Housing Market Las Vegas

I love reading the paper to see if what I have been stating as my professional opinion happens to coincide with what the experts say!

Yesterday, January 17th, 2012 on the front page of the Business Section of the Review Journal was an article “Home sales in Las Vegas skid to 23-year low”. 
Now at first glance, one would think that in general the total home sales in Las Vegas skid to a record 23 year low but in fact the article was addressing the low of new home sales in the Las Vegas Valley.   In all actuality there were 3,793 reported new home sales which represented a 30 percent decrease from the previous year.  In addition the median new home sales price fell 3% to $200,184 which is almost twice the median price of existing home sales of $105,714!
 
This all leads into my next comment that I make daily and too is mirrored in this article; “recovery is a long way off, but the worst is now behind us”.  With anticipated numbers of 100,000 more additional homes being expected to be foreclosed upon in the next few years to come this could have been worse.  

I state this due to the fact that Banks are now working with Sellers to Short Sale in most cases vs. almost four years ago when I first took on the challenge of a “Short Sale”.   Total stupidity and being very green behind the ears got me thru that one with not only success but also in the speedy timing of less than two months!  What was everyone complaining about??  Well, let’s speed up the clock till present and after well over a hundred and twenty or thirty of these “Short Sales” plus an increase in the use of aspirin, boy have times and the Bank’s attitudes changed!

I find that almost every time I sit down with someone that is “thinking” about a Short Sale, that I spend the first half an hour or so getting rid of ideas that have been planted by others.  Now, with this statement I ask, if you were thinking of have a root canal done, would you ask pertinent questions about this to your neighbor or your dentist!

My biggest statement to all is that every Bank is different, every situation is a merit of its own and thank goodness what happened yesterday isn’t necessarily happening today!  The Banks have gotten the picture that their handling of this crisis has certainly had to change and everyone seems to be on board to make this a part of our past as quickly as possible.
 
With all of this said, it’s good to see that we are on our way to recovery and at the same time we all know that a complete recovery is still years to come.  If you have questions concerning this market or what would be the benefits of a Short Sale, please call and make an appointment with me to discuss your situation vs. your neighbors!  

Thanks and make it a terrific week…….

Robin