Nick’s opinion

First time home buyers have been very active participants in the Phoenix real estate market. A good job market, relatively low housing costs and historically low interest rates have certainly helped them on their path to home ownership. According to a recent study, 5 of the top 30 “Best Places for First-Time Home Buyers” are located here in the Phoenix metro area. Of those 5 communities: Peoria came in at […]

There’s a LOT of buzz about Google coming to Mesa to open a huge data center. The tech giant is said to be opening the 750,000 square foot data center near Sossaman and Elliot Roads in southeast Mesa. This is an area that still has some large chunks of vacant land but they are quickly disappearing. You’ll find a mix of large commercial and residential developments nearby that benefit from […]

I love the “new” narrative from so many real estate industry experts. It goes something like this: The industry is changing. Embrace it. “That’s how it’s always been done” will put you right outta business! There’s a whole bunch of people in the real estate industry who are trying to have a race to the bottom. They want to “make it easier” and “more efficient” for buyers and sellers. While […]

Welcome to the new and improved NickBastian.com website and blog. We are super excited to be launching this updated site with our good friends at the real estate tomato. I have owned this domain for approximately 25 years: it is my own little corner of the internet where I enjoy sharing our story. We have been purposeful in this redesign to make this site more about the relationships we have […]

That’s Who We R® is a new marketing campaign from the National Association of REALTORS®. Personally, I am glad to see more talk about what it means to be a REALTOR®. As an industry, I feel like real estate agents have done a poor job conveying the value of working with a professional. I also believe that representation and guidance is of utmost importance for consumers to get from their REALTOR®. For […]

“Real estate texting” is a VERY popular way for people to communicate. In fact, texting about real estate might just be more common than you think. I want to share a few of the most common acronyms people use to talk about their home purchase or sale via text message: NP: Not Pre-Approved SMH: Sell My House! WTF: Want The Fridge? BRB: Bonus Room, Baby! IDC: Immaculate Downtown Condominium IMHO: […]

Can A Real Estate Deal Ever Just Be A Deal? I totally get it… Everyone wants a deal when buying a home. Right? Sometimes, people get so wrapped up in “making a deal” and hammering a seller on a price, that they end up paying more for a home than necessary, because they lost several properties because they wanted to hammer the seller for a really good deal. Eventually, in […]

How quickly can we close escrow? That’s a question we get quite often. For the most part, we have to use the old, “it depends” answer. Basically, we say that because it really does depend on a whole lot of things. I remember a recent closing of ours that took just FOUR business days from contract to close, AND the property was located within a Home Owners Association. That’s a pretty […]