After years of pain and a market free fall that has shaved $6.8 trillion off the value of the nation’s 104 million homes, the decline in U.S. house prices may be nearly over.

U.S. homeowners lost $681 billion this year, according to a study by real estate website operator Zillow set for release today. That’s less than the $1.1 trillion drop in value in 2010, let alone the $2.7 trillion in losses in 2008, Zillow said. And a Zillow survey of 109 economists says U.S. home prices will stop falling late next year or early 2013, with the most optimistic quarter of economists predicting an 18% rebound by 2016.

The reason is that the economy is slowly turning around, as prices have come into balance with buyers’ incomes and how much they’d pay to rent comparable homes, said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor’s, which publishes the S&P/Case-Shiller national home price index.

The negatives are that consumer confidence is low and there’s an overhang of foreclosed homes whose owners will discount them for resale, economists say.

“If it weren’t for confidence and consumer debt, we’d be in a boom,” Blitzer said. “Houses are cheaper than they have been since 2003, and mortgage rates are the lowest in 40 years.”

Two key numbers that foreshadowed the housing bust that began in 2006 now point to a stabilization and recovery, economists say.

•The ratio of the average home price to median income is now 13% lower than its average from 1990 to this year, Moody’s says. In 2005, the average price was 44% higher than the long-run average.

•The ratio of rental costs to home-buying expenses is about 15% lower than in 2000, according to S&P. At the peak, housing prices were about 20% higher than average, relative to rents.

Economists differ over how sharp the housing recovery will be, said Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow. The most pessimistic economist in Zillow’s survey thinks prices will decline an additional 26%, he said.

His own forecast is 3% appreciation by 2016 — total, not annually, he said. One reason is that unemployment, while falling, is still high.

The nation’s largest real-estate brokerage firm expects little recovery without a turn in the job market, said Richard Smith, CEO of Realogy, owner of Coldwell Banker and Century 21.

“I don’t see a spiking recovery until there’s an improvement in jobs, and until then it’s a steady but slow recovery off a pretty dismal pace,” Smith said.

Click the link for the article: http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/story/2011-12-21/home-prices/52149756/1

Beginning a new year means setting goals, making resolutions and, of course, celebrating New Year’s Eve.

These sites may aid you in celebrating and in keeping your promises.

Now, let’s celebrate the New Year!

Don’t miss that ball dropping! This JavaScript countdown clock works off YOUR computer’s clock so you can check your computer’s time against the US Navy Master Clock. Then start the countdown to New Year’s Eve!

May you always have an angel by your side
Watching out for you in all the things you do
Reminding you to keep believing in brighter days
Finding ways for your wishes and dreams
To take you to beautiful places

Giving you hope that is as certain as the sun
Giving you the strength of serenity as your guide
May you always have love and comfort and courage
And may you always have an angel by your side

May you always have an angel by your side
Someone there to catch you if you fall
Encouraging your dreams
Inspiring your happiness
Holding your hand and helping you through it all

In all of our days, our lives are always changing
Tears come along as well as smiles
Along the roads you travel,
May the miles be a thousand times more lovely than lonely,
May they give you the kind of gifts that never, ever end:

Someone wonderful to love
And a dear friend in whom you can confide
May you have rainbows after every storm
May you have hopes to keep you warm
And may you always have an angel
By your side…

~Emilia Larson~

Palm trees wave, are you listening?
In the pool, water’s glistening.
A beautiful sight, we’re happy tonight,
Living in a Phoenix Wonderland.

Gone away is the blizzard,
Here to stay is the lizard.
A warm sunny day, we like it that way,
Living in a Phoenix Wonderland.

In the desert we will have a picnic,
Cactus, sand, rattlesnakes and sun.
Christmas dinner is an old tradition,
It’s pinto beans and tacos by the ton.

Later on, we’ll perspire,
As the temperature rises higher.
A warm sunny day, we like it that way,
Living in a Phoenix Wonderland.

In the desert we don’t shovel snow, man.
There’s no ice to make us slip and slide.
All the houses here are air conditioned,
So we can all get cold when we’re inside.

Later on, if we’re wishing,
We can golf or go fishing.
A warm sunny day, we like it that way,
Living in a Phoenix Wonderland!

Wishing you a Happy Holiday! If you find or need a moment to relax, please enjoy these sites! I’ve included fun for adults and a list Just for Kids!

A Winter Web Wonderland and fun Christmas stuff, including a virtual Christmas tree and Build a Snowman.

Don’t bother with the malls this holiday season: they’re crowded; the parking lots are full; and you’ll never find what you’re looking for, anyway. Come instead to CNET’s Holiday Buying Guide, your one-stop shop for all your holiday purchases. ZDNet’s Holiday Buying Guide helps out, too, withstocking stuffers. It doesn’t have to be CyberMonday to shop online at Red Envelope for unique gift items. And the Ultimate Gift from Wired Magazine is A Posh Bag Packed with the Best Mobile Gizmos.

Here’s a holiday gift from Mashable 6 Mobile Apps to Simplify Your Holiday Shopping and another favorite holiday shopping app.

Thanksgiving Dinner Maker

TGIBlackFridays – search deals from Ace Hardware to Walmart and Android

ProFlowers – who doesn’t like to receive flowers?

Thanksgiving Color Book – and Android

ESPNScoreCenter – for you know who… and Android

And for Online Resources

1. Invitations: Someecards or interactive card

2. Food Preparation: Food Network’s Thanksgiving Live! show

3. Travel: Use the GasBuddy mobile app to discover the cheapest gasoline prices in your vicinity.

4. Décor: If you don’t have a fireplace, there’s an app for that, DIY centerpieces and place settings.

5. Cooking: Butterball , telephone helpline and Bon Appetit

6. Vegetarian: healthy and meatless alternatives

7. Entertainment: scavenger hunt, or Fictionary

8. Leftovers: variety of meals

Thanks to Mashable.com!

And Paradise Valley is the brainiest of the mid-sized cities in Arizona. The population of those cities are between 10,000 and 49,999 residents.

On Numbers rated local brainpower by using raw 2009 data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s five-year American Community Survey. Each place’s score was based on its percentage of adults (25 or older) at each level of a five-rung educational ladder:

AND, Scottsdale and Tempe are the smartest big cities in Arizona. The East Valley is the place to be for the smartest big city folk in Arizona, based on a population of a city of at least 100,000 people. It’s followed, in order, by Tempe, Gilbert and Chandler.

Another interesting statistic is that only 38% of Arizonans were born in the state. When I moved here 33 years ago, the joke was finding someone who was a native.  But, we’ve surely had an influx of people from all over during that time looking to enjoy our sun and amenities since then!

Arizona was the No. 2 state for relocations from California, with 47,164 people moving here last year from the Golden State. A majority of people who moved during 2010 reported housing related issues (44.9 percent) as their reason for relocating. Family related (27.9 percent) and employment related (18.5 percent) were reasons the others cited in the U.S. Census Bureau report.

Stats from Phoenix Business Journal, November, 2011

It’ll be on a new location on the Salt River Reservation on the border of Scottsdale’s 101. The same Salt River tribe that gave us the new Talking Stick spring-training fields for the Diamondbacks this spring. They bought the Pavilions Shopping Center just south of it, and are renovating that right now, so it will be one dynamite shopping mecca. The Tangier Factory Outlet will complement the Pavilions at Talking Stick and typically includes Aeropostale, Banana Republic, Coach, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Reebok and Rockport
 

First Solar Inc.’s Mesa plant represents a $300 million investment and 600 jobs for the Phoenix area. Construction will began in the second quarter and be complete a year later with the first shipments beginning in third-quarter 2012, officials from the Tempe company announced That will mean some 400 to 500 construction jobs.

One interesting application of solar is the Solar rooftop and parking systems installed by USAA in Phoenix. The parking garage-mounted system, can power 75 homes, and is part of a project to reduce their power consumption by about 25%.

Another company in Tempe, Clear Energy Systems Inc. is planning to invest about $10 million in a large manufacturing facility  and the company plans to hire about 225 people there within the next three years.

Tempe-based company, First Solar Inc.  First Solar Inc. Latest from The Business Journals Readers Respond: SolarArizona hits rough patch with China on solar trade questionsFirst Solar quietly pioneers Phoenix solar industry Follow this company is building the Paloma Solar Power Plant in Gila Bend. It’s a 17-megawatt facility that will sell its power to Arizona Public Service Co.

Suntech Power Holding Co. Ltd. in Goodyear is creating the panels for Sempra Generation’s Mesquite Solar I facility. For APS it’s a big deal because it represents the first plant coming online for the utility’s AZ Sun program.

And here’s a list, thanks to the Phoenix Business Journal of companies new and hiring in the Valley..

Yulex gets $15M, opening Chandler site

Mach 1 Global opens distribution center

CX.com moving to Scottsdale Waterfront, hiring 100

Workers prepare downtown Phoenix Oakville Grocery for spring debut

White Glove to use $12.5M VC intestment to hire 50

PayPal still hiring for 2,000-employee center

Banner Health to build center in Maricopa

Gestamp Renewables to build steel facility in Surprise

Intel to invest $5B in new Arizona semiconductor plant

Children’s hospitals add staff as flu attacks

I/o Data Centers opens module manufacturing facility

World Wide Tech moves to Broadway 101

Arizona 1st Choice Roofing hiring sales reps

Menlo DevCo rehab center to create 140 jobs in Gilbert

Home Deport to make 60,000 seasonal hires

Paetec opens data center in Phoenix

Yelp hiring 300 more in Scottsdale

And Aquinty Interactive call center to bring hundreds of jobs to Gilbert