River Run is a nice, gated community in North Tempe consisting of 112 homes. These homes have 2 car garages and, according to the tax records, average approximately 1200 square feet. Within River Run, residents enjoy well kept common areas, 2 community pools, tennis courts, sand volleyball and parking for RV’s, boats, trailers etc.

Click here to see Homes For Sale in River Run. The link will take you to the actual MLS for an accurate picture of CURRENT sales activity in River Run / Gardens Tempe.

To the right of the screen, you will see an example of a home in River Run —->>

The legal description calls River Run “The Gardens Tempe” and lists the homes as being built from 1984 – 1994. There appears to be a mix of people in age ranges with students, part time residents and just about anything in between. Being near a bus stop and an Orbit system, the area is also good for people that enjoy getting around town via public transportation.

To give you a feel for the neighborhood, I have enclosed some photos of River Run and will add to them as time permits. I am also enclosing a slide show from YouTube showing some of the community features. If you would like a list of homes for sale in River Run, please let me know and we will be glad to send you the information right away.

A map of the River Run area

View River Run Tempe AZ in a larger map
]]> http://nickbastian.com/2010/03/30/river-run-homes-tempe/feed/ 0 http://nickbastian.com/2010/02/17/deconstruction-hurts-many-homeowners/ http://nickbastian.com/2010/02/17/deconstruction-hurts-many-homeowners/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:09:00 +0000 Nick Bastian http://www.eastvalley411.com/?p=57

Deconstruction is a word making it’s rounds right now. It is a phrase being used to describe the practice of removing fixtures from a home facing foreclosure.

Recently, a local man was arrested and charged with defrauding a secure creditor and criminal damage after the deconstruction of his Chandler home.

Unfortunately, this has been a very common practice for the past couple years as the wave of foreclosures spreads throughout the valley. I see many foreclosed homes where the sinks, toilets, air conditioning units, water heaters, cabinets, counter tops, lighting and even landscaping items have been removed or vandalized. This theft and vandalism is obviously not helping the real estate market and probably effects the values of the entire neighborhood.

A quick look at Craigslist will often show ads for materials from a home and often sounds suspiciously similar to the practice of “deconstruction.” Just like any other criminal damage, police encourage homeowners to be aware of their surroundings and to watch foreclosed homes in their neighborhoods and report any suspicious activity.

Of course, if you are struggling with keeping your home and need any good resources to discuss your options, I am here to help as best we can. Short sale and foreclosures are a huge part of the real estate market right now. I am happy to discuss your situation and have some very helpful attorneys and and industry professionals that can answer your short sale or foreclosure questions for you. As always, if you have any real estate related questions, “Just Call Nick!”

]]> http://nickbastian.com/2010/02/17/deconstruction-hurts-many-homeowners/feed/ 1 http://nickbastian.com/2010/01/04/the-truth-about-the-truth-in-lending/ http://nickbastian.com/2010/01/04/the-truth-about-the-truth-in-lending/#comments Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:04:19 +0000 Bill Risser http://nickbastian.com/?p=119

The most confusing document in the entire loan package is the
Truth-In-Lending Disclosure Statement. I’ve heard more than
one escrow officer refer to it as the “Confusion-In-Lending” and simply
ask the borrower to sign with a cursory explanation usually saying it’s
the loan costs rolled into the interest rate or something similar.
While not entirely inaccurate, it doesn’t really explain the
“TIL” as it’s referred to in the biz.

With so many engineers in the Valley of the Sun, it’s tough to fudge on
numbers during a signing. They were the impetus for me to
know the TIL, and to be able to explain it if a borrower required me to
do so… Here’s what I learned:

The Annual Percentage Rate or APR, is not the interest rate.
It is a number expressed in terms of an interest rate created
by the government to enable consumers to comparison shop lenders.
The APR does factor in the fees paid by the borrower.
This is accomplished by creating a new number called the
Amount Financed. The formula for the amount financed is:

Actual Loan Amount – Prepaid Finance Charges = Amount Financed

Prepaid Finance Charges are defined by the government as follows:

Prepaid Finance Charges are
certain charges in connection with the loan and which must be paid upon
the close of the loan. These charges are defined by the
Federal Reserve Board in Regulation Z
defines these charges and the borrower must pay the charges.
Non-Inclusive examples of such charges are: Loan origination
fee, “Points” or Discount, Private Mortgage Insurance or FHA Mortgage
Insurance, Tax Service Fee. Some loan charges are
specifically excluded from the Prepaid Finance Charge such as appraisal and credit
report fees.

So if a borrower had zero Prepaid Finance Charges, the Amount Financed
would equal the Actual Loan Amount. The APR would also be the
same as the actual interest rate. This scenario is extremely
rare. We all pay fees to the lender and title company, so the
Amount Financed will always be less than the Actual Loan amount.

So how does this affect the APR? Amount financed has a direct
impact on the APR. Here’s where the fun starts.

Let’s assume a loan of $100,000 at 5.25% interest on a 30 year note.
The principal and interest would be $552.50 These
are fixed figures that will not change.

Let’s also assume Prepaid Finance Charges of $2,000. Since
the TIL requires knowing the Amount Financed, we see that $100,000 -
$2000 = $98,000 (our Amount Financed). What the TIL
does now is take the Amount Financed and assume for the purposes of the
TIL that it is the loan amount. So if the monthly payment
remained at $552.50, but the loan amount was $98,0000, what would the
interest rate be for a 30 year loan? The answer is 5.427% and
this is also the APR!

The most important takeaway from this post is the more you pay
in fees, the bigger the difference between the actual interest rate and
the APR. It really is basic math, once you decipher the
definitions provided by the government, and as we all know, sometimes
that isn’t easy…

I had a great time meeting with some real estate and title friends this morning talking about some cool new blogging applications.

I was really glad to have been invited to the ribbon cutting to celebrate Fidelity National Title’s relocation to the Hayden Ferry Lakeside building. This is one of the most impressive spaces around and they occupy the entire 11th floor of this gorgeous building. As you cross the Mill Avenue Bridge or pass by on the freeway on the North side of the lake, you can’t help but look at these beautiful buildings. Basically, you have the commercial space closer to the bridge and the residential towers of Bridgeview and Edgewater directly to the East. Talk about a cool lifestyle! Imagine working in one of these buildings and living in the residential towers? This is some of Arizona’s finest urban design and is located just north of the Mill Avenue District’s light rail stop at 3rd St/Mill Avenue.
Mayor Hallman spoke and truly seemed to love having Fidelity move their corporate offices from the 24th St and Camelback location. I have talked to several Fidelity employees and they seem to love the new building and the location. I spoke with marketing representative Jennifer Weller about how fun it will be to take the light rail to a baseball or basketball game while not having to fight traffic or find parking.
Overall, it was a great night with some nice people, some really good food and a lot of celebrating.

I recall the day vividly. As a young man, I had a lot of choices ahead of me. At the time, one of my big choices was, “how long will I get to hang out at mom and dad’s house?” My brother and I are very close in age and we were having the time of our lives living in a really cool house that my mom and dad had raised us in. I was 20 years old, my brother 19 and we worked at a family business. We both had been taught to save some money instead of spending each of the few dimes we made at the time. One day, dad came home and said, “You bought a house today.” Of course, if you know my mom, you know that she cried.
For many “old timers” in the business, you might remember the days of the assumable, without qualification, VA loan. (I could go off here about our current lending environment but I’ll refrain) My brother and I gave some very nice people $4000.00 to purchase a nice little 2 bedroom home in a great Mesa location, a couple blocks south of the Superstition Freeway near Gilbert Road. The experience helped to shape who I am today.
Soon, we added another bedroom on to the home as we often seemed to have a “roommate.” Our mortgage payment was about $500.00 and was manageable with 3 people sharing the “rent.” Home ownership was exciting to us as 99% of our friends were at home or renting but it really did feel good to own a home!
Within the next couple of years, the RTC collapse was upon us (the famous”crash”) and I began hearing of some of the deals in the market. (kind of like now?) As I began calling on ads or on signs, I was amazed at how poorly many of the real estate agents worked. None the less, in a few short years, I had purchased two 4-plex properties which basically began my long term plan of investing in real estate. This also gave me the inspiration to begin a career in real estate. I have now been licensed for the past 16 years and feel very fortunate to have been able to help so many people with their real estate decisions. I am able to help, to share in my experiences and it is the biggest pleasure I get out of a business that has been such a joy to me.
Today is 8/8/08, twenty years to the day after my brother and I closed on our first home. The gift we received from our father was not monetary when we bought that first home; it was a gift from a man that has taught us some very valuable lessons and life experiences. Thanks dad, for so many wonderful gifts. They have been priceless.

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.

The people in the photo are listed as follows…

Just a quick note to wish all of the dads out there a very Happy Father’s Day! The boy’s and I are going to hang out and have some fun today and that is a great gift in itself! Of course, I want to send an extra special Happy Father’s Day wish to my dad.. Thanks for being the best dad and friend we could ever have hoped for! Glad you and mom could “sneak away” to the cabin.. See ya soon.

One of the all time best dunks by anyone wearing a Suns uniform was Kevin Johnson going off on Hakeem Olajuwon. I always liked Kevin as he played hard, had a lot of talent and seemed like a genuinely nice guy. Since retiring from basketball, he has been involved in real estate development and has now decided to run for mayor of Sacramento. When I read this, I was a little surprised but not entirely. I wish him well but mostly, I wanted to share this video with you. I remember watching this game and literally jumping to my feet when he dunked on the big guy..

We are getting close to having the “new and improved” version of NickBastian.com ready for your opinions. The conversion started a few weeks ago and my lovely assistant (ok, my right arm) Michelle, has been working really hard to fix some of the kinks. In the next couple of weeks, we will have better home search pages, more customization and the ability to make even more custom changes as we go. We will add pages of information on neighborhoods we like and areas of town that we feel are great places to live etc.

Old and new versions of “Nick’s News” will be added over time as well. And yes, the famous (or infamous?) “Nick’s Picks” restaurant reviews will be available one of these days too. It is amazing how many of you guys call or email me about the restaurant choices. Thanks because we have a lot of fun with that one.

This blog will always remain a focus for my favorite people; Those of you that are “members” of the “Just Call Nick” club. We hope to add more fun events and drawings for cool things in the near future. I hope you will visit both of the sites often and continue to provide me with feedback concerning how I can better serve your real estate needs.

Anyone that cares to read even more of the things I write about can visit my Active Rain Real Estate blog.

Thanks again for your continued support and referrals. 2007 was a great year for my business. That probably sounds crazy as it was a “horrible” market but, because of many of you people in the “Just Call Nick” club, I have been able to really stay on top of my game!

Thanks! I’ll let you know when the “new” web site is ready..