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Little Leaguers swing for the bleachers of 2006 BY ZACH ALVIRA AFN Sports Editor
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he sound of parents clapping, a baseball hitting a glove and the crack of a metal bat are often heard in Ahwatukee during the spring with Little League in full swing. For many kids, it’s just the start of their journey with America’s greatest pastime. Many will go on to play in high school, a select few beyond that. But for now, the main focus remains on the current season. Those who are of age, gener-
ally 12 to 13 years old, may have a bigger task at hand as they aim to not only make All-Stars but become the first Ahwatukee Little League team to reach South Williamsport and the Little League World Series since 2006. Even back then, making a run of that caliber was a daunting task. Yet, like then, it is possible. “When you talk about the journey to get there, it could’ve easily gone the other way,” Tom Kingery said. “There’re only eight teams in the entire Little League sys-
see LITTLE LEAGUE page 12
Opening Day for Ahwatukee Little League’s new season took place weeks ago, with kids of all ages learning the sport and for a select few, dreaming of having an opportunity to be the next All-Star team to come out of Arizona and head to the World Series. (Dave Minton/AFN Staff Photographer)
Home prices hit $1M average in Ahwatukee ZIP code BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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n yet another sign of the relentless increase in housing prices, the Valley’s top market analyst said the average price of a listed home in Ahwatukee ZIP code 85048 exceeds $1 million, putting it among 28 Valley postal zones with seven-figure home list price averages. “If rising house prices scare you, then the best place not to look is the average price for active listings,” the Cromford Report wrote. “Unless you are made of stern stuff, you should look away now.” Cromford Report then proceeded to list the average home
price in 85048 as $1,139,210 – double the $575,854 of the average home list price in that ZIP code three years ago this month. That puts 85048 in 20th place among those 28 ZIP codes, where the Paradise Valley ZIP of 85253 is the highest with an average home price of $7.2 million and the lowest is the Windsong area of Phoenix with just over $1 million. That list of what Cromford Report calls “eye-watering numbers” also includes four other Phoenix ZIPs, all of Carefree, Wickenburg and Cave Creek; seven ZIP codes in Scottsdale, two each in Gilbert and Mesa, the Gold Canyon ZIP in Apache
Junction and one each in South Tempe and Glendale. To understand the significance of that, Cromford provides this stunning fact: Just three years ago, average list prices topping $1 million existed in only seven Valley ZIP codes. Of course, the Cromford Report stresses, that doesn’t mean all the homes for sale in 85048 are priced in the seven-figure range. Indeed, at AFN’s deadline, only four of the 23 listings in 85048 were in the seven-figure range of between $1.02 million and $2.5 million with two more close to $1 million and six more priced between $800,000 and
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$895,000. “ZIP codes are often very small and the number of homes for sale may be minuscule right now,” the Cromford Report noted, adding that “average prices are often much higher than median prices” and “the majority of homes sell for less than the average price, something many people do not realize. But those caveats hardly compensate for the fact, it said, that in most of those 28 ZIP codes, “if you are shopping for a home, you are looking at an average list price more than double what you would have seen three years ago. You are also looking at a
see MARKET page 18