Colleen Wiegert - HomeSmart Real Estate Agent

DID YOU KNOW THIS ABOUT ARIZONA?

1. Arizona has 3,928 mountain peaks and summits, more mountains than any one of the other Mountain States (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming).

2. All New England, plus the state of Pennsylvania would fit inside Arizona.

3. Arizona became the 48th state and last of the contiguous states on February 14, 1912.

4. Arizona's disparate climate can yield both the highest temperature across the nation and the lowest temperature across the nation in the same day.

5. There are more wilderness areas in Arizona than in the entire Midwest. Arizona alone has 90 wilderness areas, while the Midwest has 50.

6. Arizona has 26 peaks that are more than 10,000 feet in elevation.

7. Arizona has the largest contiguous stand of Ponderosa pines in the world stretching from near Flagstaff along the Mogollon Rim to the White Mountains region.

8. Yuma, Arizona is the country's highest producer of winter vegetables, especially lettuce.

9. Arizona is the 6th largest state in the nation, covering 113,909 square miles.

10. Out of all the states in the U.S., Arizona has the largest percentage of its land designated as Indian lands.

11. The Five C's of Arizona's economy are: Cattle, Copper, Citrus, Cotton, and Climate.

12. More copper is mined in Arizona than all the other states combined, and the Morenci Mine is the largest copper producer in all of North America.

13. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, two of the most prominent movie stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, were married on March 18, 1939, in Kingman, Arizona.

14. Covering 18,608 sq. miles, Coconino County is the second largest county by land area in the 48 contiguous United States.

(San Bernardino County in California is the largest)

15. The world's largest solar telescope is located at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Sells, Arizona..

16. Bisbee, Arizona is known as the Queen of the Copper Mines because during its mining heyday it produced nearly 25 percent of the world's copper and was the largest city in the Southwest between Saint Louis and San Francisco.

17. Billy the Kid killed his first man, Windy Cahill, in Bonita, Arizona.

18. Arizona grows enough cotton each year to make more than one pair of jeans for every person in the United States.

19. Famous labor leader and activist Cesar Chavez was born in Yuma.

20. In 1912, President William Howard Taft was ready to make Arizona a state on February 12, but it was Lincoln's birthday. The next day, the 13th, was considered bad luck so they waited until the following day. That' how Arizona became known as the Valentine State.

21. When England's famous London Bridge was replaced in the 1960s, the original was purchased, dismantled, shipped stone by stone and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where it still stands today.

22. Mount Lemmon, Tucson, in the Santa Catalina Mountains, is the southernmost ski resort in the United States.

23. Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch in Picacho, Arizona is the largest privately-owned ostrich ranch in the world outside South Africa.

24. If you cut down a protected species of cactus in Arizona, you could spend more than a year in prison.

25. The world's largest to-scale collection of miniature airplane models is housed at the library at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.

26. The only place in the country where mail is delivered by mule is the village of Supai, located at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

27. Located on Arizona's western border, Parker Dam is the deepest dam in the world at 320 feet.

28. South Mountain Park/Preserve in Phoenix is the largest municipal park in the country.

29. Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, located about 55 miles west of Phoenix, generates more electricity than any other U.S. power plant.

30. Oraibi, a Hopi village located in Navajo County, Arizona, dates back to before A.D. 1200 and is reputed to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in America.

31. Built by Del Webb in 1960, Sun City, Arizona was the first 55-plus active adult retirement community in the country.

32. Petrified wood is the official state fossil. The Petrified Forest in northeastern Arizona contains America's largest deposits of petrified wood.

33. Many of the founders of San Francisco in 1776 were Spanish colonists from Tubac, Arizona.

34. Phoenix originated in 1866 as a hay camp to supply military post Camp McDowell.

35. Rainfall averages for Arizona range from less than three inches in the deserts to more than 30 inches per year in the mountains.

36. Rising to a height of 12,643 feet, Mount Humphreys north of Flagstaff is the state's highest mountain.

37. Roadrunners are not just in cartoons! In Arizona, you'll see them running up to 17-mph away from their enemies.

38. The Saguaro cactus is the largest cactus found in the U.S. It can grow as high as a five-story building and is native to the Sonoran Desert, which stretches across southern Arizona.

39. Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, grew up on a large family ranch near Duncan, Arizona.

40. The best-preserved meteor crater in the world is located near Winslow, Arizona.

41. The average state elevation is 4,000 feet.

42. The Navajo Nation spans 27,000 square miles across the states of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, but its capital is seated in Window Rock, Arizona.

43. The amount of copper utilized to make the copper dome atop Arizona's Capitol building is equivalent to the amount used in 4.8 million pennies.

44. Near Yuma, the Colorado River's elevation dips to 70 feet above sea level, making it the lowest point in the state.

45. The geographic center of Arizona is 55 miles southeast of Prescott near the community of Mayer.

46. You could pile four 1,300-foot skyscrapers on top of each other and they still would not reach the rim of the Grand Canyon.

47. The hottest temperature recorded in Arizona was 128 degrees at Lake Havasu City on June 29, 1994

48. The coldest temperature recorded in Arizona was 40 degrees below zero at Hawley Lake on January 7, 1971.

49. A saguaro cactus can store up to nine tons of water.

50. The state of Massachusetts could fit inside Maricopa County (9,922 sq. miles).

51. The westernmost battle of the Civil War was fought at Picacho Pass on April 15, 1862 near Picacho Peak in Pinal County

52. There are 11.2 million acres of National Forest in Arizona, and one-fourth of the state forested.

53. Wyatt Earp was neither the town marshal nor the sheriff in Tombstone at the time of the shoot-out at the O..K. Corral. His brother Virgil was the town marshal.

54. On June 6, 1936, the first barrel of tequila produced in the United States rolled off the production line in Nogales, Arizona.

55. The Sonoran Desert is the most biologically diverse desert in North America.

56. Bisbee is the Nation's Southernmost mile-high city.

57. The two largest man-made lakes in the U.S. are Lake Mead and Lake Powell, both located in Arizona.

58. The longest remaining intact section of Route 66 can be found in Arizona and runs from Seligman to Topock, a total of 157 unbroken miles.

59. The 13 stripes on the Arizona flag represent the 13 original colonies of the United States.

60. The negotiations for Geronimo's final surrender took place in Skeleton Canyon, near present day Douglas, Arizona, in 1886.

61. Prescott, Arizona is home to the world's oldest rodeo, and Payson, Arizona is home to the world's oldest continuous rodeo, both of which date back to the 1880's.

62. Kartchner Caverns, near Benson, Arizona, is a massive limestone cave with 13,000 feet of passages, two rooms as long as football fields, and one of the world's longest soda straw stalactites: measuring 21 feet 3 inches.

63. You can carry a loaded firearm on your person, no permit required.

64. Arizona has one of the lowest crime rates in the U.S.A.

'We’re a magnet for people': Californians moving to Arizona in high numbers

'We’re a magnet for people': Californians moving to Arizona in high numbers Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Californians continue to move to Arizona to seek a lower cost of living and taxes. This will help Arizona because it'll bring more businesses, which also means more jobs.

Gilbert makes Money’s list of Best Places to Live

LIFESTYLE | 1 hour ago | AZ BUSINESS MAGAZINE
Gilbert is among the top-ranked places in the country to call home according to Money’s 2020-21 Best Places to Live rankings.

Gilbert landed at No. 46 on the list after an analysis of more than 1,800 U.S. cities and towns and is the only city in Arizona to make the list.

“We are proud to be recognized and, as a Gilbert citizen, I can agree that this is one of the greatest cities in the country to live and work,” said Gilbert Town Manager Patrick Banger.

Employment opportunities, the economy, housing, weather, cost of living, diversity and health and safety were among the factors used to create this year’s list.

Gilbert is the fifth-largest city in Arizona and home to nearly 260,000 people.

U.S. Mortgage Rates Fall To Record Low 3.37%, Purchase Applications Rise For Seventh Week As Home Buyers Return to Market —

The average 30-year fixed rate for a conforming loan fell 5 basis points to a fresh all-time low of 3.37% last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.

U.S. Mortgage rates hit a fresh all-time low last week, while purchase applications continued to surge, as the broader economy continues its slow but steady recovery following the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said 30-year fixed rates for conforming loan balances of less than $510,400 fell 5 basis point to 3.37% for the week ending May 29, a fresh all-time low that remains a full 1% lower from the same period last year.

The MBA's refinancing index fell 8.6% to 3,166.7 points, extending its slump to a seventh consecutive week, but applications rose for a sixth consecutive week as the seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index increased 5%, pe***ng its year-on-year gain at 18%.

“The pent-up demand from homebuyers returning to the market continues to support a recovery from the weekly declines observed earlier this spring,” said the MBA's associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting Joel Kan. “However, there are still many households affected by the widespread job loss and current economic downturn. High unemployment and low housing supply may restrain a more meaningful rebound in purchase applications in the coming months.”

“In contrast to the upswing in purchase activity, refinance applications fell for the seventh consecutive week – even as the 30-year fixed rate hit another MBA survey-low of 3.37%," he added. "After reaching a peak of 76 percent earlier this year, refinances now account for less than 60% of activity, and the index is now at its lowest level since February 21.”

U.S. house prices are starting to show some recovery from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, with data from the closely-watched S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index showing a 4.4% annual increase in March, with markets in Phoenix, Seattle and Charlotte, North Carolina leading the gains.

Craig Lazzara, managing director and global head of index investment strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices, noted that "housing prices continue to be remarkably stable", adding that "prices rose in each of the 19 cities for which we have reported data, and price increases accelerated in 17 cities.”

The Federal Housing Finance Agency also said Wednesday that U.S. home prices rose 1.7% over the first quarter of the year, and are now 5.7% higher than over the same three-month period in 2019.

Last month, however, the Commerce Department said April housing starts fell 30.2%, the biggest on record, to a seasonally-adjusted rate of 891.000 units, the lowest in five years. Building permits, meanwhile, slumped 20.8% to a five year low of just over 1 million units.

TheStreet
June 3, 2020