Southern Nevada mortgage challenge in the making - 08/30/09 06:11 PM
Las Vegas real estate market has undoubtedly seen better days. Anyone who knows something about the timely topic is well aware of that. Now there is an altogether new, bizarre twist to the notion.
National Association of Home Builders, or NAHB, convention comes to Southern Nevada every January to showcase the latest in their product lineup. It really is an impressive event and usually draws huge crowds year after year. One of the annual must-see displays is a model house, called The New American Home, which introduces the hottest new technologies available in home building. Domanico Custom Homes from Las Vegas … (4 comments)

Las Vegas real estate among most affordable again - 08/27/09 01:12 PM
Southern Nevada - like Green Valley, Summerlin, Henderson, Spring Valley and Eldorado - was rapidly pricing itself out of the housing market a few years ago. The recent unforgettable boom pushed home values way past the average household income, forcing many to buy property with flexible mortgages that they really couldn't afford, or leaving others out of the market altogether.
That was the flavor of the Las Vegas real estate scene then. Things, fortunately, have changed drastically from those days.
BusinessWeek.com and a research shop Reis made some advanced calculations to rank the top 20 cheapest housing markets in the whole … (12 comments)

Home buyers beware, walkable neighborhoods command higher prices - 08/24/09 06:11 PM
Real estate, they say, is all about location, location, location, and that is in a certain way backed up by a recent study commissioned by CEOs for Cities. It's a nationwide cross-sector group of urban movers and shakers from academic, business, civic and philanthropic fields committed to building and sustaining the next generation of strong American cities. They if anyone ought to have a finger on the pulse on this topic.
"Walking the Walk: How Walkability Raises Housing Values in U.S. Cities" is the report's title, prepared by Joseph Cortright from Impresa, a Portland consulting operation. Basically what was measured was … (10 comments)

New joint venture to buy distressed residential real estate - 08/20/09 02:04 PM
The co-founders of $1.5 billion fund have long resumes highlighted with mortgage, FHA, Wall Street and financial regulation experience in executive positions. Richard Stewart Jr., CEO of Heritage Capital Resources and Peter Monroe, CEO of National Real Estate Ventures, have carefully assessed the turbulent state of the national housing market and decided to pool their talents to buy and sell distressed real estate. In doing so the plan is to "help return foreclosed homes to productive use, prevent many foreclosures and also allow us to work with banks, servicers and federal agencies to reduce evictions."
Their forward-looking joint venture has also … (4 comments)

Mortgage securities gaining acceptance again? - 08/17/09 07:50 PM
Mortgage-backed securities were some of the most-sought-after paper on Wall Street not so long ago, when the residential real estate market was still cruising along smoothly. The yields were solid and risk was seemingly minimal. Everybody and his nephew wanted at least some of them in their portfolios.
Then the mortgage securities business rolled right over the cliff, shoved there by the rapidly-deteriorating housing market. And the deep hurt was on, felt all across the industry. Now even well-qualified borrowers find it challenging to obtain a home loan, for refinance or purchase, as requirements have tightened considerably. The government had to … (36 comments)

First-time home buyer tax credit usage monitored by IRS - 08/14/09 07:49 PM
The real estate market has been pumped up nicely with the up to $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit, Las Vegas definitely being one of the beneficiaries. Many renters go for it here and acquire good homes that have become very affordable during the prolonged housing and mortgage slump. The program runs through November, 2009, so those thinking about it should get their ducks in a row pretty soon.
To claim the credit is relatively simple, basically requiring the filling-out of form 5405, sending it in and the qualified money should be coming within a couple of months. That and as it … (6 comments)

Las Vegas resale real estate numbers remain steady in July - 08/11/09 01:21 PM
The housing market in Southern Nevada had several strong months late in the spring and going into the summer, largely because of low mortgage rates and increasingly affordable prices. Those two conditions have that something extra to attract buyers, in this day and age mostly first-timers and investors, to make a play for it.
GLVAR, or the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, reports that for July the stats are still rather strong, although some slowdown from previous months is evident. The single-family home inventory slipped lower by 0.9%, from 20,613 in June to 20,423. It is slowly coming down. Many … (6 comments)

FHA Energy Efficient Mortgage helps homeowners lower utility bills - 08/09/09 10:57 PM
Energy Efficient Mortgage, or EEM, by FHA has been around for quite some time but hasn't really caught on that well. Not yet anyway. The government is just now revving up a national campaign to highlight the importance of energy conservation in housing. It's putting a lot of resources into it. As a result the EEM is definitely going to get more media exposure and could even see some additional incentives added to its current program.
Here is how the FHA EEM basically works now. The borrower would purchase or refinance a principal residence, undergoing a regular FHA home loan approval … (2 comments)

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could be fossilized - 08/06/09 05:32 PM
The two dominant mortgage market makers have been struggling for years with all sorts of problems, most of them of their own making. Heavy losses led to the Federal Housing Finance Administration placing them under conservatorship about a year ago. U.S. Treasury Department is now keeping the two GSEs, or Government Sponsored Enterprises, afloat by buying their preferred stock.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may soon be extinct anyway. Moody's Investors Service feels in its latest global banking analysis report that their days are numbered as losses mount. It could happen inside the next 18 months, it predicts. And they are … (8 comments)

MGM Mirage's CityCenter sold condos to be repriced - 08/03/09 10:48 PM
Las Vegas condominium market has fared as poorly in recent years as the battered single-family sector. The malaise is afflicting everything with the condo banner hanging over it; the luxury high-rises, the contemporary mid-rises and the homey low-rises. A host of units on Strip glass towers have gone unsold for a long while, dating back to when the bubble started noisily leaking air. The ones, easily hundreds, that have deposits on them haven't closed either because mortgage financing has pretty much dried up. Moreover, the drastic value erosion has caused many would-be buyers to balk at finalizing their purchases.
CityCenter condos, … (4 comments)