Inside East Valley Business

Jamestown, Va. and Plymouth Colony, Mass. were two of the earliest settlements in the United States.
Neither of those places was much fun back at the start. But if you were looking for somewhere to settle today, which of those two would be the best choice?
It would be Jamestown, according to Cyberhomes.com, a real estate information Web site.
Here are the comparisons:

The first permanent English settlers in the New World built a fort at Jamestown in what today is James City County, Va.
- Median estimated home value - $319,766, which is down 6.44 percent in the past 12 months.
- Population - 62,649
- Population change since 2000 - 3.71%
- Median household income - $95,567
- Unemployment rate - 2.60%
- Recent job growth - 2.31%

The Mayflower dropped anchor and the Pilgrims established a colony at what today is Plymouth County, Mass.
- Median estimated home value - $310,752, which is down 13.87 percent in the past 12 months.
- Population - 505,547
- Population change since 2000 - 0.93%
- Median household income - $92,471
- Unemployment rate - 4.80%
- Recent job growth - 0.27%

Based on those figures, James City County would be a better choice because it boasts a higher median household income, faster population growth, lower unemployment rate and higher recent job growth. Also home values haven’t taken as big a hit as in Plymouth.
But in both locations, a lot has improved in 500 years - something to be thankful for during this Thanksgiving season.

Most marketing professionals aren’t buying the hype surrounding social networking Web sites like Facebook and MySpace, even as more and more companies are utilizing such portals as advertising tools.

A survey by Dallas-based marketing services firm, Epsilon, shows that 22 percent of marketing executives say they’re not very interested in using the social networking sites to promote their company, while 33 percent said they’re not at all interested.

In fact, Internet forums, webcasts and podcasts, email, blogs and webinars were far more popular, among survey respondents.

“Though dialogue marketing is a bonafide trend in the industry, just 10% percent of (chief marketing officer) survey respondents said they already are using these social sites in their marketing plans,” a press release said.

The Better Business Bureau is warning people about purchasing scalped tickets to the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama in January.

The group said that only 250,000 tickets are available only through members of congress.

“The fact that tickets haven’t even been distributed to the members of Congress yet hasn’t stopped online scalpers from trying to rake in cash from patriotic Americans,” a BBB press release said.

The scalpers are apparently claiming to sell VIP seats at prices up to $20,000 each.

“Considering these online brokers won’t even know for certain they have tickets until just before the Inauguration, an American looking to be a part of history might travel all the way to Washington DC and spend January 20 watching the swearing in from their hotel room,” said the group’s president and CEO Matthew Fehling in written statement.

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) is reportedly introducing legislation making scalping inaugural tickets a misdemeanor crime.

AT&T reported an explosion of text messages during Tuesday night’s historic election.

Company officials said they saw a 44 percent spike, and attribute it to the popularity of text messaging among young adults.

Tuesday’s text messaging frenzy broke the previous record set during New Year’s Eve 2008.
A recent study by the Nielsen Co. showed more Americans communicate via text messaging than talking on their cell phones.

The payday loan stores blanketing the Valley won’t leave a hole in the real estate market, even if they all close down after voters rejected Proposition 200, experts say.

The ballot initiative would have allowed payday lenders to continue charging much higher interest rates than the 36 percent cap imposed on other lending institutions. That exemption expires July 1, 2010.

Steve Julius, a senior associate at Marcus & Millichap, said the stores tend to be about 1,200 square-feet on average – hardly enough to send vacancy rates spiking if they decide to exit the state.

Rick Murphy, a senior vice president at CB Richard Ellis, said even mass closures would barely register in the Valley’s overall vacancy rate, which is currently 7.03 percent.

Murphy said major retailers leaving the Valley like Circuit City, Linens-N-Things, and Mervyn’s will hurt a heck of a lot more. He estimated that Circuit City and Linens-N-Things alone will add about a million square feet of vacant space to the market.

State elections officials Tuesday said they contacted lawyers representing Starbucks and Krispy Kreme regarding the companies’ Election Day freebies.

Kevin Tyne, deputy secretary of state, said officials were concerned that the companies’ doughnut and coffee giveaways may violate state law prohibiting anyone offering voters incentives or rewards.

“They assured us that they were making (the products) available as a promotion for celebrating Election Day,” Tyne said, adding the companies weren’t requiring proof that customers had voted before giving away the products.

Dan Brinton, the franchisee of several Krispy Kreme Doughnuts shops in the Valley, said the free doughnuts were never meant to be incentives to voters.

“It was a national idea from Krispy Kreme (executives),” he said. “They actually sent out an e-mail that said you do not have to have proof of voting. It’s just a day that we want to give away doughnuts.”

Tyne said his office also planned to contact Ben & Jerry’s ice cream stores, but the company halted their giveaway program.

To ensure that Starbucks was complying with state laws, the company stopped requiring customers to say they voted in order to receive the free coffee.

Arizona State University’s business school will induct three Valley businessmen into the W.P. Carey School of Business Homecoming Hall of Fame.

The school will recognize Eric Crown, Geoff Edmunds and Robert Hobbs Sr. during a ceremony at The Ritz-Carlton in Phoenix on Nov. 14.

Crown is co-founder and chairman emeritus at Insight Enterprises, a direct-marketer of computers and other products. Edmunds – a longtime player in the local building industry – co-founded the development firm, Murphree-Edmunds, as well as Geoffrey H. Edmund & Associates, which was later purchased by Toll Brothers. Among other ventures, Hobbs chairs Naumann/Hobbs Holdings – a storage services firm.

The school’s hall of fame was started in 1977 and honors alumni who have made contributions in their field, community and the school.

The ceremony starts at 6 p.m. and lasts until 10 p.m. For more information, call (480) 965-3978.

Gas prices in Arizona dropped again this week thanks to the ongoing uncertainty in the financial markets and less demand, AAA Arizona said.

Statewide, drivers are paying about $3.43 for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline on average, according to the organization’s most recent price survey. That’s a drop of 6.5 cents from last week.

Scottsdale saw the biggest decline. Drivers there paid about $3.46 a gallon — 11.3 cents less than last week.

Prices dropped 7.5 cents to about $3.34 a gallon in the rest of the East Valley including Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler, Tempe Ahwatukee, Apache Junction and Queen Creek.

Bags of candy were yanked from shelves at the popular Lee Lee Oriental Supermarkets in Chandler and Peoria last week over fears that in may be contaminated with a dangerous chemical.

Lee Lee owner, Meng Truong, said he was warned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of the possible danger posed by White Rabbit Candy.

The recall was announced by California-based Queensway Foods Company on Friday after the candy tested positive for traces of melamine, the same chemical found in infant formula in China that’s been blamed for the deaths of four babies.

Melamine is a chemecal used in plastics manufacturing.

An estate once belonging to presidential hopeful John McCain is up for auction.

The 13-bedroom home was the childhood home of McCain’s wife, Cindy, according to a press release from The Larsen Co., which is handling the sale.

(Click here for an aerial view of the home.)

“Her (Cindy’s) parents built the home in 1951,” said Stewart Larsen, president of Larsen Co. “When she and John got married, they moved in and raised the kids there for 20 years until two years ago.”

Some of the more lavish amenities at the 2.7-acre estate include a full bar and playhouse, theater room, 4-bedroom guest casita, wine-tasting room, and 7-car garage. The house has 14.5 bathrooms, a pool, three ramadas and “resort style grounds.”

The 15,000-square-foot home, which will be auctioned at 1 p.m. on Oct. 25, is at 7110 N. Central Avenue, which is just north of Glendale Avenue in north Phoenix.

Larsen said there’s no minimum bid, but the house is appraised at $12 million and it’s up to the the current owner whether or not to accept the highest bid.