Author Archive
Mid Year Review for Reno, Carson, Tahoe, Truckee
Our broker, Chase International, has just released the Mid Year Stats for the housing markets in Reno-Sparks, the Carson Valley and various points around Lake Tahoe (click on the .PDFs below).
This Mid Year Review captures sales from January 1 through June 30 and then compares them to the same time frame in 2007. In a [...]
Wanna Trade?
I came across a new website that allows homeowners to swap their house for another person’s. The site, Pad4Pad, allows homeowners to list their property along with the exchange criteria (location, price, etc.) they desire. I’m sure it’s not the only site out there providing this service, but it may be worth a look if [...]
Pendings Schmendings - 60 Days Later
Sixty days have passed since I took a snapshot of the pendings. The two-month-later status of those pendings is shown below. The likelihood of closing for the various types of Pending statuses follows the trend seen thirty days later. Again "pending short sale" has the lowest percentage of closings; a 26% closing rate. Although double the 13% observed after thirty [...]
Real Estate Agents Continue to Hang It Up
120 licensed Washoe County real estate agents and brokers have left the business since January of this year, according to the latest numbers released by Nevada’s Real Estate Division. Today’s 2,984 Active licensees for Washoe County represent almost a 4% decrease from January’s 3,104 licensees; and a 7.4% decrease from June 2007’s 3,221 licensees.
However, the [...]
Move In to a New Home For $99
I saw a commercial for this on TV last night and then received the flyer this morning. Pulte Homes is advertising a $99 move in special for this weekend only. [Click on the flyer to enlarge.] Accoring to the fine print: "Move-In for $99.00 offer consists of closing costs paid through participation in the Preferred [...]
Monthly Reports from the Title Companies
Our friends at First Centennial Title forwarded the following Market Conditions Report (May 2008) for the Reno Area. (Click on the picture to access.)
Some highlights:
In April’s report, sales per day were 12.9.
In the current report (May 2008), the market has accelerated to 14.2 sales per day. This is about 47% of the 2005 peak value.
The [...]
Short Sale Experience – A Client’s Perspective
The lengthy amount of time required to close short sales is frequently mentioned in posts and comments on this blog. At the risk of stating the obvious, much patience is required on the part of all involved parties. At the moment, I am involved with four short sales: two where I am the listing agent [...]
Reno-Sparks Homes Now Fairly Valued
So the buzz around the water cooler this morning was the lead article in this morning’s RGJ. Apparently, in a new report issued by Global Insight/National City, Reno-area home values have now declined to point where they are now just below what the report considers absolute fair value.
The report determines “fair value” based on typical [...]
Somersett to Host a Weekly Farmer’s Market
I received the following announcement this morning from the Director of Marketing for Somersett. Stop by for a chance to win a Vespa…
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Somersett is proud to announce the addition of a weekly Farmers Market to their event calendar. The Farmer’s Market will take place in the Somersett Town Square every Wednesday evening from 4 p.m. [...]
April Median Prices and Units Sold
Wow! The median sold price took a huge drop for the month of May — 5.2% lower than April’s median. Granted, all sales for May might not be entered into the MLS yet, but even so I don’t see the median fluctuating that much. Note also that the median For Sale price has remained unchanged since February of [...]
FBI 2007 Mortgage Fraud Report Highlights
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently released its 2007 Mortgage Fraud Report. The report documents several schemes that have emerged as the rise in foreclosures, depressed housing prices, and decreased demand have placed pressure on lenders, builders, and home sellers. Schemes for 2007 included builder-bailouts, seller assistance, short sales, foreclosure rescue, and identity thefts [...]
Pendings Schmendings - 30 Days Later
Thirty days have passed since I took a snapshot of the pendings. The one-month-later status of those pendings is shown below. It comes as no surprise that short sales have the lowest percentage of closings (13%). This is due to the unusually long time required for the lenders to make a decision whether to accept or reject a pending [...]
Price Per Square Foot - the New Metric?
Many recent comments on this blog have been made regarding how the reported median home prices don’t tell the whole story when it comes to home values in Reno. For this reason many of our readers have expressed a desire to see $/sq.ft. sold price data – the idea being that the $/sq.ft. data might be [...]
Washoe County Recordings for April
Washoe County re-sales increased for the third consecutive month (up 20% over March); however April new homes sales decreased in April over March (down 11%). Summing re-sales and new home sales results in a nearly 9% increase in Washoe County recorded home sale recordings for April over March. 605 recordings vs. 556 recordings.
Unfortunately this sales [...]
April Median Prices and Units Sold
A 31% increase in the month-over-month number of homes sold in April stands out as the big news this month. I, as well as many agents in my office, can attest to the increase in client activity lately. These numbers seem to support our perception.
The median sold price also increased for April, with a noteworthy [...]
