Las Vegas Home Sales Did NOT sink 27% in July!

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 at 9:53am. 50 Views, 0 Comments.

National Association of Realtors reports 27% drop in Resale Homes

Nationwide... this is not for Las Vegas Home Sales. BIG Difference....

Here is the national news being echoed on every business channel there is:

Housing Slump Clouds U.S. Recovery

WASHINGTON — US home sales are plunging despite rock-bottom mortgage rates as high unemployment prevents people from buying houses and threatens to curtail economic recovery.

Existing-home sales plunged for the third straight month by a whopping 27.2 percent in July to levels unseen in more than a decade, an industry group said Tuesday.

Sales of single-family homes, townhomes and condominiums dropped to 3.83 million units from 5.26 million units in June, said the National…

FHA About to Get Tougher for Las Vegas Home Buyers

Sunday, August 15th, 2010 at 12:26pm. 115 Views, 1 Comments.

FHA Gets Tougher on Mortgages

New Changes for FHA loans are expected to be taking place soon that includes requiring higher credit scores, reducing seller contributions allowed and increasing the monthly premium. In Las Vegas, Buyers using FHA Loans accounted for approximately 27% of all single family residential closings in the Las Vegas Homes July Sales Report.

Of interest will be the impact new down payment requirements will have. The New proposals would include requiring borrowers to have at least a 580 FICO score to qualify for the 3.5% down payment. Borrowers with FICO scores below 580 will have to put down 10%. Still very affordable with today's Las Vegas home prices and in many cases, cheaper then paying rent.

From the Wall Street Journal:

FHA Gets…

Foreclosures Climb in 75% of Metro Areas

Saturday, July 31st, 2010 at 9:57am. 107 Views, 0 Comments.

Real Estate Hangover

Interesting Article in CNNMoney.com going over the latest results from RealtyTrac.com tracking foreclosures Nationwide:

Foreclosures Climb in 75% of Metro Areas Via CnnMoney.com

By Les Christie, staff writerJuly 29, 2010: 3:32 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Foreclosure filings climbed in 75% of the nation's metro areas during the first half of 2010, according to a report issued Thursday.

RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed homes, said that California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada continue to lead the nation in the rate of foreclosures. Las Vegas was the worst-hit city.

Pay Attention to the Interview with Meredith Whitney Predicting a Double Dip in Housing:

Key Phrases:

• Unemployment driving today's foreclosures. 
• Banks Releasing…

Investigation into Big Investment Firms Providing Misleading Information to Credit Rating Agencies Launched

Monday, May 17th, 2010 at 3:48pm. 240 Views, 0 Comments.

Investment Firms selling Mortgage Backed Securities being Investigated

What happens when you have a Giant Pool of Investment Money looking for "Safe" investments with high Credit Agency ratings?

To keep it as simple as possible, Hundreds of Billions of dollars are released and made available to make housing loans available. Demand creates lax lending standards and new exotic home loans. Anybody who can sign a document is given a home loan even if they don't make enough money to pay it back. So called Real Estate Investors go out and make speculative purchases on multiple home purchases even though they will never cash flow on the rental market. New Home builders build away, selling out tracts of subdivisions even before a foundation is poured - Adding to the…

HUD temporarily lifts 90 Day Flip Rule

Friday, January 15th, 2010 at 10:05pm. 449 Views, 0 Comments.

BREAKING NEWS from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

For those of you recently searching around for Las Vegas Homes For Sale.. you may have noticed an increase in the number of homes available for sale that are not Short Sales or Bank Owned Homes that are flips.

These properties have been popping up being offered for sale by Cash Rich Investors that have purchased Bank properties at the Trustee Sales or various other means such as bulk deals. Throw some lipstick on them and put them right back up for sale for a nice little profit.

No dealing with a bank for an answer... Great, Right??

Well... Great until you see the 90 day flip rule disclosure and no FHA loan buyers accepted. Great if you are a cash buyer or know of one of the few…

First Time Homebuyers Tax Credit for 2009

Saturday, March 28th, 2009 at 4:19pm. 1006 Views, 6 Comments.

First Time Homebuyers Tax Credit for 2009

We've been getting a lot of calls lately with questions pertaining to the new $8,000 first time homebuyers tax credit that was passed in the stimulus bill. It's easy to get confused with all of the information out there comparing it to the 2008 Tax Credit so I'll try to keep it as simple as possible. Let's forget the 2008 Tax credit bill which was really structured as a loan that had to be paid back. I think it's pretty safe to say it was not very successful despite all of the promotion from sales minded entities.

The 2009 first time homebuyers tax credit does not have to be paid back. But of course.... there are requirements.

Keep in mind that I am a Realtor® and not an Accountant or Tax Advisor. All the "What If"…