Beginning on Jan. 1, all FHA loans will be capped in high-cost areas at $625,500, reduced from the current cap of $729,750. FHA will keep its current loan limits in place in areas where housing costs are lower than $271,050. The new loan limit for the highest cost areas will affect about 650 counties, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Story via realtormag.realtor.org – click here to read entire article
The Dodd-Frank Act, which is scheduled to take effect in January 2014, imposes new restrictions on seller-carryback transactions. As a result, AAR has developed four new forms to replace the current AAR Assumption/Carryback Addendum. Please read about these new restrictions and the new forms at www.aaronline.com
Will you support us this #GivingTuesday?
When you give to the Maricopa Health Foundation, you can participate in #GivingTuesday and receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit on your Arizona state tax return.
https://maricopahealthfoundation.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=11
The Maricopa Health Foundation is a Qualifying Charitable Organization. You can receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for your donation ($200 if filing single/$400 if filing jointly).
Peter Madrid joined Cushman & Wakefield as communications specialist. Beth Clauser Joined Clear Title Agency of Arizona in the Mesa/Superstition office as a business development officer for the East Valley.
Nearly 100 companies from Arizona made Inc. magazine’s list of the fastest growing private companies this year.
Some of the businesses on the Inc. 5000 list include the big Valley names such as GoDaddy, InfusionSoft, Tilted Kilt and LifeLock.
![AZRE-newsmakers-featured-BethClauser[1]](https://cleartitleaz.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/azre-newsmakers-featured-bethclauser1.jpg)
Clear Title Agency of Arizona added Beth Clauser as a strategic hire to its Mesa/Superstition office.
Clauser joins Clear Title as a Business Development Officer in the East Valley. Clear Title, which recently celebrated its 5-year anniversary, has experienced 200% compounded annual growth for the past several years. It is the fastest-growing title and escrow company in Arizona.
Clauser will focus on maintaining current client relationships and developing new business for the Mesa/Supersition office.
Clauser relocated to Arizona from Michigan. She has worked in the real estate and title and escrow industry for more than 17 years and a sales manager for the past 8 years.
Clauser received her BSBM with honors from the University of Phoenix.
She was active in several organizations including Women’s Council of Realtors and was a former county board member for the Women’s Resource Center in Michigan. Clauser was recognized as Affiliate of the Year from the Livingston County Board of Realtors in 1999 and 2010 and was Affiliate of the Year for the Women’s Council of Realtors in 1998.
For more information, visit http://cleartitleaz.com.
http://azremagazine.com/news/clear-title-agency-arizona-hires-beth-clauser
Arizona growing again: Nearly all of the state’s largest municipalities gained population in 2012, the Census Bureau estimates.
Mark Henle/The Republic
By Ronald J. Hansen
Shaking off a population slump tied to the housing bust, Phoenix once again was among the nation’s fastest-growing cities last year, newly released Census Bureau estimates show.
The city added more than 24,000 new residents and edged closer to overtaking Philadelphia as the fifth-largest city in the country. The population surge spilled into the Valley’s suburbs as well, with 11 municipalities adding a collective 42,000 new residents. Among them was Buckeye, which ranked as the ninth-fastest growing city in the nation in 2012.
Nationwide, 94 of the 100 largest cities gained population, a sharp improvement from recent years when growth was more subdued. The gains were sharpest in Texas, with six of the nation’s 20 largest cities growing briskly again.
The annual census estimates are slightly higher than estimates produced by the state, but they both suggest growth is picking up momentum in Arizona again.
“The growth has resumed, but it’s nowhere near what it was in the middle of the last decade,” said Jim Chang, the state demographer. “There was a pause for a couple of years, but it looks like the economy is growing again.”
Economic gains usually translate into population gains as well, he said.
Phoenix is estimated to have 1.49 million residents, about 59,000 fewer than Philadelphia. But Phoenix grew 1.7 percent last year while Philadelphia grew 0.6 percent, suggesting a reordering is only a matter of time.
The Census Bureau has been wrong before. It overestimated growth in Arizona by the widest margin in the country leading up to the 2010 census. Phoenix was originally thought to have passed Philadelphia by 2006, only to learn it had fallen short.
In the metro area, Mesa, Gilbert and Chandler added a combined 20,000 residents.
Tucson gained population in 2012 as well, but at a far slower pace, the Census Bureau estimates. It showed Tucson gaining about 1,100 residents, for 0.2 percent growth. By comparison, Buckeye added nearly 2,200 residents, for 4.1 percent growth.
Chang said the Tucson area is expected to grow more slowly than the Valley for years to come.
Yuma was the only large Arizona city to shed population, losing an estimated 700 residents. Lake Havasu City added an estimated 11 residents.
Many of the biggest U.S. cities, such as New York, Houston, San Antonio, San Diego and Dallas — like Phoenix — are outpacing the nation’s 1.7 percent growth rate since 2010.
“Urban America is recovering faster than more remote, more rural places,” said Robert Lang, a professor of urban affairs at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
Lang said urban areas appeal to Millennials (those born from about 1982 to 2001) “in part because they haven’t seen cities in crisis. They missed the riots of the 1960s, the urban decline of the 1970s and the crack epidemic of the 1980s.
“If you’re a kid born in 1993 or 1992 and you’re in college now, you’re looking around the country thinking about where you want to move … you’ve seen fairly … tranquil cities, in relative terms to what their history was.”
The urban resurgence is led by midsize cities including Austin and Fort Worth, Texas, and Charlotte, N.C. Austin grew 6.6 percent in two years, leapfrogging Jacksonville, Fla., Indianapolis and San Francisco to become the nation’s 11th-largest city. In 2000, it was No. 17.
USA Today contributed to this article.
Clear Title Agency of Arizona, has added another strategic hire to its roster: Scott Pearson. Pearson joins Clear Title as the chief title officer for the commercial escrow division. The company, which recently celebrated its five-year anniversary, has experienced 200-percent compounded annual growth for the past several years. It is the fastest-growing title and escrow company in Arizona.
Pearson will focus on new growth for Clear Title’s commercial division. Previously, Pearson was state manager at RedVision Systems in Arizona. Prior to that, he was senior commercial escrow officer, assistant vice president, manager of trustee sales/forfeiture/national default title services for Arizona and Nevada and title examiner for First American Title Insurance Co. during 18 years of service.
Pearson received his dual B.S. degree in business management and marketing from University of Phoenix. He is a resident of San Tan Valley. Pearson is a chartered organizational representative for Boy Scouts of America. He has six children (four boys, two girls) and his two oldest sons received their Eagle Scout Award at age 13.
For more information, visit http://cleartitleaz.com.
http://aznow.biz/real-estate/clear-title-agency-arizona-hires-pearson
Clear Title Agency of Arizona added another strategic hire to its roster: Scott Pearson.
Pearson joins Clear Title as the chief title officer for the commercial escrow division. The company, which recently celebrated its 5-year anniversary, has experienced 200% compounded annual growth for the past several years. It is the fastest-growing title and escrow company in Arizona.
Pearson will focus on new growth for Clear Title’s commercial division.
Previously, Pearson was state manager at RedVision Systems in Arizona. Prior to that, he was senior commercial escrow officer, assistant vice president, manager of trustee sales/forfeiture/national default title services for Arizona and Nevada and title examiner for First American Title Insurance Co. during 18 years of service.
Pearson received his dual B.S. degree in business management and marketing from University of Phoenix. He is a resident of San Tan Valley.
Pearson is a chartered organizational representative for Boy Scouts of America. He has six children (four boys, two girls) and his two oldest sons received their Eagle Scout Award at age 13.
http://azremagazine.com/newsmakers/clear-title-agency-arizona-hires-scott-pearson
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