Posts in category: Inventory

To overstate the obvious, purchasing a new home is a big deal. No one should rush into a deal without thoroughly thinking it through first. For most people, a house will be the biggest asset they have. That being said, many potential homeowners have a nasty habit of waiting too long to make a decision. This caution could have the unintended consequence of letting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity slip vanish. Consider the following tips to avoid getting “decision fatigue” when you’re trying to decide whether or not to buy a home.

Understand the consequences: Why is waiting such a bad decision? Simply put, it’s a buyer’s market out there. Say, you’ve found the home of your dreams but you hesitate to pull the trigger on the deal. Perhaps you want to get the price down just a little more. Well, chances are that there’s someone out there willing to make that deal right away.

Leave emotion out of the process: Sure this is easier said than done, but you can’t let stress consume you when you’re considering a new home. Take a deep breath and talk with your significant other about the options. Ask friends or family for their opinions, but be careful not get overwhelmed with everyone’s point of view. The decision comes down to you.

Stick to the plan: Hopefully you did some preparation before beginning your search for a new home. This could include a specific price range, location, property size, etc. If the house in question falls within your parameters, then make the deal. Having a wonderful new home will be much better than wondering about what could have been.

Summerlin is a master planned community made up of 22,500 acres on the western rim of the Las Vegas Valley. Summerlin was built on the idea that your home lies not in its foundation but rather in the foundation of the community it is surrounded by. Just miles from Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, every detail of Summerlin was carefully constructed to provide residents with a place to call home, now and forever.

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Summerlin is one of the most desired destinations in the Las Vegas Valley with award winning trail systems connecting more than 150 neighborhood parks including Cottonwood Canyon Park, Mesa Park, Ridgebrook Park and The Hills Park! Summerlin is also home to 9 of the finest golf courses and allows access to a world of lifestyle opportunities and amenities to create your ideal quality of life. If you are a golf enthusiast, you may have played on one or two of the Tournament Players Club courses or the Bear’s Best Las Vegas course in the Summerlin area.

Home to 10 nationally recognized private and public schools, such as Faith Lutheran Academy and Bishop Gorman High School and 12 public schools along with higher education facilities and learning opportunities for all ages, Summerlin is the best address for education. For information regarding public schools in this area simply call the Clark County School District at 702-799-5000. You can also download the reference sheet for schools in the area by clicking here.

imagesSummerlin is more than a place to live. It is a way of life. Visit Summerlink to learn about resident services, community information and events like the 20th annual Patriotic Parade and Firecracker 5k walk/run coming up for the 4th of July. There is also a Pumpkin Festival in the fall and a Hometown Holidays event in December! Welcome to Summerlin, a deeply rooted community master planned to perfection. Where neighbors become friends and friends become family.

 

If you are looking for a new home or wanting to sell your current home, please contact a New Home Resource Realtor® today at 702-365-1000. Broker Joanna Piette, and agents Denise Moreno Thrasher, Jessica O’Brien, Evelyn ‘Beng’ Kern, Lance Partin and Kathy Paterniti are all here to help!

 

 

imagesSpring is in the air, so before the summer heat hits Las Vegas, it’s time to host a garage sale! We want you to have the most successful garage sale possible so even though most people know the basics, here are just a few tips to kick off the season and maybe some new tricks you’ve never tried before! Happy Selling!

1. Be Prepared: organize, label and have your cash ready the night before. Most effective garage sales happen before 10am which doesn’t give you much time to prepare these things the day of your sale.

2. Make sure people know about your sale: put your address in the newspaper, put a notice on craigslist and be sure to have a sign (or multiple signs) around your neighborhood. Click Here to see some great examples.

3. Never leave your money out. Always keep your money on you or inside your house away from your garage sale. Also, it is a good idea to have at least twenty $1 bills and plenty of $5 bills in case people need change!

4. Create an inviting display: every driveway looks the same during garage sales so be sure to make yours stands out! Put the big items in view of people passing by and have items easily accessible. Lemonade and water are always nice additions as well!

5. Bargaining: be very flexible to bargaining, after all you are selling these items because you don’t use them anymore. Be sure to start your price at what you think it’s worth and have a minimum price you will be willing to accept.

6. Keep track of your sales: When you make a sale, write down the item and how much it sold for so you can keep track of the money you’re making and the items you are selling.

Most importantly, have fun! It can be stressful setting up your garage sale but once it is in motion, the more fun you are having, the more fun your customers will have. If items don’t end up selling, think about donating them to a charity or local church before you throw them out. Good Luck!

PLEASE Click Here to VOTE FOR ME as 2014 BEST OF SILVER STATE AWARDS/BEST REAL ESTATE AGENT!

 

 

House money Many of the critical factors for a recovery in housing prices are in place. The drop in housing prices, coupled with the current low mortgage interest rates has brought affordability back into alignment with historical ranges in most markets. Unemployment levels appear to have bottomed out, and a growing number of real estate economic indicators also suggest that, on a national level, we’re also at, near, or just past the bottom of housing prices. Mortgage interest rates remain near all time lows. In many areas, today’s buyers have the best opportunity to choose from a very large home inventory at the lowest prices. Nonetheless, there is a great variance among local housing markets, and some may be looking at further declines in home values, perhaps even double digit drops, before prices hit bottom.

Consumer confidence will play a big role in any housing recovery. According to a June and July survey by Fannie Mae, 70% of Americans think it is a good time to buy a house, an increase of 6% responding to the same question in a similar survey conducted in January 2010. Not surprisingly, 83% also think now is a bad time to sell. Those surveyed are also becoming more optimistic about home values-78% think that home prices will either remain stable or increase next year-a 5% increase over the January survey.

Mortgage rates will also play a big role in the housing recovery. They are very low by historic standards today. Importantly, Federal Reserve policies intended to prevent a double dip recession are helping to keep mortgage interest rates low, and are likely to remain in place for some time. The slow recovery of the business sector, while not encouraging from an employment standpoint, also means that there will be less upward pressure on interest rates in the near future.

On the downside, the share of consumers who think housing is a safe investment has dropped from 83% in 2003 to 67% today. Delinquent borrowers and renters still think a home is a safe investment (57% and 54% respectively). More optimistic about the safety of a home investment were those with mortgages (74%) and even those with negative equity (69%). Minorities were also more optimistic on this question than the general population. Also not a big surprise, more people (33%) say they will be more likely to rent their next home, up from 30% in the January survey.

Recent forecasts about home sales and home prices have varied. Most suggest stabilization or near stabilization of housing prices this year, followed by a slight increase next year. On a national level, actual sales and price results have been mixed from one month to the next, suggesting that we may be at or near the bottom of home values.

Most important to your own home purchase decision is the current status of your local market. While at the national level there are many indicators that suggest that now is a good time to buy, the current state of your local market is the most critical consideration. In many areas there is even significant variance from one neighborhood to another. Some markets never got badly hurt by the real estate bubble and are still stable. Others, whether they suffered from price declines or not, are already showing signs of a healthy recovery.

Unfortunately, some of the hardest hit markets and/or neighborhoods are likely to face still more declines in housing prices. Mortgage insurer The PMI Group Inc. estimated recently that just over half of the 384 markets they follow, including 70% of the 50 largest metro areas, face a high risk of declines in housing prices over the next two years. Particularly in those markets, the size of the “shadow inventory”(foreclosed homes and nonperforming mortgages owned by lenders), could delay housing recovery, as could the growth in “strategic defaults” (homeowners who can afford to make their mortgage payments but who choose instead to walk away because they owe so much more than the home is worth).

Since homes tend to appreciate only 2-4% annually over the long term, it doesn’t make sense to buy right now if your area is at risk of dropping another 10-20% in value when you could rent the same home today for less than mortgage payments. The short term direction of housing values for current homeowners who are moving up or downsizing buyers is of far less consequence, because their homes market value will be similarly affected whether they stay in their current home or replace it with another. For them, current mortgage interest rates are far more important, and they strongly favor buying now.

While you may want to defer your purchase for any of these reasons, buying a home remains a wise long term economic decision for most of us:

1. Homes can provide an excellent return on investment (ROI). Although historic annual home appreciation rates are modest, the purchase is usually highly leveraged. If you put 10% down, a modest 3% annual increase in your home’s value represents a 30% ROI.

2. There are many opportunities to gain sweat equity. For example, a well landscaped home can be worth thousands more than a home with a barren landscape. You don’t have to spend that much to get such a return. Buy a shovel and a bunch of small $5-$20 shrubs and trees, and wait a few years. Do your own remodeling (or some of the finish work, such as painting and trim) and those projects can add more to your home’s value than they cost.

3. A landlord can (and will) raise your rent, but a lender can’t raise your mortgage interest rate (assuming that it is a fixed rate mortgage).

4. Many people pay off their mortgage by the time they retire. With no more mortgage payments, they are able to live comfortably on modest retirement income sources. The equity is also transferrable-many homeowners who move to different locales after retirement simply roll the equity from their old home into a paid off retirement home. A lifelong renter may well have paid more in aggregate for housing over their career, but they will still have to pay rent and many find that this additional expense severely cramps their retirement lifestyle.

5. Most owner-occupied neighborhoods have a sense of community that results from a relatively stable set of residents. That rarely happens in rental environments, where the residents of the neighboring apartments may come and go before you even meet them.

Key to a smart decision on whether or not to buy a home now is research into your current market outlook. There is plenty of research data on the Internet regarding the likely market direction of your area. Experienced real estate agents can also provide very useful local market insight.

If you are looking for a new home or wanting to sell your current home,  please contact a New Home Resource Realtor® today at 702-365-1000. Broker Joanna Piette, and agents Denise Moreno Thrasher, Jessica O’Brien, Evelyn ‘Beng’ Kern, Lance Partin and Kathy Paterniti are all here to help!

 

Courtesy of the American Homeowners Foundation and the American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance, www.AmericanHomeowners.org.

Reprinted with permission from RISMedia. ©2014. All rights reserved.

Recovery to Continue in 2014, Says NAR; Rates and Home Prices Predicted to Rise

By Nick Caruso

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The real estate market will continue its road to recovery in 2014, with home prices rising 6 percent and mortgage rates hitting 5.4 percent. In addition, demand is predicted to plateau, all according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist and senior vice president of Research for the National Association of REALTORS®, who presented his 2014 market forecast during last week’s REALTORS® Conference and Expo.

Other factors aim to set the market back on the right path. Although there could be a possible negative impact due to rising mortgage rates, job creation and loosening underwriting standards should balance out 2014’s sales volume.

“There were two million jobs created in the past few months and we’ll see the same next year,” says Yun. “These people could potentially enter the market.”

Yun does not see, however, an increase in unit sales nationwide, as inventory levels remain an issue to keep an eye on. Currently, the nation is under one million and this number needs to increase 50-60 percent in order to get back to normal numbers.

“I don’t foresee that next year, but maybe we can at least make up half the needed gain to steadily reduce the inventory pressure,” he says.

While existing home sales are expected to remain flat at roughly 5.1 million units, new homes could rise by 25 percent from 430,000 to 510,000 next year.  This part of the market is still in recovery due to the difficulties for smaller builders to obtain financing. This should continue easing throughout the next year.

When prompted further about how the rising mortgage rate will affect sales and the market, Yun responded: “Assuming nothing changes further, I believe it takes about 10 percent right off the top in terms of people who qualified this year versus the same people who would qualify next year. If need be, NAR will be pushing for new legislation to clarify what QM and QRM are so that we don’t get hit by that 10 percent.”

With the housing market is recovering for most Americans, homeowners will be more concerned than ever about their home values in 2014. Actual price increases for 2013 was 11 percent, which is now expected to be a six percent rise next year. The way to relieve home price pressure is for more inventory to come into the market, says Yun.

“We were surprised by how fast inventory would decline, but there was always a fresh set of inventory trickling in as it went out,” he says.

Overall in 2013, investor activity has been normal, but numbers slightly declined. Though, more small-time investors entered the market, staying one step ahead of the population, consistently punching numbers to see what transactions made the most sense for them. “If investors remain active, it implies that housing is a good buy,” says Yun.

Despite some cautionary areas, the real estate market has its beacons of potential. The industry may not be back to its best numbers yet, but we are still heading in the right direction and making our way down that road to recovery.

“We’ve had a decent year this year and next year will be roughly the same.”

 
Reprinted with permission from RISMedia. ©2013. All rights reserved.

The Las Vegas housing market is finally on the way up after being labeled the “Foreclosure Capital”.

With rock bottom prices, Las Vegas is seeing an influx of cash buyers as investors are grasping the opportunity for rental properties.

With over 59% of homes sold in February purchased by cash buyers, the market made a new record for Southern Nevada.

How should you play this fast-paced market to ensure the best price?

  1. Cash offers are more likely to be accepted by home sellers, due to quick closings and no appraisal valuation issues.
  2. Those with financing should not be discouraged, however, overbidding and guaranteeing the seller your offered price (regardless of appraisal) seems to be the way offers from financed buyers are being considered.
  3. The answer is not to be the ‘first’ offer, but the ‘best’ offer.
  4. Get aligned with a New Home Resource agent who is at the pulse of the market and knows how to get in the game!

To read more from the original article click here.

Happy Holidays!   There has been quite a bit going on in our marketplace today, from even further constraint in available housing, to increased NOD filings, to even higher sales prices in recent months.

A little bit of history……   In August 2009, Clark County saw a whopping peak of 11,482 filings of Notices of Default.    The filing figures remained steady around 4,000+/- per month, from 2010 through September 2011.    The October 2011 effective date of AB284 then caused filings to fall to less than 1,000 a month.  

To clarify, the “need” to foreclose on a property did not change – what DID change was the bank’s ability to foreclose, due to the requirements of AB284.   You can read my blog post from earlier this year regarding AB284 to learn more.    According to the Board of Realtors®, foreclosures have fallen from nearly 50 percent of Las Vegas home sales to about 15 percent in October (we believe to be a direct result of AB284), and short sales now account for roughly 45 percent of the market.

As a result of AB284, default filings fell by as much as 80% through September, though the numbers have been growing over the past several months.     There were almost 2,100 Notices of Default filed in August 2012.    Additionally, as banks resolve past issues with MERS, we anticipate increased foreclosure activity – and may even see some lower prices as a result of the increased supply in available listings.

At this time, our current MLS inventory shows only 3,800+/- single family homes available, an unbelievable 10-day supply of housing!      This decreased inventory has caused asking prices for Las Vegas homes to increase 13.7% over a year ago, as reported by online site Trulia.com this morning, December 4th.     And according to Las Vegas-based SalesTraq, the median existing home price in Las Vegas has climbed from $100,000 in January to $124,000 in October.

We do try to report the most accurate, up-to-date information to our clients, but there could be a margin of error in our reporting.   Please understand that some of our comments may also be opinions and not absolute fact.  

If you’re a home buyer or a home seller in today’s frenzied Las Vegas market, you need professional help.   Call Heather Brockhurst, Denise Moreno or Joanna Piette at 702-365-1000 and be a part of the right team!   HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM NEW HOME RESOURCE!

 

The lack of resale housing available in Las Vegas has caused all out-frenzy to buy, perpetuating a steady increase in pricing over the past year.

The GLVAR (Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors) reported earlier this month that the median price of single-family homes is up almost 14% since September 2011, and some sources that believe prices have increased as much as 20% from one year ago!    GLVAR reports that condominium prices are up 24% from this time last year.

Almost half of the Las Vegas market is comprised of short sales; foreclosure activity has slowed to barely a crawl since the inception of AB284, whose effects are still be greatly felt throughout the state.   This tight supply of homes is responsible for pushing up pricing from all types of home-sellers, who are taking advantage of the lack of inventory.

This increase in pricing is being felt in the appraisal arena (see my blog from 9-25-12) because comparable sales can’t keep up with the fast-rising pace of the newly listed properties.    Even new construction homes are suffering with low appraisals.

Some reports are showing sales volume is actually down from a year ago.   One must wonder if this surge in pricing isn’t keeping many buyers out of the arena.

When this will end is anyone’s guess.    For home sellers, NOW is a great time to sell your home for top dollar!!   For buyers, you need a professional agent who knows how to work well within this unique market.   Contact Denise Moreno, Heather Brockhurst or Joanna Piette with New Home Resource today at 702-365-1000!