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residential: Gulf disaster could devalue coastal real estate by billions of dollars - 08/06/10 07:57 PM
The recent oil spill has had a harsh impact on everything associated with the Gulf of Mexico and its alluring waters. One of the less-discussed issues, so far at least, has been residential real estate and how severely is it going to be affected. CoreLogic - a California analytics, business services and information boutique - has bravely ventured into the topic and has compiled some sobering numbers for everyone involved in housing to debate about.
Residential real estate values are supposed to wane in the coastal areas by $648 million for the first year and possibly rise to as high as … (8 comments)

residential: Mortgage giant BofA to lower principal for qualified HAMP borrowers - 03/24/10 09:02 PM
The housing market meltdown seems to be truly making life miserable for Bank of America. As things started unraveling in the residential real estate sector and pushed countless mortgage lenders to either bankruptcy or to the brink of one, BofA figured it'd buy one of them on the cheap and really grow even bigger just like that. It promptly acquired Countrywide and apparently got much more than it bargained for. The once dominant mortgage lender had plenty of bad paper in its books which then became BofA's headache. On top of that it may have had its own internal issues, but … (9 comments)

residential: Fannie Mae update to boost housing demand - 02/21/09 09:35 PM
That's good news. One of the main barriers to getting the residential real estate market to change direction is the lack of demand. Well, there is some demand, it's true, thanks to very low mortgage interest rates and affordable prices. But they alone won't cut it because the underwriting guidelines remain rather strict and keep many qualified borrowers from getting a home loan. And then there is the poor economy.
But help is on the way. A revised Fannie Mae policy is going to give the demand function a nice shot in the arm. The change involves how many mortgages the … (14 comments)

residential: Northwest Las Vegas slated for condominiums and a mall - 11/29/08 08:54 PM
Little by little more plans are being announced regarding new commercial and residential real estate projects to be built throughout Southern Nevada. These are for the most part the first steps in the long process but show that a few developers are coming out of hibernation to prepare for the moment when they can actually start going vertical. They are anxious to get cracking as soon as the market conditions allow it.
Triple Five Nevada is among the front runners in this. Its plan calls for a good-sized mall to go in the Centennial Hills area in the northwest corner of … (4 comments)

residential: Developers already planning future projects in Southern Nevada - 11/08/08 10:36 PM
Las Vegas real estate is in a slump, a description that is widely accepted throughout the community. It started with the residential sector and has now spread over to the commercial and resort sides as well. There are some cautious signs that the housing market is beginning to make some noise as resales, specifically in the lower end of the price scale, are attracting homeowner-candidates and long-term investors. To some it's an early indication that a turnaround is already visible on the horizon and they are busy drafting plans for future developments.
GSG Development is one of them, a valley firm … (2 comments)

residential: Mortgage industry undermined by rating agencies? - 09/23/08 05:21 PM
They are a little known piece of the puzzle in the huge U.S. mortgage lending arena but credit agencies definitely play a crucial role in it. The big players in the field are Moody's, S & P and Fitch. Historically they were rating corporate bonds so that investors would know where to put their money at what return and risk.
In the late ‘90s, though, they began looking at residential real estate finance and learn how to rate mortgage-backed securities. And they liked what they saw and jumped into it feet first. The boom years came and they kept giving ratings … (8 comments)

residential: Mortgage industry about to attract fresh capital - 08/30/08 10:26 PM
Investors are returning to the residential real estate market and that is a sign of a turnaround in the making. It may not happen tomorrow, but it's coming. There are all sorts of investors who desire to take advantage of the slumping market. In Las Vegas, for instance, they are looking around for single-family houses, condominiums and townhomes to buy and are finding bargains up and down the valley. Some might purchase just one or two of them while others go for a block of attractively-priced property.
These investors certainly are helping in reducing the glut of homes currently available for … (6 comments)

residential: Las Vegas land prices soften up, except on resort corridor - 08/15/08 06:43 PM
The way the residential real estate market today is going in Southern Nevada it's no surprise that raw land values here are heading south. Demand for land is way down as the housing sector struggles with a large inventory of new and resale homes. Even if a builder wanted to purchase acreage for a project, getting financing now would be a challenge in this lending environment. The slowing economy doesn't help much either. 
In the second quarter median vacant land price stood at $570,279 per acre which turns out to be $148,232 less than at the same time last year, or a … (12 comments)

residential: CityCenter condos could play a key role - 08/07/08 06:34 PM
Just a few days ago MGM Mirage reported that it is about to wrap up financing for its huge CityCenter project on the Strip. The total cost of the development is tagged at $9.2 billion and it still needs about $3 billion to cover the rest of the construction. According to the company it could have secured the funds earlier but balked at the supposedly unfavorable terms.
The commercial finance market is getting tighter by the day, going the way the residential mortgage market already is. If the banks are willing to lend commercially in Las Vegas, their terms will reflect … (6 comments)

residential: 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 … (6 comments)

residential: CityCenter resort finally gets a name - 05/22/08 10:32 PM
 MGM Mirage's CityCenter is currently regarded as the biggest privately-financed real estate project in the U.S. It consists of many components large and small, okay mostly large, and they each have been given names long ago. Except one. And it happens to be the main attraction of the entire development sitting on Las Vegas Boulevard.
 The showpiece hotel with over 4,000 rooms housed in two glass towers and a 150,000 square foot casino to keep the patrons busy has jealously managed to guard its future name from the curious, but now the cat is out of the bag. Its official name … (2 comments)

residential: Coyote Springs put on hold for now - 05/11/08 10:15 PM
 Development in metropolitan Las Vegas is pushing in all directions, along the cactus-dotted desert floor and up and over craggy foothills and mountains surrounding it. When about 5,000 to 6,000 people move here every month there has to be housing and services for them, but as developable and reasonably-priced land is becoming increasingly scarce, the city is understandably forced to spread further out.
 A few years ago another master-planned community was announced straight up north about 60 miles from town, way out in the high desert, named Coyote Springs. It's a 40,000 acre spread that'll hold 159,000 homes one day and … (0 comments)

residential: Las Vegas condos land on non-permissible list - 03/01/08 01:20 PM
When the residential real estate market turns soft, mortgage lenders typically are the first ones to take notice and begin studying where their exposure can get them in trouble. Countless banks operating in Las Vegas have already in their own way reacted to the slowdown here and more are certainly doing so as the situation warrants.
BankUnited from Florida has paid particular attention to the condominium market and has decided to cease underwriting mortgages on 191 projects nationwide, 14 of which are here in Las Vegas. The bank is hardly a household name to many in the business, but its action underlines … (8 comments)

residential: Las Vegas land prices in a flux - 02/23/08 02:20 AM
As the mortgage sector and the residential real estate market in the valley stumble along, the same type of instability is now evident in the raw land arena. The weakness in the former is clearly beginning to affect the latter.
In the fourth quarter of 2007 land prices here climbed to a $1.51 million per acre average over the same time period in 2006, announced local research shop Applied Analysis. That amounts to a 21.8% increase year over year. Now, if the comparison is made with the third quarter of 2007, the value in essence decreased 25%, giving it a totally different … (12 comments)

residential: Mortgage refinance obstacle - 02/16/08 12:01 PM
The home loan industry is buffeted by a major gale and so is in many areas the residential real estate business. They are right now battling the elements as they best can. While at it, mortgage lenders have made scores of adjustments out of necessity to their loan programs and business practices.
One of the adjustments is causing extra strain on homeowners and investors who are looking to refinance their properties. Now is as good a time as ever to find a more affordable product as the existing interest rate is about to reset upward and mortgage money can be had … (8 comments)

residential: Great Mall of Las Vegas alters design - 02/09/08 11:49 AM
Triple Five Nevada has grand plans to build a large shopping mall in the northwest part of the Las Vegas valley. The original design had the huge facility enclosed, but things have changed quite a bit and now it's going to be open-air. Their market research tells them that shoppers actually prefer a so-called lifestyle center, so that's why the changes are made.
In many ways it'll resemble the recently-opened Town Square on south Strip which contains a host of separate buildings and is nicely pro-pedestrian. Triple Five Nevada also wants to add a "green" component to the project. An enclosed shopping … (0 comments)

residential: Cosmopolitan on the Strip also struggling - 01/19/08 09:41 PM
This week has really been up and down in the Las Vegas condominium market. Earlier Sinifox Financial reported how well the MGM Mirage's CityCenter condos were accepted by the luxury home buyer. A few days later the news turned sour as an item surfaced about a downtown condominium project called Newport Lofts being taken over by its lead bank. And now there is another case of premature lender involvement.
Cosmopolitan, a $3 billion condo and hotel project wedged between the Bellagio and CityCenter, was served a notice of default by Deutsche Bank when payments on a $760 million construction loan were missed. The … (8 comments)

residential: Las Vegas condominium project faces difficulties - 01/18/08 11:53 PM
The frustrating mortgage lending environment and soft residential real estate market in Las Vegas is testing the resolve of many condo developers. Several projects in the past few years have been cancelled or put on hold. Some that are presently under construction are struggling to attract buyers offering their usual amenities, so they have done the next best thing and lowered prices, sometimes substantially. But even that hasn't always been enough, though.
Newport Lofts is a downtown condo project being built by West Seegmiller that had recently advertised an auction of 60 of its units, priced from $229,000 on up. Evidently sales … (0 comments)

residential: CityCenter condos selling briskly - 01/18/08 12:44 PM
MGM Mirage's CityCenter is a massive entertainment and residential enterprise located right on the Las Vegas Strip south of Bellagio. Construction is moving forward on schedule and the project is estimated to open its doors in November of 2009.
The development will have a total of 2,650 luxury condominiums in four separate buildings, namely in Veer Towers, Mandarin Oriental, Vdara Condo Hotel and Harmon Hotel. About half of the available units have been sold to date which has produced $1.63 billion in revenue, nearly 60% of the total projection at sell-out. Please click on the link in this paragraph to read the … (8 comments)

residential: Las Vegas approves Union Park high-rise - 01/15/08 11:23 PM
Union Park is a large tract of land, 61 acres in all, southwest of downtown and for years the City of Las Vegas has identified it as one of the priorities for development. Progress has been agonizingly slow, though, for a number of reasons, one of them being the current woes in the mortgage industry.
This year is supposed to mark the rebirth of efforts to move the project forward. It just took the first tentative step in the right direction when Las Vegas approved a plan to erect a high-rise tower for the jewelry industry there. The developer is Heritage-Nevada … (6 comments)