Home Seller Adds Offer of Marriage
Associated Press
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - She has tried nightclubs and online dating sites, but now a 42-year-old single mother is looking for love where everyone else's heart is breaking: the real- estate market.
After a year of trying to sell her four-bedroom home and eight years of singledom, Deven Trabosh is offering her Florida home and a shot at marrying her on the Internet.
"Marry a Princess Lost in America," Trabosh wrote in the ads she posted on eBay and Craigslist last week. She describes a life of romance and travel and a home that features vaulted ceilings, upgraded tile and a soaking tub in a gated community with a pool and tennis courts.
"I'm struggling . . . I don't want to lose my house, and I want to find somebody," said Trabosh, who changed her name in the ad to Traboscia to keep people from finding her in the phone book. "So I came up with this dream plan because I've always dreamt about being a fairy-tale princess."
She listed the home for $340,000 on a sell-it-yourself Web site, but upped the price on eBay, adding a $500,000 shipping fee to include her companionship.
Trabosh says eBay removed her ad. eBay does not allow the sale of human beings, body parts or relationships, spokeswoman Catherine England said Friday.
Trabosh hasn't received any serious offers but says she's had nearly 500 responses, mostly positive.
She's gotten criticism, too. Her 21-year-old daughter, Haley, says she just wants her mom to find love, but her 14-year-old daughter says her mother is embarrassing her.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Home Seller Adds Offer of Marriage
American Idol Auditions in Glendale AZ July 25
American Idol Auditions in Glendale AZ July 25 at Jobing Arena
A little more than a year after the Valley's Jordin Sparks took home the 2007 American Idol crown, the talent show will return to Sparks' hometown of Glendale when it holds auditions July 25 at Jobing.com Arena, 9400 W. Maryland Ave.
It will be the show's first time hosting auditions in Arizona.
Show producers report that they've seen great talent emerge from the Valley - including Valley native Brooke White, who cracked the show's top five this year - prompting their decision to hold auditions here.
Men and women 16 to 28 years old as of July 15 who can legally work in the U.S. are eligible to try out. Some restrictions apply. Auditions start July 17 in San Francisco and will continue on to six other cities. Auditioners typically must show up a day in advance to get a required wristband.
'American Idol' Audition Do's and Don'ts:
Ditch The Costumes, Dude-Sung Celine CoversUnless you're just looking for screen time, leave the face paint, original songs and sack of nail clippings at home.
C'mon people! After six seasons, we get that the first few weeks of "American Idol" auditions are supposed to be a parade of freaks mixed in with a few potential gems just to keep it interesting. We know it's too late for this season's group of musical circus geeks, but if the first two audition episodes are any indication, some of you are in dire need of a refresher course on the do's and don'ts of "Idol" tryouts before we even start thinking about season eight.
Do: Tell the producers a great backstory that might land you one of those "down on the farm" segments where we see you frolicking with your son/daughter/pets/tractor. The sadder, the better.
Don't: Have your backstory be tied to a bag of nail clippings, your "Star Wars" fetish, a stalker routine, an ability to make funny noises or a "wacky" original song about abstinence. Speaking of chastity, though never-been-kissed virgin Bruce Dickson and his lock-and-key necklace told a tale so bizarrely endearing the striking Writers Guild of America should investigate whether he had some help with it, we recommend a little less sharing next time.
Do: Try to stand out in front of the judges by wearing something interesting, (slightly) provocative, flattering or, failing that, bland enough that it doesn't distract them from your singing.
Don't: Shop at the costume shop, paint your face, wear a Cowell-esque top that exposes enough of your chest that Simon and Randy lose their focus, attach anything resembling tin foil to your body or have your shirt signed by your "supporters." And, for the love of God, if you can't see your feet, don't wear a Princess Leia costume, even if you are manscaped. Nobody needs to see that.
Do: Pick a song that fits your voice and doesn't make it seem like you're trying out for "Best Celebrity Impersonators." (Hey, if the strike goes on long enough, it might show up on your TiVo queue!)
Don't: And we can't stress this enough, don't sing a song by a woman if you're a dude. We don't care how great you think Celine or Kelly are, the minute you start that tune you will automatically lose Simon and come off looking like a gender-confused contestant on a Logo reality show, whether you're gay, straight or floating somewhere in the guyliner-assisted middle. There are plenty of great songs sung by men for male contestants to choose from — just ask William Hung. OK, maybe not.
Do: Stand out and be humble. Believe it or not, you can do this by just being yourself — especially, it seems, if you are a cute, bubbly blonde with a growly voice or a cute, bubbly black girl with just the right amount of sass.
Don't: Talk back to the judges and come off like someone who might be lurking behind a garbage can waiting for Simon to get into his limo later that night. Yes, you'll get screen time, but nobody will take you seriously for the rest of your life (especially if your heart is set on "actressing"), and you will undoubtedly be dragged out a few more times over the season in clip shows that will portray you as the lunatic that you are.
Do: Wow the judges with your awesome range and strong vocals.
Don't: Tell them people have said you sound like Whitney/Mariah/Celine/Kelly, because 10 times out of 10, they're wrong and you're wrong and Simon's just gonna rip you a new one. And one more thing: Even if your cute-as-a-button model husband says you sound like a superstar, don't make him say it again in front of the judges if it's clearly not true because, once again, Simon's going to make the drive home more awkward than a Paula Abdul QVC appearance.
Do: Be comfortable in your own skin, even if it means snapping your fingers, bopping your head or making a hand gesture or two. The easier it is for you to move around and look the three judges in the eyes, the easier it will be to do it in front of an audience that's larger than the populations of Chile and Cambodia combined.
Don't: Breakdance, practice shadowboxing, flap your wings, stare at the floor, wriggle like you're giving birth to a 15-pound bag of sand, or, as we learned last season, pretend to be a large, caged cat.
Do: Prepare more than one song, preferably in a different genre. Occasionally, the judges want to hear an extra ditty before they dole out a Golden Ticket. If you only rehearsed "Another One Bites the Dust" and Paula asks for some Sinatra, don't be shocked when you end up another one gone, another one gone ...
Don't: Sing an unrequested second song. If the Idol Trinity agrees that you stink, bursting into a new tune isn't going to change any minds. You're just prolonging the pain. Plus, "Idol" producers love having fun in the editing room, so even if you didn't cut off Simon's critique with a second song-and-dance routine, that's exactly how it will be portrayed by the time it hits airwaves, and you'll ultimately look insolent, desperate and/or unstable.
And, if you're going to ignore all these suggestions and just be your freak-flag-flying self — which, after all, is what really makes us all tune in this early anyway — take a page from the book of 44-year-old Renaldo "You Are My Brother" Lapuz. The strange little man in the silver-and-white cape chewed up 11 minutes with his space-case anthem of brotherhood, which slowly evolved from typical Hung-esque time killer to a strangely great piece of TV that allowed the judges to let their hair down and indulge in some of the same goofball antics they are used to rolling their eyes at.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Hotel Monroe On Hold. Phoenix Downtown Projects Affected
Lender's downfall puts Phoenix downtown in limbo
The financial storm brewing around Mortgages Ltd. has touched two key downtown Phoenix projects, a blow to ongoing efforts to reinvigorate the city's heart.
There is no more loan money to fund construction and renovation work for Hotel Monroe, a high-profile luxury project, the developer said Tuesday.
And a proposed Jackson Street entertainment district is looking for new lenders for a land deal.
And it was unclear if other downtown projects could be next.
It's unknown what developments are among the estimated 70 loans in the embattled Phoenix company's $925 million loan portfolio.
The downtown projects are significant because Phoenix and state officials have invested years of planning and millions of taxpayer dollars to resuscitate what had once been a sleepy business district.
On Tuesday, city officials downplayed the impact, noting that Phoenix has many successful downtown projects under way. That includes the expanding Arizona State University downtown Phoenix campus, the $600 million convention-center expansion and the nearly complete 1,000-room Sheraton hotel project, said Phoenix's downtown-development director John Chan.
"One segment of the market is slowing down, but there are a lot of positive things going on in downtown Phoenix," said Chan,adding that the Mortgages Ltd. meltdown is a symptom of the national credit crisis.
Yet, the Mortgages Ltd. fallout left two projects scrambling for new lenders.
• On Tuesday, the developer behind a $100 million boutique-hotel project announced that renovations at the historic 1930s office building are winding down. The renovated hotel was expected to open Oct 1.
Its developer, Grace Communities, has been paying contracting expenses out of its reserves because Mortgages Ltd. has stopped funding its loan, which was for $75.6 million, said Jonathon Vento, a partner with Grace.
He declined to estimate how long the project would be delayed, noting that the company is in the process of renegotiating contracts with vendors.
Mortgages Ltd. has said it believes lawsuits filed by Grace and other borrowers are efforts by borrowers that are in default to buy time.
Vento insists Grace has not defaulted on any loan payments to Mortgages Ltd. and that the lender's claims are attempts to distract attention from its financial situation.
• Mortgages Ltd. has also loaned an undisclosed "seven figures-plus" sum to Dale Jensen, one of the developers behind a planned Jackson Street entertainment district near Chase Field, Jensen said.
Jensen is looking for another lender to take over the loan, which helped finance a land deal connected to the entertainment district.
"That's all I am doing night and day, arranging alternate financing," Jensen said, adding that the loan helped to buy two city blocks directly south of the Summit at Copper Square condo tower.
Jackson Street has also faced delays, but they are unrelated to the Mortgages Ltd. problem, Jensen says.
Mortgages Ltd., the state's largest private lender, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday. On Tuesday, Judge Randolph Haines granted Mortgages Ltd.'s motion to convert the case to voluntary Chapter 11, but tabled a request from Grace to appoint an independent trustee to take over the lender's operations.
Mortgages Ltd. has made several changes to its business, prompted by the apparent suicide of Chairman and CEO Scott Coles on June 2.
The company financed commercial real-estate projects for developers using money it raised through accredited investors to fund the loans.
Since Coles' death, the company said it is no longer making loans or accepting new money from investors.
Effects from the case have rippled to projects across the Valley. In addition to Phoenix projects, the lender's borrowers include developers in Tempe and Scottsdale.
Source: AZ Republic
Is Your Phoenix New Home Really Green or Is It Efficient
Is Your Phoenix New Home Really Green or Is It Efficient
Different shades of green
Over the past six months, large-scale home builders have incorporated claims of environmental friendliness into their marketing efforts like never before.
Some of those claims are even backed by real improvements in design, construction and materials.
Still, home designers and builders who were green before green was gold say the mass-market version of their philosophy often misses the point. Philip Beere bristles when asked about mainstream home builders' recent appropriation of the word green.
Beere recently remodeled a 1960s home in central Phoenix to obtain the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold Certification, which is about as green as it gets.
"I think it's great that the big builders are getting on board to make a better home," said Beere, a green-leaning Scottsdale entrepreneur who formed Green Street Development in 2007 with proceeds from his successful cleaning business, Ecofresh Planet.
"However, it should be advertised for what it is, which is an efficient home, not a green home."
Sure, custom-home builders may be painting with a deeper shade of green, Shea Homes executives say, but their company has a much broader brush.
San Diego-based Shea Homes, one of the country's largest home builders, launched an initiative in January to reduce the overall carbon footprint - the carbon-based pollution caused by human activities - of each new home inside its Trilogy communities by 20 to 30 percent.
The homes also feature better ventilation, conserve more water and require less lumber to build, said Hal Looney, area president of Shea Homes Active Lifestyle Communities.
Though they do not meet all the Green Building Council's certification requirements, the overall reduction in environmental impact will be significant, he said.
"We're building a couple of thousand homes, so the impact will be a lot greater than four or five custom homes," Looney said.
Shea Homes estimates that over the next 10 years, the implementation of its Shea Green Certified Home program will save the equivalent of more than 8.5 million gallons of gasoline and have the same carbon-reducing effect as planting 1.9 million trees.
"It will be a better place for everybody," Looney said.
Arizona State University architect Daniel Glenn said he supports the efforts of mass-market home builders to reduce consumption of energy and natural resources, but being green is not that easy.
"It's really problematic to think about building green when you're talking about these large-scale bedroom communities," he said, "because large-scale bedroom communities are inherently not green."
Glenn, associate director of ASU's Stardust Center for Affordable Homes and the Family, said production home builders have developed a tendency to "green-wash" practices that actually contribute to the pollution problem.
The biggest problem has to do with where they are building homes: places like Trilogy at Vistancia, more than 30 miles from downtown Phoenix, in Peoria.
"The further out you go, the less green it is by definition," Glenn said, which is why the Green Building Council strongly encourages in-fill development and urban redevelopment.
"You can have the greenest home in the world, but if your commute is 20 to 30 miles, you're not living a green lifestyle."
But what if the homeowner drives a Toyota Prius, which gets up to 50 miles per gallon? Shea is including a new Prius with every Trilogy home, Looney said.
Again, Glenn applauded Shea for attempting to reduce the environmental impact of its remote location.
Still, he said commuting 30 miles each way in a Prius doesn't leave much time for community-building, another pillar of the green philosophy.
"Is people spending three hours a day in a car socially beneficial?" he said.
Valley real-estate analyst RL Brown said large home builders have avoided revolutionizing the industry to reduce the carbon footprint of their communities, because their customers have been far more concerned about price than environmental impact.
Beere plans to put his custom green-home project on the market next week at a list price of $882,680, enough money to buy two midrange Shea Green Certified homes.
But consumer attitudes about the value of conservation are changing, Brown said, due in part to rising energy costs and concerns about global climate change.
"I think we're going to see, finally, the coming of the green, with serious efforts and not just lip service," he said.
Looney said large builders such as Shea have the ability to make green homes affordable to the middle class by ordering enviro-friendly products in bulk and teaching contractors new techniques that conserve resources.
Glenn said frugal home buyers should consider paying a bit more for a home that will reduce their energy consumption, because no one knows what will happen to energy prices in the future.
"You can't get a 30-year, fixed-rate energy bill," he said.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Peoria bolsters fight against foreclosures
Peoria AZ Foreclosures
Peoria has stepped up its efforts to identify vacant foreclosed homes before they become blight on a neighborhood.
The city's utility staff and trash haulers are now taking note if they suspect an abandoned home, such as trash cans not placed at the curb. Police are then made aware of the vacant homes and keep an extra set of eyes on them.
"The county is plagued by foreclosures due to the financial crisis," City Manager Terry Ellis said. "It's a problem in our neighborhoods."
Staff last week gave the City Council an update on a newly formed foreclosure task force, charged with coming up with solutions to reduce the impact of abandoned homes in neighborhoods. Representatives from a number of city departments, including city attorney, police and community development, serve on the committee.
One in 33 homes on average are in foreclosure nationwide, said Glen Van Nimwegen, Peoria's director of community development. In Arizona, one in 18 homes are in some state of foreclosure and as of May, Peoria showed 1,397 homes in the process of being taken back by lenders, Van Nimwegen said.
Arizona and Florida showed the highest foreclosure numbers in the country - the two states were the fastest-growing, which prompted home values to peak and encouraged bad loans, he said.
Peoria currently employs a number of tactics to deal with foreclosed homes that are neglected and overgrown with weeds, becoming neighborhood eyesores.
The city can issue citations to homeowners and with the city manager's approval do immediate abatement at homes with imminent hazards, such as green pools and broken windows, said Van Nimwegen.
The city also uses volunteer groups to clean up an abandoned property after securing permission from the lender to access the site, Van Nimwegen said. He said lending institutions are starting to become more responsive to the problem.
Councilwoman Vicki Hunt at the end of last week's council meeting issued a plea to civic groups for such volunteers.
"We will get the permission for you if your group steps forward," she said.
The city also can go onto a property, do the necessary cleanup and then slap a lien on the home to recoup the costs, but only through the abatement process, Van Nimwegen said. That process requires a notice and appeals by the property owner, he added.
Councilman Ron Aames asked why, if a homeowner can't be located for permission to access the property, can't the city declare the site an immediate danger and abate it because overgrown weeds can become a fire hazard.
"My biggest concern is the front yard," Aames said. "You have just one of those homes and it brings down the entire neighborhood."
City Attorney Steve Kemp said the city has to show significant conditions with a property to take that route.
"Property owners have the right to control access to their property," Kemp said.
Also, he said, placing a lien on a property has limited success.
Oftentimes, the value of the loan far exceeds the value of the property and sometimes there are two and even three loans taken out on a property, meaning the city rarely collects the lien.
When a homeowner is in foreclosure, other bills are not paid and bankruptcy is pursued, discharging the homeowner's debt, including the lien, Kemp said.
"The city fronts all the abatement costs," he said. "The city doesn't recover a significant amount from the abatement of a property."
Kemp said it cost the city anywhere from a few thousand dollars to $30,000 in one extreme case for abatement.
Van Nimwegen suggested the city work within its current ordinances and advised expanding the Neighborhood Pride program and creating a central point of contact for other departments to report vacant homes.
Source: Cecilia Chan - The Arizona Republic
