Nick Bastian's Blog

The new AZ light rail system opening in December looks pretty easy to use. Much of the 20 mile route contains 2 sets of tracks where the cars will pass each other. At each station, you simply board a train heading in your desired direction. For instance, most stations are built in the middle of the street. If you are in Tempe and want to ride to downtown Phoenix for work or for a sporting event, it is a pretty short trip and you have several options. Let's use boarding a train at one of the four Apache Boulevard stations as an example. You will enter the station and the west bound train will pick you up on the north side of the station while the east bound trains allow passengers to board at the south side of the station. 

Now, let's use a baseball game as an example: I have talked to a ton of sports fans that are looking forward to taking light rail to a Suns game or to see the Diamodbacks play at Chase. There is a stop at 3rd St/Jefferson near Chase Field but most people probably don't yet realize that this is an east bound train. Not to worry, you just need to know your way around. If coming from Tempe, you will NOT arrive right outside of the ballpark at 3rd/Jefferson. You will want to exit the stop at 3rd St/Washington  and walk about a block and a half to the stadium. By clicking on this pic of the 3rd St/Washington station, you might get a better idea of what I am talking about. However, when the game is over, you simply board the station at 3rd St/Jefferson (right outside the stadium) and head back to Tempe. Light rail will definitely be a benefit to the businesses close to the stadiums. To help you navigate and better understand these areas, our friends at RailLife.com have a light rail map that allows you to see the location of the stations and to zoom in/out to see views of the areas and stops. This map is a work in progress and they will be "tweaking it" for a while to make it even more user friendly.

For anyone that LOVES Tempe as much as we do and for people that might want to see what types of housing is available (visit our FREE MLS search) along or near the light rail corridor, "Just Call Nick!" and we can give you the scoop on these dynamic and ever changing neighborhoods.

You can also click the box below to see homes for sale near the Mill Avenue district priced from $200k - $500k. Of course, we can create any custom search you would like... Just let us know! Nick Bastian - Realty Executives, Tempe AZ.

I am very fortunate to have built a business in real estate that is focused on the trust of past clients and on personal relationships. In this challenging market, I believe it will be the agents that didn't recently jump in for a "fast buck" that will come out on top. Not only do I enjoy keeping in contact with past clients, I also enjoy keeping in contact with top-notch agents and lenders from all over the country. These relationships help me to keep up on trends, industry news and ways to constantly improve my business. I recently attended 2 real estate conferences in San Francisco and was blown away at the quality of people I met. The main focus of the groups I attended was how to better serve our clients through social media, blogging and networking. The picture below is of one of the gifts that some of us received from REBarCamp. BarCamp is kind of a "un-conference" where we all got together, chose topics to discuss and then broke in to discussion groups. This was a good way to connect with some great minds in the business. These "blogger trading cards" were given to some of us as gifts which we were able to share with each other. I have now been able to add to my list of highly qualified agents to refer business to all over the country. As many of you know, I am able to help you with your real estate needs anywhere you go by helping to find a qualified agent who is willing to look out for your best interest. (sound familiar?) So, if you are moving locally or across the country, "Just Call Nick!" and I'll be glad to help. If you have any questions about the community of Tempe Arizona, please feel free to visit our web site at http://www.nickbastian.com/ or feel free to call us at 602-803-6425 or toll free at 1-888-343-6425. If you are relocating from Tempe, (or anywhere in Arizona) to another city/state, I would be more than happy to help you find a top notch agent to assist you.

The people in the photo are listed as follows...
Nick Bastian, Dustin Luther, Joseph Ferrara, Jeff Turner, Todd Carpenter, Derek Overbey, Rick & Ines Garcia, David Blockhus, Grant Freer, Andy Kaufman, Daniel Rothamel, Mark Eckenrode, Diane Cohn, Marc Grossman, Jay Thompson, Gia Freer, Rudy Bachraty, Jon Minnihan, Eric Bryant, Brad Inman, Mike Mueller, Heather Elias, Pam Buda, Kelley Koehler, Michael Price, Jason Berman, Robin Fenchel, Ginger Wilcox, Kris Berg, Nicole Nicolay, Reggie Nicolay, Jeff Corbett, Linda Davis, Brian Block

There has been a lot of talk about Down Payment assistance programs being taken away. In fact, many people are confused as to what these programs are... Most people realize that lending guidelines are changing at a pretty crazy pace. We have gone from, if you have a pulse, you can qualify; to, if you give us your blood, we "might" give you a loan. Supposedly, the DPA programs were to go away later this year. Just a little while ago, I got an email from Ameridream stating:

August 1, 2008

Last night, Congress introduced bipartisan legislation, H.R. 6694that would reauthorize and reform charitable downpayment assistance. This bill would remedy a harmful provision in the new housing law which limits homeownership opportunities for low and middle-income Americans. The legislation, sponsored by U.S. Reps. Al Green (D-TX), Gary Miller (R-CA), Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Christopher Shays (R-CT) reauthorizes and reforms charitable downpayment assistance funded in part by sellers, which has helped over one million families and individuals become homeowners since 1999. The program was eliminated by legislation signed by President Bush on July 30, 2008.

The Green-Miller-Waters-Shays plan would re-authorize and reform non-profit downpayment assistance and secure it as an allowable source for FHA borrowers. The bill seeks to ensure that providers of the downpayment assistance operate in a transparent manner to guard against conflicts of interest. The bill also includes language to ensure that FHA maintains its financial stability by permanently authorizing the Secretary to assess higher premiums to higher risk borrowers.

It is important that you contact your elected officials in Congress and tell them that you support downpayment assistance and urge them to support H. R. 6694. To reach your elected officials, please call the US Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121.

To learn how you can support it, visit http://www.supporthomeownership.com.

AmeriDream continues to be your trusted advisor, bringing timely and accurate information when you need it most

Ok, so I am not a lender and I have not yet studied the bill. It will be good to see what some of our lender friends have to say about this. Just tryin' to keep an eye on the ball...

Nick Bastian - Realty Executives, Tempe AZ.