What Las Vegas homeowners should know about our real estate market is that so much of what is going on has been influenced and controlled. Nationally Las Vegas has always received mixed reviews and mostly inaccurate information when it comes to our market. It is likely most are unaware of the reality we are facing with the new bills currently in our legislature and the effects it will have on our valley. Understanding the details will help everyone better prepare for what is coming down the road.
The current strangle hold bill, AB284 was enacted about a year and a half ago which put a hold on our more than 80,000 properties past 90 days delinquent.(45,000 we know are vacant) There are revisions being considered in the legislature (AB300) right now that would free up these homes to move forward as future inventory. Normal process continues and inventory climbs, right? Wrong!
While we are busy enacting the changes needed to put some sense of normal back into our foreclosure process, there is a bill coming like a freight train that will keep our back logged inventory in check for years to come. Several powers in play here in our valley decided that they liked our year over year appreciation of over 20% and sudden but strange increases in New Home sales. By adding a new bill SB321 "Homeowner's Bill of Rights they assure everything stays this way for years to come. This bill at its premise you would think would be something good putting in some standards around the process of foreclosure, but as they say the devil is in the details. The sad facts are that there are many taking advantage of our current lock down on inventory and this bill will allow it to continue. Just to be clear here there is no way that something named the "Home Owner Bill of Rights" is not going to move forward, the question is can we at least help by influencing the sections that will have a negative impact on our economy and our inventory. This bill has already passed in the Senate. To follow the bill http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/77th2013/Reports/history.cfm?ID=772
Among the sections of the bill that appear to be problematic are
- Sections prohibiting dual tracking, a no opt-out provision for homeowners and increased litigation risk for servicers.
- This bill as currently written will substantially lengthen the already delayed foreclosure process in Nevada.
- The bill is modeled after the CA Homeowner Bill of Rights - which when enacted in January 2013 resulted in thousands of properties in the short sale process to be canceled and has significantly slowed down foreclosure filings.
California Homeowners Bill of Rights pushes foreclosure starts down to levels last seen in 2005.
The challenges for buyers in Las Vegas is to first understand the realistic conditions and then develop a strategy on how to get in first position. It rarely includes looking at anything as it first comes on the market competing with 30 or more offers. In the case of sellers they just need to know all of the information to make an informed decision from. Understanding all of the intricate details of these forces at work and what we are anticipating will happen, with help a homeowner in Las Vegas plan for the best strategy moving forward.
I will close by saying that what goes on in politics was once explained to me this way -
"Sausage is something most of us like from time to time, but we do not want to know how it is made." Just knowing where and when to buy, is all most of us want to know.
Best regards,
Dean Decker
Real Estate Professional
Comments (11)Subscribe to CommentsComment