My Buyers Just Bought This House ... already!

The ink isn't dry on my license yet and, with the help of Kent, my sponsoring broker, we have a house in escrow!
My buyers liked this one (see photo) near Adams and South 15th and plan to transform it.  We will post the "after" photo's here and I am sure the neighbors will be pleased. List price was $35,000 for 908 sq ft with full basement and a big lot in a nice neighborhood. That's $38/sq ft ... at list price.  I can't tell you what the sale price is until we close. If you were thinking about a Las Vegas investment, Quincy is better - call me.  We might not find another this low, but we might come close.

We also have a new listing at Rodemich - Photo to follow.  It is ready to rent if that suits you, at 3125 Rutledge place - 3 bed room ranch, 1080 sq ft, neat as a pin. Could rent between $700 and $1000.  Listed at $92,500 that puts a 10% ROI within reach.  2010 real estate taxes were $1632.44.  Email me with any questions.

So, put Quincy on your radar.  Low prices.  Good returns.  Low crime. Great quality of life.  I will add some links to this blog to aid your research as the days go by.  And, I hope to find some farm land to list and find some folks who want to buy.  They tell me food remains in demand worldwide.

In the meantime, good hunting!

We're Going Up The Country

The House Team is moving from bright neon to bright stars, from big Casinos to big weather,

from wide open desert to wide open farm land, and from big city to big country. We are going back to western Illinois to the place where we grew up and we are ready for the change. Our roots are deep in Adams County. We'll be the sixth generation to live on the home place and our kids will be the seventh. Even Bugsie Segal's kids can't say that about Vegas, and he invented the place.

We have had a great experience in Las Vegas and have thoroughly learned the real estate trade. As grandad said, don't learn the tricks of the trade, learn the trade, and we did. We also served hundreds of wonderful people who became our clients and friends over the past decade and who sent us their repeat business and referrals. We protected our clients from the wolves-in-sheep's-clothing, the sharks and barracudas that also inhabit Las Vegas in numbers way above normal. We built a team of house stagers, lenders, home inspectors, and fellow Realtors that served in an ethical, proactive fashion the needs of our clients. We have routinely been in the top 10% of each brokerage where we worked, including Century 21 Aadvantage Gold's Green Valley office when it was the top selling C21 office in the world for two consecutive years (and by chance my office manager there, Sandy Ford, was from Seehorn. You have to be from "back home" to know where that is.) And we never forgot the ethics learned practicing Law in Adams County years ago.

That is the experience we have earned and that we plan to deliver to new clients in Western Illinois once I pass the Illinois Real Estate License Exam and become licensed there later this fall, if all goes well.

And, if you have ever worried that a condo in a lifeless desert may not be the best hedge against what lies ahead, consider, not just a home in the country, but an investment in Illinois tillable land. Land prices have been rising along with cash rents. Land can't burn down, blow away or succumb to vandals. Population is increasing on this planet, everybody has to eat worldwide, and, they aren't making any more land. Think gloablly. Act locally ... Call me.

Home Inspections - More Important than Ever

There are two major sellers in Las Vegas. Banks and flippers. Both are loathe to give the buyer a Sellers Real Property Disclosure. Both usually require a notarized waiver of that form along with all buyer rights under Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) 113. Nor do they know or care about utility costs, so the Nevada Energy Form must usually be waived as well. Also, in preparing the home to sell, they tend to literally paper, paint and caulk over structural problems and code violations that might bite the buyer later on. This makes your home inspector a very important part of the team.

I mention this because, in the ten deals I have closed or have ready to close so far in 2011, three buyers previously passed on houses that we had gotten into contract because major problems with the house were subsequently discovered by our home inspectors. That is 30% and that is a substantial number.

One house involved a poor roof design that left unvented chambers under the roof. These held moisture even in Las Vegas' low humidity and had caused the roof to sag and leak.
The other two involved unpermitted shoddy construction that could later create problems with a city government looking for fees wherever it can find them. Both of these also included water damage because the construction code had not been followed. We passed on the houses but somebody out there bought them!

Stay alert ... and good hunting.

Blood in the Bellagio Fountains ...so to speak

Now that's a visual image of Las Vegas real estate with blood in the water!
In the Las Vegas valley, the new construction homes being sold are smaller and cost less, Buck Wargo of the Las Vegas Sun has just reported. “The price per square foot (new construction - gh) fell to a new low of $91.17, which is 12.4 percent below the $104.05 square foot price in April 2010,” he says. 313 permits were issued in April, “34 percent fewer than April 2010. For the year, 1,141 permits have been issued, which puts the region on track to fall below the 3,776 issued in 2010.”
Read Buck Wargo’s entire article at http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/may/16/las-vegas-existing-home-sales-brisk-prices-continu/ (used with permission). It has some great data that MLS doesn’t capture.
Bottom line, Mr. Wargo concludes prices have fallen by about 14% since this time a year ago, MLS listings fell by 9% between March and April this year, and the median price of resale homes is currently about $107,000 and $70 and change/sq ft. The double dip we feared seems to have occurred. Question is, has it stopped dipping?
Emails from new home builders continue to tout very high realtor commissions – 6% at some builders recently. As I have mentioned before, when the market is strong, some builders almost quit paying commissions because they feel they don’t need the Realtors. But lately, as they did back when the crash unfolded, they are offering the moon.
On the street, some lenders don’t want to lend. I have had a recent transaction with conventional loan, fall out because, weeks into the work, and after losing the first house to problems discovered by our home inspector (as he should) and after the second house in contract had passed inspection, the lender cut the amount they had promised to lend and destroyed the deal, thank you. They handed us the ball, let us run with it, and then tackled us. At least I didn’t pick’em. Nationwide may be on your side, but the banking industry is a separate question.
If you need an ethical lender, I can recommend someone.
So, prices are very low, and could still go lower. Sales volume is huge. Listings are down, and if you exclude short sales as I recommend, inventory is tight! Over half of LV offers are cash. If you are not aggressive with your highest and best offer, don’t bother. This is Vegas. The world is shopping here right now. If you hedge on your offer with sale numbers so high, somebody else with cash probably wants it more than you. The fountains dance about every 20 minutes.
Good hunting.

Health Dept recommends Short Sale Innoculations

In the past thirty days, April 7 to Kentucky Derby Day of 2011, Las Vegas has closed 3074 single family homes. Of those, 744 or 24% were short sales. As a result some will say short sales are becoming a more significant portion of the market.
Yes, I admit that is true, if wearing two dead albatrosses around your neck is twice as much fun as wearing one.
The important facts for Realtors are that of 12,370 short sales during the time period 6754 were in escrow and only 5616 were available for sale. That gives you a closing ratio (744 out of 6754) of 11%, meaning only one in ten short sales in escrow in any given month actually close and MORE THAN half (6754 of 12370) of all short sales are perpetually in escrow. The descriptive word here also describes drinking soda though a straw.
For real transactions – bank-owned, flips and traditional – the same closing ratio is 78%. Of 9947 non-short sale single family homes on MLS in the same period, 6017 were available for sale and only 3930 were in escrow because they close!
Why is the short sale record so bad?
First of all, the banks have your best interests at heart. Second, of those few that closed, my experience suggests that most short sales have run through more than one buyer, perhaps several more. Ever hear of an agent who, once his client has a back up plan (short sale in contract) with a contingency (bank approval) that will NOT be removed for months, goes out and gets a real transaction?
What about Education … and Lawyers:
Well, haven’t they been offering SS classes ever since the crash? Haven’t attorneys chased the SS ambulance right into REALTOR® sales meetings? And haven’t the short sale stats tremendously improved since 2009 as a result? (no) Can results from the short sale training and results achieved by SS attorneys be confused with what comes out of the south end of a northbound bull? (yes)
Conclusion:
Save your money. Save your time. Short sales as they currently exist should be illegal.
Best wishes.

Market Hot for Low Priced Houses

I had clients make a cash offer on a nice bank owned house in the $120K range, 1700 sq ft, priced at $68/ft today.
They offered a couple thousand below list. $68/sq ft equals the minimum comparable sale in past few months.
Average sale price is $74. Max sale is $80/sq ft. The property is in the 502 ML area - West central part of the valley.
Here is the response from the listing agent today.

"Grant,
The sellers will not entertain any offers below list at this time. We currently have 12 offers on this property,
6 of which are cash, and all of which are above list.
Please reply with your best offer by 7 am tomorrow morning.
Thank you!
Alan " (with Realty Execs)

My clients response was, "that is crazy." They are correct, and that is Las Vegas.

If you are looking at the lowest priced listings you can find and they already match the lowest comparable sales,
then if you still want to offer less money, you may be delusional. First ask yourself why your offer will be successful and win out over every other buyer in Las Vegas. If you don't come up with a real good reason, you need to make a higher offer.

Good Hunting!
Grant

Resale Depreciation Map 2009 vs 2010