Fifteen tons of copper were used in the construction of the Arizona State Capitol’s dome. This is equivalent to the amount of copper used to create 4.8 million pennies.

On February 14, 1912, when President William H. Taft signed the proclamation making Arizona the 18^th state, cameras rolled. That signing was the first presidential ceremony ever to be recorded by movie cameras.

The largest and oldest botanical garden in Arizona is the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. Opened in 1925, the park encompasses 323-acres and includes a large range of habitats that can be viewed on a 1.5-mile walking trail. The park is located near Superior.

A roadrunner, which can fly, can “run” up to 15 miles-per-hour.

The barrel cactus can help you find your way home if you get lost in the desert. Because it almost always grows or leans towards the south, it is sometimes called the “compass cactus”. .

Arizona has more national monuments than any other state?

The Phoenix Suns played in the first triple overtime playoff game in NBA history?

Apollo astronauts trained in Meteor Crater in preparation for missions to the moon?

Arizona is blanketed with the largest stand of Ponderosa Pines in North America?

Disclosed for the 1st time, ‘damage points’ taken off for late payments

The greater transparency about FICO scores is important because American consumers’ ability to get credit rises and falls with the number. FICO, the company that pioneered credit scoring, assigns consumers a three-digit number from 300 to 850, depending on how well they handle credit.

Some of the more common “mistakes” and debt management tips…

Nearly 10.7 million households had negative equity in their homes in the third quarter, according to First American CoreLogic, a real-estate information company based in Santa Ana, Calif.

These so-called underwater mortgages pose a roadblock to a housing recovery because the properties are more likely to fall into bank foreclosure and get dumped into an already saturated market. Economists from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said Monday they didn’t expect U.S. home …

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HOUSE HUNTING TIP: Regardless of how committed you are to buying, it’s not wise to bid on every short sale you come across that might work for you. Approximately one-third of the short-sale listings on the market don’t close, either because the lender won’t approve a realistic price, or because there are multiple liens secured against the property. Generally, if there are more than two liens, the likelihood of the short sale going through is slim.

Don’t look at a short-sale listing until your agent has talked with the listing agent to find how much ground work has been done. Does the listing agent have the sellers’ written authorization to negotiate on their behalf with the lender? Has the listing agent been in touch with a representative of the lender’s loss mitigation department? Have the sellers provided all the documents that will need to be submitted to the lender when an offer is accepted, such as a financial statement, hardship letter, bank statements, pay stubs, etc.

Stay away from short-sale listings where the listing agent doesn’t have the seller’s cooperation. For instance, the sellers may not have their paperwork in order to present to the lender. Understandably, it’s difficult for most people to face losing their home and good credit. But, without the sellers’ cooperation, the sale won’t go through.

THE CLOSING: Short sales require a lot of patience, a cooperative effort between the buyers, sellers and agents involved, and frequent communication to keep everyone involved in the process up-to-date.

Dian Hymer, a real estate broker with more than 30 years’ experience, is a nationally syndicated real estate columnist and author of “House Hunting: The Take-Along Workbook for Home Buyers” and “Starting Out, The Complete Home Buyer’s Guide.”

A recent report from the Pew Research Center found that older adults feel younger out west. Fully 78% of adults ages 65 and older who live in the West say they don’t feel old, compared with 67% of older adults who live in the rest of the country.

Not that we’re tooting our own horn out here (we are based in Scottsdale, AZ, after all), but we’re not surprised by the numbers.

If you have clients debating where their next move will be, share the following statistics:

• Two-thirds of Westerners ages 65 and older say they feel younger than their chronological years, compared with 57% of older Americans in other regions.
• Among older Westerners, half say they feel 10 or more years younger than their actual age and one-in-five say they feel 20 or more years younger.
• Older folks living in the West also feel healthier than older folks elsewhere. Among adults ages 65 and older, some 72% of those living in the West say they are in excellent or good health. This compares with 63% of those living in other regions of the country.

So, celebrate 2010 and all the possibilities it brings. Don’t worry about that extra candle on the birthday cake. Embrace the future and remember you can always join us out west. We welcome you here!

Go West, Old Man…

Internet messages started with a crash 40 years ago today, and life hasn’t been the same since. “We transmitted the ‘L’ … and the ‘O’ — and then the other computer crashed,” says UCLA’s Leonard Kleinrock, who helped send that first message on the university’s campus on Oct. 29, 1969. He was trying to type the word “login.”

“We knew and we didn’t know that it was going to be a big deal,” he says..

Kleinrock, celebrated at a scholarly symposium at UCLA today, built the Internet’s method of breaking messages into “packets” and shipping them across networks. He was awarded the National Medal of Science last year.

The 1969 crash wasn’t due to the “LO” message itself, but a memory problem with the receiving computer, Kleinrock says. “I actually took part later in the first denial-of-service attack on the Internet as well. We sent the first spammer in 1984 so many messages, complaining, that we shut him down.”

Early Internet (then ARPANET) users operated on an honor system, Kleinrock says, which has led to problems later. “If we had to do it over again, we would have built more controls into the Internet to keep the ‘dark side’ of things out. But it has been an incredible time.”

• A lease agreement was in place before the notice of trustee’s sale was recorded

• The tenant is a bonafide tenant.

• The lease agreement calls for a fair market rent.

If these conditions are met, tenants cannot be evicted upon the short sale or foreclosure of the property. This means buyers are required to respect the pre-existing lease agreement, and step in as the landlord on the property. This could be rental property, because it eliminates the need to find a renter.

Buyers looking to use the home as a primary residence, on the other hand, are required to give the tenant at least 90 days to vacate the premises.

Buyers who wish to take possession before the lease ends may be able to come to an agreement with the tenant and the seller to shorten the lease.

However, because the law affords tenants 90 days to look for new living arrangements, buyers should be prepared to delay possession when purchasing one of these homes.

Aaron M. Finter is a real estate lawyer at JacksonWhite Attorneys in Mesa and Peoria. He can be reached at dweed@jacksonwhitelaw.com

Tenants Caught in Foreclosure

Under federal law that took effect in May, a tenant is generally entitled to stay in the rented premises after the foreclosure sale until the term of the lease expires. The lender or third-party buyer at the foreclosure sale, however, has no obligation to refund your security deposit to you when lease expires.

On the other hand, your landlord not making the mortgage payments for several months is probably an “anticipatory breach” of your lease. Therefore, you may not have an obligation to continue making rent payments to the landlord.

I would suggest that you negotiate with the landlord for the return of your security deposit in exchange for your continuing rent payments to the landlord if you stay in the property.

The bank has the right to have a receive appointed by the court before the foreclosure sale to collect the rents and, in that event, you would have to make the rent payments to the bank’s receiver and not your landlord.

Christopher combs is a real-estate attorney with Combs Law Group in Phoenix. Reach him at azrep@combslawgroup.com

• Arizona has more national monuments than any other state?
• The Phoenix Suns played in the first triple overtime playoff game in NBA history?
• Apollo astronauts trained in Meteor Crater in preparation for missions to the moon?
• Arizona is blanketed with the largest stand of Ponderosa Pines in North America?

Some of these facts are in my Fun Facts section of my website http://amazingarizona.com/amazing-arizona/fun-facts, and an outstanding book http://www.desertmuseum.org/center/edu/faq_desert.php put out by the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, The Book of Answers? ,but I wanted to let you know about the TV and DVD series, the Arizona Collection, too, that are just the most scenic and interesting set of facts about our state.

Arizona Fall Landscaping and Gardening

This series is an invaluable guide for those new to Arizona as well as long-time residents. Local experts show viewers how to create lush landscapes with low-water use plants that flourish in our desert climate, also featured are tours of the Desert Botanical Garden, Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Tucson Botanical Garden and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Parts One and Two – 90 minutes each.

Desert Wildflowers

Camera crews traveled across the state by automobile, on horseback and on foot to capture colorful expanses of poppies and lupine and close-ups of the bold flowers of prickly pear, saguaro, cholla and organ pipe cactus. This armchair tour offers a rare look at the beauty and wonder of this stunning visual event. 30 minutes.

Images of Arizona

Experience some of Arizona’s most spectacular locations through the eyes and lenses of three renowned photographers. Join the photographers as they lead Arizona Highways workshops and see Arizona as it has never been seen before.

Over Arizona

Take a thrilling aerial journey over vast deserts, verdant pine forests, sparkling lakes and rivers, snow-capped mountain peaks, rolling grasslands, gleaming cities and the striking landforms of the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. Enhanced by high definition television technology and an original musical score, the program’s magnificent photography and informative narration will educate and enthrall audiences of all ages about the dramatic diversity of Arizona. 40 minutes.

Under Arizona

Two billion years in the making, Arizona’s landscape is recognized worldwide. The Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Kartchner Caverns — the diversity of natural forces that created these wonders are unique to our state. Forged by fire, submerged in water and buried by earth, the stories are not found on the surface.

Cameras capture never-before seen Native American ancestral sites, a dazzling treasure of gemstones and minerals, networks of aquifers, caves and lava tubes, newly discovered remains of dinosaur tracks, and historic mining towns. And at each step of the exploration, Arizona’s past, and future, unfolds. Spectacular high definition photography and computer animation combine for a compelling discovery of the natural riches found only in the Grand Canyon state.

Monumental Arizona

One word may best describe Arizona – monumental. Arizona is home to more national monuments than any other state in America – 18 remarkable destinations. Using spectacular high definition technology, Monumental Arizona takes you on a wondrous journey across the state to experience Arizona in ways you never expected. Flying over these sites, viewers will marvel at the stunning landscapes, the fascinating geology and lore of ancient civilizations. Under the banner of natural wonders and ancient history, this is how our state defines itself – Monumental Arizona. 40 minutes.

There are 26 titles in all… each one full of astounding photography and depth about our unique state. Enjoy!

http://www.azpbs.org/arizonacollection/index.php

Did You Know – Valley Then and Now photos

View videos of Arizona’s milestones

And here’s some Valley Then and Now photos, and the menu bar has others as well.