Northwest Las Vegas
Las Vegas Real Estate Market See’s Signs of Hope
February 21, 2010 by Alma Gomez · Leave a Comment
Real Estate Market Sees Signs of Hope
Posted: Feb 19, 2010 9:40 PM PST Updated: Feb 19, 2010 11:01 PM PST
Video Gallery
LAS VEGAS – Signs of hope are emerging in the country’s real estate market. For the first time in three years, the number of people who are behind on their house payments went down. That drop means the number of people losing their homes may start to fall.
The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors says a turnaround may already be underway in Southern Nevada. GLVAR reports Southern Nevada had, on average, about 8,500 foreclosures on the market in the first quarter of 2009. For the first quarter of this year, that number fell to about 1,800.
Bell says the reason is that investors are buying foreclosed properties in great numbers. “Beginning last March, we had an upsurge in the number of buyers for foreclosure properties. Many were investors paying cash,” he said. “The foreclosures, when coming on the market, typically get multiple offers. It’s very competitive.”
MORE: http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12015949
Could this be true? I don’t know yet but I will say something is definitely going on. Our inventory is running very very thin. There are definitely more buyers than homes right now. Our notice of default rate is still fairly high with a hundred to two hundred being filed daily. Are these homeowners strategically defaulting on their mortgages in order to apply for a loan modification? I suspect many are however we are still dealing with many folks that are out of work with mortgages resetting and having negative equity having no choice but to default on their mortgages.
And what about this “shadow inventory” that is floating out there. As much as 50,000 homes in Las Vegas who are somewhere in the process of being late on their payments to actually being foreclosed. It is still a mystery.
One thing is for certain, we are dealing with bidding wars and for folks to think purchasing a home is a snap are in for a surprise. It is best to associate with a Realtor who is familiar with the market and really analyze our advise. I recently had a person call me wanting to look at homes in Summerlin (our most popular suburb) and did not want to spend more than $80,000 on a 3 bedroom 2 bath home. I had to tell them, I am sorry but there are no homes in that area for that price. They did not believe me. The point is, we agents who are working this market, a good portion of us know what is available and isn’t. And when we suggest be prepared; bring your checkbook, proof of funds etc., we are not kidding. We say this to you because if you truly are serious about buying a home you must be ready.
Our inventory is shrinking, don’t pass up the opporutunity to buy now.
Alma Gomez
Owner/Realtor
Casa Latino Las Vegas Realty
702-875-1756 Direct
Popularity: 8% [?]
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: 38% [?]
Banks Start to Embrace Short Sales Instead of Foreclosures
December 4, 2009 by Alma Gomez · 4 Comments
ShareBanks Start to Embrace Short Sales
Even before the government put pressure on them to embrace short sales, more banks were starting to take their lumps, do the short-sale deals and move on.
Three years into the housing meltdown, short sales have tripled to 40,000 in the first six months of 2009, compared to the same time period a year ago, according to data from the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Wells Fargo, Bank of America Corp., and JPMorgan Chase & Co. this year have hired and trained more staff to handle short sales and also developed software for expediting them.
more: http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2009120401?OpenDocument
Expect to see more and more short sale transactions especially here in the Las Vegas market. Buying a short sale is a viable option and worth the wait. But remember, a short sale can take a long time to process and a buyer definitely needs to have patience with the transaction and there are no guarantees the bank will even except a short sale payoff. It is a better option for the bank and it helps the homeowners tremendously. A short sale payoff looks much better than a foreclosure on their credit.
Popularity: 46% [?]
Short Sale purchases becoming a viable option over foreclosures
November 25, 2009 by Alma Gomez · 2 Comments
http://www.lvrj.com/business/short-sales-on-the-rise-70779802.html
From the Las Vegas Review Journal dated 11/22/2009. Short sales are definitely on the rise here in Las Vegas. With the ridiculous bidding wars we are experiencing in Las Vegas over the foreclosure or REO inventory, offering to purchase on a short sale is not so bad. One of the downfalls many feel(including myself at one point in time) is short sales don’t close, they take so long and its just a waste of time. Believe it or not I have had 3 successful short sale closings in the past 3 months. That’s pretty darn good.
Many banks are now working with the sellers to settle their debt and accept a short sale instead of letting the home go to foreclosure. What is a short sale you ask? click the link and get a quick overview http://homebuying.about.com/od/4closureshortsales/a/shortsalebasics.htm
Also with companies now negotiating the short sale, like Complete Short Sale Processors, it makes Realtor’s lives so much easier as we do not have to sit on the phone and want to yank our hair out trying to get a hold of someone, anyone at the bank (the one who owns the mortgage).
If you would like more information on how to offer on a short sale, email me at alma@lasvegaswebofhomes.com and I would love to answer your questions.
Alma Gomez
Realtor
702-875-1756
Popularity: 45% [?]
Northwest Las Vegas
April 15, 2009 by Las Vegas Guide · 3 Comments
The Northwest area of the Las Vegas Valley has everything from country-club homes to condominiums to rural ranches, and everything in-between. From small neighborhoods full of character to the established master-planned communities of Queensridge, Painted Desert, and Desert Shores (featuring its own lakes), to brand-new communities such as Elkhorn Springs and Lynbrook, the Northwest area is one of the most popular in the valley.
Popularity: 65% [?]
