A Tucson area realtor could tell you that of the nearly one million people that live in the Tucson metropolitan area, less than 600,000 live in the city of Tucson. The rest live in the outlying communities and neighborhoods. If you are planning on relocating to Tucson, or even if you already live there, a Tucson area realtor can give you insight and guidance to help you to find the best neighborhoods and homes for you and your family. Whether you are a retiree who is looking to play golf in your “backyard” course everyday, or a family with young children who wants to live in the area with the best schools and family programs, a Tucson area realtor can help you to find your dream home. Each area of the Tucson metro area (North, South, East and West) has its own distinct personality and lifestyle. Here are some brief descriptions:

North: You will find the areas of Oro Valley, Catalina, and Marana. A Tucson area realtor can point out both the retirement communities and the family communities in the area. These areas were traditionally farming communities, but have recently experienced a growth in development.

West: A Tucson area realtor will let you know that west of the city is Saguaro National Monument and the world renowned Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, along with the tourist attraction Old Tucson, where many westerns were filmed. There are stunning luxury homes in the foothills that your Tucson area realtor can show you, or you may be considering the quiet little community of Avra.

South: South of Tucson you will find the communities of Sahaurita, San Xavier, and Green Valley. Your Tucson area realtor can show you both upscale communities and homes for those who are on a more modest budget. You will also be in short driving distance from Davis Monthan Airforce base, and Electric Park where many major league teams have their spring training.

East: Tanque Verde is an area that is upscale that your Tucson area realtor may show you. You can also find homes in the Catalina Mountains and Mount Lemmon. Some of these are summer homes. In the Catalinas, you can fish, hike, camp and even hang glide.

No matter what area of the Tucson metropolitan area you decide to settle down in you will find it a great city. You have access to the University of Arizona with its world renowned medical center and sports teams, cultural activities, and a rich heritage that is longer than most areas in the country.

Hi, my name is Walt. I’m an auctioneer with 25 years of experience in the auction business and licensed in the state of MA. I own Quick Auction Service, a company that specializes in building and running custom auctions, I’m also the webmaster of my own site and have been on eBay for 8 years. Besides eBay, the types of auctions I run most frequently are antiques and on-site estate auctions, although I’ve run everything from business overstock auctions to charity & special event auctions.

I enjoy sharing my knowledge and stories of the auction business. My goal for article is to help folks get the absolute most out of their auction experience.

Whether your fresh out of the package or a seasoned dealer I think I can offer something in this article to help you with your auciton adventures.

There may be as many reasons to attend auctions as there are types of auctions to attend. Maybe you want to attend an auction to buy items for re-sale on eBay, or some other market. Maybe you want to furnish your home with wonderful antiques, or you want to furnish your home as inexpensively without sacrificing quality.Some folks are just looking for a fun night out. With a little perseverance all these things are possible.

There are antiques and estate auctions, auto auctions, overstock auctions, absolute and no reserve auctions, real estate auctions, specialty auctions where only one genre of items are sold, tailgate auctions, live auctions, online auctions, sealed bid auctions, silent auctions, charity and fund raising auctions and many more.

Can you really buy for pennies on the dollar at an auction? You bet! Many times I’ve seen folks buy and re-sell at the same auction on the same night for a good profit, although be advised, this should only be done after the auction is over.

There are a lot of ways to find an auction, but here are some tips on how to find and attend the best ones.

Visit the genre of shops in the area that apply to the type of auction you want to attend. IE: If your looking for a good antique auction to attend, stop in the local antiques shops and ask for what there are for good auctions in the area. Sounds obvious right? But listen to what they don’t say as well as what they do say. Oftentimes when a dealer speaks poorly about an auction he or she attends, it may be likely that they are trying to keep a good thing secret. Think for a moment, why would a dealer keep attending a lousy auction?

Newspaper ads: I personally like to find ads in the classified ad section rather than flashy display ads. Flashy ads are usually indicative of an auction that will be high priced, may have reserves, (a set price on an item), and usually an enormous crowd. While any auction can be profitable to attend, it is usually best to steer clear of the glitzy ones, at least for the beginner.

Here’s the minimum you want to find out before you go. If there is a phone number in the ad, call and ask for the terms of the sale. What forms of payment do they accept? Is it an absolute auction? An absolute auction is one that has no minimum or reserve bids on items. These are the best auctions to attend! Is there a buyers premium? A buyers premium is like a tax that everyone who makes purchases at that auction must pay above the winning bid price. Most auctions these days do charge a buyers premium, 10% is not unreasonable but I feel much more than that is greedy, and the auctioneer that charges over 10% is counting on most bidders not doing the extra math as the bids quicken in pace.

A fair auction will have ample time to inspect the merchandise, usually at least 2 or 3 hours. Find out when inspection starts and make sure to attend! Never attend an auction if you can’t make the inspection, not unless your prepared to gamble. Most auctioneers sell at a rate of about 100 items per hour, which is why they sell “as is”. They simply don’t have the time to give a detailed description of all the items. Since almost all items at auction are sold AS IS, there are sure to be some damaged, refinished, fake and incomplete items at any given auction. Beware of any auctions that offer very little or no inspection time.

Good auctions will usually have 150 to 400 lots. A lot may be one item or a group of items. The exception to this are specialty auctions, auto auctions, real estate auctions etc.

When you attend your first sale, take note of the 1/2 dozen or so dealers that buy the most often. See if you can find out about other area auctions they attend.

When you do find an excellent auction, attend it as often as possible. By frequenting good sales, you help increase the bottom line of that business. It’s difficult for many auctioneers to keep the quality of merchandise consistent, so good attendance certainly helps. And when an auctioneer gets to know you as a buyer, he/she will go out of the way to accommodate you, to keep you coming back.

Home based businesses are becoming the order of the day. You earn money sitting at home and the more you can do this the better it is for you. Start off a stream of multiple incomes from more than one source, and you are on safe grounds. The top home based businesses that are most popular today are affiliate marketing, article writing, internet marketing and eBooks. These are some of the top home based businesses today.Affiliate gurus around the world are literally sitting on good cash – just promote a product and let your downlink do the remaining job for you. Best of the sites will pay you a hefty commission for this, and the more activity the downlinks can trigger on the product, the better the commissions. The affiliate marketer is choosy about the product he is about to market; if he were not sure that the product would sell, he would avoid being an affiliate of the website. Affiliates can set up their commission payments to come in on a monthly basis. There are various other websites that take care of commission payments to affiliates.Of the other top home based businesses, writing eBooks is one of the best. EBooks are electronic based books that contain all the information about a product or a service that can actually form a useful product to supplement your website. For example, you have a website on dog care. An eBook stating everything you wanted to know about housetraining your dog is a useful by product that can actually sell like hot cakes. The sale of one eBook always stands as one important factor in going in for the second eBook. At the same time, the site is ready for another eBook on dog food. Go for it and you have another important eBook for your customer. A neat stack of eBooks about dogs will only increase the value of your site apart from the intrinsic value it already enjoys.There are many top home based businesses ideas that can be found on the internet. Go through the various options available and you will be sure to find out the right one that would suit your purpose. Remember, home based business is something that has come to stay; jobs are now becoming the second option for most people in the country today. No matter how high paying the job is, the tension and worries that these jobs give you along with the money is incomparable.