High apartment rents in the Reno-Sparks
Don’t look for the rents to reduce anytime soon.
According to a report from Johnson, Perkins, and Griffin, second quarter data in 2015 indicates average rent for an apartment in the Reno-Sparks metro area is at an all time high — $920 per month.
Did you ever think you could try before you buy that new home?
When shopping of a new car we can take a demo ride, usually with a salesman riding along. Sometimes you can get a loaner vehicle. We can try a new car by renting.
But how can you try out that new home. Again, renting might be an option but that is usually a much longer term.
Realtor.com and airbnb.com joined forces so folks shopping for a home could try out and experience the neighborhood before they buy.
Airbnb lets you stay in a home in the area you’re investigating on realtor.com, so you can live like a local and really get to know the neighborhood.
Do you think this is something that might work? Airbnb does have listing in the Reno/Tahoe area.
Interest rates are slightly above recent lows and now may be the perfect time to refinance. Especially if you currently have an FHA loan.
The FHA Streamline Refinance is an extremely easy mortgage program. FHA has guidelines that permit borrowers to ignore most traditional mortgage verifications associated with a refinance, including those for income, credit and employment.
And with FHA mortgage rates in the 3 percent range, refinancing homeowners can also ignore the FHA mortgage insurance premiums. That alone could save you a huge amount of money.
Where is Reno in in our current market condition for real estate? Is this a good time to buy a house? Should I jump in right now? Should I wait?
If you were to ask a Realtor, the answer would likely be that we’ve finally reached the bottom and now we are in the long, slow, arduous climb back to where we “truly belong”. But, have you ever seen a time when a realtor didn’t say that now was a good time to buy? Couldn’t be a better time?
Me, neither. I’m not suggesting anything nefarious about realtors, here. I just think that if they’re not optimistic about their product, how could they do a good job, anyway?
But all of that is beside the point.
As the saying goes, “the reason for a horse race is a difference of opinion.”
Keith Jurow, writing in Businessinsider.com is firmly convinced that we are still headed for a housing collapse. He examined major markets across the country and found price declines. Exceptions were in Nevada, Arizona and Florida where we have already taken major hits. Foreclosures are way down in most areas but the number of delinquencies are still high.
We are still facing some very serious delinquencies. In many cases the problems were caused, or made worse by government action such as AB-284 here in nevada. This caused the banks to drastically slow their foreclosures. Consequently, the shadow inventories have grown substantially.
Nevada Foreclosure Filings: AB-284 Effective Oct., 2011
Jurow expects another significant drop in prices. Move-up buyers have disappeared because they lost most of their equity. First time buyers are usually limited to entry level properties. So, what’s left are the investors who are focusing on the “sand” states, which include Nevada. That may help us here in Reno.
Added to this we see a large number of potential sellers who, likewise, have little or no equity and are unable to sell. They may have taken out a HELOC or a cash out re-fi.
The bottom line is that I’m not optomistic.
Read more here.
Do you remember the problems with Chinese drywall. It was making a lot of people sick and I think caused some corrosion and discoloration of the walls.
I think it happened mostly in the South. I didn’t hear of any cases here in Nevada.
Well the wonderful Chinese quality control is on display once again.
Imported Chinese copper pipe already blamed for leaks in hundreds of new homes, may not even be manufactured from copper and could installing copper pipe pose serious toxic health risks, according to a U.S. consumer watchdog group.
This time it happens to be the copper plumbing is failing. Apparently the copper is not all copper. You know that real copper is expensive and the manufacturers managed to slip in a bit of less costly metal along with the copper.
The Chinese manufactured pipes are being found as defective after they begin to slowly leak in crawl spaces under homes and in basements. Standard homeowners’ insurance policies do not cover the damage since policies don’t typically cover defective materials used in the construction of homes.
Apparently this time the problem is occurring nationwide.
Read more: http://www.housingpredictor.com/2012/new-toxic-scare.html
The Clear Capital report happens to be one of the better real estate data reports available. It has far too much for me to excerpt for you. Better to read it your self.
It shows a slight price decline that appears to be driven mostly by the large numbers of REO’s.
Read the report: http://www.clearcapital.com/company/MarketReport.cfm?month=March&year=2012
It looks like MERS has won another case, this time in Nevada. In the case of Volkes vs. BAC Home Loans Servicing the court ruled in favor of the defendant.
The Nevada Supreme court ruled that the MERS assignment was valid.
It was not clearly erroneous for the district court to determine that
the MERS assignment was valid.
The appellants also claimed BAC did not participate in mediation in good faith, but that claim was apparently not included for judicial review.
Apparently this link is to an unpublished order, and cannot be considered precedent.
Read the order: http://www.buckleysandler.com/uploads/104/doc/volkes-v-bac-2-24-12.pdf
February single-family home sales in Las Vegas and their median price increased from the previous month, while the inventory of homes available for sale continued to decline.
The median price was up 2.5 percent from the prior month at $121,000, even though it’s down 5.5 percent from a year ago.
Inventory declined to 18,870 from a peak of more than 24,000 in 2007 to to 18,870 today. Only 6,543 units are available without contingent or pending offers.
Do you think Reno, too has hit the bottom?
Read more: http://www.lvrj.com/business/home-sales-prices-rise-inventory-dips-141878223.html
The U.S. Court for the Western District of Kentucky, Paducah Division, has ruled in favor of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. (MERS). The case was filed against MERS by the clerks of two Kentucky counties where they sought to collect the recording fees that the banks avoided by using MERS.
Kentucky law, like most other states specifies that when a loan is assigned the holder of the loan must record the assignment within 30 days. It appears to me that MERS did NOT comply with Kentucky law and may still face some consequences. But, the judge ruled that the county clerks had no standing in the case because the law was designed to protect the property owner, not the clerks.
First, the county clerks are not members of the class of persons the General Assembly intended to protect by the recording statutes cited by Plaintiffs. Here, the class of persons intended to be protected by Kentucky’s land recording system consists of existing lienholders seeking to give notice of their secured status; prospective purchasers and creditors seeking information about prior liens; and owners of property seeking release of liens once debts are paid off.
And:
The purpose of the statutes cited by Plaintiffs is to assure that liens are discharged when an underlying loan is paid off, to give subsequent purchasers and lenders notice of recorded liens, and to allow creditors to give notice of their secured interest in the property.
The suit was dismissed with prejudice.
Read more: http://nationalmortgageprofessional.com/news28486/legal-action-against-mers-dropped-kentucky
And the ruling: http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?page=1&xmldoc=In%20FDCO%2020120221C28.xml&docbase=CSLWAR3-2007-CURR&SizeDisp=7
Here is a novel eviction technique, but I don’t suggest you try it. Paul Finman in northern Idaho had been trying to get the occupants of his house (I understand that they were not paying rent so that makes them occupants and not tenants) for 18 months.
The occupants were a family of “sovereign citizens”, folks that don’t recognize the legitimacy of the government. They must also have not recognized the legitimacy of the landlord either.
Apparently, he decided to solve his problem on his own. Using a farm tractor with an end loader he began dis-assembling the house. Three of the occupants, the wife and two children, were inside and fled. The husband was not present at the time. Of course, this action got the sheriff involved and they arrested Finman, charging him with three counts of assault.
Finman eventually pled guilty to disturbing the peace and received a sentence of 180 days, which was suspended after two days. He was also fined $400 and costs.
It would appear that it cost him a lot less here than a regular eviction.
Who wants to try it here?
Read more on eviction.