Bill of Rights

(A resource for all real estate consumers)

THE ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF REAL ESTATE, in cooperation with industry professionals and the public, CREATED THIS “BILL OF RIGHTS” TO HELP EDUCATE YOU, THE CONSUMER, OF YOUR RIGHTS WHEN PURCHASING PROPERTY. As a buyer of real estate in Arizona, you have the right to KNOW material information about the property before you buy.

THE FOLLOWING list represents some of the IMPORTANT MATERIAL FACTS you should educate yourself on before purchasing any type of property in arizona.

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW:

· If the property is located in an incorporated city or unincorporated part of the county.

· If title insurance is available and if fire insurance can be acquired.

· If you will have fire and police protection and, if so, who provides this service.

· If the roads provide access for fire protection and police service.

· If the roads are maintained, and by whom.

· If utilities are available, and who provides them. (Water, Electric, Gas, Sewer, Trash)

· If the water supply is adequate.

· If the jurisdiction the property is located in has conservation restrictions and policies.

· If the property is located in a school district, and the distance to the closest schools.

· If there are any natural or geological hazards, pests or wildlife.

· If there are essential services near the property such as grocery and medical services.

· If there is crime in the area and the crime rate.

· If there is a Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement or an Arizona Subdivision Public Report. You have the right to review these documents before you purchase property.

There may be other items not listed above that you should educate yourself on before buying property. For a larger list, please Reference the Buyer’s Advisory Guide found on our website.

Visit www.AZRE.gov to begin answering your questions!

We are here to protect you and the PUBLIC.

December 24, 2007

by Kenneth R. Harney

Investors prospecting for "short sales" and other pre-foreclosure opportunities-along with the realty professionals who connect them with lenders and distressed home sellers-got a big helping hand last week from Congress and the White House.

Congress passed long-awaited legislation to prohibit the IRS from demanding income tax payments from home sellers whose lenders write off a portion of the outstanding debt balance owed on the loan.

The "Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act" zipped through the Senate and House in the final week of the Congressional session and was signed into law by President Bush December 20th.

Though earlier versions of the bill made the tax code change permanent, the final bill limits the relief to sales and other loss-mitigation transactions that occur before January 1, 2010.

The big plus for investors and Realtors here is that the legislation -- which took effect immediately -- should relieve fears among financially-stressed home owners that participating in a short sale will leave them exposed to heavy taxes the following year.

Under the law as it stood until last Thursday, delinquent home owners heading for foreclosure had to factor a mean-spirited federal tax code into their decisions on whether to participate in a short sale or other transaction involving debt forgiveness.

For example, under prior law, if a lender chose to write off $50,000 of mortgage principal to facilitate a sale, federal rules required it to file a Form 1099 to the IRS to alert it to the home sellers' $50,000 debt relief "windfall." The IRS would then go after the sellers -- essentially kicking them while they were down -- demanding income taxes on the debt forgiven along with penalties in some cases.

The sellers would not have received even a dollar of actual income -- it was all phantom income -- but they would be hit with a tax bill at their full regular rates as if they had pocketed $50,000.

Now that tax burden is totally off the table -- at least until 2010. In the meantime, investors and Realtors should encounter one less objection by home sellers to participating in a short sale. That, in turn, should be a win-win-win for everybody involved.

Lenders and home owners will avoid the financial losses inevitable in foreclosures. Investors should be able to acquire, renovate, rent out or resell houses at deeply discounted prices. And Realtors looking for a profitable niche in an otherwise lackluster market environment should find more deals to work with.

With an award winning staff of writers providing up to the minute real estate news and advice, thousands of REALTORS^® in North America reporting daily market conditions, and a nationally broadcast television news program, Realty Times is the one-stop shop for real estate information. That's why over 10,000 real estate professionals have turned to us for their publicity needs.

Daily Real Estate News | December 10, 2007

Last Thursday, after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson explained the Bush administration plans to aid as many as 1.2 million home owners facing the prospect of foreclosure, questions arose quickly. Here are the answers to some of the key ones.

Which adjustable-rate mortgages are affected? To qualify to have their interest rate frozen for five years, home owners must have received a loan sometime between Jan. 1, 2005, and July 31, 2007, and be facing a reset of their interest rate sometime between Jan. 1, 2008, and July 31, 2010.

Who qualifies for this deal? Home owners who haven’t missed a payment, but who might if their mortgage resets. Those who can't afford the higher payments, and who have credit scores below 660 and less than 3 percent equity in their homes, will get the biggest break from the lenders. People who are financially secure enough to pay the higher mortgage payments don’t qualify.

Do owners of second homes or investors qualify? No. The plan excludes people who don’t live in the property that's facing foreclosure.

Why didn’t the plan go further? If home owners are going to pay less on their mortgages than investors expected, then people are going to lose money. Not all of those people are fat cats. Potential losers include pension funds for teachers, firemen, police and an array of mutual funds whose clients are individual investors.

Source: BusinessWeek Online (12/07/2007)

Daily Real Estate News | September 7, 2007

FHA Gives Practitioners Chance to Help Past Clients
Real estate practitioners with past clients who tapped risky subprime mortgage financing for their purchase have a reason to give those home owners a call.

In a key policy shift, the federal mortgage insurer FHA is allowing subprime borrowers with good payment histories and at least 3 percent in home equity to refinance to safe FHA financing.

The policy shift — strongly supported by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and put into effect by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in mid-July — is one of the first tangible changes to come out of the federal government's efforts to curb defaults in the subprime market.

Defaults are expected to rise significantly among subprime borrowers in the next two years as the low starter rates that lenders used to lure customers expire and interest rates move upward, making monthly payments unaffordable for potentially millions of borrowers.

Only a portion of subprime borrowers who are facing spiraling monthly payments will be able to refinance into a government-backed loan because of the payment-history and equity restrictions imposed by FHA . But for those who qualify, the new policy opens the door for borrowers in high-risk financing to move into a fixed, long-term mortgage that's far safer.

That option is something practitioners will want to pass along if they have past clients who tapped subprime financing and now might be facing payment pressure from higher interest rate payments.

Details of the new policy, called FHASecure, are available in a HUD Mortgagee Letter. You can also read NAR's statement in support of the program on REALTOR.org.

— REALTOR® Magazine Online

Meetings to focus on Agua Fria conservation area scheduled

(Morristown) – On July 1, 2007, the Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department and Bureau of Reclamation began enforcing the restriction on motorized vehicle use in the Agua Fria conservation area at Lake Pleasant Regional Park. The decision to enforce Park Rule R-107 was made to ensure public safety and to protect the conservation area.

At this time, the agencies are in the process of preparing a long-term plan for the area and would like to hear from members of the community who recreate in the Agua Fria conservation area. Interested parties are encouraged to attend one of three upcoming public meeting:

· September 6, 6:30 p.m., Desert Outdoor Center on the east side of Lake Pleasant Regional Park, 41402 N. 87^th Avenue, Peoria.

· September 12, 6:30 at the Desert Outdoor Center.

· September 17, 6:30 p.m., Albins Civic Center located at 19005 E. K-Mine Road Center in Black Canyon City.

Driving directions for each location may be found at www.maricopa.gov.parks. Parties that can not attend a meeting but would like to submit comments may do so via the website at www.maricopa.gov/parks/lake_pleasant/AguaFriameetings.aspx.

		MARICOPA COUNTY Clerk of the Board of Supervisors 301 W. Jefferson , 10th Floor Phoenix, AZ 85003 www.maricopa.gov

Supervisors Approve Lowest Property Tax Rate in 28 Years

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors today approved the lowest overall County-controlled combined property tax rate for Maricopa County in 28 years. The 9.6% reduction is the largest rate reduction since 1981. Both the primary and County-controlled secondary tax rates have been lowered.

Maricopa County’s primary property tax rate has been cut by 7.48 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. When combined with the Flood and Library District secondary rates, which also are controlled by the Board of Supervisors, the overall property tax reduction is 13.78 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

County Supervisors Demonstrate Leadership with Responsible Property Taxation Policies

By law, the primary property tax levy can increase only 2% each year on existing properties. Although the secondary property taxes for Flood and Library Districts are not similarly restricted by law, the Supervisors voluntarily lowered those tax rates to off-set potential increases resulting from increased valuations.,

President of the Arizona Tax Research Association, Kevin McCarthy, applauded the Supervisors’ actions: “The seeds of property tax revolts are sown when elected officials demonstrate they cannot be trusted with the extraordinary power granted to them through a valuation-based property tax system. In contrast, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors deserves great credit for voluntarily reducing their secondary tax rates for special districts in recognition of the sharp increase in values.”

By voluntarily lowering Flood and Library District property tax rates, the Board of Supervisors is demonstrating leadership in protecting property taxpayers.

County-Controlled Tax Rates Make Up About 15% of an Individual’s Tax Bill

The County-controlled combined property tax rate (the portion of property taxes overseen by the County Board of Supervisors) makes up about 15% of an individual’s tax bill. Other factors, including increased property values and other property taxes levied by cities, community colleges, and school districts also affect a property owner’s total tax bill.

		MARICOPA COUNTY Recorder 111 S. 3rd Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85003 Ph 602-506-3535 www.maricopa.gov

August 21, 2007 – Phoenix, AZ, In an effort to reduce some of the identity theft anxieties, Maricopa County Recorder, Helen Purcell, is calling a press conference for Tuesday, August 28, 2007 at 10:00am to report on a recently completed project. The Press Conference will take place at MCTEC (Maricopa County Tabulations and Elections Center) 510 South Third Avenue, Phoenix.

“The first phase of our Program to redact Social Security numbers is now completed and all recorded documents that can be viewed online, some 90,000,000 images, have no visible social security numbers. This was accomplished through a contract with AmCad, a full service technology service and solutions provider for state and local government agencies. Although it has not been determined that recorded documents are the main source of ID theft, I felt our office needed to take a proactive stance,” said County Recorder Purcell.

In addition to defining the procedures and the vast number of documents that were redacted Ryan Schoenfeld, Senior Vice President of AmCad will be present to answer questions along with the county recorder.

COUNTY RECORDER’S PRESS CONFERENCE

AUGUST 28, 2007 10:00AM

MCTEC, 510 South Third Avenue (south of the old train station)

Phoenix, AZ

Surprise AZ (August 20, 2007) Residents have a new way to express their opinions on the direction of the city: a convenient online survey identical to the one used at recently completed public meetings.

“We know families are busy and many could not find time for meetings,” says Surprise Community Development Director Scott Chesney of the recently concluded round of public gatherings on the city’s future. “The online option gives everyone a convenient way to participate.”

The survey presents various scenarios about the future of Surprise and asks respondents select among them. Participants can expand on their answers in a comment box included in the survey, Chesney says.

To find the survey, go to www.surpriseaz.com, and click on the banner at the top of the page.

The General Plan Update 2008 is a public process aimed at recommending amendments to the city council by mid-2008, Chesney says. After the August meetings, draft amendments will be presented for public comment through the winter months and into the spring of next year.