S pring is by far the most beautiful time of year to visit the Valley of the

Sun. Clear skies and tempera-tures averaging around 75 degrees during the day make it a perfect place to live and play. Not only is the weather mild but also the dessert is in full bloom. Most people do not realize that cactus indeed bloom with beau-tiful colors (see cover picture). The amazing desert blooms and mild temperatures make out-door activities ideal. Hiking, bicycling, horseback riding, fishing and golfing are popular sports that are enjoyed by residents and vacationers alike. Phoenix has many hik-ing trails to offer for anyone from avid hikers to families with children. The most popu-lar hiking mountains in Phoenix are Piestewa Peak (formerly Squaw Peak), Camelback, Su-perstition and South Mountain. Piestewa Peak has seven trails ranging from easy to difficult. It’s important to know your lim-it because a fun day of hiking can easily turn into a search and rescue effort. Piestewa Peak’s summit trail is not only one of the most popular in Phoenix, but also one of the most trav-eled in the United States. Camelback has four trails, two for beginners and families and two for experienced hikers. Su-perstition Mountain has five trails but this mountain has a legend attached to it; that’s right…apparently ‘there’s gold in them thar hills!’ Legend states that there is a gold mine to be found in this mountain and many people have actually died trying to find it. There is also a museum and scheduled hikes at Superstition which add to the appeal for travelers.

South Mountain has the largest variety and most hikes in the area. There are 17 trailheads and parking lots surrounding the mountain adding to the ap-peal. Most of the trails are easy to moderate, but there are three that are difficult for experienced hikers. Bicycle trails and biking groups can also be found all around the valley. Organiza-tions like the Arizona Bicycle Club (www.azbikeclub.com) and The Phoenix Metro Bicycle Club (www.pmbcaz.com) pro-mote interest and involvement in all aspects of riding. They schedule field trips, tours and have group riding opportunities. They are also huge advocates of riding a bicycle as a means of personal transportation. The most popular routes parallel water canals making for a smooth and nearly traffic free ride. The Arizona Canal path runs all the way from Glendale to the west, straight through Phoenix, ending on Scottsdale’s east side. If you have the ener-gy, you can ride the entire 38 miles! In Phoenix, the path is paved from 51st Avenue and Cactus Road to the west to about 24th Street and Missouri Avenue to the east. A smooth dirt path continues eastward. The Grand Canal runs 21 miles. You can also ride from 75th Avenue and Camelback Road all the way to Papago Park. Various on-street bike routes connect the Phoenix Son-oran Bikeway from the Carefree Highway to the north to beauti-ful South Mountain Park. You can pedal right through the heart of downtown Phoenix. Climb five miles to the top of South Mountain for great views and a super workout! Addition-

ally all Valley Metro buses are equipped with bike racks. That means that you can actually ride your bike to the nearest bus stop and hop aboard! For the more adven-turous and serious cycler, parks and mountain preserves all around Phoenix boast more than 100 miles of serious mountain biking trails. You can find sin-gle-track paths at all levels of difficulty with plenty of desert scenery. Also, bicycles are allowed on most hiking trails. Since there are more than 500 miles of dedicated bike lanes, paths and trails in Phoenix alone, the valley of the sun is the perfect place to start pedal-ing. If bicycling is not your mode of transportation why not saddle up? After all, Phoenix is in the heart of the wild, wild west where the deer and the antelope play! But seriously folks, springtime in the valley is the perfect time of year to take in a little riding. Just as with any other sport horseback riding is opened to any skill level and mostly any age. There are sta-bles and riding facilities all around. For the ‘once in a while’ rider there are great trail rides that seem more like great sightseeing adventures in a magnificent blooming desert than riding opportunities. Groups like Arizona Horseback Rides www.horsebackarizona.com or TheO.K.Corral www.okcorrals.com provide information about taking in some horseback riding in the valley. For those of us interest-ed in relaxing on a beautiful spring day consider grabbing a rod and heading out. There is

an abundance of great fishing in the Phoenix area including Lake Pleasant, Saguaro Lake, Bartlett Lake and Canyon Lake. The Salt River and Verde River are also fun spots. Also consider the 15 urban fishing ponds in the area. Urban fishing? Is there really Fishing in the urban desert? Sounds odd but it is true. Folks who have migrated from different places throughout the country learn quickly that there are great fishing opportunities at the major lakes throughout the state. They also learn that there are countless places to cast in a line within Phoenix ’s metropolitan area. Thanks to the Arizona Urban Fishing Program residents of Phoenix can find fishing opportu-nities just a rod’s length away! The Arizona Urban Fishing Program was formed thanks to the cooperative efforts of the various cities in the Phoenix Metropolitan area and the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD). The program has created opportunities for quality fishing in 15 area lakes in eight Valley cities. Thanks to rapid development of rural areas, the number of lakes is increasing, with new ones becoming available every couple of years. To visitors the lakes may resemble large ponds rather than lakes, but de-spite their size the fishing is usual-ly excellent. That’s because cities maintain the lakes, parks, and fa-cilities, while AZGFD handles the stocking of the lakes and the en-forcement of regulations. The pro-gram itself is funded by the sale of licenses and fees. Children under the age of 14 are not required to have a license; all other must ob-tain a Class U (Urban) license at a cost of $16. The license is good for a year. Other short-term licens-es are available as well for those anglers who are just passing through. Inquire with the AZGFD for daily catch limits.

The lakes are stocked with a variety of fish including rainbow trout, channel catfish, and sunfish to name a few. Every other week between March and November, channel catfish are stocked in area lakes, and from November to March rainbow trout are added. During the summer months the program takes a break because of the heat and the difficulty it cre-ates in transporting the fish from cooler, out-of-state locations. Each of the 15 lakes carries similar vari-eties of fish with some slight ex-ceptions. Below is a list of urban fishing lakes, their location, and the fish to be found within them. So get out your rod and reel, bait your hook, and wait for a nibble at any of these fine urban lakes. 1.  Alvord – Located in Cesar Chavez Park in southwest Phoe-nix , at southwest corner of 35th Avenue and Baseline Road. Con-tains: channel catfish, rainbow

trout (in season), bluegill, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, yellow bass, tilapia, and carp. 2.  Chaparral – Located in Chap-arral Park in west Scottsdale , northeast corner of Hayden and Chaparral Roads. Contains: chan-nel catfish, flathead catfish, rain-bow trout (in season), bluegill, re-

dear sunfish, hybrid sunfish, crap-pie, largemouth bass, tilapia, and carp. 3.  Riverview – Riverview Park in west Mesa , northwest corner of Dobson Road and 8th Street . Con-tains: channel catfish, rainbow trout (in season), bluegill, redear sunfish, hybrid sunfish, large-mouth bass, tilapia, and carp. 4.  Cortez – Located in Cortez Park in northwest Phoenix , at northeast corner of 35th Avenue and Dunlap Avenue . Contains: channel catfish, rainbow trout (in season), bluegill, redear sunfish, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, tilapia, carp, and white amur. 5.  Canal Pond – Located in Canal Park in northwest Tempe, southwest corner of College Ave-nue (68th Street) and McKellips Road. Contains: channel catfish, rainbow trout (in season), bluegill, redear sunfish, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, tilapia, carp, and white amur. 6.  Water Ranch – Located in Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch in north Gilbert, at southeast cor-ner of Greenfield Road and Gua-dalupe Road. Lake is just east of the Southeast Regional Library. Contains: channel catfish, rainbow trout (in season), bluegill, redear sunfish, hybrid sunfish, crappie, largemouth bass, tilapia, and carp. 7.  Desert West – Located in De-sert West Park in southwest Phoe-nix , at 63rd Avenue between Vir-ginia Avenue and Encanto Boule-vard. Contains: channel catfish, rainbow trout (in season), bluegill, redear sunfish, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, carp, and white amur. 8.  Kiwanis – Located in Kiwanis Community Park in central Tem-pe, southwest of Baseline Road and Mill Avenue . Contains: chan-nel catfish, rainbow trout (in sea-son), bluegill, redear sunfish,

hybrid sunfish, tilapia, largemouth bass, flathead catfish, carp, and white Amur. 9.  Surprise – Located in City of Surprise . Surprise Recreation Cam-pus in northwest Valley, between Bell Road and Greenway on the east side of Bullard Avenue . Contains: channel catfish, rainbow trout (in season), bluegill, redear sunfish, hy-brid sunfish, and largemouth bass. 10. Encanto – Located in Encanto Park in central Phoenix , northeast of 15th Avenue and Encanto Boulevard (between Thomas and McDowell Roads). Contains: channel catfish, rainbow trout (in season), bluegill, redear sunfish, hybrid sunfish, large-mouth bass, tilapia, carp, and white amur. 11. Desert Breeze – Located in De-sert Breeze Park in west Chandler , southwest of Ray Road and McClintock Drive on Desert Breeze Boulevard . Contains: channel cat-fish, rainbow trout (in season), blue-gill, redear sunfish, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, carp, and white amur. 12. Rio Vista Pond – Located in Rio Vista Park in south central Peoria on Rio Vista Boulevard , just north of Thunderbird Road, 1/4 mile west of Loop 101 Freeway. Contains: chan-nel catfish, rainbow trout (seasonal), hybrid sunfish, bluegill, redear sun-fish, largemouth bass, tilapia, white amur, and carp. 13. Papago Ponds – Located in Pa-pago Park in east Phoenix , immedi-ately north of the Phoenix Zoo on Galvin Parkway between McDowell Road and Van Buren Street. Con-tains: channel catfish, rainbow trout (in season), largemouth bass, blue-gill, redear sunfish, hybrid sunfish, crappie, tilapia, carp and white amur. 14. Red Mountain – Located in Red Mountain Park in east Mesa , at southeast corner of Brown Road and Sunvalley Boulevard (3/4 mile east of Power Road ). Contains: channel

catfish, rainbow trout (in season), bluegill, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, carp, and white amur. Steele I.S. Pond – Steele Indian School Park on the northeast corner of Indian School Road and Central in downtown Phoenix. Park entrances are from 3rd Street north of Indian School or from Farrington Street (1 block north of Indian School Road) east off of Central Avenue . Con-tains: channel catfish, rainbow trout

(seasonal), hybrid sunfish, bluegill, redear sunfish, largemouth bass, ti-lapia, white amur, and carp. By far the most sought after sport in our beautiful springtime valley is golf. When winter arrives the valley is flooded with ‘snow birds’. These are folks who come to the valley leaving behind a snowy, cold winter. They start enjoying the weather in winter and by the time it’s spring, they are in heaven! Golfers from all over the country flock to the valley to enjoy over 35 public and resort golf courses. Many of the Phoenix golf courses are well known, estab-lished golf clubs with a rich history. The Phoenix Country Club and Ari-zona Biltmore Country Club, to name just a couple, are known throughout the country as distin-

guished clubs. Others such as Wild-fire Golf Club and Arizona Grand Resort are situated at large resorts to accommodate families and tournaments. Among the city-owned golf courses are Cave Creek Golf Course and Papago Golf Course, which is usually ranked as one of the top city courses in the nation. here are also little known treasures such as the Sun City Golf Course (www.suncitycountryclub.org) which boasts a tree lined shady course, water features, and relaxing country club atmosphere. The SCCC was the first club in the Dell Webb Community of Sun City, AZ. Established March 4, 1967, it has become the model for every other club built in Sun City. Today the club is semi-prive which allows the public a variety of tee times. Many of the trees (olive, pine, palm and eucalyptus) have been there since 1967 and provide for a beautiful can-opy of shade. The amenities include a full service pro shop, practice and put-ting areas, private lessons and clinics by PGA Professionals, golf carts, club repair and a full service restau-rant and bar. They cater to golf tour-nament planning and special events such as weddings, parties, etc. This casual atmosphere, affordable club has a challenging course and is our golf find in the valley! It’s no won-der that The Sun City Country Club was voted # 1 in value, #3 in pace of play, #10 as best course in Arizona and #13 in overall experience by golfers surveyed by Golfmix.com! Regardless of which direction you go, you will find exceptional activities throughout the year but most especially during our magnifi-cent springtime season. For more information about where to go and what to see check out the website www.meetup.com.

Realtors: We can help you take control.   

We cooperate and never

compete. We provide the

following services so you

don’t have to: Advertising Periodic inspections Late notices Rental Comps Bookkeeping/accounting Financial statements to owner Tenant screening Evictions/Legal Maintenance calls Tenant communication Vendor screening Rental Tax (compliance with the law) Networking

Additional benefits: You keep your client plus, Renter becomes potential buyer! Additional income stream (we pay commission for each signed management contract).

Ask about how you can earn a monthly percentage on 10 or more units.

As  a  professional  realtor  you  understand    all  too  well  how  the     

current market is  impac ng your bo om line.  Trying to hold onto 

every lis ng is crucial in today’s economy.  As a result you probably 

end up managing property in an a empt to maintain the lis ng and 

eventually make    your  commission when  the property  sells.  Let’s 

face it, the management end of the business is  me consuming and 

is preven ng you  from genera ng more business.   So, what’s  the 

solu on?  How do you keep your lis ng and get out from under the 

day to day management of the property?   We’ll tell you how.   We 

are  a  full  service  property  management  company  devoted             

exclusively  to property management.   We don’t even  take  lis ngs 

or do sales.   We work with realtors and  their clients and take  the 

burden  and  liability  of  property management  out  of  your  hands.  

And, when the  me is right, your client is right there wai ng, and so 

is  your  commission.    So  call us  today….you’ll be  so  glad  that  you 

did!   

Real Estate Management Services, Inc. 

7440 W. Sunnyside Drive 

Peoria, AZ 85345 

 

623.977.6011 ph 

623.444.9889 fax 

 

www.remsaz.com 

A h, Springtime! A time of renewal, rebirth...the gardens are blooming, perfect weather and the obligatory, sometimes

all too dreaded Spring Cleaning! As the owner/designated broker and a property manager of Real Estate Management Services, Inc. (REMS, Inc.) I look at spring cleaning as it relates to the rental properties in my care. In Arizona, there are a number of annual maintenance tasks that are best suit-ed for the cooler months. Things like cleaning the roof (yes folks, roofs do need to be checked and cleaned of any debris) and gutters, clearing debris from the foun-dation (while checking for termites or other infestation), exterior window wash-ing, painting, and gardening are all outdoor tasks that are perfectly suited for the cooler months. March and April are also the months when plants, trees and shrubs can tolerate heavy pruning. This is also the time to fertilize trees and shrubs. With the proper care during the cooler months plants can happily survive the intense sum-mer heat. I also like to think of Springtime as the perfect opportunity to think about the curb appeal of rental properties. I ask myself questions like; does the property need a fresh coat of paint or possibly some trim painting? How about power washing the walkways and driveway? Are there repairs to the fence or walls that would add to the curb appeal? How about some new plants...maybe a colorful Red Bird of Para-dise or some brightly colored lantana ground cover?

RED BIRD OF PARADISE

HUMMINGBIRD TRUMPET BUSH Aside from exterior considerations, spring is also the ideal time to conduct annual interior inspections. I check for property condition as well as look at how well the tenant is maintaining the property. I believe that tenants who are aware of annual inspections tend to take care of the rental. In the event that the tenant is not caring for the property, annual inspections are vital. It’s far better to find out the condition of the property soon than later. There are steps that can be taken that will encourage the occupants to keep the

home in good condition or potentially face eviction. Most people don’t think about tax time as an opportunity for Spring Cleaning but I think it should definitely be consid-ered vital. Taking a careful look at the financial side of the property, clearing away old paper work (no longer required to be saved by IRS guidelines), looking forward with a new budget or just planning for the future are all things that can be done during the season of rebirth.

For more information or to discuss your property please call me, TJ Loegering, Jr. at 623-977-6011. Together was can tackle spring cleaning!

MEXICAN PETUNIAS

Sun City Country Club

9433 N. 107th Avenue, Sun City, AZ 85381-4805 (623) 933-1343

SSCC