Government Policy, Real Estate and You! with Liz Recchia

Pinal County and City of Eloy Housing Demand Survey has found its way to many types of people and organizations.  Economic development Directors at various cities and towns, city managers, state legislators, business organizations and chambers of commerce. And WeSERV members who have in turn sent it to those they know. A couple of weeks ago New York Times journalist Peter Goodman was in the Phoeni...

Governor Hobbs signed HB 2785 on February 9th. This bill moved up the Arizona 2024 Primary Election to July 30th. As a result, candidate filing periods have moved up one week. To learn more about the March 19th Presidential Preference election and what you as a voter need to do in order to vote in either the Democratic or Republican election, go to my blogpost of February 13th. For voters, the vot...

WeSERV Pinal County & City of Eloy Housing Demand Survey 2024 Everyone seems to agree, housing demand still outstrips housing availability and housing affordability is still almost non-existent. But, what housing are we speaking about and for whom? WeSERV has been advocating for increased housing product, rental and purchase, focused on wage earners with gross incomes between $45,000/year and $95,...

Candidate Interview Workgroup - Open to all WeSERV members. Email Government Affairs if you would like to volunteer: weservgad@weserv.realtor. Corporate Transparency Act: Mandatory filing of beneficial interest to FinCen (Financial Criminal Enforcement Network) every year beginning on January 1, 2024. Patrick McQueen at Medalist Legal provides email updates. Beneficial Ownership Reporting Form - F...

On September 12th 2023 I was able to sit down for a short conversation with newly appointed Dept of Real Estate Commissioner Susan Nicolson. This conversation was held at the West Valley office of WeSERV in Peoria with a group of REALTOR® members as part of the WeSERV West Valley Fall Conference 2023. DRE has now posted a link to the WeSERV Water Worksheet: Questions You Should Ask BEFORE Purchasi...

On July 31st the state legislature sent SB 1102 to the Governor’s desk. The Governor signed the bill on August 1st. If you live, work or travel through Maricopa County, then this bill is important to you. SB 1102 is the long awaited legislation to allow the Prop 400 extension onto the Maricopa County ballot. WeSERV is fortunate to cover areas that include military bases. Luke AFB is in the West Va...

On August 1st 2023, Governor Hobbs signed SB 1131, a bill supported and influenced by Arizona REALTORS®. SB 1131 exempts residential rentals from the locally established TPT (transaction privilege tax). The bill become effective in January 1, 2025. The Arizona REALTORS Caucus is scheduled for August 24th, 2023 at the Arizona Biltmore from 1pm to 8pm.  WeSERV discusses and presents AR with member c...

Property Managers and their rental property owners continue to experience TPT issues with the Department of Revenue. WeSERV continues to speak directly with DOR to help members find solutions. The only entities tied to TPT who are not participating are the local governments who levy and receive TPT funds. WeSERV is asking local governments to create a staff position dedicated to helping PMCs and o...

City of Maricopa Sign Ordinance If you live or work in the City of Maricopa, you know the updated sign ordinance regarding temporary signs has been a discussion since last Fall. On June 20th, the city council voted to approve the most recent changes. You may see the illustration of the visual triangle on the weservgad.org blogpost: City of Maricopa Updated Temporary Sign Ordinance Effective July 2...

Yes, housing is rising in price, and here are some of the reasons. Interest Rates and Credit Increased interest rates for both builders and their customers are helping to increase overall housing prices, both rental and purchase product. Tightening credit conditions over the past four months continue. Since last December lenders have increased interest rates for land acquisition loans, land develo...

I was able to attend the AAED state conference in late April. As part of the conference, I facilitated a workshop that was more facilitated discussion than presentation. What was clear was that wage earners across the state making between $45,000/yr gross and $95,000/yr gross make us the majority of people seeking housing, and that entry level housing product is few and far between. The truth is w...

In April we met with Apache Junction and Chandler. Our members provided context and market information in addition to the data. Cities and towns are interested in knowing what our members experience in residential, commercial and agricultural real estate, and members who join me in these conversations provide the impetus for necessary conversations. Across the WeSERV territory entry level housing...

The WeSERV housing study, The Web of Housing Solutions has been released. WCR East Valley Lunch is April 20th from 11:30am to 1:30pm at Avion Center. Mayor Hartke (Chandler), Ryan Smith (Phx Gateway Airport), Brad Smidt (GPEC), Alex Khalfin (Amtrak), and Chris Shcleicher (Tempe Economic Development) will join me for a discussion of planning today for the tomorrow of 50 to 100 years from now. NAR c...

Water: It is an ongoing and sometimes emotional topic. While others discuss and debate various water issues, in our industry it is central to everything we do.  History tells us the rivers have dry seasons, people repeatedly think the worst, and wet weather, technology and better water management provide us with a future. What can buyers and sellers of real estate do today to confirm for themselve...

In November 2022, WeSERV members in the West Valley and in the Southeast Valley met with several cities and towns to discuss the real estate market, its trends and to have casual conversation between WeSERV and local government elected officials and staff. That went so well, we are planning our Spring 2023 visits to cities, towns and counties. If you would like to be on a city team and participate...

As 2022 ends, I thought you might to take a look at some of the highlights at WeSERV Government Affairs. You can read about all 21 of the highlights at www.weservgad.org. Click on Director’s Notes. Here are few: 1 – The Az Dept of Revenue has made several changes suggested by WeSERV and its property manager members. Property managers now have a PMC specific webpage on the ADOR website and a PMC sp...

The Arizona Department of Revenue (ADOR) has made several updates to their systems and is providing new resources to help PMCs and their clients submit TPT and fees due for residential rental activity. I will be highlighting these helpful resources and changes made on a regular basis at www.weservgad.org, in the monthly WeSERV flipbook “The Word at WeSERV” and in the WeSERV broker newsletters. Her...

The promised video of ADEQ’s Visit to WeSERV in October is now up. Wendy and Terza provided us a tutorial to navigating the new ADEQ website to find super fund sites, septic tank and UST (underground storage tank) info. Watch the video to learn more about the resources ADEQ provides you and your clients and how to access those. Go to www.weservgad.org, click on Videos. The City of Maricopa’s updat...

The election is upon us and WeSERV Candidate Interview Workgroups have completed their interviews and candidate forums. If you would like to see the candidates WeSERV endorsed running for office, you can see the complete list at www.weservgad.org. click on Candidates and Elections. As you look over your ballot for the Tuesday election, you will see judges are on the ballot. Those of you in Maricop...

. As we heard in part 1 of this three part series, Coffee with MAG (the Maricopa Association of Governments), MAG has data and social services data you and your clients may find helpful and informative. There is a lot of information you, the taxpayer, pays MAG to gather. As a regional planner for Maricopa and Pinal counties, MAG information informs our local social services policies, transportatio...

WeSERV is still interviewing candidates running for local office. Last week our Cochise Chapter interviewed candidates running for city council and mayor of Sierra Vista. This week our West Valley Chapter will be interviewing candidates running for Peoria city council in the Mesquite district. Look for the WeSERV REALTORS candidate endorsement list on our websites: weserv.realtor and www.weservgad...

A couple of years ago we hosted Coffee with MAG (Maricopa Association of Governments) to learn more about this regional planner and data gathering entity for the Maricopa County and Pinal County area. Listen as Kelly Taft and Scott Wilken join us for a discussion of the data analytics, maps, transportation planning, economic development and other resources MAG offers. This is part 1 of 3. Song Cre...

Homestead Act video Buckeye: Buckeye water Buckeye water master plan Buckeye library master plan I-10 widening Buckeye Economic Development Goodyear Economic Development Surprise: Surprise Economic Development Surprise Performance Dashboard El Mirage Economic Development Peoria Economic Development Tolleson Economic Development Avondale EDGE Economic Development TSMC - Taiwan Semi-Conductor Song C...

WeSERV Government Affairs has been busy the past few months. Mark Apel joined our April meeting to demonstrate the WHIP tool interactive water map for the Upper San Pedro River basin. WeSERV Government Affairs Candidate Interview workgroups spent May interviewing candidates running for city council and mayor in the southeast valley and west valley. You can review the list of endorsed candidates at...

I was able to attend, and invited to present, at the WeSERV Santa Cruz Chapter member meeting on February 17th. In addition to my remarks, their guest presenter was Pat Risner, President of the Hermosa project mine for South32. Pat described the environmental remediation of past mining, some of which goes back to the late 1800’s. He also provided slides and a description of the future. Listen as P...