Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> It is not entirely the greedy RE agents, there are the people who  
> think
> that it is a good investment to buy desert houses at a time of  
> increasing
> energy costs, declining water availability, and rising temperatures.

I was being facetious about the greedy Realtors. Many certainly are,  
possibly even as large a percentage as, say, doctors, lawyers,  
judges, politicians, entrepreneurs, managers, VPs and CEOs. Probably  
not, though. The largest growing segment of the Realtor population is  
women, typically wives and mothers who rightly understand that female  
buyers and sellers relate well to them and they can work as many  
hours as they have available after caring for their families. Mostly  
they are not greedy, but just want to supplement family income.

Not just investment-minded people are buying here. The Phoenix  
Metropolitan Area has been growing for many decades, the speed of  
growth is accelerating, the strong growth pattern is likely to  
continue for decades. Reminds me of many areas of California.  
Excepting Florida, Arizona is the prime retirement destination for  
Americans. New and used homes are widely available for under a  
hundred thousand dollars to over ten million.

As for water, what the California canal project taught me is that  
population equates to political power and big cities will always  
steal more than their fair share of water. The tension between  
Southern California and Arizona will grow. Arizona may well have more  
underground water, but both have short access to sea water.