Real estate rip-offs on the move - 06/29/08 10:10 PM
The housing and mortgage markets are having a less than robust time these days and that is like an invitation to scam artists who know a thing or two about the real estate business. They generally go for the homeowners struggling with their finances, in other words the ones who are rather susceptible to any sort of a solution that could bail them out. But they also increasingly seek out those who are just plain, payment-making homeowners, preferably with plenty of equity on the property.
One of the latest tricks according to the FBI is house stealing. The whole sequence begins … (12 comments)

Countrywide faces more challenges - 06/27/08 12:19 AM
The one-time king of the hill of mortgage lending is now being continuously hounded by lawsuits from just about all corners of the spectrum. Company shareholders, employees and borrowers have already filed a pile of legal action against it and to make matters worse several states just now decided to join the increasingly far-reaching tussle.
California, Illinois and Washington each filed their own particular lawsuits, claiming for instance that Countrywide employed "misleading marketing practices", maneuvered borrowers into "risky and costly mortgage loans" without having the ability to pay them back and that it used "unfair and deceptive practices" in marketing loan … (21 comments)

Long-term U.S. housing forecast positive - 06/25/08 12:13 AM
Most of the U.S. is still mired in a real estate slump, in a deep one in some areas and in a little shallower one in others. Las Vegas probably belongs to the deeper customer type, although it's now trying to lift itself off the gutter. Sales numbers here are up and price declines are stabilizing which make for the good news. Inventories do remain too high, though, accounting for the bad news. Anyway, that's the less-than-rosy picture in the summer of 2008.
Let's look ahead to the next decade, from 2010 to 2020, and see what might happen then with … (26 comments)

Buying foreclosures the prudent way - 06/22/08 01:08 PM
Las Vegas real estate market is bursting with bank REOs, real estate owned in industry talk, and many of these are listed at prices that were unthinkable just a few months ago. Single-family houses, condominiums, townhomes, they all are represented in this one large housing bazaar teeming with activity in our desert valley. Of course there are regular listings as well that could offer good value, but the REOs are the hot ticket right now.
To make it easier to snap up one of these REOs, following some basic rules will usually yield the right result.
Start your search on the Internet. … (4 comments)

Las Vegas real estate numbers keep improving - 06/20/08 12:00 AM
May housing numbers for Southern Nevada are mostly positive. Not too long ago all the key indicators were heading in the wrong direction, but that trend seems to be now history. Recent history for sure, but history anyway. The one truly worrisome category that keeps churning out high figures is the foreclosure filings and it may unfortunately stay that way for a while longer.
On the positive front, as reported by local research shops SalesTraq and Home Builders Research, resales grew 5.2% in May as compared to a year ago, totaling 2,606 homes sold. Bank foreclosures played a large role in … (7 comments)

Senate housing bill on mortgage industry draws fire - 06/18/08 12:02 AM
U.S. Senate has been working for a long time on a wide-ranging housing legislation that should spell a lot of relief to the battered mortgage industry. Their intentions are certainly sincere, but sometimes they just get too eager to find solutions, hoping to fix everything in a matter of months. Which of course is unrealistic. And they also tend to listen to people who call themselves experts when they really aren't. They are just lobbyists representing a segment of the market that is looking to benefit from the changes.
The latest draft now working its way through the U.S. Senate has … (6 comments)

Is that elusive real estate market turnaround near? - 06/15/08 04:38 PM
The mortgage and housing markets have been severely punished in the last couple of years, there's no denying it. The home loan industry, of course, covers the entire nation while the real estate field's troubles have been rather uneven. Some areas, like Las Vegas, lots of Florida and California, have suffered much more than others. Optimistically, some indicators are now popping up all over that perhaps the very bottom is here for many regions, or at least within sight.
In any case, one financial expert is heavily leaning towards an impending recovery. Edward Lampert's ESL Investments, a hedge fund presently owning large … (6 comments)

Super-luxury housing market still strong in Las Vegas - 06/13/08 11:44 PM
This sector seems to have it all figured out. It's generally considered to include homes that go for upwards from $3 million at which level buyers seem to be little concerned about where the Las Vegas real estate market is, what mortgage rates are doing or how the national economy is behaving. They just go out to find a house to their liking and purchase it, often paying cash for it, too. As long as the money is available, it's usually going to be an easy closing since there is no need to deal with underwriting issues, meeting conditions and that … (4 comments)

Southern Nevada housing market moving cautiously forward - 06/10/08 09:03 PM
The air brakes were applied a while back to make an honest attempt to arrest the steady slide of the real estate market here in Las Vegas. The road down looked long and straight and ominous. At last, for the most part the pump action seems to be now working. The downward momentum is quietly leveling off, the foot can come off the brake and new energy is being infused into the hearts of valley residents as they sincerely wish this unique experience won't repeat itself anytime soon.
There are some positive official indicators that point toward better times, as was recently reported by … (5 comments)

Is Las Vegas real estate market done with correction? - 06/08/08 11:26 PM
The last couple of years have been truly a large test for the Southern Nevada housing and mortgage markets. Property values were heading south, sales stalled, the mortgage community decided to label, although it's now lifted, the valley a "declining area" and buyers generally pulled back to the sidelines to watch the mayhem. Yet, this spring has brought along a few positive signs of life to the battered industry.
And recently another upbeat report makes a case for a nascent recovery. House Prices in America review is put together by a research shop Global Insight and a bank-holding firm National City … (4 comments)

High-rise condo market slows in Las Vegas - 06/07/08 07:20 PM
Now that the high-rise condominium sector is sort of officially pronounced also soft, this then more or less covers the entire residential real estate spectrum in Las Vegas that has gone mellow, from the single-family house to the condo-hotel. It looked for a while that the luxury end of the condominium offering might avoid any major upheaval, but the hurt seems to be now reaching there, too.
Consider these recent combined stats from GLVAR, Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors and SalesTraq, a local market research store. The high-rise segment had around 820 units listed for sale during the first week … (4 comments)

Mortgage lender REO count still growing - 06/04/08 04:25 PM
Recent statistics, especially on sales numbers, have instilled some optimism among consumers that the distressed real estate market is about to bottom out in many areas of the country. Maybe it is and that would be a welcome boost for the industry, and also for the beleaguered mortgage lending community. On the other hand, though, perhaps a few more tough months lie straight ahead.That is what First American CoreLogic, a research shop from California, is indicating in its latest foreclosure report compiled from bank and county sources. Investors in home loans and mortgage lenders together had in their books roughly 660,000 homes … (10 comments)

Union Park condo construction timeline needs a breather - 06/03/08 07:13 PM
 The 61-acre Union Park by Newland Communities right off downtown Las Vegas is an ambitious mixed-use development that would transform the forlorn district to resemble in some ways what the Strip presently has to offer. Actually it would have more diversity than the famous entertainment boulevard, as plans call for a lot of office and retail space, a couple of hotels with one of them offering gaming, over 3,000 condominiums, the Smith Center for the Performing Arts and the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute. 
 Now Newland Communities is seeking permission from the City of Las Vegas to delay basically the entire condominium … (4 comments)