Fun Things To Do in Downtown Tucson with Darren and Tony Ray

Ta-da! Happy Saturday! Who are you?

I'm Darren. I'm Darren Jones with Tierra Antigua Realty. Who are you?

I'm Tony Ray Baker. I'm with Tierra Antigua Realty. We're live at the Tierra Antigua Realty Studios. That sound better? In New York.

We're not in downtown Tucson. Yes, we're in downtown Tucson right now from New York.

Yeah, we're not going outside today, so there's no on-location because it It's really hot, and for us it's hot because it's not a dry heat today. There's like a 30% humidity, which we're not used to. Yeah, it causes you to sweat. Yeah, and it ruins your hair. Hey, we have some really— uh, we're going to talk about some fun stuff today. Monsoons coming up. Woohoo! You have a good— let's play, right? Do a dance on your roof, please, and ask the monsoon people to spend us some money, right? Uh, monsoons are coming up. We have a bunch of fun things, uh, coming up in the next 2 weeks, something to do with monsters. Monsters, oh my! We have predators and monsters on the list this week. And then, yeah, like Godzilla. And then we have a very contemporary house we're going to show you. And, um, before we do that, I have a question because we have, uh, we keep running into clients coming into town. Uh, sometimes they come into town with a dog, and when they do come into town with a dog, there's obviously dog safety tips we need to go over with people that are not from Heat. But, uh, which we did last show. But the, the thing where they're always looking for is where can they go with their dog. And so I thought, you know what, there's several restaurants we know about.

Yeah.

And, um, that we send them to, but we have the same ones in our heads, like, you know, the Dakota Cafe over at Trail Dust Town. They let your dog come over there and he gets to sit outside on the patio under the umbrellas by the fountain.

They'll bring a little snack. Yeah.

And so that's the kind of places we need more help with. So I'm asking you, if you're watching this right now, please go down below the video and comment. And will you please— I don't know if you can see that, Tom. Tell me and I'll move it up or down.

It's good.

Tell me please who your favorite restaurant in town is that actually allows dogs and put that down below in the video because we wanna compile a list. And if you want the list, we'll compile the list and get the list to everybody. Who wants it, but I want to give this to clients coming in from out of town so that they have a doggie list. Look at those cute dogs. Little baby dogs. Aren't they cute? Okay, so please, please, please give us your favorite restaurant and the restaurant that allows dogs. Good?

Okay.

Our vote, the one I know of, is Dakota Cafe. Yeah.

And also, it's like places, events, or other locations that are really dog friendly.

That would be great as well. Yeah. So let's focus on that. If you would help us, we'd really appreciate it. We'll start that list. This is funny because we've been all waiting patiently for rain, some not as patient as others, but here's today's phone snapshot. So this is what I got. Did you see this?

Yeah.

So it actually shows 30% or sometimes 40% chance of rain every day coming up.

Okay, so everybody go and wash your car. Look at that. So it'll rain.

Yeah, if everybody washes their car.

Everybody go wash your car so it'll rain.

Yes, so that's a snapshot, That's, it just says chance, but usually I heard from the weather people that if it's 30% or more, chances are really good. So we could experience rain and I might just run outside and play in it if that happens. You might see live video of me in the rain because I would be very excited about rain.

That would be awesome.

Yeah. Let's talk about Lisa Holliday, our friend at Tierra Antigua Realty. She's a REALTOR® with us and hi Lisa. Hi, Lisa. Lisa's got a beautiful house that we have listed up in the Catalina Foothills, and it's right on Push Ridge side where the bighorn sheep hang out. So here's the picture of that, and it's a beautiful, beautiful house. This house is about $525,000. You'll have to— don't quote me on that one, but I think it's $525,000. It's a beautiful custom home. It costs more than that to build. This house, right? And here's just a great inside shot of that house. If you want to see this house tomorrow, uh, Lisa Holliday will be holding this house open, uh, from 12 to 4. So you can, uh, contact me or Darren and we can give you the info. But Lisa's holding this house open tomorrow from, uh, 1 to 4 with all the other open houses that go on on Sundays, right?

Yeah.

Okay, so stop by and say hi to Lisa and tell her you saw her here here, and so she'll say, hey, thanks dudes. That's awesome. Thanks dudes. Dudes. Lisa, I hope you're listening. The like us, hey, so please like us on this page, the See Tucson Real Estate page for Facebook. Please like us because if you do that, you can send us questions and ask stuff about real estate or you can ask him gnome gardening tips. Because he's a gnome. Gnome, right? Gnome.

Genome.

Genome. And then you can ask, are you a garden, like, lawn gnome with a hat?

No. Garden gnome.

You're a garden gnome. Gnomes tend to the earth. He's a gnome. You do, you tend to the earth, right? You plant some trees. So you can ask Darren questions, you can ask me questions, us about real estate. We're here to help. So please like us, and if you find something that your friends need to know about, share it over to them. We really appreciate it. So cool houses. By the way, the houses that we just put on the market that we were talking about, the new construction ones, both gone. Poof, gone, right? So we have 2 new constructions underway, and both of them are not finished, but both of them are in pending sales already. And the reason I'm telling you this is because this is how competitive our market is. So on Friday, we got a phone call on a house that we have list that we're going to list in November, and the agent was smart enough to remember that I told her we were going to list it in November, and on Friday sent a full-price offer over on this house and got her client wrapped up in the house. And they have a long escrow, but her client now has the house secured, and our seller is thrilled, right?

So don't wait.

So don't wait. Right now, if you are— it's an aggressive market, especially under— I'm even dropping now, like under $400,000, it's aggressive. Yeah, so my advice on this one is call us. We get you set up, make sure you're pre-qualified, make sure all your homework's done first, right?

Get it done.

And then we get very aggressive, um, on looking for houses and finding them before anybody else knows about them. And that's a big deal right now because we're seeing our houses are selling. We have— I know of 4 new constructions coming up. I'm not going to tell anybody about them now because the inventory is so tough. It's only our clients are going to get to know what we know at this point, right? Because we have to get them in. This is like an all-out battle. It's like we're going to real estate war.

Real estate wars. Yeah, it's, it's all friendly. It's just good stuff.

It is good stuff. It's friendly. It's just, man, it's really— you have to get out there, right? I know I did. This little guy, I think about that. Wait, I'm covering his little hand. Um, all right, so let's talk about the fun stuff coming up. This today and tonight is what?

Today and tonight is Second Saturday, which means Second Saturday Downtown, and there's a lot of stuff going on. So there's plenty of events, there's bands, some of the streets are going to be closed off, and so there's going to be vendors, there's going to be food, there are lots of fun things. It's kind of cool to come down, see the entertainers and the performers and just see everybody and enjoy downtown.

Speaking of cool, Like that segue. It's supposed to be cooler tonight too. It might drop down to like 95 because it's supposed to be a little bit of wind and high humidity. So I bet you it's a great night to go out because we're going to get the beginning of that storm where you start feeling it coming. So tonight's probably a great night to be out in downtown Tucson. Woohoo!

And where's this wind coming from? I don't know.

I'm not a weatherman. I'm a REALTOR®.

He told me it was coming out of Mexico.

I think it— I don't know. I can't confirm. I haven't heard the news on that one. So I don't know. So downtown's Second Saturdays is tonight.

Second Saturdays tonight.

And then don't forget the Disney thing.

That's right. That's the train museum, which is that today, Tom?

Do they do a movie today still?

July 8th.

It's always—

they have Family Day. I'm not sure if there's a movie tonight or not.

Okay. So it's Second Saturday and they always do Family Day at the train station.

So they have tractor pull rides and they have food, and it's fun for the kids. You can play with the big engine, and there's a movie.

Have you crawled up on top of that train? The train's wicked. No, that was in the movie Oklahoma.

Not since I was a kid.

Yeah, this— so I climbed up there. It's wicked. You go up on the big, uh, the train engine, and it's—

did you ring the bell?

I did. I rang the bell. Of course I rang the bell. I'm on the train. Yeah, yeah, it's amazing. You got to go up there. So, um, what else is going on?

Check out the website and you'll be able to find out information about that as well. Then there's Second Saturday.

Yeah.

Where is the train museum?

The train museum is right across from Hotel Congress.

Yeah, next to Maynard's.

Yes. So it's really a great little space over there. There's a lot to do in there. If you haven't been there lately, it's a lot going on around that area.

Right.

Hey, while we're on this, anything we're telling you is going to be on the website that's above our heads. So if we can pan up there, that is the website. And since we can do this, I could use me as a pointer. You click on that right there.

c2sunreality.com.

You click on on that and you get the full calendar. And then if you click on any one of those dates, it'll show you all the fun stuff going on right down below. So see, the stuff going on those days is right below. So then you can get the full information from, from those. So that is the See Tucson Homes site. So we'll tell you the date to click on with the event name, and that way we don't have to, you know, bore you with all the details, but we can give you at least a highlight so you know where to go. And check that out.

And don't forget, we told you about it last week, uh, next weekend in Marana is Camping in the Park. So they have Finding Nemo, right?

I'm throwing these back on the list this time because you have to be prepared in advance for some of this stuff.

So I thought camp overnight, it's, it's camping practice, and they have vendors there. So yeah, you know, I don't know, maybe they'll have a pancake breakfast. I'm just saying, maybe.

I'm starving right now. Pancakes are really good. Anybody who would like to bring us pancakes, we're at downtown Tucson.

Tom really likes the bear claws over at Johnny Gibson's.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, bear claws.

Yum.

Yum. Okay, so movies in the park, there's movie at Reid Park.

Oh, Reid Park, that's only August 4th. August 4th, that's coming up in 2 weeks.

Yeah, Finding Dory is the one coming up. They have jumping castles and arts and crafts and all kinds of stuff. Yeah, they have a lot of fun stuff over there too. Then, um, this is really fun. Uh, the— so the, um, the zoo is doing, uh, the Predator series over at Reid Park Zoo where you, uh, go there and I think it's on Friday nights and they do, uh, they do their Predators. Let me see, what's it say? July 14th is the Safari Night Predators. So it's Predators. And then another fun thing is, uh, Desert Dwellers are coming to the library downtown. The library— wait, I gotta show you something. Tom, don't move. Don't just tell me whether to go up or down.

So they'll have, they'll have, uh, animals with them. This is Meet Wildlife.

Yeah, you get to meet these guys over there. This is a great place to take the kids.

This is the big library right downtown Tucson. Yeah, it's the Joel D. Valdez Downtown Library.

That's got that big, uh, red art sculpture. Yeah, we actually did a show in front of it.

Yeah, a couple weeks ago.

You got to go there, take the kids. This is important because these are pretty animals, they are protected animals, but reality is Is it an animal? They're reptiles. That's a reptile. Potato, tomato, it moves, right?

It's from the guy with the lizard on his head.

So these are protected reptiles, but they're very dangerous, and that's the key to anybody needing to know. If you see one of these in your yard, get the dog and lock them in the house. The kids should not be out playing with them. These guys are slow moving, but they can move quickly all of a sudden when they need to. That is what the jaw looks like on a baby, right? And so this guy, if he locks down on any part of your body or your animal or child, it, it seals shut. It doesn't unlock. And so you're carrying him and the venom and everything to a hospital. So you want to stay away from these guys. This is why I say take the kids down to see and meet them and understand that they are dangerous, beautiful animals to look at, and we need to respect them out in our deserts. And they're, they're probably going to be out a little bit more right now until we start seeing rains. Because they're looking for water.

Yeah, right. There is a saying, there is a saying in the desert that if one of these guys bite you, you deserved it.

Yeah, you probably were harassing it because you can't get— getting close.

Yeah, yeah, you can't get close.

You get it close to this, he's a slow-moving guy, you're probably too close. Yeah, so stay away.

Also, the end of July, the 21st, we have Jazz Concert Series at Main Gate Square, right?

That's Reno Del Mar this time.

Yep.

Main Gate Square is, uh, really fun too, by the way. They're— they've got all kinds of new stuff coming. There's a new one. I remember they always have, um, it's a place came in. Dang it.

But they always have free parking at Tyndall Garage after 5 o'clock.

Yeah, so go down there, check out the main gate square. It's always fun in there. Yeah, so that's Friday nights is the jazz concert series, right? Yeah. Okay, see, okay, so last but not least, I want to ask you questions because if monsoons start, we have— so we have xeriscape landscaping, which means very low water because all the plants take low water, like the mesquite trees and the cactus and stuff that are in the yards. There's zones from our watering system that actually waters those zones. Here's, every single time monsoon starts, I get like freaked out because 5:00 AM, I hear the little water thing pop on and I know I'm wasting water because it just rained last night or it's supposed to rain this afternoon at noon and I don't ever know what to do. Am I supposed to turn that thing off and hope I remember to put it on?

Well, you have a couple of different issues. Number one, your xeriscaping in your desert landscape really doesn't need much of your help. So the little watering system that you have going on, yeah, great, that's fine. You're absolutely not going to need that during monsoon season. So if you have the sensor, um, what sensor? The same one, the water sensor. There's usually a rain sensor.

I don't have a rain sensor.

There's usually a rain sensor on your—

Apparently the gnome thinks we should all have a rain sensor because did you see the look you just gave me? Like, everybody's supposed Most of those have a rain sensor.

This is common knowledge? Okay. So, anyway, the rain sensor, or there may be a setting on your system that is for in case of rain. It senses the rain and it can tell when the moisture is high and doesn't water the actual landscape. Now, if you're just getting a tiny little bit of water one day, that may or may not be enough for cactus or natural vegetation that grows in the desert. However, if you have fruit trees and ornamentals, then you may want to augment that with your hose. Also, the other issue that you have, if you have flowers in pots and that type of thing, then you're not going to want to necessarily depend on the monsoon rains to make sure that these get the adequate amount of water. And so you can use trays underneath of them in order to conserve water, and you can also use a chopstick. So you just take the chopstick, you put it in the soil. If it comes out, if it's wet, then it's got enough water. If it's dry, add some.

Wait, wait, wait, is that like—

okay, Darren said—

hold on, Darren said, uh, wait a second, that's really interesting for a tip here. So I take a chopstick— oh, by the way, if you own a Chinese or Thai restaurant and your chopsticks— sorry, your chopsticks are missing, it might be the gnome. Um, so the wood chopsticks, you put them in, and is it like a cake, baking a cake?

Yeah, you stick it in. If it comes out, it's moist, it has like little Crumbs, pieces of dirt stuck to it. Who knew? And if it's mud, it's probably too much.

If it's muddy, it's too much. Okay, like a wet icing, right? Or a wet cake.

Right.

But if it's crumbling, it's wet. And if nothing comes out—

if it's dry, dry, just add some water.

This is a— that's a high five, dude. That's the best tip ever, is use chopsticks as the— and I can get it because I remember baking a cake.

It works.

Awesome.

People can relate. I love it.

All right, so we hope you have an incredibly fun—

cool fact tip.

I don't have one today.

Okay, no quick tip today.

I'm not qualified. Dun dun dun. No, we're out. I don't have one today. So if you need to find any information, remember the website is seetucsonhomes.com, right? And if you'd like to call us about anything real estate, or if you want to get on that list and find out what's coming in before everybody else knows what's coming in, you can call me at 520-631-8600.

8669, or you can call me at 520-730-5203. And don't forget to send us your restaurants for your pets.

Oh yeah, the restaurants for the pets, favorite pet restaurant below. And then, um, my name is Tony Ray Baker, I'm with Tierra Antigua Realty.

I'm Darren Jones, Tierra Antigua Realty.

We help you buy and sell houses, and we've been doing that for, oh, over 20-some years, right? Um, thank you for always tuning in, and remember, please help us out, we need a favorite restaurant that would allow dogs. Okay?

All right. All right. We look forward to seeing you next week. Tell all your friends.

Have a great day.