Cake and Bank of America

At noon today, I attended a function with a panel of Bank of America bankers and one of their REO agents (introduced as the second highest grossing realtor in the State of Nevada in 2009) put on by NHREP, our Hispanic Realtor Assoc, of which I am a non-Spanish speaking member.
The bottom line was that mortgage interest rates are artificially low because the FED is still buying Mortgage backed securities. Interest rates could hit 6-7% by year's end, one of the speakers thought, IF the FED stops buying these.
All seemed to agree that more foreclosures are on the way for Las Vegas, the number increasing each month through 2010. If both the above actually occur, then, taken together, Las Vegas home prices could stabilize or even rise near term and but fall again later, bringing to reality the "double-dip recession" some media have hinted at. The benefit from lower interest rates now, they felt, would probably out-weigh possible lower prices at year's end, which may not even happen, so buying now is better than waiting.
The Bank of America representative noted that B of A added 3 Realtors to its approved REO listing agent group nationwide in 2009, a group of which I am NOT a member, and NONE of these 3 were in Nevada, so, happily, I don't need to feel too bad about being left out.
All speakers agreed that short sales should be getting more streamlined and easier to complete in 2010, offering a higher closing success ratio ... than the dismal 5% that I noted in Las Vegas last fall on this BLOG.
If true, short sales could become the salvation of those REALTORS(r), meaning 99% of us that do not have the benefit of a conveyor belt of bank-owned listings coming through our door. The low inventory of homes was also a topic of interest. The REO agent on the panel said, sadly, he only has 100 listings as of today, down from about 500 at the peak a year ago. Luckily, it was a dinner meeting sponsored by B of A, and the rest of us "outsiders" were actually served cake!