According to Bloomberg, Home Prices Rise in 88% of U.S. Cities as Recovery Gains.
That’s a great news for the home owners who are trying to sell their homes. It has been a long wait since the end of 2005 – almost 8 years! – and a steep decline in home prices, many had to leave through.
Surprisingly, these news are great for the home Buyers too – there is no need anymore to sit on the sidelines, being afraid of falling prices, no need to deal with messy short sales and foreclosures, great chance to secure low rates in the mortgages and easier overall transaction with both – Buyers and Sellers feeling positively about it.
Don’t forget to look through the Tucson’s current MLS inventory at: http://foothillsinsider.com/
If you have children of school age and made sure to look for homes in the Catalina Foothills School district – you don’t have to do so anymore. Basis Schools is opening its 3rd school in Tucson – now Basis Tucson and Basis – Oro Valley will be joined by Basis Tucson North. The new school will be built from scratch on the Southeast corner of N. Craycroft Rd and E. River Rd. While the construction didn’t start yet, Basis Tucson North will open for the 2012-13 school year and and will serve students in grades 5 through 12.
Last month a judge let a homeowner rip up his mortgage and walk away debt-free. Can you get a similar deal?
MERS, the Mortgage Holder You Might Not Know
An obscure company based in Reston, Va., claims to hold title to roughly half of the home mortgages in the nation — 60 million loans.
Are you struggling to keep your home? Good news might be around the corner!
Arizona Bill Would Void Foreclosures Without Full Title History
Arizona may become the first state to require lenders to prove they have the right to foreclose by providing a complete list of any previous owners of the mortgage, under a bill passed yesterday by its Senate.
How much have you paid the mortgage broker? The numbers were hidden and undisclosed…
According to the New York Times “New Fed Rule for Mortgage Brokers” article – huge amounts have been paid to the brokers by banks and other lenders through various fees and rebate programs.
What a rip-off! At least in the Real Estate you know exactly how much you’ll pay your agent and the rates are negotiable! Not to mention that there is much more work involved in a real estate transaction.
While Tucson’s “affordable” real estate has turned the corner some time last year and is now filled with the buyers, snapping up great deals all over Arizona (and presumably the whole country), luxury Real Estate has just recently hit the bottom.
There is definitely a significant increase in “Closed” transactions in the price range over $700,000. Hopefully this is a new and sustainable trend.
It’s now official! I am getting back into Finance and being more like myself. On Wednesday, I’ll begin teaching at Eller College of Management (University of Arizona) Risk Management & Derivatives class.
I’ll still keep and expand my Real Estate business, though. Thanks to having support from a team of three well experienced and knowledgeable agents, that I lined up at the beginning of last year, I can concentrate on providing advice and designing the best suited strategies for buyers and sellers.
There is definitely a reason why my clients call me “Tucson’s Smartest Realtor”. Thanks to my financial background and economics knowledge, as well as acquired real estate know-how, I am able to give people an unbiased opinion and “inside information” and bring logic and extensive analysis into emotional decisions.
In the current economic and political chaos, with the wide range of opinions – from deflation to inflation, from recession – to depression – or to significant economic growth, from double-dip to the new heights, people are looking for professional guidance, not just help from a salesperson.
By the way, our real estate team is one of the top-producers with Keller Williams Southern Arizona and my clients receive full real estate services in all price ranges and all areas of town, which I was unable to achieve just by myself.
Relocating to Tucson and diving into the booming Real Estate trend worked well in 2004 when we had a newborn baby and were ready to buy our first house. 6 years and 2 babies later, it feels just right to expand back into what I was really good at – chess and finance.
Opened last summer, Catalina Foothills Chess Academy is showing awesome results. Students with 6 months of experience, not only hold their ground against opponents who have been in chess for 4-5 years, but bring home trophies and medals. A brand new class of 4- & 5-years old has been added last week – GREAT kids!
Meanwhile, I am very excited to be teaching Risk Management & Derivatives class at Eller College of Management. The abundance of Risk Management disasters in the last few years makes it a necessity to teach undergraduate and graduate students to understand and appreciate various risks and have the tools and discipline to deal with them.
Catalina Foothills Chess Academy is getting quite a bit of interest and is building momentum. As there are only a few spots left in the first group, I am seriously considering adding another one. Also, I received a number of requests to continue the program in the Fall, as many Tucson families are traveling during the summer, but want to be in the Chess Academy during the school year.
Here is a re-print from my Catalina Foothills Chess Academy flyer (you can find its online version at www.chessforparents.com):
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PRESENT
The Catalina Foothills Chess Academy is based on the famous “Soviet School” of chess which resulted in 7 of the last 8 undisputed World Chess Champions. Anjelina was fortunate to train under this system growing up as a chess prodigy in the U.S.S.R.
Moreover, the cornerstone of this program comes from Anjelina’s 5 years of study at the Botvinnik – Kasparov Chess Academy (the 6th and 13th World Champions), as well as her own achievements and ideas. It has been developed as a multi-dimensional training that encompasses chess strategy, intuition, logic, memory and imagination. This program was extensively tested in the New York City public schools, where Anjelina taught chess to over 1,000 students for over 5 years and it has been highly successful.
Now enrolling for the summer:
* 10-week program, Saturdays 9:30 – 10:30AM starting June 5th. (2nd class Sunday possible depending on demand)
* Price: $225 for 10 classes ($25 discount) if paid on or before June1st; $250 thereafter.
* Siblings discount – $75 off the 1st child’s payment ($150 or $175, accordingly).
* Spaces are very limited and will be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis.
Please call Anjelina Belakovskaia for availability, to register and with any questions: (520) 370-0700 or e-mail to: Anjelina@gmail.com. For payments please call Gabe Harris: (520) 529-7179.
For registration, please be ready to answer the following questions: o Preferred class time
o Child’s Name o Age o School o Grade o Knowledge of moves o Knowledge of notation o Tournament experience o Rating o Experience of playing with chess clock
About ANJELINA:
TESTIMONIALS
Gail Baptiste (Principal; P.S. #308, Brooklyn) “Anjelina has been working at our school for the past several months, and has done an excellent job teaching chess for us. She is a very professional teacher who has put a lot of thought and effort into the way she presents her lessons, and has very good classroom management technique. Her lessons captivate the students and teachers alike. The lessons and tests Anjelina uses are designed not only to teach the game of chess, but to benefit the students thinking, planning, and strategic skills. We here at P.S. #308 can highly recommend Anjelina to anyone who is interested in starting a chess program in their school.”
Helene Yavneh (2nd grade teacher; P.S. #308, Brooklyn) “If success can be measured by enthusiasm, then judging by the children’s excitement when Ms. Belakovskaia comes to teach chess, and their desire to continue playing when her lesson with them is over, “CHESS PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN” by Anjelina Belakovskaia has, indeed, been very successful.”
Bob Doyle “Ms. Belakovskaia’s presentation was absolutely wonderful. That she was a woman, an intellect, creative and bright, enhances the fact that there is never, ever a substitute for intelligence and style. Whenever we expose children to such competence we do them a great service.”
Dr. Jon Maksik “I was very impressed with Anjelina Belakovskaia’s presentation to our students. Ms. Belakovskaia spoke for nearly an hour to students of varied ages and chess experience. She was vital, compelling and personable; the students were riveted. I would be delighted to have her return to The Community School whenever she is able to do so and I recommend her, without reservation, to other schools.”
CHESS ACCOMPLISHMENTS
* Woman International Grandmaster – the highest title a chess player can attain
* World Student Team Champion (USSR Team) – 1990
* 3-Time United States Women’s Chess Champion -1995, 1996 & 1999
* Leader of the US Olympic Women’s Chess Team – 1994, 1996 & 1998
* Honored by President of Brooklyn, City of New York for superlative skills and outstanding achievement (2000)
UNITED STATES CHESS EXPERIENCE
1991-2000 Professional Chess Player, member of the US Olympic Women’s Chess Team
1998-2000 Chairperson of Women’s Committee of the USCF
1994-2000 Chess Teacher: Public Schools # 217, 193, 208, 238, 251, 288, 308, Brooklyn, NY
1994-2000 Chess Principal, International Children’s Center For Performing Arts Inc
1997-1997 Chess Coach, FIDE World Youth Championship, France
1997-1997 Chess Consultant, IBM and Electric Minds Companies
PRESS COVERAGE
Multiple USSR and Worldwide publications
Sports Illustrated o The New York Times o Chess Life o Inside Chess
About MATHNASIUM Catalina Foothills: Mathnasium Catalina Foothills is a learning center where students go year-round to boost their math skills. It is located at: 4777 East Sunrise Drive, Suite #127. Tucson, AZ 85718. Phone: (520) 529-7179 Email: catalinafoothills@mathnasium.com
Gabe Harris, Owner/Director: “Our goal is to significantly increase your child’s math skills, understanding of math concepts, and overall school performance, while building confidence and forging a positive attitude toward the subject. We are proud to welcome Anjelina Belakovskaia and the Catalina Foothills Chess Academy, knowing that chess helps to develop and improve math and logic skills at all levels.”
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Great news! I am opening a Catalina Foothills Chess Academy! For now, this will be just a Summer Program – 10 weeks in June and July. If you know someone who can benefit from joining it – please pass on the information. The flyer with details is below. You can save it on your computer or print it. Also, you can read the details at www.chessforparents.com
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It has been almost a month since I moved with Realty Executives Southern Arizona to a new franchise Keller Williams Southern Arizona.
As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t expect much from it. My clients know and trust me, so the change in the company name didn’t matter to any one of them. My transition into team work environment went even better than I expected and I was ready to get back into my reasonably successful daily routine, when I suddenly discovered that…
To my huge surprise, I became a big fan of Keller Williams Realty. From the first day of transition, the new company gave us ton of new and mostly free tools, training, books, resources and ideas. To make sure that we implement and use the resources provided, we got enrolled into BOLD training and competition – a 7 week adventure of reinventing ourselves. Read more at http://www.FoothillsInsider.com/desert-olympians/
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