Fidelity National Title looks at current real estate market

In Tempe, the Hayden Ferry Lakeside buildings have to be considered one of the coolest places around. I am fortunate to spend quite a bit of time visiting Fidelity National Title’s corporate offices located on the 11th floor of this amazing facility with top notch office space and views to die for. The Hayden Ferry location on Rio Salado just North of the light rail station at Third Street and Mill is easy to get to if I am driving or taking the train. For me, that’s another win. 🙂

A recent article in DSnews titled, Arizona Real Estate Market Shows Signs of Recovery, features my friend Steve de Laveaga from Fidelity National Title and Michael Orr of The Cromford Report discussing market trends and conditions. I always love to see national news focusing on local markets rather than trying to paint one broad picture of the entire real estate industry. Real estate is more local than national and can change dramatically from one area to the next. In the article, Michael mentions that “pending sales in the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service are at a record level for January, signifying an increase in demand. This positive sign of market activity is a critical indication of recovery for Arizona’s real estate market.” Of course, this is not to say we are anywhere near a “boom” in the Tempe real estate market, but it does appear that many feel like the bottom may have been hit and that the road to recovery is near. Michael goes on to mention that “2010 won’t see a dramatic shift, but we can expect to see a shallow, upward trend across the market.”

In the article, Steve gives some good examples of what is happening in the short sale and foreclosure market. I always enjoy talking to Steve about the foreclosure and short sale markets and find him to be a great asset in keeping up on this ever changing topic. The monthly “mastermind meetings” held at the Fidelity offices allow several of us to meet on a regular basis to keep up on what is clearly the biggest part of the real estate market right now and will be for quite some time.

“The last three months of 2009 saw a 60 percent increase in short sale closings,” – Steve de Laveaga, SVP at Fidelity National Title in Tempe.

As the market turns and as people find prices to be at more affordable levels than they have seen in years past, I believe we are getting back to a location based real estate market where people are looking to make much better decisions than they made in the past. Obviously, I feel that homes near the light rail make a lot of sense for many people. The location, convenience, and now the pricing is getting a lot of interest from many types of people.

Congrats to my friends at Fidelity for the mention in the article and thanks for always being wiling to help and share some very interesting and valuable information. Let’s keep on “rockin’ the Rail life. 🙂