People Will Buy a Home with Character

I recently saw an ad for a local homebuilder advertising mortgage payments "as low as rent". Another homebuilder runs adds that try and scare consumers out of buying foreclosed properties. They give horror stories of buyers who purchased homes with thousands of dollars worth of damage. Yet, my guess is that these ads do little to entice buyers into a new home purchase as opposed to a short sale or foreclosure. Which made me think that homebuilders should create a better product that consumers will pay more for.

I have heard some suggest that builders embrace green technology, but I doubt consumers will spend substantially more for a home that offers slight utility bill savings. Instead, why not create homes with large front porches, shutters, dormer windows, crown molding, thicker baseboards, built-in bookcases, gazebos and picket fences. Ditch the sea of beige homes with tile roofs and stucco. Below is a picture of a home available that national homebuilder Lennar homes builds in Clovis, CA. Why not build similar homes in AZ?

Why local News Sucks

I was listening to the news, trying to find out why the 101 was closed (tents blew into freeway from the Barrett Jackson car show making me think maybe they should do the car auction at a better site like Chase Field or University of Phoenix Stadium). It occurred to me that local news is terrible. So I compiled a list of reasons why local news sucks.

1) Overreacting to the weather. Earlier today azcentral.com mentioned that we have a "light tornado watch" which is the equivalent of me receiving a letter that I am being considered for the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes and calling myself a winner.

2) Emphasizing all words hispanic or even hispanic sounding. I am pretty sure there is not a tilde over the letter "n" when mentioning Sedona.

3) Making all stories local. There is an earthquake in Haiti so we should interview someone who has been to Haiti before.

4) Prounoucing the name Sean as "Seen". Don't be so pretentious Sean McLaughlin, you're a weatherman.

5) Running old footage of the guy who had to be rescued while driving through a wash. Don't say "this happens all the time" if the footage is a decade old.

6) Ignoring grammar and spelling. My grammar and spelling are horrendous but I don't do this for a living.

7) "On your side" reporting. We get that customers sometimes are not pleased with businesses but some of what they report as "scams" seem more like a difference of opinions over services performed. They can go after a Chinese food restaurant that messed up an order with the same vigor as a reporter busting Enron for fraud.

8) The flirty banter. "Oh Lin Sue you are too much, ha, ha, ha"...."Oh Mark, you're so funny too."

9) Running goofy clips from the internet months after they became internet sensations.

10) Mark Curtis and his Burt Reynolds mustache.