Category Archives: Economy

Are Reno Home Prices at the Bottom?

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Have the home prices finally hit the bottom?  The question arises on a regular basis and the answers seem to be as reliable as a weather report.  But remember, people have been predicting the bottom from as long ago as 2008 and we still don’t know for sure.

The Reno-Sparks Realtors are fairly  sure we are bouncing along the bottom.  But, notice that the prices have dropped in the last few months, even while the sales were significantly higher.

REReno recently questioned if Reno home prices had hit bottom yet.

Mike Shedlock said that the housing price bottom will not be this month, but that’s as certain as he gets.  He has gathered a lot of information with charts and graphs that compares other situations to where we are now.

We should be aware that although the economic situation is world wide, that each locality has its own market.  Reno was earlier and more severe that many parts of the nation.

We can always hope.

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Belvedere Developer also Linked to Failed Bank in CA

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Bijan Madjlessi was/is the owner of the Belvedere Towers condominium project here in Reno and who had neglected to pay his property taxes resulting in the property being seized in a tax foreclosure by Washoe county.

Madjlessi has also been arrested in California for insurance fraud because he filed insurance claims on two separate policies.

Now, it appears that Madjlessi has a very busy man.  He is also linked to the failure of the Sonoma Valley Bank that had three branches in the Sonoma Valley area of CA.

When Sonoma Valley Bank granted him a loan he had already defaulted on a loan from IndyMac bank for the same project.

At the center of the bank’s downfall is a series of large loans made to a small group of North Bay developers who were behind three Sonoma County projects that fell into foreclosure over the past few years.

The bank continued to fund the projects even after it became public in land records and lawsuits that the developers were defaulting on multimillion-dollar loans from other banks and were not paying construction contractors.

At this time I am aware of at least two other failed real estate projects.  He blamed the bad economy.

Read more here.

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Nevada Tops the U.S. in Foreclosures for 52nd Month in a Row

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According to RealtyTrac, Nevada led the U.S. in foreclosures for 52 months in a row.  Foreclosures jumped by 23% to an all time high.

One out of 97 homes received a foreclosure notice in the month of April. 

The Las Vegas area was number one or the nation’s cities with one out of 82 homes.

And even though the foreclosures were up, the number of filings has decreased significantly.

Reno-Sparks was ranked No. 9 in the nation with one filing for every 183 households. 

Read here for more foreclosure information.

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Military Foreclosure Cases Settled by B of A and Morgan Stanley

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REReno recently had a story about Coldwell Banker Mortgage getting slapped down by a Federal court jury.

A federal court jury awarded David Brash, a soldier at Fort Benning, GA more than $20 million on Monday in a case against Coldwell Banker Mortgage.

It seems, however, that the banks have not yet learned their lessons.

Units of Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley have agreed to pay more than $22 million to settle charges that they improperly foreclosed on active-duty members of the U.S. military, the Justice Department said Thursday.

The Bank of America unit, which was part of Countrywide Financial, will pay $20 million to resolve allegations it foreclosed on the homes of about 160 service members between January 2006 and May 2009 without court orders, the Justice Department said.

Saxon Mortgage Services Inc., part of Morgan Stanley, will pay $2.35 million to resolve allegations that it did the same to about 17 service members between January 2006 and June 2009, the government said.

Read more.

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Can You Rent a Home After Foreclosure?

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You’ve been through a foreclosure. So, can you rent another home? Well, it may not be quite so dire as yo have been led to believe.

Because of the massive number of foreclosures, landlords are factoring that into their formulas. Any landlord that refuses to rent to someone that went through foreclosure is merely reducing his available market, and consequently cutting is own throat.

Yes, landlords will rent to people that been through foreclosures.

But, that doesn’t mean that they will rent to otherwise general deadbeats or nuisances.

You still need to demonstrate that you will take care of the landlord’s property and not be a pain-in the-butt.

Read more.

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Is High End Real Estate the Next to Fall?

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Real estate has taken a major hit during this economic downturn.  And I don’t expect it to get better very soon.  We may see that high end real estate is the next shoe to drop.

Because Fannie and Freddie have done so much to harm our economy a lot of politicians want to drastically cut their lending limits.  This will likely slow the any impact of the high end real estate market toward our recovery.

The one redeeming factor is that a large percentage of high end real estate is purchased using cash.  But, still expect larger drops in the high end marketplace.

Read more: http://www.zerohedge.com/article/high-end-re-dead-money

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Couple Battles Wells Fargo Bank

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Here’s an interesting story about a couple taking on Wells Fargo.  The accused Wells Fargo of funding a home here in Reno based on a fraudulent appraisal which inflated the value of the home by $200,000.

From my vantage point the story is loaded with too many inconsistencies and sounds much like someone playing the victim card too loud and too often.

According to the Vieiras, the mortgage loan they took out in 2005 with Wells Fargo was based on a fraudulent appraisal that inflated the property’s value by more than $200,000. The appraisal was ordered by the bank and determined the couple’s mortgage, which they were eventually unable to pay, like tens of thousands of other homeowners across the country.

I’m not aware of any cases where appraisals are used to determine anyone’s mortgage.  They are used to determine the value of the property, supposedly to protect the bank’s interest.

The Vieiras said they were first late for their mortgage payment in September, 2009; Wells Fargo foreclosed on the home in June, 2010. Nuno, who is an appraiser himself, said the original home appraisal set him and his wife up for an unwieldy mortgage, and even though it was ruled fraudulent, the couple had no legal recourse.

Notice that even though Nuno is and appraiser himself, he was willing to complete the purchase without disputing the price.  He apparently agreed with the appraisal ath that time.

The Vieiras claim that they have been fighting this battle for the last 6 years.   They purchased a home in Reno, Nevada in 2005.  Coincidentally, that happens to be about 6 years ago.  That would suggest that they had been fighting Wells since the day they closed their escrow.  The home was foreclosed in June of 2010.

I must admit that I’m not always a fan of the banks, but this time I side with Wells.

Read the rest:

http://sanleandro.patch.com/articles/local-couple-takes-on-wells-fargo-bank

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Another Court Rules Against MERS

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Once again a court ruled against MERS, The Mortgage Electronic Registration System, again due to lack of standing.

A California bankruptcy court says Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems cannot help a trustee establish legal standing to foreclose on a securitized mortgage unless the trustee already possesses an actual assignment of interest in the loan.

Read the story here.

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Corporate Taxes and General Electric

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Now, we see this story about GE, yes, that General Electric, America’s largest corporation.
What do you mean, GE?
Well, GE is tight in  bed with Obama.
Why would GE do that?
GE, like many corporations is completely amoral.  GE is essentially a mercenary and sees an economic advantage.  GE supports Cap and Trade, i.e. higher taxes for you and me.  They manufacture wind turbines.  And since the Obama administration is strongly against fossil fuels and in favor of “green” energy, GE wants to capitalize on that situation.  And Jeffrey Immelt, GE Chairman has recently been appointed to the President’s new panel on job creation.  Maybe he means job creation for GE employees.
Back to the NY Times  story::  even though GE earned $14.2 billion in 2010 ($5.1 billion of which came from the US) in profits GE paid No, Zero, Zip , Nada taxes.  In fact, GE “received” $3.2 billion in tax credits
So, if GE gets its way be prepared for higher taxes – for you, but not for GE.

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Damaging a Home in Foreclosure Might Become a Felony

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We have seen numerous stories where homeowners facing foreclosure have removed appliances, fixtures and even the copper plumbing and wiring before they finally leave the house.

I suspect that these actions are for two basic reasons: one is simple economics.  They believe they may recoup some of their losses.  The second reason is revenge.  They believe the bank damaged them and they in turn want to damage the bank.

No matter what the reason, the cost of correcting the damage is immense.

Nevada Assemblyman Peter Goicoechea introduced a bill that would make the willful damaging of a property in foreclosure a felony.

According to the bill, anyone who occupies a home, including the borrower or even a tenant, can be charged with a felony if they damage the property while in the foreclosure process. Authorities would have to prove the vandal had personal knowledge of the pending foreclosure or any judicial proceeding.

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