Time for Nick's Annual Turkey Drive

Once again, it's time for our annual turkey drive! On Sunday Nov. 23rd , I will be delivering turkeys to help the Phoenix Rescue Mission feed the homeless on Thanksgiving Day. I believe that many people have a desire to help others this time of year but find it difficult to do so because our lives are so busy. This year, the need is sure to be great! If you would like to help by making a financial donation, we will do all of the work for you! I'll be purchasing frozen turkeys Sunday morning to deliver to the Phoenix Rescue Mission. (I can provide receipts from the mission if needed) Please feel free to contact me with any questions or donations.

Last year, with the help of my friend Rob, we were able to deliver over 100 turkeys for needy families! I want to give special thanks to Rob Sell at Sell Home Inspections for all of the help he has been the last couple of years. The first few years, I did the Turkey drive mainly by myself but with the generosity of our family and friends (and the addition of 3 small children) it became quite a task. Thankfully, Rob has really stepped in to be a huge help to me in hauling all of these birds! We have a BLAST delivering them and want to thank everyone for your donations to such a great cause.

Please help. It can be a dollar or a hundred dollars (or more!) but every single penny is GREATLY appreciated. We want to make it easy for everyone to help others this Thanksgiving.

I would like to wish you and your families a wonderful holiday season!

Sincerely,
Nick

Hey Chase - "Really?!"

I have been thinking of doing a new series here on the "Just Call Nick!" blog. You may have seen the SNL skits where they poke fun at stupid stuff... "Really?!" - Well, I tend to see, here or come in contact with some pretty interesting stuff in my real estate business and in life in general. So, I'm going to start writing a few of em' down.
The first example happened on a recent weekend when we successfully negotiated a cash sale on a really nice home in the east valley. As part of the contract, we agree to provide a "proof of funds" letter from my client's bank. On Monday, she called Chase and told them the amount we needed to give to the seller's. The account manager offered to provide an account balance but would not write a letter. Feeling that the seller's really didn't need to know how much more money was in the account than necessary to purchase this home, the "legal" department was contacted. After another offer of providing a balance of the account, we still did not have the letter we wanted. The next morning, several hundred thousand dollars was removed from Chase and I had a letter, exactly as it had been requested. From a different bank.
So, Chase... How hard can it be to provide a proof of funds letter for a stellar client? Was that a smart move?
Really!?

Free ASU football tickets!

RailLife.com is giving away 2 free ASU football tickets for next Saturday's game. All you have to do is visit the Rail Life Blog (<---click there) for more information...

Tempe residents care about their community!

Saturday, October 18th is "G.A.I.N" night which stands for Getting Arizona Involved in Neighborhoods and is designed to heighten crime prevention awareness in neighborhoods.

Lori and I will once again be joining several of our neighbors in participating in this fun event with our kids at Stroud Park in Tempe. The Camelot Village Neighborhood Association is involved and they describe the night as a partnership effort between the Tempe Police Department and Neighborhood Watch Programs, Neighborhood Associations and Apartment Communities. During G.A.I.N. residents lock their doors, turn on the their porch lights and spend the evening outdoors with their neighbors.

We walk to Stroud Park often and enjoy the playground, basketball hoops, large grass areas and of course the "sea shells" along the canal. I took this pic of the boys playing with a neighbors dog in the park last week. Come on over and join us! There will be food and a lot of fun people to hang out with. Feel free to bring a dish to share or to just come check it out!

October is Breast Cancer awareness month!

For the month of October, we have gone PINK in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness. This is a great opportunity to tell our friends about FREE mammograms.

Most of you know that, for many years, I have sponsored teams for the "Climb to Conquer Cancer" as it is a cause very near and dear to my heart. There are many other great ways to get involved in helping raise money and awareness. In fact, a friend of ours is helping with a "Relay for Life" event this month. Take a look!

You should also know that the Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on 'donating a mammogram' for free (pink window in the middle). This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammograms in exchange for advertising.

We can all do a lot to help!

Nick Bastian Talks Real Estate With Fox 10

Recently, I was invited to the Fox 10 studios to talk about real estate and my business. Interviews are always kind of interesting and it is interesting to see the final, edited version. I had a really good time shooting this and want to thank Fox for the opportunity to talk about real estate with them.

Tempe Ribbon Cutting at Fidelity National Title

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.

Nick Bastian Joins Tempe Realty Executives Office

After 16 years in the real estate business, I feel more proud of my job and enthusiastic of my future business than ever before. Yesterday, after a long process, I made a decision to join what I feel is the best real estate firm in Arizona. That firm is Realty Executives. Over the past couple of months, I have weighed my options very carefully and have met formally and informally with several brokers, large and small. While my normal business practices will not change much and most of you will not notice a difference, I believe the corporate structure, the ability to "run my own business" and the convenience of many valley wide offices will help me to serve my clients even better in the future. My phone number, email address and web site address will all remain the same and this will be a VERY smooth transition for all of us. It is late and I have had a very long couple of days but I will be updating more in the near future. Please feel free to contact me at any time should you have any questions.
The real estate market has changed and I have decided to embrace change while growing my business. I am very happy to make this announcement and look forward to talking with you soon. Thanks again for your continued support!