In this live YouTube broadcast, Tucson‑based real‑estate agents Tony Ray Baker and Darren Jones discuss the Pathway to Purchase down‑payment assistance program (up to $20,000) and its relevance for buyers and sellers in the current Tucson market. They explain that inventory is extremely low (1–2 months, far below the healthy 6‑month benchmark), creating a seller‑friendly environment with multiple full‑price offers, while buyers still benefit from low interest rates and relatively affordable prices. The agents note that many homeowners who lacked equity after the 2008 crash now have enough to break even, and the assistance program can enable them to sell and purchase a new home within 24 hours. The conversation shifts to promoting local downtown activities – the Mermaid Parade and the Second Saturday street festival – and practical tips such as using the light‑rail to avoid downtown parking. Throughout, they repeatedly urge viewers to contact them (phone 520‑631‑8669), visit their website ctucsonhomes.com, and like their Facebook page (facebook.com/tucsonrealestate). The tone is informal, promotional, and interactive, with occasional live‑stream technical glitches and playful “emoji” demonstrations.
Chapters
Good morning, good morning, good morning. Happy Saturday. I'm Tony Ray Baker with Tierra Antigua Realty.
And I'm Darren Jones with Tierra Antigua Realty.
Hey, same place. Hey, we talked to you last Saturday about Pathway to Purchase, which is the down payment assistance program that is for Tucson and a few other small cities. So one of the things that we've come— we noticed that's happening right now is the money's here, but we have some issues around the money. So, oh, by the way, here is the money. $20,000. You want some? $20,000. It's up to $20,000 to help you buy a house. So here's, here's what's going on right now that I want to talk about. The inventory is really low. So for buyers right now, it's a great market because we have really low rates and we have steady low prices. They've come up a little bit, but nothing. I mean, we're in the country, in our country, we're like one of the lowest prices for housing ever, right? So Tucson, you get a lot of house for the money, but the problem is we have a very low inventory. We have some neighborhoods right now that are 1 month of inventory. Do you— let me explain that too. But so months of inventory, um, you want for a stable economy, you want about 6 months of inventory, and right now we have 1 to 2 months of inventory for incoming buyers. So what does that mean? That means sellers are also in a great position right now because they're getting multiple offers, which we haven't seen in a long time. They're getting multiple offers and they're getting full price offers. And so what I'm saying to you is if you're a seller thinking about selling, you really should consider it right now. Even if you're not ready, we can help them get ready pretty quick, right?
Sure.
Darren will help you move furniture.
No.
No? No, I will not. Pack your boxes. But if you're thinking about selling, Do it now. Because if you're anywhere in the jurisdiction of Tucson, you want to be in— if you're in central Tucson or anywhere Tucson jurisdiction, you are eligible, your home's probably eligible. That being said, get the house on the market as soon as possible because he's over there like, "Hey, Mark!" Wait, I got Lauren Smith, John Michael Stone, Dennis Jensen, Rick, oh my God, from California. Dude, you need to come visit us right now.
Hello.
John de la Paz is here too.
I love it. So tell all your friends to call us, we'll list their home because we need houses to sell.
So here's the, here's the thing about the selling side of this. In the 2008 crash, we have a lot of people that have homes that have no equity. This is why we have a low inventory. There's no equity in a lot of those homes. They just right now have probably gained enough equity that these people, these sellers, could sell the house, break even, and walk away, but that leaves them with no down payment. And so I think what Pathway to Purchase will help with, if it's done correctly, because they have rules, I think what it would help with is that you could sell and then use the money a day later.
A day later. A day later. 24 hours later.
Use the money to buy another house, because the rule is you can't own one. So talk to us about this, but I think we can help a bunch of sellers get sold and move forward in getting a new home. Use it for your down payment and your closing costs. Yeah. So, um, Darren is gonna talk to you about cool stuff going on, right? So if you have questions, please call us about Pathway to Purchase at 631-866-9669, and we'll answer all your questions. Um, Darren, you're going to talk about, uh, there's some cool stuff going down tonight.
Yeah, I want you guys to go to c2sunhomes.com and check out our calendar there. I want you to go and Look for this icon. Parade starts at 4 o'clock. I know, that's exciting. I'm not—
I haven't seen this parade.
Okay, no, Mermaid Parade starts at 4 o'clock in front of Goodwill on 4th Avenue, and it goes, uh, all the way down to the beach, which is downtown.
No, I think the beach is on like this or something. That's the party on—
yeah, that's downtown.
If you go to Sea to Sun Home—
yeah, it's over by the, uh, it's over by the parking garage.
They're supposed to be fish costumes, fish and pirates and sailors.
Yes, and mermaids.
Men and mermaids. And, um, I don't know, it's a costume party parade mermaid thing. Uh, Sebastian may be there from— is that from Under the Sea?
Look for the icon. Hey, Lori and Beth! Hi, guys!
Uh, Lori said you guys are awesome. Lori, are you in town? Come see us. Exactly.
Um, by the way, there's also— tonight is Second Saturday, and I don't know what's happening, but it's going to be a big one. They have closed off some of the streets, so I'm expecting bands and music venues. There's always lots of vendors, lots of food, lots of activity. Students are back, so it should be kind of exciting.
Hot dogs are awesome. Yeah, you're right. Um, when we were driving into the office this morning, everything is different. There's more police on the streets this morning and, uh, on bicycles.
Yes.
And there's, uh, they've got everything— they're shutting stuff down. I think they're expecting a much bigger event today, maybe.
Yes. But this is my big—
got mermaids meshing with Party. Exactly.
Mermaid smashing. Okay, but this is my big tip, okay? Remember, okay, with the light rail now, okay, you don't have to try to park downtown. You can park at the Mercado, you can park on 4th Avenue, you can park over at University. So park somewhere else and take the light rail into Tucson, into downtown.
I got you a surprise. That's— oh, it's an emoji.
It's a—
it's going to be an emoji sickle because now since we're live, we can't do emojis, you know, like on a computer. So That is your loves it because I think, oh wait, what, I shacked live? Are we back on? Sorry. So here's a problem we have with live video. We haven't figured out how to stop people from calling the phone. So keys to success, this is it right here, your key to success. And you get that when there's a great tip, you get a key, right? You put that up to say that's a key to success. I have lots of great tips. So when Darren gives, so then I got you another one. We won't use this often. That's a sad face.
Swish, swish.
You can hold it like that. Sad face. And then I got you— hey, everybody, please share us on Facebook, please. You like that one? Look, you like? He hasn't seen these.
We love you.
I made these this morning for him. And you're gonna have popsicle sticks because I'm calling them emoji sickles. And then I got you a big smiley face. Look, and then you could be smiling. All right, there it is. Okay, anything else you want to say? Yes, like us on Facebook. That's what he wants to say right now. Can you please go to Facebook facebook.com/tucsonrealestate and please like our business page because I think we're gonna have to move a lot of this over to that business page because Facebook wants us of course to do our business there. We're trying to figure all that out and we want to make sure we do what's right and we don't get arrested. So like us on Facebook/tucsonrealestate and visit us at Sea Tucson Homes.
Hi, Kristen.
Who's in there? Oh, Kristen. Hi, Kristen. And Ken's there too. So we keep pointing at a screen above us because we're watching the screen. There's a big television screen right above the phone and we're using that to monitor who's popping in and we're liking to say hi to everybody. So how did we get— how did they get hold of us?
You can call us at 520-631-8669.
Yeah. And you can also visit our website at ctucsonhomes.com, which by the way is new, new, new. It's all been remodeled by our wizard James and it's got an amazing calendar with over 6,000 events going on in there. It's updated every week by our amazing blogger Terry, and you'll see there's tons of fun things to do.
Happy birthday, Terry.
Yeah, Terry, happy birthday. She's coming up on that. So thank you. Are we done? Do you have anything else you want to talk about? Don't forget, like— do you like these? Do you like these?
Then hold it up. These are awesome. Like us on Facebook.
