OK real estate types, here is your chance to win a FREE all-conference pass to Inman Real Estate Connect 2009 in San Francisco.

Last night I won two free passes to Connect SF in a contest on Twitter. I’m already registered to attend, so I thought I’d give them away here on Phoenix Real Estate Guy – much like I did for Real Estate Connect New York City back in January.

Here’s the rules:

1) Leave a comment below. It doesn’t have to be all deep and profound. Sucking up won’t help (though personally I have no problem with it). Leave a real email address in the comment form so I can notify you if you win!

2) Two comments will be chosen at random, and each of those will win a free admission pass to Inman Connect SF held Aug 5 – 7, 2009 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

3) ONE entry per person. You’re welcome to comment all you like, but only your first comment will be entered in the drawing.

4) If you win and can’t use it, you’re welcome to GIVE the pass to anyone you like, however you see fit. GIVE folks. I’m giving them away, so be cool and don’t put these things up on eBay. Let’s all pay it forward here.

5) This is important! If you have already registered, you CAN NOT get a refund if you win. Sorry those are Inman’s rules. BUT, if you’ve already registered and you win here, you can apply the pass to next years Connect SF. Personally, I hope someone who wants to go this year but needs a pass ends up winning. And next year I may be kicking myself for not saving one of these…

6) The winners also get to make the ultimate fashion statement at Connect. Each winner gets a free Phoenix Real Estate Guy t-shirt (like this) and you HAVE to wear it for one day at Connect. Trust me, crowds will flock to you clamoring for a glimpse of this amazing shirt. 

7) Unless someone steps up to the plate (hey, it happened last year! Contact me if you want to sponsor some travel!) you are on your own for travel, lodging and expenses. This is only an admission pass (current price of a pass is $939. But see below for a smoking discount…).

8 ) If you know you can’t attend, please don’t enter.

9) Winners have to buy me a drink at some after-party. Trust me, there will be ample opportunity.

10) Entries will close on Tuesday, July 7 at 8:00pm Pacific Time. The winners will be drawn and announced after that, as quickly as I can video and upload the drawing results.

Real Estate Bar Camp San Francisco II is on August 4!

If you win, or are planning to attend Connect SF, you’d be insane not go a day early and catch the RE Bar Camp. The whole “REBC movement” started right in San Francisco last year. It is well worth attending.

Smoking hot discount if you don’t win:

You can still get a 50+% discount on registration through Phoenix Real Estate Guy. Go to this page, and enter the code PhoenixREGuy when prompted.  As far as I know, this is the last remaining registration discount. Inman is a great conference, but why pay full price? (full disclosure: this is an affiliate program. I get a small payment if you use this code. Believe me, it’s nowhere close to what you’ll save.)

So get with it and leave a comment already!

More ways to win:
Via Ribeezie
Via Inman’s Twitter contest (the 1000th Tweet level is up for grabs!)

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Case in point:

Yesterday there was an article on Realtor.org – a site many would think could be trusted. It is after all, the home of the National Association of Realtors. They cited another source – U.S. real estate values present opportunity to Canadians from the Sierra Vista (AZ) Herald, a newspaper that has been published for over 50 years. I’m sure it’s a fine paper, but…

Here’s part of the story in Realtor.org:

Canadians Seek U.S. Property Bargains
Canadians are snapping up property in the United States. The Canadian “Loonie” is at par with the U.S. dollar for the first time since 1976—an exchange rate that makes homes and condos in the U.S. look like a real deal. (my emphasis)

And here is where R.org got their information from the Sierra Vista Herald:

What’s the strong attraction among the Canadians? For one thing, the Canadian dollar is currently at par with the U.S. dollar, something that hasn’t happened since November of 1976. The Canadians are experiencing the best exchange rate in nearly three decades.

Fact: The Loonie is not currently at par with the U.S. Dollar. “Par” means that one Canadian Dollar (a “Loonie”) is equal to one U.S. Dollar. The current exchange rate has one Canadian dollar equal to $0.86 USD. That’s 14% below parity. (source)

 
Fact: The Canadian dollar was not last at par with the U.S. dollar in 1976. On July 21, 2008 the CD/USD exchange rate was 0.9983 – that is parity (or close enough), and it happened 32 years later than “reported”. (source)

One would sincerely hope that no one is making a decision the magnitude of purchasing a home based on what’s reported in either realtor.org or the Sierra Vista Herald. But people do read this sort of nonsense and they trust the people reporting it to do their jobs.

It took me literally 4 minutes to verify these facts. That professional journalists can’t be bothered to do this is rather… disturbing? Frightening? Surely today’s journalist has access to the Internet, and surely they know some blogger somewhere is going to call them out if they make ridiculous and wildly inaccurate claims.

Surely.

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In many private conversations I’ve had, the general consensus has been that this tax credit hasn’t had much impact, that people really don’t care, that first-time home buyers aren’t buying that many homes, even that people are not aware of the credit.

Personally, we have yet to have a potential home buyer say, “The only reason we are buying now because of this tax credit”. (And that’s a good thing, as it is a horrible reason to buy if that’s the only reason you are buying.)

But that doesn’t mean the tax credit is not a factor. Many of our buyers mention it as one of several reasons they are buying; including the tax credit with things like historically low interest rates, low home prices, “good deals”, and the age-old “I’m tired of renting”.

Are people aware of the tax credit? Is there interest in it?

I’ll let the statistics for this blog speak. You tell me. Here are the top 25 search terms people used to find this blog last week.

18 of the top 25 search terms used last week were related to the $15,000 home buyer tax credit (a total of 1,416 visits).  Granted, these top 25 searches only account for 1,730 of the 12,058 visits here last week, but the point is people are looking for information on the tax credit, and presumably some fraction of those are acting on that information. For how many the tax credit is a major factor in actually deciding to purchase a home is the big question that can’t really be answered.

For the statistically obsessed, there were 8,210 visits here last week from search engines – and 5,096 search terms were used. That’s a testament to the “Long Tail” of search. (And if you care, 7,229 of those 8,210 searches were done on Google – a testament to the fact that Google is taking over the world.)

A total of 2,975 visitors using a search term that included “tax credit” stopped by last week – that would be 24% of the visitors to this site.

Since the tax credits were first discussed back in February of this year 31,168 searchers using 11,637 different terms including the words “tax credit” have visited Phoenix Real Estate Guy.

True, 31,000 people isn’t a lot compared to the general home buying population of the U.S. But this is just one insignificant spot on the vast, world wide even, web. If there are 31,000 people looking for information here, how many more are looking elsewhere?

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In alphabetical order:

Ahwatukee Fireworks – July 3 

Two events, the Ahwatukee Star Spangled Festival & Bicycle Parade and the Red, White and Boom, a Fireworks Celebration.

Where: The Ahwatukee Star Spangled Festival & Bicycle Parade will be held at the Ahwatukee Community Center at 4700 E. Warner Rd. in Phoenix.

The Red, White and Boom, a Fireworks Celebration will be held at Ahwatukee Country Club, 12432 S. 48th Street (just north of Warner Rd).

These two venues are within walking distance of one another.

When: Friday, July 3, 2009. The Ahwatukee Star Spangled Festival & Bicycle Parade is scheduled from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. The Red, White and Boom, a Fireworks Celebration starts at 9 p.m., with gates opening at 6.

Cost: Free. There is a charge for rides and activities.

More info on Ahwatukee fireworks: Red, White and Boom. Ahwatukee Star Spangled Festival & Bicycle Parade event.

Anthem Fireworks – July 3

Where: Anthem Community Park ball fields

When: Friday, July 3rd. The celebration begins at 6 p.m. Fireworks are scheduled to start at 9:30 p.m.

Cost: Free admission and parking.

More info on Anthem fireworks.

Apache Junction Fireworks – July 4

Where: Apache Junction High School.

When: Saturday, July 4, 2009. Gates open at 6:00pm. Live bands 7 – 9pm with fireworks afterwards.

Cost: Free admission and parking (parking is limited)

More info on Apache Junction fireworks.

Avondale Fireworks – None scheduled.

Buckeye Fireworks – None Scheduled.

Chandler Fireworks – July 4

Where: Tumbleweed Park, on the Southwest corner of Germann & McQueen roads.

When: Saturday, July 4, 2009 starting at 4:00pm. Fireworks at 9:30pm.

Cost: Free admission. Parking $5.

More info on Chandler fireworks.

Gilbert Fireworks – July 4

Where: Mesquite High School located at 500 S. McQueen Road in Gilbert.

When: Saturday, July 4th from 4 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Fireworks are scheduled to start at 9 p.m.

Cost: Free admission and parking. Fees for rides, amusements and refreshments.

More info on Gilbert fireworks.

Glendale Fireworks – None scheduled.

Goodyear Fireworks – July 4

Where: Goodyear Ballpark, 1933 S. Ballpark Way.

When: Saturday, July 4, 2009 from 6:00pm to 10:00pm.

Cost: Free admission and parking. Fees for rides and refreshments.

More info on Goodyear fireworks.

Litchfield Park Fireworks – July 4

Where: Old Litchfield Road and Honeysuckle Street.

When: Saturday, July 4, 2009 from 7:00pm – 10:00pm.

Cost: Free admission and parking. Food and beverages available for purchase.

More info on Litchfield Park fireworks.

Maricopa Fireworks – July 4

Where: Pacana Park located on Porter Road, approximately ¼ mile south of Honeycutt Road. About 2.5 miles east of City Hall (located just off of John Wayne Parkway).

When: Saturday, July 4th from 6 pm to 9 pm.

Cost: Free admission and parking. Food and beverages available for purchase.

More info on Maricopa fireworks.

Mesa Fireworks – None Scheduled

Mesa cancels an almost 50 year tradition due to lack of funds.

Peoria Fireworks – July 4

Where: Peoria Sports Complex, Mariners Practice Field, 16101 N. 83rd Ave.

When: Saturday, July 4, 2009. Gates open at 5:00pm, fireworks at approximately 9:15pm.

Cost: $5 for each person 13 and older. Free parking. Food court available for food, drinks and beer purchase.

More info on Peoria fireworks.

Phoenix Fireworks – July 4

Where: Steele Indian School Park, 300 E. Indian School Rd

When: Saturday, July 4, 2009 from 6:00pm – 10:pm. Fireworks begin approximately 9:20pm.

Cost: Admission is free. Food and beverages are available to purchase.

More info on Phoenix fireworks.

Scottsdale Fireworks – None Scheduled

Scottsdale’s July 4th Grand Olde Fashioned Picnic is at Scottsdale Stadium on July 4 from 5 – 7pm. No fireworks. Admission and parking are free.

Surprise Fireworks – July 4

Where: Surprise Recreation Campus located at 15850 N. Bullard Avenue, about two miles west of Grand Avenue between Bell and Greenway roads. (same complex as Surprise Stadium.

When: Saturday, July 4th from 5:30pm to about 8:45pm Gates open at 5 pm.

Cost: Free admission with a canned food donation. Limited to first 10,000 ticketed fans. Parking is free.

More info on Surprise fireworks.

Tempe Fireworks – July 4

Where: Tempe Town Lake in downtown Tempe, Arizona.

When: Saturday, July 4th, 2009. Gates open at 4 p.m.

Cost: Children 12 and under are free. Anyone showing a current military ID is free. Tickets at the door are $8, or two for $15 (until sold out). Ticket Information (discounted tickets are available).

More info on Tempe fireworks.

The "CBS 5 Tempe Town Lake Festival Produced by the Kiwanis Club of Tempe" is the big one in the Valley. Last year 50,000+ people attended. Be careful where you park in Tempe, trust me…

Sorry, I can not guarantee any of this info is correct. You should consult the links provided for more information. Most have phone numbers you can call to confirm details.

Have a happy and safe Fourth of July however you chose to celebrate. And please, do not drink and drive. Call Discount Cab. They will take you home (at standard fare) and give you a free ride back to your car the next day. Believe me, a cab ride is a lot cheaper than a DUI, and way better than killing yourself or someone else.

Photo Credit: A Million to One on Flickr. Under Creative Commons License.

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I find it disturbing on many levels.

Once upon a time, I had an advanced writing professor in undergraduate school that said these things are complicated, but there is no shame in having it occur – it happens to everyone. Her solution was to eat a lamb chop with a side of beans and a bowl of pudding or perhaps a nice beignet for desert. Eggplant is to be avoided. However, anything is better covered in Sriracha sauce, so it is to be applied liberally (perhaps not on the pudding though).

Actually, that’s not even remotely close to what Dr. Marks suggested. She said the best cure was to ask someone for two words or phrases – any two words or phrases – and to write something that incorporated those words.

So I asked my “friends” on Twitter to send me some words and phrases.

They are a very creative bunch, and they’re pretty funny. Practically circus clowns even. I told them I’d recycle their musings into something about real estate.

If you haven’t already guessed, the words in bold in this post were the suggested words and phrases. Apparently my pals are obsessed with food products. While part of me wants to wreak vengeance upon them (try using “wreak” properly in a sentence without following it with “havoc”…), in all honesty doing that would be a fallacy. While we may have irreconcilable differences, the simple fact is, these are not flabby sharks, they are human beings, and I like them. Don’t believe that? Check my galvanic skin response and see if I’m lying.

Now before someone gets their panties in a wad, I realize I have yet to really say anything real estate related.

Work with me people.

I could have taken the easy way out and said how a short sale may not be a relevant property or a  sound investment. Ditto for a foreclosure. Or that loss mitigation officers at lending institutions are illogical. Not only can they be illogical, half the time I expect to get an email from them loudly proclaiming “All your base are belong to us. You are on the way to destruction!”.

Want to talk about landscaping? We could discuss the merits of the date palm or watering cycles for citrus trees.  Or the importance of a grand entry, or a big sky view. How about the benefits of being close to a soccer field for little Johnny and Sally? Perhaps we should chat about the need for quality flypaper in the summertime, or properly chlorinating your pool to keep the Kermit the froggy away.

But where’s the beef in that?

Wouldn’t it be better to discuss how no Home Owners Association will let you park a convertible dirigible on the street? Or perhaps we could get really deep and profound and discuss the cognitive dissonance a real estate agent experiences when the Code of Ethics they pledge to uphold conflicts with their innate desire to beat the crap out of a fellow agent that can’t find their ass with two hands and a GPS.

On that note, it’s time to end this nonsense. I’ve got appointments to make. It is, in effect, time to make the donuts. Carpe Diem!

And thanks for this little indulgence. It actually did help clear that weird blockage. And if you didn’t appreciate it, well, about all I can say is bite me.

Hat tip to these Twitter peeps:

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Maybe… Or maybe not. It’s politics after all.

Currently there are FIVE bills flitting about Washington, D.C. that would, assuming they are signed into law, either extend or expand the currently existing $8,000 homebuyer tax credit due to end on December 1, 2009.

Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) introduced Senate Bill S1230 – the Home Buyer Tax Credit Act of 2009 – on June 10. Senator Isakson created the original $15,000 homebuyer tax credit that morphed into the current $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit that became law when the Stimulus Bill was passed. This bill proposes a non-refundable tax credit up to $15,000, that can be split equally over two years, for all primary residence purchases – not just purchases by first time home buyers. The bill has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee for further debate. It has 12 cosponsors, notably including Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), the Senate Banking Committee Chairman. It would expire one year after enactment.

Representative Kenny Marchant (R-TX) introduced House Bill HR 2619 on May 21.  This proposes to extend the existing $8,000 tax credit to July 1, 2010 and adds provisions for a tax credit of up to $3,000 for homeowners who refinance. This bill has been referred to the House Ways & Means Committee for further debate. There are currently no cosponsors.

Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) introduced HR 2606 – the Home Buying Credit Expansion Act – on May 21. This bill proposes to remove the first-time homebuyer requirement (allowing all principle residence purchases to qualify for a tax credit) as well as extends the bill through Jan 1, 2010. It has one cosponsor (Rep Timothy Bishop D-NY) and has been referred to the House Ways & means Committee.

Representative Howard Coble (R-NC) introduced HR 2801 – the Home Ownership Move the Economy (HOME) Act – on June 10. From the Department of Redundancy Department, this bill appears virtually identical to Rep Johnson’s in that it opens the tax credit up to all primary residence purchases and extends the credit to Jan 1, 2011. It has no cosponsors yet and has also been referred to the House Ways & Means Committee.

Representative Dan Burton (R-IN) introduced HR 2655 on June 2. It has picked up six cosponsors, four Republicans and two Democrats. It joins its cousins in the House Ways & Means Committee and also eliminates the first time home buyer requirement while extending the credit to Jan 1, 2011.

What does all this mean?

I am clearly not a political analyst. It is apparent however, there is interest in extending the existing home buyer tax credit. Why there are three virtually identical bills proposed escapes me. Perhaps it’s a power play where Congressmen want their name attached to the bill. Power plays in D.C. – hard to imagine isn’t it?

Isakson’s Senate Bill proposes the most sweeping changes. Given that it is virtually identical to the original tax credit provisions in the Stimulus Bill, I think this one is going to have a rough road to passage. It was previously passed in the Senate, but the House squelched it. Seems they could just as easily do that again given the current makeup of the House.

The four bills in the House are all quite similar. None propose increasing the credit from the existing $8,000 limit. It will be interesting to see if Marchant’s proposed $3,000 credit for refinances gains any traction. All of the proposals eliminate the first-time buyer provision, which seems to me to be a good thing to do. The NAR recently reported that 40% of current home sales were made by first time buyers. Of course that means 60% were not (not factoring in investors and second home buyers, which are not an insignificant source of home purchases).

Expanding the availability of the tax credit to non-first time buyers seems prudent. There are no current bills that propose extending the tax credit to investors or second home owners – all require the purchase to be a primary residence.

Will the existing $8,000 tax credit be extended or increased?

While it is purely speculation on my part, I think we’re likely to see the existing tax credit extended beyond its current end date of December 1, 2009 (to qualify currently, your home purchase must close on or before November 30, 2009). And we may just see the requirement that you be a first-time home buyer lifted. I’d be surprised if the $15K credit gets past the House, though it may clear the Senate – Dodd’s co-sponsorship will help in that regard.

Of course we’re talking about politicians in Washington, D.C. so who the heck really knows what (if anything) will happen. Do not, I repeat do not plan on the tax credit being extended/expanded based solely on my speculation!

We’ll be watching these bills closely and will report when, or if, they make it out of Committee. Remember your High School civics class – the vast majority of bills die in committee…

(Photo Credit: cliff1066 on Flickr. Creative Commons License)

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Here are some of the “highlights”:

• Sales of existing single-family homes were down 30 percent last year from the 2005 level to 4.35 million, their lowest level since 1997.
• New home sales showed a record-breaking plunge of more than 60 percent from 2005 to 2008. Actual declines were even larger because cancellations, which are not backed out of reported sales, rose over the period.
• Housing starts were down by more than 30 percent for the year in 2008 and more than 50 percent from the 2005 level.
• The national homeownership rate slid from its peak in 2004 to 67.3 percent in the first quarter of 2009, erasing all of the gains since 2000.
• Measured on a monthly basis and adjusted for inflation, the national median home price fell by 29.8 percent from October 2005 to January 2009.
• According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, at least 3.2 million homeowners entered foreclosure in 2007 and 2008, and an additional 600,000 entered foreclosure in just the first quarter of 2009.
• Foreclosure rates in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida surged from less than 0.9 percent at the start of 2007 to 5.9 percent by the end of 2008. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, by the first quarter of 2009 there were nearly 800,000 outstanding loans in foreclosure in just those four states, amounting to 46 percent of the national total.

And it goes on and on.

The Bright Side?

The “echo boomers” – children of the baby boomers – are beginning to reach home buying age. A lot of baby boomers had a lot of children, and these echo boomers are beginning to enter the workforce and could help fuel a revival of the housing market.

Additionally we are beginning to see signs of recovery, or at least stabilization, across much of the Phoenix real estate market. Sales are up, inventory is down,  and prices are stabilizing (generally speaking). Some have even “called the bottom” and some continue to proclaim “now is a great time to buy”. And it may indeed be, for some people in some circumstances. I’ll stand pat in my assessment that there is never a right time to buy for everyone.

Fair Warning

As mentioned on this blog countless times in the past, it is important to understand that real estate is local – very local. Taking reams of data and aggregating them into national-level metrics and indexes can be somewhat misleading if what you are really interested in is what is happening in Neighborhood X. Even aggregating across a metro area the size of Phoenix often won’t tell the true story at the “hyper local” level. Yes, national/metro trends are important, but they do not tell the full story.

If you like data, you’re going to love Harvard’s report. Here is where to find it:

The full report, “The State of the Nation’s Housing 2009”. (color, PDF)
The black and white version (recommended if you are going to print the report).
State of the Nation’s Housing Fact Sheet (PDF).
State of the Nation’s Housing press release.
Previous “SON” reports (1998 – 2008).

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Long time readers will know that I occasionally go off on a rant or three. Often about things seemingly non-real estate related (like towing scams, though I would argue that any sort of community news or happening is very much real estate related).

Anyway, looking back over the last few posts, I see a little trend of what could be perceived as just wee bit of negativity. Heck, my good friend Howard Arnoff of Charleston Real Estate said this in a comment a few days ago:

Jay, you’ve been in attack mode for a couple of days, part time agents, lack of pictures (but I couldn’t agree more).

Who or what are you going after next

And that was before the whole Mill Avenue towing thing blew up.

So today’s post will be about puppies and bunnies (literally and metaphorically). Let’s face it, you don’t get much cuter and sweeter than puppies and bunnies. Unless you’ve got a heart of stone (or the mind of a serial killer), you can’t look at that photo up above and not smile and think “Aww, how freaking cute is that?”

(Incidentally, that photo is used with permission from Warren Photographic in the UK. They have some very cool work there. Give them a visit.)

Puppies and bunnies make me smile. Real estate makes me smile most of the time. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that provide me the freedom to say what I think on this very blog – the good, the bad and the ugly – make me grin from ear to ear.

My friends and especially my family are way better than puppies and bunnies. So is a nice medium-rare steak with a frosty beer. Events like Ignite Phoenix, #EVFN and the amazing friends I’ve met in the Phoenix “social media community” pretty much blow away even puppies and bunnies. Ditto for me RE.net pals.

Wanna know another cool puppy and bunny moment? Getting emails from a Tempe police detective and the Tempe Community Relations Manager, a call from a Tempe Councilmember and the Mayor of Tempe all expressing the same frustration I have over the towing mess. Heck, even the guys at Monster’s impound lot must like puppies and bunnies as they were some pretty nice guys. There are puppies and bunnies to be found everywhere.

Let’s face it. Sometimes life sucks. Sometimes you have to deal with negative people, lousy service, general incompetence, a shitty real estate market and even getting scammed and ripped off.

Most of life though really is filled with puppies and bunnies. Those are the things you enjoy, and the things that make life worth living.

So if life’s bringing you down, if you find yourself letting the negative waves put you off, then get out there and pet a puppy and kiss a bunny or something.

Fear not. This blog isn’t changing to be some pie-in-the-sky let’s gather ‘round the campfire and sing Kumbaya kind of place. You’ll still get the straight scoop and my unadulterated opinion whether you like it or not. I ain’t sugar-coating nothing.

But today is puppy and bunny day!

So enjoy it damn it.

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Today, all of us recovered our cars from the impound lot. Since I had no idea it was “cash only”, I didn’t actually pay the $135 fee yet. I did get my car with a clear verbal warning that if I don’t pay in two weeks, it will be reported to credit bureaus and a collection agency where fees will “at least triple” the charges.

I strongly feel that the lot isn’t properly marked with warning signs, so I did a little more research, and went back to the “scene of the crime” to take some photos and measurements.

I’ve been told by a City of Tempe official that the signs posted by the property owner follow city code in their placement, quantity and location.

I disagree.

Granted, I am not an attorney nor a policy maker. But I can read, and some of the Tempe City Code with regard to the notice to the public of the right to two seems very specific and clear to me.

Let’s take a look at Tempe City Code section 32-6 Towing from Private Property / Notice to public of right to tow. I’ll break it down to bite-sized nuggets of love… all emphasis in citations is mine.

Section 32-6 (a): The owner or person in possession of any private parking area shall be deemed to have given consent to unrestricted parking by the general public in such parking area unless such parking area is posted with signs as prescribed by this section which are clearly visible and readable from a distance of fifty (50) feet away and at all points of entry.

…and at all points of entry.

Here is a photo of what any reasonable person would consider a point of entry into the lot:

The tow warning sign is on the BACK of the green electrical box.  This is “clearly visible at the point of entry”??

…clearly visible and readable from a distance of fifty (50) feet away…

Here is the sign on the back of the box from approximately 50 feet away. You tell me, is this readable?

Moving right along…

Section 32 – 6 (b) Signs will be a minimum of twelve (12) inches by eighteen (18) inches in size and will be mounted at a minimum height of five (5) feet and a maximum height of ten (10) feet above the ground.

Pictures tell the story… here is the sign shown above. Of note, this is the specific sign repeatedly referred to by both the towing company and the Tempe Police Department last night when we converged on the lot only to find our cars had been towed off.

This sign is 6 inches wide by just under 12 inches long. The bottom of the sign is 3 feet 10 inches above ground level.

A little math… a 6” x 12” sign = 72 square inches. The minimum size per city code would be a sign of 216 square inches. This sign is therefore 33% of the required minimum size. Yes, it is one-third the size required by Tempe City Code (and it’s mounted too low. The top of the electrical box is the minimum height of five feet).

But wait, there’s more!

Section 32-6 (a)(5) Each sign shall state, "Tempe City Code, Section 32-6."

Shall. Not “should”, or “ought to”. Shall means it WILL.

Here’s a close up of the fine print:

Ok, so let’s assume that the sign behind the box at the main entrance doesn’t count. How you could disregard it completely and say it doesn’t matter is beyond me. But let’s pretend.

There are two other towing warning signs posted at the lot.

Here is one that is in the middle of the south end of the lot, approximately 160 feet from the main entrance.

Hey! It’s of the minimum 12 x 18 size! And it has reference to the Tempe City Code. You know, the one that says the sign has to be posted at a minimum height of five feet…

Yeah, this one is posted 25 inches above the ground. Last time I checked, 25 inches is less than half of five feet. So we’ve got yet another failure per the Tempe City code. (not to mention this sign posted two feet off the ground is 160+ feet away from the main entrance. Maybe it’s just me, but I also don’t see this quite being “readable” at 50 feet.

What about the other tow warning sign?

It’s posted at the northeast corner from the entrance, and is edge-on to the entrance. In other words, when you drive into the lot, you see the edge of the sign (it’s about a quarter of an inch thick) from 160 feet away.

Here’s a shot taken from the southwest corner of the lot. It’s the closest I could get to capturing the entire lot without standing in the middle of Mill avenue at 5:30 in the afternoon.

In summary

We’ve got a “primary” tow warning sign (I call it primary as it is by far the closest to the entrance and was repeatedly referred to by both the tow truck drivers and the Tempe Police as a reference) that is: 1) 66% too small; 2) mounted too low; 3) doesn’t contain all required verbiage; 4) not visible from the entrance; and 5) not readable from 50 feet.

You’ve got one sign that meets size and verbiage code but is posted at less than half the required minimum height.

And you’ve got one sign of proper size, verbiage and posting height. In the back corner of the lot and presented edge on to the entrance approximately 160 feet from the entrance.

And this, according to both the Tempe Police on-scene that evening and a City of Tempe official, are following city code in placement, quantity and location.

Again, I’m no attorney. I’d love to get an attorney’s thoughts on this – realizing of course you can’t give “legal advice” in this format.  Given that Tempe City Code Section 32-6 (c) states, “No private towing carrier shall tow a vehicle from a private parking area unless the signs are posted as required by this section and conform with subsections (a), (b) and (e)” my next research step is looking into small claims court.

Larger photos are available on my Flickr account.

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After a GREAT night at Ignite Phoenix #4, many participants went to La Bocca for some after hours networking.

Several of us parked in a vacant lot at the southeast corner of 7th & Mill, only to walk out to find our cars had been towed.

Here’s the [sarcasm on] big giant warning sign [sarcasm off] that parking there will result in towing.

Yep, it’s stuck on the back of an electrical box at the far end of the vacant lot at 701 S. Mill Street in Tempe (southeast corner of Mill & 7th St).

The lot is owned by “Tempe Mill LLC”, deeded on Nov 7, 1996 (per the Maricopa County Assessors public site).

According to the Nevada Secretary of State public site, Tempe Mill LLC is a Limited Liability Company registered in Nevada to a Dean Y. Kajioka, Esq. (source).

When I parked there, there were 5 or 6 other cars parked along the northern edge of the lot. Several cabs were also there, idling with the drivers in their cabs – I assume waiting for fares.

When I left La Bocca and got to the corner, a tow truck from Monster Impound & Recovery was in the process of towing a car (that I later found belonged to Steve Belt – who gets photo credits too) and one other car was parked next to Steve’s. Every other car was gone – hauled away by Monster Impound & Recovery.

There were several people milling about. One guy said one of the tow truck drivers has sprayed mace or pepper spray on him when he attempted to take a picture of the tow truck. He called the Tempe Police, who arrived very quickly.

More people whose cars had been towed began to arrive. A very nice family visiting from Mississippi also had there car towed. They had two small children with them and asked (quite politely I might add) if there was any way they could recover their car seats.

The tow truck drivers, two of the rudest and cockiest people I’ve encountered in a long time, told them the impound lot didn’t open until 9:00am (though the teeny tiny sign clearly says vehicles will be released at 8:00am).

The taxpayers in Tempe now get to pay for some police-arranged service to come pick up this family and get them some car seats.

The smart-ass tow truck driver told me, “Try suing us. People have been trying to for eight years”.

I called the number listed on the sign to try to recover my car tonight and was treated to one of the nastiest, rudest “ladies” I’ve ever encountered. She wouldn’t give me the impound lot address, and would only say I could call back at 9:00am tomorrow for information.

Here’s what REALLY chaps me…

Guess who the last car left in the lot belonged to?  I can’t say for sure who owned the car, but I can state unequivocally that one of the tow truck drivers unlocked the drivers door, got in, started the car and drove off.

So Monster apparently parks a car in the lot, baiting people to park there, then hauls them away. All for a tidy $140 fee (so I’m told. Guess I’ll find out for sure tomorrow. Update: cost was $135. Cash only, which I didn’t have. They gave me two weeks to pay noting at that point it would be turned over to collections where the fees would “at least triple” this amount).

One car owner told me he’d been parked there less than 30 minutes when his car was towed.

I asked one of the Tempe Police officers if this, “happens every night” and his response was, “Yeah, pretty much.”  They also said there was nothing they could do as this was private property and was “properly marked”.

Tempe City Code section 32-6 “Notice to public of right to tow” states:

(a) The owner or person in possession of any private parking area shall be deemed to have given consent to unrestricted parking by the general public in such parking area unless such parking area is posted with signs as prescribed by this section which are clearly visible and readable from a distance of fifty (50) feet away and at all points of entry.

(b) Signs will be a minimum of twelve (12) inches by eighteen (18) inches in size and will be mounted at a minimum height of five (5) feet and a maximum height of ten (10) feet above the ground.

I haven’t measured the sign (yet) but something tells me it’s going to be 12 x 18 inches and mounted five feet high. “Clearly visible and readable from a distance of fifty feet away” is highly suspect. I didn’t see the sign until the cocky tow truck driver pointed it out. Apparently none of the other seven people towed (nor their passengers) did either.

So maybe it’s “legal”. I don’t know, I’m not a lawyer like the guy that managers the LLC that owns the vacant lot. If they didn’t want people parking there, it would be an insignificant cost to post far more obvious signage, or here’s an idea – string a chain across the entry to the lot.

But wait, if you did that the towing company wouldn’t be able to park a car there. And you wouldn’t be able to charge people $140 a pop to retrieve their vehicles.

And all this after the Mayor of Tempe, Hugh Hallman, gives an impassioned plea at the opening of Ignite Phoenix to change the name to Ignite Tempe.

Whatever.

UPDATE: Interesting. Tempe Changes Rules on Towing to Prevent Companies From Scamming Drivers. So towing scams around Mill Ave are a known issue to the Tempe City Council…

Others Opine:
Roger Williams (@halfacat), another victim - Scam Alert! Towing Scam in Tempe, AZ

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