Author: Jeff and Lisa Armbruster

In Arizona, buyers increasingly ask for solar alongside square footage, treating it less like a luxury upgrade and more like an expected home feature.
Several Arizona production builders now pre-wire homes for solar as a standard feature, expecting many buyers to choose systems at closing or soon after.
Across Arizona's newer master-planned communities, energy efficiency has become a key differentiator, giving similar floor plans another way to compete for the same buyer.
What once was a retrofit discussion in Arizona now starts before move-in, alongside countertop and cabinet choices, reflecting how solar entered routine purchase decisions.
Because cooling drives a large share of Arizona household electricity use, solar offers homeowners a practical way to manage costs instead of paying full price.

Halloween falls on October 31 because the ancient Gaelic festival of Samhain, considered the earliest known root of Halloween, occurred on this day.
In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to praise all saints.
Soon, All Saints' Day incorporated some traditions of Samhain and the evening before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween.
Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes and eating treats.
Today’s the day to eat candies and sweets to your heart’s content! Happy Halloween!

Arizona property tax, deed recording, and assessor law changes took effect recently, marking the 2026 session’s general effective date for statewide property-related updates.
Current laws clarified that a full exemption for veterans with a 100% service-connected disability applies to a primary residence, with broader eligibility starting in 2027.
Beginning with the 2027 tax year, qualifying veterans and surviving spouses lose household income limits, and certain total-disability cases also qualify fully.
New recording rules generally require photo ID in person, raise penalties for forged Real Estate claims, add thumbprints, and require voluntary owner alerts by 2027.
Arizona also allowed electronic responses in some tax error cases, preserved classifications after accidental destruction, and expanded inspection notice, report access, and record privacy.
Arizona also allowed tourism improvement areas funded by participating lodging businesses, while certain county abatement lien pr

By Late-Q3 2026, US active listings were ↑~6% yearly, the third straight month of faster yearly growth, giving buyers a bit more leverage.
That gain followed a softer stretch: annual growth had slowed to ~2% in Late-Q2 2026, far below the ~17% pace recorded a year earlier.
National inventory still sat just under pre-pandemic levels in Late-Q3 2026, with 1.16M active listings, roughly ~5% below the comparable 2019 benchmark.
With mortgage rates and long-term yields at two-yr highs, demand cooled; with the slower season underway, buyers saw a little more negotiating room.
For a sharper local read, compare current active listings per 1K households with the 2018-2019 avg. to see whether supply is above pre-pandemic norms.