I just came across an interesting article talking about the mortgage deliquency rate falling.  It is a slight decline, but it's the only one since 2006! The full article is below, but you can also visit  Nuwireinvestor.com:

  It doesn't have four letters, but "mortgage" has definitely been a dirty word in the financial world the past few years. That's especially true when the word "mortgage" is paired up with such other terms as "subprime," "delinquent," and "foreclosures."

Little wonder that mortgages - along with the derivative securities backed by them and the often-unseemly practices of the people pushing them - have gotten much of the blame for precipitating the economic meltdown from which the American economy is now struggling to recover.

There's still plenty of woe in the mortgage world. But in recent months there have also been some signs that the real-estate-financing markets are at least regaining some semblance of stability, with foundations being poured for a rebuilding phase that might not be too far down the road.

So far, the most promising sign of this hoped-for mortgage-market rebound has been a late-February report from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the mortgage-lending industry's leading trade group. The recently released report shows that delinquencies on existing first mortgages for residential properties with one to four living units - we're talking about roughly 44.4 million loans - declined in the 2009 fourth quarter.

The MBA's National Delinquency Survey found that late payments on these loans fell to a seasonally adjusted rate of 9.47% of all mortgage loans during the final three months of last year. That's down from 9.64% at the end of the third quarter. But it was still well above the 7.88% level from the fourth quarter in 2008, the MBA reported.

Although the decline from the third to the fourth quarter of last year was small, it still represented the first quarter-over-quarter decrease in the number of loans potentially headed for foreclosure since mid-2006. Mid-2006 was when the rate of late payments began to rise. The rate began to increase steadily until early 2007, when a massive spike in subprime-mortgage defaults caused the late-payment rates to escalate to unprecedented levels.

The ensuing collapse of housing prices - particularly in overbuilt areas like California, Nevada and Florida - and the country's subsequent plunge into recession, which pushed unemployment rates into double-digit territory, left an even-larger number of U.S. homeowners unable to meet their monthly obligations.

Peeling Back the Layers

MBA Chief Economist Jay Brinkmann said the positive nature of the figures was bolstered by a similar drop - from 3.79% to 3.63% - in the number of borrowers who had missed only one monthly payment. Brinkmann said that was significant for two reasons:

• First, this latest development counters the historical trend for the fourth quarter, when short-term mortgage delinquencies normally rise due to holiday spending, higher heating costs and other seasonal factors.
• Second, it means the rise in short-term delinquencies stopped short of the record levels set in 1985.

The drop in 30-day delinquencies is doubly important, Brinkmann added, because those late payments have historically been a leading indicator of foreclosure actions.

"With fewer new loans going bad, the pool of seriously delinquent loans and foreclosures will eventually begin to shrink," Brinkman said. "It also gives us growing confidence that the size of the problem now is about as bad as it will get."

Of course, the size of the foreclosure problem remains at record levels nationwide - and is far worse in some of the hardest-hit areas.

Across the United States, the percentage of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process rose to 4.58% at the end of 2009, up from 4.47% in September and 3.30% at the end of 2009. In Florida, however, 20.4% of all mortgages are either 90 days or more past due - or are already in foreclosure. Nevada is a close second: A total of 19% of its loans are either three months or more in arrears, or are now in full-blown foreclosure. Even worse, the number of subprime mortgages in foreclosure nationwide stands at 15.58%, up from 15.35% in September.

However, even in the foreclosure category, the MBA found some positive signs in the fourth quarter.

The number of loans on which new foreclosure actions were started fell to 1.20%, down from 1.42% in September and up just 12 basis points from year-end 2008. Foreclosure starts on subprime loans also decreased slightly, dropping from 3.76% in the third quarter to 3.66% in the fourth quarter.

Not everyone agreed with the MBA's somewhat upbeat view of the foreclosure numbers. A MarketWatch commentary on the delinquency report noted that a moratorium on foreclosures had been imposed by lenders and loan regulators in many areas of the country - a restriction that could be merely delaying new foreclosure actions rather than eliminating the need for them.

In his commentary, MarketWatch Assistant Managing Editor Steve Kerch noted that many mortgage lenders are already holding large inventories of foreclosed properties and might not want to add to the list until real-estate sales actually pick up from current levels.

Ineffective Assistance Programs?

Another factor at play was the Obama administration's increased emphasis late last year on its Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), designed to help 3 million to 4 million borrowers restructure their mortgages to avoid foreclosure. That could have helped stall new fourth-quarter-foreclosure actions and undoubtedly contributed to the improved MBA numbers, although the actual impact of the HAMP program still isn't clear.

The public-interest news organization, ProPublica, reports that only about 1.0 million homeowners have been put into the program since it started in April 2009. And only about 116,300 have received permanent loan modifications, while roughly 62,000 have already been dropped from the program for various reasons, such as failing to make their payments even after those payments were reduced.

The remainder of the 1 million participants are still in the so-called "trial period," which was supposed to last a maximum of three months. However, ProPublica says 475,000 have been in trial periods for longer than three months, and 97,000 have been stuck in loan-modification limbo for more than six months, with almost 60,000 of those having mortgages handled by Chase Home Finance, a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM).

The lengthy trial periods could have a negative long-term impact on troubled homeowners, since the reduced payments result in an increased balance on their mortgages, hurting the credit scores of the affected borrowers and leaving them with fewer alternatives if the modification ultimately falls through.

The low success rate and slow progress of the loan-modification programs also means that actual foreclosure rates could still spike higher, especially given the fact that very few of the people in trouble with their mortgages because of unemployment have been able to find new jobs - and more are still losing them, as evidenced by the rise in new weekly claims for jobless benefits in eight of the first 10 reporting periods in 2010.

The jobs situation also helps explain why about 275,000 homeowners in loan-modification trial periods are already delinquent on their payments, according to the U.S. Treasury Department, which monitors HAMP.

The housing market itself has been adding to the confusion with respect to mortgages. After rising nicely during the final quarter of 2009 - thanks in large part to a pair of government homebuyer tax-credit programs - sales of existing U.S. homes unexpectedly dropped in January.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that sales in the first month of 2010 fell 7.2% to an annual rate of 5.05 million units, down sharply from the predicted rate of 5.50 million homes - though that still represented an increase of 11.5% from January 2009. December sales were also revised downward slightly - from an annualized pace of 5.45 million to a projected 5.44 million units.

The impact of the waning federal tax credits on January sales was reflected in another NAR report. Purchases by first-time homebuyers using the credit - which was subjected to income limits in November - fell by 3.0% in January. The tax credits are scheduled to expire at the end of April.

By contrast, the report said January purchases by investors who were looking to take advantage of foreclosure bargains rose by 2.0% from December to January.

That surge in investor buying was particularly evident in some of the nation's harder-hit regions, such as the Las Vegas area, where the research firm MDA DataQuick reported that 43% of all January home purchases were made by investors or second-home buyers, who paid a median price of $101,000 for their homes, down from $109,836 in December and $125,000 in January 2009.

However, the impact of that buying on the Vegas mortgage market was less pronounced since MDA also told the Las Vegas Sun that a full 50% of January home purchases were all-cash deals, up from 39% in January 2009.

That situation prompted first-time homebuyer Chris Iuso - who's pre-qualified for a loan and looking to purchase a Las Vegas foreclosure property for as much as $120,000 - to complain to a Wall Street Journal reporter that, in spite of Nevada's No. 2 national ranking in mortgages in foreclosure, "there really isn't much inventory (of foreclosed houses) to chase."

Even worse, the bit of housing that is out there and available typically sells for cash on the barrel - putting it out of reach of the typical prospective homeowner. Iuso's agent, Bryan Mitchell of Re/Max Associates, told The Journal that some bank-owned homes have attracted more than 20 offers within just a few days.

Of course, one reason cash is suddenly king in severely depressed markets is that lenders remain reluctant to make new real estate loans - for a variety of reasons. Those reasons include:

• Jobless rates, which remain stubbornly high, and which are actually still climbing in such geographic areas as Las Vegas.
•  Low rates on fixed-rate loans - too low, in fact, for lenders to willingly take on the uncertainty of long-term loans.
• High exposure to increasingly delinquent commercial-property/commercial-real-estate (CRE) loans, which could be the focus of the next banking crisis.
• And still-declining property values, which could put even more homeowners "under water," meaning they owe more on their loans than their houses are worth.

Still-falling average home prices were confirmed by the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, which recorded a 2.5% decline in the fourth quarter of 2009 versus the fourth quarter of 2008. There is a bright spot, however: That's a major improvement over the annualized rates reported in the first three quarters of 2009, when there were reported price drops of 19.0%, 14.7% and 8.7%, respectively speaking.

In the nation's 20 leading metropolitan areas, which are surveyed monthly, the drop in average prices for December was 3.1%.

The One Place to Profit From the Mortgage Malaise

The continued decline in home prices was the major underlying reason the late-February report by real estate researcher FirstAmerican CoreLogic concluded that 11.3 million U.S. homeowners - nearly 25% of all residential-mortgage holders - owe more on their loans than their houses are worth. The report said that 620,000 new homeowners went under water in the fourth quarter, while another 2.3 million are living on the razor's edge - with less than 5% equity in their homes.

What does this all add up to for investors? The mortgage markets may be stabilizing, but uncertainty remains far too high to generate many outstanding profit opportunities in this harried market sector.

But there may be one exception: The mortgage insurance market.

The mortgage market remains a turbulent one. Property values remain questionable in many markets. And because of a "jobless recovery" and shaky employment outlook, even a borrower with a pristine credit score may end up in a financial jackpot with the loss of paycheck that's necessary to keep making mortgage payments. With such a dour outlook, you can bet that every lender will insist on mortgage insurance before making any new loan. That, coupled with even a modest decline in new delinquencies and foreclosures, could help out the insurers - and their stock prices.

Proof of that came late last month when Radian Group Inc. (NYSE: RDN) reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss - $1.12 versus a predicted $1.69 - based on a slowing in the rate of fresh delinquencies and increased liquidity to cover claims, a condition it expects to maintain through 2012.

Radian's shares rose $1.25 each, or 14.59%, to $9.83 on the news, and eclipsed the $10 level this week. Other firms in the sector - most of which will be reporting earnings in the next couple of weeks - also rose in price on Radian's coattails. Among the ones that could be worth a look, with closing prices from yesterday, are:

    * The PMI Group Inc. (NYSE: PMI) - $2.80.
    * MGIC Investment Corp. (NYSE: MTG) - $8.00.
    * MBIA Inc. (NYSE: MBI) - $5.05.

But given all the uncertainty in the mortgage market right now, make sure to investigate these companies carefully before purchasing their shares.

If you are falling behind on your mortgage, there are a lot of government programs recently created to help home owners.  HAMP and HAFA are just a few.  For more information, please visit their website at http://www.MakingHomesAffordable.gov . I'd be happy to give you a free short sale consultation just call me toll free at 1-866-589-1646.

Felipe Crook

Prudential Americana Group Realtors

Las Vegas, NV 89117

OVERVIEW ~ As now seems the usual course for the markets, sentiment among investors turned from optimistic, over the week of Feb. 16 (Feb. 15 was a holiday) to Feb. 19, to pessimistic in the week that followed. At the start of the day on Monday, Feb. 22, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) had risen to 10402.35. By the end of the week, the DJIA had declined to 10325.26. This is not a precipitous fall, but stock market indices remained somewhat sluggish over the entire week, brought down by disappointing economic indicators and worries about developments in Greece. Further, the week saw very large Treasury security auctions in which bidders pushed rates slightly higher than the Treasury had anticipated. Again, not a great deal higher, but enough to create worry, particularly over Monday's and Wednesday's auctions. The Freddie Mac average 30-year fixed-rate, meanwhile, rose from 4.93% the week prior to 5.05% on Thursday, Feb. 25. This signaled the possibility of an on-going uptrend among mortgage rates (though, as always, concerns that present events foretell future trends usually fall away as the mood among investors moves from negative to positive and back again).

 FOLLOW-UP ~ Greece remained in the news, postponing its sales of 10-year notes for one to two weeks, much to the concern of international investors.  Greece needs to borrow at least  54 billion this year to pay off existing notes and bonds; it has thus far raised  13 billion. About  22 billion of bonds mature in March and April, and so Greece is under the gun to find enough money to pay off the  22 billion. The country also currently faces the possibility that Standard & Poor's, and possibly other rating agencies, will lower its rating for Greece, which could make it still harder for Greece to sell its notes.

 Coming this spring as well, the Fed will stop helping keep mortgage rates low as its program of buying very large quantities of mortgage-backed securities (MBSs) comes to an end. Investors have had plenty of advance warning that this will happen, and it is therefore difficult to predict the reaction in the markets. More important, though, we can't know to what extent this will leave the MBS markets vulnerable to an imbalance of growing supply and lower demand, elevating the rates required by investors.

FOCUS ~ The Federal Reserve Board Chairman, in testimony before Congress on Wednesday, Feb. 24, once again reassured the markets that the Fed would continue to help keep rates low for an "extended period." His comments appeared to briefly help lift the stock index nearly a full percent, but investors remain skeptical, worried that interest rates may turn higher before the Fed Chairman currently predicts they will. The rate the Fed charges at its "discount window," after all, was nudged higher last week. And purchases of MBSs will cease in March. What we can see here is an anxiety among investors which cannot be salved by the Fed chief (surely assuring continued market volatility) as rates and indices climb and fall unpredictably

The Las Vegas Housing Market continues to see high buyer traffic

The month of February saw 3,178 properties change hands of buyers looking to capitalize on the First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit.

• 23% of those sold properties were short sales
• 54% of those sold properties were foreclosures
• 23% of those sold properties were regular sellers

The available inventory has dropped dramatically from a year ago:

• There are currently 10,724 condos, townhouses, and single family residences on the market.
• 45% of those properties are listed as Short Sales (where the bank has to approve the sales price and take a loss)
• 38% of those properties are regular sellers
• 15% of those properties are foreclosures.  This is a HUGE drop in available foreclosures.

If you are interested in short selling your home, visit http://www.LasVegasShortSaleConnection.com or call me toll free at 1-866-589-1646.  You can also do your own home search below for FREE. 

Felipe Crook Prudential Americana Group Realtors, Las Vegas NV 89117 

Single Family Residence (SFR)
Available 8,402 (-87 , Last Week 8,489)
Under Contract 11,641 (+259 , Last Week 11,382)
Days of Supply 22 (+0 , Last Week 22)
Short Sales 11,712 (+181 , Last Week 11,531)

Condominiums and Town Homes (CONDO/TH)
Available 1,863 (-5 , Last Week 1,868)
Under Contract 2,843 (+44 , Last Week 2,799)
Days of Supply 20 (+0 , Last Week 20)
Short Sales 2,956 (+29 , Last Week 2,927)

Combined SFR + CONDO/TH
Available 10,265 (-92 , Last Week 10,357)
Under Contract 14,484 (+303 , Last Week 14,181)
Days of Supply 21 (-1 , Last Week 22)
Short Sales 14,668 (+210 , Last Week 14,458)

This is the latest Las Vegas Real Estate Market Report from www.NARREIA.com (National Association of Residential Real Estate Investment Advisors). For the week of February 3, 2010, data is obtained from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors MLS.

Single Family Residence (SFR)
Available 8,575 (-27 , Last Week 8,602)
Under Contract 10,800 (-34 , Last Week 10,834)
Days of Supply 24 (+0 , Last Week 24)
Short Sales 11,217 (+112 , Last Week 11,105)

Condominiums and Town Homes (CONDO/TH)
Available 1,869 (-35 , Last Week 1,904)
Under Contract 2,695 (-16 , Last Week 2,711)
Days of Supply 21 (+0 , Last Week 21)
Short Sales 2,853 (+7 , Last Week 2,846)

Combined SFR + CONDO/TH
Available 10,444 (-62 , Last Week 10,506)
Under Contract 13,495 (-50 , Last Week 13,545)
Days of Supply 23 (+0 , Last Week 23)
Short Sales 14,070 (+119 , Last Week 13,951)

Strategic default is a hot topic in the press, on the blogs and in the real estate industry.  Homeowners are starting to weigh all their options and make "business" decisions about whether to stay or walk away from their home.  In many cases, the homeowner/borrower is truly unable to continue to make the payments due to a variety of hardships, job loss or major changes in their income.  There are avariety of alternatives to foreclosure including a short sale.  The best advice for homeowners in this situation is to consult with qualified legal, tax and real estate professionals to gather the best advice and information in order to make the best decision for themselves.

Loan modifications have impacted a small percentage of homeowners but currently do not address the big issue of negative equity. 

Take a look at these reports and sources...

Amherst Securities testified before the House Financial Services Committee (12-8-09) - Download Amherst Securities Group - HAMP Testimony
Two main points from this report:
1. Single largest problem with housing market is negative equity.
2. Current modification program does not address negative equity and is destined to fail.

WSJ Development Blog (1-4-10) NY Fed: Most Successful Mortgage Modifications Reduce Borrowers Principal

Negative Equity Report for Q3 (Calculated Risk Blog 11-24-09)

Data Highlights

Nearly 10.7 million, or 23 percent, of all residential properties with mortgages were in negative equity as of September, 2009. An additional 2.3 million mortgages were approaching negative equity, meaning they had less than five percent equity. Together negative equity and near negative equity mortgages account for nearly 28 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage nationwide.

The distribution of negative equity is heavily concentrated in five states: Nevada (65 percent), which had the highest percentage negative equity, followed by Arizona (48 percent), Florida (45 percent), Michigan (37 percent) and California (35 percent).

NPR: To Stay Or Walk Away - Here is an interesting podcast from NPR's Planet Money: To Stay Or Walk Away

Lenders Pursue Mortgage Payoffs Long After Homeowners Default   This article from Bloomberg.com points out what we believe is just the tip of the iceberg - mortgage companies pursuing the deficiency or shortage from a foreclosure or short sale.  The laws that allow a mortgage company to pursue a deficiency judgment varies from state to state.  There are several reasons why we haven't seen a lot of reporting on this - but this could change soon:

• Banks/lenders have been seriously bogged down just handling the high volume of defaulting loans, short sale requests, loan mods
  
• Not really politically-correct or good PR at the moment given our current economic and housing crisis

"The FDIC tracks the amount banks collect after defaulted loans were written off.  These mortgage recoveries rose 48 percent to a record $1.01 billion in the first nine months of last year compared with the year-earlier period, according to the Washington-based regulator. Recoveries on defaulted home-equity loans almost doubled to $392 million, the FDIC data shows. The figures dont include money retrieved by trusts overseeing mortgage-backed securities, such as the one that holds the loan on Kings former home, or efforts by distressed- asset funds and companies that buy bad loans to profit from collection rights"

Good News / Bad News

Bad news for Las Vegas and Nevada is that it appears we have a long way to go before we fully recover from the housing crisis. 

Good News is there are great opportunties for investors, home buyers looking to purchase in the local market.

Start Your Search for Las Vegas FORECLOSURE Property NOW!

Search ALL LAS VEGAS Available Properties

Felipe Crook
Prudential Americana Group Realtors
Las Vegas NV 89117
1-866-589-1646

e="font-size: small;">This is the latest Las Vegas Real Estate Market Report from www.NARREIA.com (National Association of Residential Real Estate Investment Advisors). For the week of January 27, 2010, data is obtained from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors MLS.

Single Family Residence (SFR)
Available 8,602 (-10 , Last Week 8,612)
Under Contract 10,834 (+158 , Last Week 10,676)
Days of Supply 24 (+0 , Last Week 24)
Short Sales 11,105 (+121 , Last Week 10,984)

Condominiums and Town Homes (CONDO/TH)
Available 1,904 (+28 , Last Week 1,876)
Under Contract 2,711 (+36 , Last Week 2,675)
Days of Supply 21 (+0 , Last Week 21)
Short Sales 2,846 (+46 , Last Week 2,800)

Combined SFR + CONDO/TH
Available 10,506 (+18 , Last Week 10,488)
Under Contract 13,545 (+194 , Last Week 13,351)
Days of Supply 23 (-1 , Last Week 24)
Short Sales 13,951 (+167 , Last Week 13,784)

There has been some press recently stating Bank of America expects to release about 6,000 foreclosed properties into the Nevada housing market in 2010, or about 500 a month.  The local real estate agent community has been hearing the same type of message from REO agents, asset managers for months.  Hopefully, we will actually start seeing some of this inventory become available and soon! 

Key Points:

• It's part of the so-called "phantom inventory" of foreclosed homes being held by banks as they work out loan modifications and negotiate short sales, two of the more desirable alternatives to foreclosure.
• BofA has been receiving about 40,000 new short sale offers a month, but has not been processing as many as it has received because of the difficulty of the process.
• According to California-based research firm Concord Group, the Las Vegas market will still struggle from bank foreclosures over the next two years. It said that Southern Nevada has lost more than 90,000 jobs since the downturn, falling to about 850,000.
• Las Vegas has a supply of 16,215 residential units for sale, 8,845 units of which are bank-owned, HUD homes and other types of foreclosures.
  
• The city currently has a total of 700,000 households, which is expected to rise by 2.5 percent over the next 5 years.

Read all the details:

Here is the LVRJ article dated 1-14-10 from Hubble Smith Bank of America to release homes

and another post Las Vegas Foreclsoures to Rise with BofA Bank-Owned Homes (1-20-10).

Start Your Search for Las Vegas FORECLOSURE Property!

Search ALL LAS VEGAS Available Properties

Felipe Crook
Prudential Americana Group Realtors
Las Vegas NV 89117
1-866-589-1646

The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR) released its local housing statistics  for December 2009 with some interesting findings for the year. 

According to GLVAR, sales of existing homes in Las Vegas were up 64% in 2009.  GLVAR reported 46,879 local housing sales in 2009. That represents a huge spike from 28,618 total sales in 2008 and trails only the 71,963 homes sold during the record year of 2004. The increasing sales continue to be driven by low prices.   GLVAR reports that the average single family home sold in the area in December 2008 was $204,000 in December 2008. By December of 2009, that number had fallen to $165,000.

To read the full report: PDF file Download 2009_12_Dec (released 1-8-10)

Single Family Residential closings for 2009 totaled 38,127 which is a 53% increase over 2008.  Additionally, townhomes and condos saw another 8752 closings which represent a 137% increase over 2008.

Las Vegas Foreclosure Report for 2009

From RealtyTrac's Year-End 2009 Foreclosure Market Report™ :

... a total of 3,957,643 foreclosure filings -- default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions -- were reported on 2,824,674 U.S. properties in 2009, a 21 percent increase in total properties from 2008 and a 120 percent increase in total properties from 2007

More than 10 percent of Nevada housing units received at least one foreclosure filing in 2009, giving it the nations highest state foreclosure rate for the third consecutive year. Nevada foreclosure activity in December increased 27 percent from the previous month but was still down 22 percent from December 2008. Fourth quarter foreclosure activity in Nevada was down 37 percent from the previous quarter thanks to substantial decreases in October and November.

2009 foreclosure stats would have been worse but for initiatives to slowdown foreclosures from the Lenders as well as the by the Obama Administration - including HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) and alternatives to foreclosures like short sales.

GLVAR reported a total of 33,974 bank-owned residential properties for 2009.

Las Vegas Short Sales for 2009

According to the National Association of Realtors, almost 500,000 transactions in 2009 were short sales, representing almost 10 percent of all home sales. 

In Las Vegas, a total of 5,422 residential properties sold and closed in 2009. 

2009 Residential Closings Recap

The GLVAR 2009 report quotes a total of 46,879 local housing sales.  However, the 3 individual graphs of residential closing for 2009 totals 47,084 (a 205 discrepancy - I am not certain why).

REO/Bank-Owned sales = 33,974 (72.2%)

Traditional residential sales = 7,688 (16.3%)

Short Sale Closings = 5,422 (11.5%)

Start Your Search for Las Vegas FORECLOSURE Property!

Search ALL LAS VEGAS Available Properties

Felipe Crook
Prudential Americana Group Realtors
Las Vegas NV 89117
1-866-589-1646

I just came across a great article in the Las Vegas Sun by Buck Wargo.  It's always nice to read some good new in our market.  Even though we are number 1 for foreclosures in the nation, we're slowly digging our way out of this slippery hole we've created.  One of the things he mentioned in the article was that growing trend of new homes being sold.  I've sold five new homes in the last two months because my clients are fed up with putting in 10 offers and getting out bid.   Many of these builders have come down in price to where they are slightly more expensive than a foreclosure.  Many of the banks are offering closing costs, and extra incentives to sweeten the deal for buyers. I have full access to new homes, and make sure you bring a Realtor on your first visit, otherwise the builder's employees will also represent you AND the seller.  A third party agent will look out for your interests more than the builder's employees.  Anyway, here is the article in full: 

Existing home sales in Las Vegas rose 57 percent in 2009, but builders sold fewer than half as many homes compared to 2008, according to statistics released Tuesday.

SalesTraq reported that that demand for existing homes remained strong in December with the 4,502 sales the third highest-selling month in 2009, pushing the annual total to 48,075 - the third highest in the valley's history. That is more than 16,000 sales compared to 2008 as the existing home market continues its rebound.

Median prices fell by $5,000 in December to $120,000. At the peak of the market in 2006, prices nearly reached $290,000. That's a 58 percent drop.

Existing home prices have held fairly steady in Las Vegas since April, falling in a range of $120,000 to $125,000, according to SalesTraq.

The demand for existing homes continues to decrease the inventory with 10,262 available listings on the Multiple Listing Service at the end of December, translating into a 2.6-month supply. SalesTraq reported that's the second lowest level of inventory since March 2005.

The amount of foreclosed-upon homes continues to decline. Only 51 percent of the 4,502 existing home sales in December were banked-owned, SalesTraq reported. Foreclosures had been two-thirds of sales at one time.

The number of foreclosure homes dipped 5 percent in 2009 to 24,033. In 2008, lenders foreclosed on 25,276 homes. That meant the level of foreclosure inventory slid to 11,248 in December, the lowest level since March 2008, SalesTraq reported.

Analysts attribute the decline to lenders' self-imposed moratorium in early 2009 and Nevada's new program implemented July 1 that gives homeowners the option to seek mediation with lenders and modify their loans.

Las Vegas closed 2009 with 517 new home sales in December, the second-highest month last year. For the year, the 5,184 sales fell 48 percent below the 9,965 sales recorded in 2008.

Steve Bottfeld, executive vice president of Marketing Solutions, said he sees a positive trend for the new-home market because the fourth quarter accounted for nearly 31 percent of the annual sales.

Some analysts said a lack of existing home inventory led people to consider new homes at the end of the year to take advantage of a first-time homebuyer tax credit that was set to expire Nov. 30. Congress has extended it through June.

New home prices rebounded slightly in December to $210,000, up from $198,466 in November. The only time new home prices surpassed $220,000 was January 2009 when it was $231,035, SalesTraq reported.

Despite the increase in price in December, the price per square foot dropped to $105.32 in builders' bids to construct smaller homes, analysts said. The price per square foot was at its 2009 height in January when it was $122.15, SalesTraq reported.

Builders, however, haven't rushed out to take out permits to construct new homes. Local governments issued 349 permits in December to bring the yearly total to 3,766. That is 32 percent lower than the 5,551 permits issued in 2008.

If you are interested in buying or selling a home in Las Vegas, please start your free search for properties below.  All information is updated and more current than Realtor.com.   You can even save your favorite properties and get notified of new ones as they come on the market.

Felipe Crook

Prudential Americana Group Realtors

Las Vegas NV 89117

1-866-589-1646

I just read an interesting article on HGTV's website about the housing market in 2010. There are a couple of interesting sections I'd like to discuss in this article.  Anytime you're reading a national article, it doesn't always reflect the current local market.  Much of the country is slowly rebounding, but our market has been hit hardest by the housing and economic recession.  We're not seeing the massive free fall in prices, but 2010 will most likely see a decline. 

"Coming off an estimated modern historical low of 555,000 total starts in 2009, housing production should rebound by about 25% this year to just under 700,000 units, according to NAHB projections. There is certainly a measure of good news in this forecast, but it hardly represents a return to normalcy.

Based on demographics and other factors, an annual average of 1.8 million housing starts will be needed over the next 10 years and 2010 starts are not likely to provide even half of what is needed.

Improvements in residential construction this year will be largely concentrated in single-family construction. Builders successfully reduced their inventory of new single-family houses in 2009 to levels last seen in 1971 - for a population that has grown by 80% since that time."

In Las Vegas, the new housing market has definitely seen an upsurge in activity. In fact, I sold five new homes in December and November.  January 2009 was the bottom of the new home market.  Many buyers are frustrated with the multiple offers on most bank owned properties under $200,000.  I've noticed a lot of builders have drastically reduced their prices in order to compete with the huge amount of foreclosures on the market. Take a look at the chart below. Notice the prices and volume dropping sharply and then starting to rebound towards the end of 2009.

"However, since existing home sales are based on settlements that do not capture new contracts but rather reflect sales agreements from earlier months, many of the November sales resulted from pressure on buyers to close by the end of that month to qualify for the then expiring first-time home buyer tax credit. (The tax credit has since been extended into 2010 and expanded to include repeat home buyers. See www.FederalHousingTaxCredit.com for details.)

After this burst of activity, it was not surprising to see the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) Pending Home Sales index, which is based on the acceptance of new sales agreements for existing homes, fall 16% in November. Even so, the index was 15.5% higher than the same month a year earlier, a hopeful sign that housing has turned the corner and that the extension and expansion of the tax credit is having some early, positive effect."

The first time home buyer tax credit contributed to the big surge in sales for November. I can attest to that because everyone and their brother waited until the last possible moment to look for a house.  If you are determined to buy a foreclosure or a short sale, and you plan on financing the deal, It takes about 60-90 days to close on a house.  That's being conservative.   Some deals can close a lot faster, but the big wild card right now is how quickly you can get a response from the bank.  Some offers don't get a response for three weeks, others two days.   The tax credit has been expanded and extended. Here's a video about the credit:

"Inaccurate appraisals are also hindering a faster housing recovery. These occur when an appraiser (often from outside the area being appraised) uses sales from a dissimilar neighborhood as a comparison or uses a foreclosure or short sale as a comparison without proper adjustments for differences in the condition of the homes.

Foreclosures are yet another drag on numerous housing markets. Many of the foreclosures and past-due mortgages are concentrated in the formerly hot markets - parts of California, Las Vegas, Phoenix and southern Florida - and economically distressed markets, primarily in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwest."

This factor is going to be Las Vegas' biggest hurdle to overcome.  In the last four months, I had four transactions where there were multiple offers. My buyers bid above the listing price because the comparable sales  supported the offer.  When the appraiser came out to the property, his value of opinion was lower than the sales price.  If people are willing to pay higher than a listing price in order to get the home, appraisers should take this into consideration.   I think we have swung the pendulum too far in the other direction.    As of January 15th, 2010  our market is made up of 49% short sales, 19% foreclosures, and 32% regular sellers.   If the banks learn to streamline the short sale process in Las Vegas and around the country, we would start to see a faster recovery.  Learn more about SHORT SALES HERE.  I think society's idea of home ownership has shifted dramatically. Instead of being a big cash cow, it's now a place to live with some nice tax benefits.    If you are thinking about buying or selling a home and want more information, please feel free to call me toll free at 1-866-589-1646 or email me felipe@felipecrook.com.  If you want to start your own FREE search of properties in Las Vegas CLICK HERE.

Felipe Crook

Prudential Americana Group Realtors

7475 W. Sahara Ave Ste 100

Las Vegas, NV 89117

1-866-589-1646