the stats for the month of January 2010 for the Gold Canyon Arizona real estate market. Some luxury homes that closed escrow during the month pushed the average price per square foot of homes sold for the month up a tad from the prior month, December 2009. 

If you are thinking about relocating to the East Phoenix Arizona Valley and want to see what is happening in this market, or if you already live in the area, and are interested in how sales are doing, so you can keep an eye on what your home might be worth, then visit our blog post on GoldCanyon.net for details about January 2010 stats for Gold Canyon, Arizona.

Looking for an unusual but tasty restaurant in the Phoenix Arizona area? Check out Restaurant Salvadoreno with locations in Phoenix and Mesa. This is an El Salvador restaurant with menu items not found elsewhere.

One of the specialties are dishes that include a El Salvadoro flower called Loroco. This is a flower that is common in Central American cooking. With a flavor that is mild, slightly musty and a little chewy it is sort of a cross between seaweed and asparagus.

At Restaurant Salvadoro they use the loroco in a recipe called Pupusas. The flowers are stuffed into  thick, hand-made corn masa tortillas that are grilled until they are golden brown and are oozing with quesillo, a soft El Salvadorian cheese. Then topped with pickled cabbage and hot sauce. Sold at only $2.10 each, you can get a tasty meal that is not expensive. For only a couple more bucks one can splurge and get rice and beans as well.

There are many other authentic El Salvadorian food items on the menu as well.

Visit the restaurant's website for more info and hours.

Looks like a new agreement will end construction of single-family homes near Arizona's Luke Air Force Base.

A settlement was reached Tuesday among state and county officials. The agreement ends several years of fighting between the Attorney General's Office and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors over potential residential encroachment.

Arizona sees Luke as a logical training base for the F-35 Lightning II, which replaces the aging F-16s flown at Luke. The Air Force base pumps $2.1 billion a year into the state's economy, and Arizona leaders do not want factions warring over residential encroachment, which would make the base less desirable to decision makers as a home for the F-35.

For details of this new agreement follow this link and story that was reported in the Arizona Republic.

If in Arizona and looking for a terrific day trip experience consider driving the Apache Trail.

If your drive is timed right you will pass spring desert wildflowers. Definitely you will want to take your camera along. You will pass Tortilla Flat, Theodore Roosevelt Dam and Tonto National Monument. A lot of the drive is on dirt road, so plan accordingly. Be sure to fill up the gas tank before departing.

There are some tricky parts of the trail -- one location drops more than 1000 feet in just about a mile - so hang on!

Take US Highway 60 East to Idaho Road. Then go east on State Highway 88 (the Apache Trail). Proceed all the way to Roosevelt Dam and from there backtrack, or circle around Globe/US60 and return to the Phoenix Valley.

You will need a full day to get there and back - it's about 145 miles.

For more info call the Tonto National Forest at 602-225-5200 or visit the website for the trail.

Some quick Facts about San Tan Valley Arizona which is in Pinal County Arizona.

Recently this area underwent a name change. Formerly the area carried the name of various small neighborhoods.

Now the big, unincorporated area that sits between the town limits of Queen Creek & Florence is legally called “San Tan Valley”.

San Tan Valley is almost solely responsible for making Pinal County the second fastest growing county in the U.S. The current population estimates of San Tan Valley are somewhere between 80,000 – 90,000 which makes it Pinal County’s most populated area.

Zip code additions have been put into place by the USPS across the board to accommodate the growth.

Developing a name for this area was largely because the area needed some identity and name recognition to make it more marketable to businesses and help drive in more and higher wage employment opportunities.

San Tan Valley is NOT incorporated . . . they are still considered unincorporated Pinal County, but over time this is likely to change.

San Tan Valley neighborhoods have the same school districts & post offices they had before the name change.

If you are looking for a place in Arizona with great home prices, a growing future, and strong community feel, San Tan Valley may be one of the areas you check out.

If you are needing to buy or sell a home, give us a call - we'd love to help you.

The Arizona Renaissance Festival is coming to Gold Canyon Arizona beginning February 6th and running through March 28th on Saturdays, Sundays and Presidents Day Monday. The faire is a medieval amusement park, a 12-stage theater, a 30-acre circus, an arts and crafts fair, a jousting tournament and a feast — all rolled into one non-stop, day-long family adventure!

There is something for the entire family. Gold Canyon is easily accessible from other parts of the Phoenix Arizona Valley on Highway 60.

For more information about this event, ticket prices, and activities visit our GoldCanyon.net Blog post.

Are you a landlord who handles your own credit checks for potential renters? MySmartMove.com is an Internet tool we ran across you will likely want to keep on file. This website will do a credit and criminal check on your renters for about $25. As a landlord you register for free. When you have a potential renter you enter their email address on the site. The website then sends a link to the renter and they enter their information and pay for the credit check. You, the landlord, then receives a credit and criminal search report from TransUnion.

(Note - we are not affiliated with this website in any way, and have not been compensated to write this blog post. Simply we ran across this and thought it may be helpful.)

Be sure to check out the upcoming event -- Taste of the Superstitions if you are anywhere close to the Gold Canyon Arizona area and are intrigued by desert plants and what they might be used for in the way of cooking. This event is sponsored by and part of the annual meeting of the Superstition Area Land Trust (otherwise known as S.A.L.T.). The event takes place February 6th at 1:30pm in the Superstition Center of Mountainbrook Village located off of Highway 60 in Gold Canyon Arizona.

There will be sample jellies, soups and other tasty delights all made with edible Sonoran desert plants.

Speaker for the event will be Tom Kellenborn. He is a long-time horseman and hiker in the Superstitions. His talks about life in the wilderness from pioneer days to current times are always enlightening and entertaining.

Tickets are on sale at the Mountainbrook Village Activity Desk for only $7.00.

For more information call Pat Prince 480-671-4847.

If you would like to read more about S.A.L.T. or want to consider volunteering you can visit the S.A.L.T. website for more info.

If you live in the Phoenix Arizona area it's time to clean out your closets of any un-used and no longer needed party dresses, formal dresses, dress shoes and other formal accessories. The non-profit volunteer organization, Cinderella Affair needs more than 1000++ formal dresses for this year's prom dress give-away.

Began back in 2002 with only 2 mothers who saw a need for high school junior and senior girls who could not afford dresses for their proms, the group has grown. In the early years they gave away about 300 prom dresses, but with the difficult economy, last year they gave away more than 1200 prom dresses.This year likely more will be needed.

This year's dress donation drive takes place from February 8th through the 21st. There are drop off points for dresses, shoes and accessories all across the Phoenix Arizona area. Visit their website for locations of the drop points and other information.

There are also opportunities for other donations and volunteer activities for the group.