$19,500,000

Ski-In Ski-Out  (or snowboard) at THE COLONY w/in THE CANYONS RESORT, Park City, UT

Live inside THE COLONY – the largest Ski-In, Ski-Out, Board-In, Board-Out homesites in North America – located within THE CANYONS RESORT in Park City, Utah – Home of the 2002 Winter Olympics!  There are over 4,600 acres of skiable runs (and terrain parks) with access from your own back door!   There is a saying in Park City that says, “People come for the Winders, but stay for the Summers.”   Imagine what you could enjoy…

 

THE COLONY & Park City, Utah have unbelievable scenery (all Four Seasons of the Year), Hiking or Biking on Hundreds of Miles of Trails, Mountain Climbing, Golfing Fishing, Boating, Waterskiing or Wake Boarding, Lunch or Dinner with Family & Friends at the Red Pine Lodge or in the Resort Town of Park City, Concerts, Olympic Venues, National & International Sporting Events, the Famous Sundace Film Festival, Art Museums, The Farmers Market, Park Silly Sundays, Snowboarding, Skiing, Snow Shoeing, Snowmobiling, Cross Country Skiing, Ice Skating, Ice Hockey, Picnicking, Bird & WILdlife Watching, The Park City Arts Festival, Changing Seasons… the list goes on and on…  In fact,  here are 53 reasons   to come to PARK CITY UTAH.

Current Projects w/in THE COLONY

Out of a total 274 estimated home sites planned within THE COLONY, ranging in size from 4-113 acres, and prices ranging from $1 Million to $4.5 Million, there are approximately 170 lots that have been sold, 105 homes that have been built and 12 homes that are currently under construction.

For more information about availability and pricing for residential construction lots, see:  THE COLONY LOTS AND LAND.

For more information about availability and pricing for residential homes, see:  THE COLONY AT WHITE PINE CANYON RD.

For more information about my own personal home (12,696 sf) that is for rent or for sale, see:  #151 in THE COLONY

Call a realtor who actually lives in and loves THE COLONY located within THE CANYONS RESORT in PARK CITY, UTAH

Shanna Day, Owner/Agent #151 White Pine Canyon Rd., Park City, UT  84060

801-251-6416

www.FindUThomesFAST.com

shannaday@kw.com

• View Photos

  Park City, UT 84060

  • 7 bds
  • 8 ba
  • 18000 sq ft
  • Status: Active
  • Listing #: 9988927

  This amazing 18,500 square foot estate resides on seven acres in The Colony. The main home has three bedroom suites and there is an attached five-bedr…

  Listing courtesy of Summit Sothebys Intl – ParkAve
• View Photos

  Park City, UT 84060

  $13,900,000

  • 6 bds
  • 10 ba
  • 14384 sq ft
  • Status: Active
  • Listing #: 9972581

  This luxurious 8.5 acre, ski-in, snowboard-out, 11,000 sq. ft. estate is located in the prestigious gated community of White Pine Canyon. Gather fami…

  Listing courtesy of Prudential Utah RE-MST
• View Photos

  Park City, UT 84098

  $13,750,000

  • 8 bds
  • 10 ba
  • 17606 sq ft
  • Status: Active
  • Listing #: 9990687

  This prized equestrian property is nestled in one of North America’s largest ski resorts with a gentle ski run to the back door. Minutes away from In…

  Listing courtesy of Summit Sothebys Intl – ParkAve

  FEATURED LISTING:   151 White Pine Canyon Rd., Park City UT – Ski-In, Ski-Out or Board-In, Board Out, Hike or Bike In the Colony located inside the Canyons Ski Resort in the Resort Town of Park City UT.  Best SNOW ON EARTH!
• View Photos

  Park City, UT 84060

  $8,500,000

  • 6 bds
  • 8 ba
  • 12696 sq ft
  • Status: Active
  • Listing #: 9994445

  RENT or OWN this Vacation Home with fantastic mountain views!  This 6 Bedroom 7.5 bath home sleeps up to 22.  It is a Mountain Contemporary Masterpiece located in the Canyons Resort in a beautiful neighborhood called “The Colony” – which is the largest ski-in, ski-out, board-in, board-out homesites all all of North America!   From these fabulous ski-homes, you can Enjoy Year Round Activities & Events. Available For Seasonal Rent as well as for purchase.  This home has been the Vacation Spot for Celebrities, TV Show Hosts World-wide, Famous Athletes, Casino Owners etc.  Come enjoy a ski-vacation (nightly rentals availalbe) or purchase and enjoy this beautiful home with mountain views 365 days a year!   This home is listed by Owner/Agent, Shanna Day of Keller Williams Salt Lake City/Park City and Keller Williams Realty East Valley…480-415-7616  or 801-251-6416  

  Listing courtesy of Keller Williams SLC Park City
• View Photos

  Park City, UT 84060

  $8,450,000

  • 6 bds
  • 10 ba
  • 12000 sq ft
  • Status: Active
  • Listing #: 9990416

  Your very own personal Mountain Top Resort!” Enjoy all of the luxury amenities of a world-class vacation resort, only it’s your personal residence! Th…

  Listing courtesy of Summit Sothebys Intl – ParkAve

  • View Photos

    Park City, UT 84060

    $7,799,000

    • 8 bds
    • 10 ba
    • 14002 sq ft
    • Status: Active
    • Listing #: 9994243

    Timeless ski-in/ski-out estate. The Grand Mountain Lodge and guest home sit atop a 10.92 acre ridgeline lot with forever views. Enjoy the privacy & …

    Listing courtesy of Keller Williams PC-Mtn Resort
  • View Photos

    Park City, UT 84060

    $7,499,000

    • 6 bds
    • 10 ba
    • 10400 sq ft
    • Status: Active
    • Listing #: 9991019

    Country French Chateau. Constructed with “clean” technology. Unparalled privacy and seclusion. Included adjacent lot!

    Listing courtesy of Prudential Utah RE-SV
  • View Photos

    Park City, UT 84060

    $7,350,000

    • 6 bds
    • 9 ba
    • 12000 sq ft
    • Status: Active
    • Listing #: 9990498

    Situated on 6.05 private acres within the gates of The Colony at White Pine Canyon, this mountain contemporary home has it all. The home is situated b…

    Listing courtesy of Summit Sothebys Intl – ParkAve
  • View Photos

    Park City, UT 84060

    $7,200,000

    • 6 bds
    • 7 ba
    • 8997 sq ft
    • Status: Active
    • Listing #: 9994132

    9,000 square foot modern mountain contemporary home on 4.46 acres in The Colony. The home is arranged on three floors with elevator access to all flo…

    Listing courtesy of Prudential Utah RE-SV
  • View Photos

    Park City, UT 84098

    $6,995,000

    • 6 bds
    • 8 ba
    • 10795 sq ft
    • Status: Active
    • Listing #: 9996098

    The Colony at White Pine Canyon is a 4,600 acre ski community located in the heart of Park City on the mountain of Utah’s largest ski area, The Canyon…

    Listing courtesy of Summit Sothebys Intl – ParkAve

    Call for your own private showing

    or for an open house schedule:

     

    The Shanna Day Dream Team

     

    (WE ARE RESORT & LUXURY HOME SPECIALISTS)

     

    Keller Williams Salt Lake City & Park City, UT

     

    801-251-6416

    info@shannaday.com

    http://www.FindUThomesFAST.com

Ski-In Ski-Out at THE COLONY w/in THE CANYONS RESORT, Park City, UT

Have our Fix-n-Flippers Helped or Hurt Our Market?

Here in Arizona, we were one of the 5 hardest hit states in the union when it comes to the pounding we took in our real estate market over the last several years.   We found ourselves in an absolute mess because our prices had dropped to ridiculously low numbers!  Every time we turned around, each time the clock ticked, an overwhelming number of new investors came in and bought up (and are continuing to do so at unbelievable rates) our housing gluttony as people lost/lose their homes to foreclosures or distressed short sales.  One hedge fund alone that I know of bought 532 homes off of the trustee auction block last month – and that doesn’t count all the short sales, REO (foreclosures) and traditional sales that they bought thru the MLS system!

What do these hedge funds, or even the huge number of individual investors (no way to guess even how many 10′s of thousands of investors there are), do with all of the homes and properties that they are buying up by the thousands?

Most are doing what is called a Fix and Flip.

What is a Fix-n-Flip?   It’s when you purchase a home, remodel it and then either turn around and sell it for a profit or rent it out (HOLD it)  until the market increases in value and then sell it.

As I was looking at statisitics in my own city of Mesa (Phoenix suburb) yesterday, I found that prices have increased as much as 49% since this time last year!   No… that doesn’t mean accross the board 49% – it means that those who purchased these dumpy homes and have fixed and flipped them on the open market have increased our values (mostly very low end homes) by as much as 49% over the last year.   It didn’t happen all at once.   It happened fairly rapidly, but each investor was not making a 49% return on their investment.   Each one, in each interval of time, purchased the home, fixed it up, and then sold it for a reasonable margin and that in turn increased the value for the next one and the next one and the next one.

It’s a little hard for us realtors who get new investors (even if they are paying cash with a quick close) to help them realize how the market is ever changing.  They want to make huge margins, instead of the sure and steady small margins over time.   They want us to pull a rabbit out of our hat and find that 1 deal or even 100 deals that is going to instantly make them rich.   All I can say to that is, “Wouldn’t we all?”   It’s not an easy business for us realtors or for those investors.
Unless they are doing it on a regular basis and seeing how the market is ebbing and flowing each week and each month, it’s really hard to understand what choices to make when.  It is so important that even the best investors find a well qualified realtor who understands how the market is changing across the entire valley – not just their neighborhoods!

Since I have built a team of agents across the valley, it is much easier for me to see and feel (as sometimes it’s more of a feeling than a known fact) how or what the next shift will be and what the market will be doing next.   For example, a year ago, we couldn’t find a dozen available homes in Maricopa (small suburb of Phoenix) because so many investors (mostly Canadian) came in and bought them all up.

Well today, there are 529 active listings in Maricopa on the MLS (multiple listing service that realtors use).  Of those 529 active listings, 353 of them are traditional sales (not short sales nor foreclosures)!   What a huge turn-a-round in one year.   If I were to individually click on those 353 listings, I would find a large portion of them have been purchased by investors and have been fixed and are being flipped for a small profit.  With that number of homes, it is a given that the profit margins are much smaller than they were a year ago, because of the competition.

I am always trying to tell my fix-n-flipper clients to do something more to the property to make it stand out.   As my team and I show home after home after home, these so-called self-made “interior designers” think that they need to make everything monochromatic – saying things like “It’s neutral so it’s easier to decorate around”.   Phooey – it’s boring.  Buyers too see this house after house after house.

It’s usually the homes where the investor/flipper has added some color, some textures, some interesting features, or even fresh flowers that grabs attention.  I’m constantly begging them to let my team give them a few hints.  It really doesn’t cost a lot of money to add some key highlights.  In fact, for those of my investors who have followed our advice, we have usually been able to sell their homes faster and for as much as 15% over market value.   Why wouldn’t they use our help to either increase their chances of selling faster or for more money?

Which brings me to a whole other topic – why not hire a team of realtors like mine who can flood the internet and neighborhoods with information and can quickly get you up to 15% over market value?   Silly not to!

I remember saying to myself 3-4 years ago, “Do I hate or love these fix-n-flip investors?”   Take a look at some of the before and after photos and you tell me what you think. 

 

True Story…. I had an investor ask me yesterday to take him to see this home:

 

Call, Text or Email Today If You Need a Professional:

480-415-7616 – The Shanna Day Dream Team 

Keller Williams Realty East Valley   

info@shannaday.com   www.FindAZhomesFAST.com

Now you tell me…

Have our Fix-n-Flippers Helped or Hurt Our Market?

How To SELL Your Home FAST & For TOP $$$

How To Sell Your Home FAST and 

For TOP $$$ in Arizona

 

What Do I Need To Do To Sell My Home?

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3…

 

1.   Determine A PRICE For Your Home.   Ask yourself, how am I going to compete in this Olympic Race?   It’s like an Olympic Race, because you will be competing with:

• Homes that are already sold in your immediate vicinity (aka Comps or Comparables), but you are also competing with:

• Homes that are under contract,

• Homes that are active on the market and

• Those homes that will be coming on the market.

• You have to determine (as an licensed appraiser would) how your home compares to all the other homes in terms of amenities, conditions, style, location & appeal.  How do you compare your home to homes that have been remodeled?  How do you compare your home with  distressed properties that are either short sales or foreclosures? It’s not easy for the layman to know.

• It’s a Race Against Time.   Are you going to sell at TOP DOLLAR and in the TIME FRAME you desire? 

2.   Determine How to Best SHOW your home.   

• Do you need to de-clutter,  box and store items away?   
• Do you need to repair, fix or paint? 
• How about cleaning up the yard, planting flowers, mowing, trimming?  What would give your home the most “curb appeal” so that people want to come in and see what’s inside? 
• Do you need to stage your home to make it appealing to buyers? 
• What are you going to do with Pets and Pet Smells/Odors?  
• Are you going to be Available Each and Every Time someone wants to see it OR Would You Like An Experienced Realtor to Show it that can “CLOSE THE DEAL”?  
• Will you be offended if the buyers or their agent don’t like something in or about your home?   Or would you like an experienced Realtor to show your home that knows how to handle objections?

If you are truly wondering, “What Do I Need To Do To Sell My Home Fast and For top Dollar?”, you need to:
 
3.  Determine How to Market Your Home.    Since 92% of all buyers search the internet for their homes, you NEED the capability to Advertise massively on the Internet!  

The Shanna Day Team at Keller Williams Realty can help you with all three of these points. 

In terms of “marketing your property”, Here are a just a few things that the Shanna Day Team does after we sign a contract to SELL YOUR HOME.  We push our advertising out to all of our competitor’s websites – so every buyer searching in Arizona or Utah will receive automatic emails and will be viewing websites hourly for for homes in your area.     

Here are just a few of the BROKERAGE WEBSITES that we will advertise your home on:

Then after we do that, we will push your listing to of the BIG NATIONAL, REGIONAL & CANADIAN Real Estate Websites: 

But, that’s not all…   Let Us SELL YOUR HOME And We Will Advertise On These CLASSIFIED WEBSITES too! (+/-)  We will immediately get to work and send your home’s listing, photos, maps, tours, and details to:

Ohhhhhh – so you thought that was enough huh?!   No, not yet….   Look what else we do…  Let Us SELL YOUR HOME And We Will Advertise On All These SOCIAL MEDIA SITES too!  We have so much fun sending it viral on all of these SOCIAL MEDIA SITES….

Have we made you dizzy yet?   Ooooohhhhh, but here is the big one.   Guess what we just can’t help ourselves with?

Sending YOUR HOME LISTING out on thousands of websites, blogs, press releases etc so that everyone in the WORLD can find your home!  

Here are just a few of the MAJOR SEARCH ENGINES that we use to advertise that your home is for sale….

Since it takes a whole team of agents to accomplish all of this, we simply cannot imagine anyone wanting to sell their own home!   How would anyone ever be a “For Sale By Owner” and do all of this?   You simply cannot.  Period.    

FOR THE SHANNA DAY DREAM TEAM’s 8-POINT STRATEGY TO SELL YOUR HOME AND GET TOP DOLLAR QUICKLY, 

Give the Shanna Day Team a call today ****480.415.7616****

 

Let Us SELL YOUR HOME

And you can continue to do what YOU do best!  

Hum…   Are you still wondering “What Do I Need To Do To Sell My Home Quickly and for Top Dollar?”   CALL:

Shanna Day, Mega Team Leader/Rainmaker

Keller Williams Realty East Valley

480-415-7616

info@shannaday.com

http://www.FindAZhomesFAST.com

CALL

How To Sell Your Home FAST and 

For TOP DOLLAR in Arizona

 

Custom Metal Marquee Letters Workshop – March 7th 2013

Custom Metal Marquee Letters Workshop

Phoenix, AZ – March 7th 2013

 

by yours truly

Emily Yeates, TheWholeSheBang Interior Design Specialist

 

 

 WHEN?

 

 March 7th @ 6:00 pm

 

  WHERE? 

Downtown Phoenix

 

 WHAT?

 

We will be making custom marquee letters. 

I will teach you how to make them out of several different materials (such as metal, glass, plexiglas, wood etc.) for different looks.  

And the best part is they will NOT look homemade!!

 You will learn how to cut glass, and metal as well as use several different wood working tools.

 

 EXTRAS?

 

Google “Marquee Letters” and start thinking about what design you would like to make. Upon registration e-mail me the design so I can make sure to purchase the correct materials for the night. If you don’t have a design picked out I will have designs available. 

 

 

 

 

 HOW TO REGISTER:

For only $40, you can attend this exclusive workshop!  Send your request to  EmilyYeates@gmail.com along with your contact information  and attach your requested design. This will cover all the materials and tools needed for your project along with tutorials and instructions on how to use all the tools for future projects. **Be sure to bring any type of string lights. Any style or size will work (even Christmas lights)! I will have strands available but if you want a specific kind make sure to bring them to the workshop. The Marquee Letters we will be making go for several hundred dollars on e-bay and etsy so you can even make a business out of it. *Bring a friend and receive $10 off.

 

*If you would like to come but the date does not work just let me know and we can work something out. 

 Hope to see you there!

As Always,

 

Custom Metal Marquee Letters Workshop – The Whole She Bang  Phoenix, AZ – March 7th 2013

BUY a Home in Mesa Arizona, SELL Your Home in Mesa AZ

SELL Your Home in Mesa AZ!

BUY a Home in Mesa Arizona! 

 

City of Mesa, AZ Listings Search

• City of Mesa, AZ New Listings (285)
• City of Mesa, AZ Foreclosure Listings (131)
• City of Mesa, AZ Short Sale Listings (316)
• City of Mesa, AZ Single Family Homes for Sale (1212)
• City of Mesa, AZ Condos & Townhomes for Sale (320)

Today’s Market Trends for City of Mesa, AZ * Median Listing Price: $308,100   0.03% Median Listing Price/Sq Ft: $120.00   0.02% Total Listings: 2013 844   -0.06% Total Listings Previous Months: February 2012 December 2012 1224 907   0.46%   0.06%

 BUY or SELL Your Home FAST 

With The Shanna Day Dream Team!

  

Click Here to See

 What Do Top Real Estate Agents at The Shanna Day Dream Team Do That Most Real Estate Agents Do Not?

Our Team At Keller Williams Realty East Valley has experts 

in every segment of the Real Estate Industry:

Luxury Specialists, 

Waterfront Properties, 

Land & Lots, 

Commercial, 

Interior Design, 

Construction, 

New Builds,

New Home Subdivisions, 

Staging, 

Custom Homes,

Remodels, 

Horse Properties, 

First-Time Home Buyers, 

Move-Up Buyers & Sellers, 

Move-Down Sellers & Buyers, 

Investors, 

Trustee Sales, 

Foreclosures, 

Bank Owned or Lender Owned Properties, 

HUD Homes, 

REO’s, 

Short Sales, 

Professional Negotiators, 

Marketers, 

Marketing Specialists,

Title and Escrow Officers

Lenders,

Mortgage Bankers

Loan Officers

Transaction Coordinators,

Brokers,

Buyers Specialists,

Listing Specialists &

Showing Agents

Here are a few of the homes in Mesa AZ that are for sale or that

The Shanna Day Dream Team have sold:

Pick a home that you would like to go see, and let the Shanna Day Team Earn Your Business!

City of Mesa, AZ Listings Search

• City of Mesa, AZ New Listings (285)
• City of Mesa, AZ Foreclosure Listings (131)
• City of Mesa, AZ Short Sale Listings (316)
• City of Mesa, AZ Single Family Homes for Sale (1212)
• City of Mesa, AZ Condos & Townhomes for Sale (320)

If you have a home to sell, please let the Shanna Day Team show you how we can sell your home fast and for top dollar!

Call for your own private showing or for an open house schedule:

The
Shanna Day Dream Team

Keller
Williams Realty East Valley

602-345-0393

info@shannaday.com

http://www.FindAZhomesFAST.com

SELL Your Home in Mesa AZ!

BUY a Home in Mesa Arizona!

Custom Luxury Home at 3731 E Halifax Cir in Villa Rica Estates – NO HOA!

Custom Luxury Home At 3731 E Halifax Circle in Villa Rica Estates in the Citrus Groves Of Mesa, AZ

This Exquisite 5 Bedroom Custom Luxury Home has 4 Bedrooms and 4.5 Bathrooms In The Main Home and 1 Bedroom And 1 Bath In The Detached Guest Casita.

The Circle Driveway  Porte-cochère  is Landscaped With Several Different Kinds of Palm Trees, Rose Bushes and Lush Green Grass.

Grand Entry w/ Wrought Iron Doors, Dramatic Ceilings, Stoic Columns, Artistic Arches, Coffered Ceilings, Beautiful Lighting, Venetian Plaster, Faux Finishes & Polished Travertine Flooring.  Large and Elegant Formal Dining Room.

Formal Entry Steps Down To Formal Living Room That Overlooks Spectacular Pool & Backyard.

Large Gourmet Kitchen with
Breakfast Nook & Granite Counter Tops

Beautiful Hand Stenciled Ceilings

Kitchen Open to Spacious Family Room

Elegant Coffered Ceilings & Beautiful Wood Trim Throughout…

Large Master Bedroom with Sitting Area and Fireplace

Elegant Master Bath and Huge Master Closet

Beautiful Custom Woodwork, Venitian Plaster, Faux, Padded & Nicely Lit Home Theater

Gigantic Game Room w/ Beautifully Wood Floors, Inlaid Wood Ceilings & Designer Walls Padded & Immaculately Trimmed.

 

Huge Entertaining Patio

Spectacular
Pool with Spa, Waterfall, Slide & Grotto are Beautiful Additions to
this 1- Acre Citrus Backyard

 Separate Ramada With Built-in BBQ
Sunken Trampoline and Grass Area For The Children

3 Car Garage On The
Main Home and Separate 4 car/RV Garage Off The Guest Casita.   Lush
Landscaping In The Citrus Groves Of Mesa, AZ.

Live In Villa Rica
Estates With NO HOA!

Call for your own private showing or for an open house schedule:

The Shanna Day Team

Keller Williams Realty East Valley

602-345-0393

info@shannaday.com

http://www.FindAZhomesFAST.com

Shanna Day, Mesa AZ Realtor, BUY or SELL Fast With

The Shanna Day Team

Custom Luxury Home At 3731 E Halifax Circle in Villa Rica Estates in the Citrus Groves Of Mesa, AZ

Shanna Day, Mesa AZ Realtor, BUY or SELL Fast with The Shanna Day Team

 Shanna Day, Mesa AZ Realtor, BUY or SELL Fast With The

Shanna Day Team

Whether you are looking to BUY a Home, SELL a home or INVEST in a home in Arizona, you need to call the Shanna Day Team!  Shanna’s Dream Team goes above and beyond what any normal real estate agent does.   Would you like to know what the Dream Team’s 8 point strategy is?   Call today to get a free, No-obligation consultation!   480.415.7616

City of Mesa, AZ Listings Search

• City of Mesa, AZ New Listings (350)
• City of Mesa, AZ Foreclosure Listings (122)
• City of Mesa, AZ Short Sale Listings (323)
• City of Mesa, AZ Single Family Homes for Sale (1193)
• City of Mesa, AZ Condos & Townhomes for Sale (329)

• Search for Homes over $1 Million
• Search for Homes between $500k – $1 Million
• Search for Homes between $250k – $500k
• Search for Homes between $100k – 250k

The Shanna Day Team specializes in Luxury homes, fix and flips, down-sizing, up-sizing, first-time home buyers, relocations, waterfront properties, golf course properties lots and land, trustee sales, refinances and even decorating and staging – with three interior designers on the team!

Don’t miss your opportunity to BUY or SELL homes like these Shanna Day Team listings:

Here are just a few of the communities / neighborhoods in Mesa AZ that the Shanna Day Dream Team specializes in:

Las Sendas

Villa Tuscano

Villa Rica Estates

Rosewood Estates

Montana Dorado

Legacy

Hidden Groves

Vista Estancia

Highgrove Estates

Las Estados

Park Ave.

El Portillo

Centre Court

Daysprings

Avalon Groves

Hermosa Groves

Hermosa Groves North

Hermosa Estates South

Glenwood Parke

Red Mountain Ranch

Augusta Ranch

Sky Mountain Estates

Spy Glass Estates

Citrus Greens

Groves North

Somerset Estates

Arboleda

Forest Knoll

Ladyhawke Estates

Mahogany

Estate Groves

Hidden Groves

Mesa Northgrove

Kensington Estates

Heritage Acres

Call for your own private showing or for an open house schedule:

The Shanna Day Team

Keller Williams Realty East Valley

602-345-0393

info@shannaday.com

http://www.FindAZhomesFAST.com

Shanna Day, Mesa AZ Realtor, BUY or SELL Fast With

The Shanna Day Team

 

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The Effect of the Fiscal Cliff on Estate Planning

New Year’s Day became a little brighter this year with the passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (the “Act”). Signed into law by President Obama on January 2, 2013, the effects of the Act on estate planning are relatively minor in scope and have generally been well-received.

Pursuant to the Act there is a permanent extension of the $5 million unified federal estate, gift, and generation skipping transfer (GST) tax exemptions. All three exemptions are indexed for inflation, and thus the exemption amounts in 2013 are now expected to be $5,250,000.00 (or $10,500,000.00 for a married couple).

The Act was a step in the right direction because, if Congress had failed to act, the tax-free amount would have reverted to $1 million per person, and the 35% maximum rate that was in effect in 2011 and 2012 would have climbed to 55%. The only downside to the Act is that the maximum estate and gift tax rates have now increased from a maximum of 35% to a maximum of 40%. Still, this downside is a relatively minor change.

As for annual exclusion gifts, those are separate and apart from the above. An individual can still gift another person up to $14,000 per year (or $28,000 for a married couple), without counting this gift toward the lifetime exemption previously discussed above.

Thus, while a well thought out and properly drafted estate plan is still necessary, the Act does provide some good news for the New Year!

By: Chris Combs
and Jessica Keiser
Combs Law Group

If you would like to BUY or SELL your home FAST, please call, text or email the Shanna Day Team now!

Shanna Day Team
Shanna Day Team Leader/Rainmaker
Keller Williams Realty East Valley
480.415.7616
info@shannaday.com

Luxury Vacation Rental in Park City UTAH

My Favorite Arizona Christmas Story!

My Favorite Arizona Christmas Story! 

This historian that we have in our church congregation (ward) told this “True Story” in church yesterday.   He said his mom was here in Mesa Arizona when this happened.

In 1932 a man named John McPhee was the editor of the Mesa Journal-Tribune.   As a businessman he wanted to devise a plan to get more people shopping and spending money in the City of Mesa.  Keep in mind that in 1932, Mesa was a tiny place.

patrickma / 123RF Stock Photo

John McPhee hired a skydiver (a real novelty in 1932) to jump from an airplane dressed as Santa Claus!   He ran ads and invited people from all around to come see Santa jump from an airplane and then lead the Christmas parade down the streets of Mesa.   Since he was a newspaper man, he advertised and invited everyone from neighboring communities… Gilbert, Chandler, Tempe and Phoenix to come to Mesa that day.   He hyped it up and was quite excited when people started showing up and lining the streets to watch Santa jump from the sky.

As people started lining up for the parade, Mr. McPhee found out something quite disturbing.  He found out that the skydiver that he had hired had had quite a few too many “spirits” and was too drunken to jump from an airplane!   Well, he quickly thought of another plan.   He knew a store owner that had a Santa mannequin.   They quickly borrowed the mannequin and had the pilot drop the fake Santa out at the edge of town.  Mr McPhee thought he could then run in and lead the parade and all would be well.

To his demise or surprise,  when the mannequin was pushed from the plane, the parachute did not open.  The pretend Santa fell and fell and fell and hit into a field – splat!   Everyone was screaming and the kids were crying.   Needless to say, there were not any shoppers in Mesa that day!

123RF Stock Photo

To make things worse, the AP news picked up the story and sent it nationwide.  John McPhee left town for a few days and was then known for years as the man that had killed Christmas in Mesa, AZ!

This is My Favorite Arizona Christmas Story!