SHADOW INVENTORY- Real Estate Analysts predict more gloom for Vegas = Foreclosures
January 2, 2010 by Alma Gomez · Leave a Comment
Real estate analysts predict continued gloom for Las Vegas
A cloud of foreclosures will hang over Las Vegas for at least a couple more years and median prices will continue to fall in 2010, most likely by double digits, executives from two California-based real estate tracking firms said Tuesday.
About $2.5 trillion in mortgages are due to reset next year, a substantial amount of it in places already reeling from the foreclosure crisis, said Rick Sharga, senior vice president of Irvine, Calif.-based Realty Trac.
It’s difficult to pinpoint numbers market by market, Sharga said, but he’s estimating foreclosure filings could approach 4 million nationwide next year with about half of them coming primarily in four states – Florida, Nevada, California and Arizona.
“If you track states with the highest runup, you can draw a straight line where you had the most exotic loans,” the foreclosure analyst said during a conference call.
We are anticipating this new wave of inventory coming soon. We have yet to see it as of today. Many of these homes will not become foreclosures but instead be sold as short sales. With the HAFA program being rolled out and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac rolling out the same type of program, this will help distressed homeowners tremendously. The HAFA program streamlines the process for short sales, help the homeowners in not having to lose the home to the foreclosure process and keep homes from becoming bank owned properties or REO’s as they are known.
However, there will still be a substantial amount of foreclosures that will hit the market. I do think banks have smartened up and are not throwing tons of inventory out at once driving prices down. Prices may come down but I don’t see it coming down too much more. I just previewed a property for $28,000 and it was not in bad shape. I don’t see how it can get any cheaper. Stranger things have happened. And now is the time to buy in Las Vegas.
All we can do is continue to ride the roller coaster.
Alma Gomez
702-875-1756 Direct
Realtor, Powerhouse Realty
Popularity: 39% [?]
