Like The Man Said; Back To School!

July 1st, 2009

Las Vegas Schools and Education

We know you’ll agree that finding the right school is as important as finding the right home!
The Las Vegas school systems has a reputation for providing quality public and private school educational opportunities.

The Clark County School District has a terrific site, which will answer most of the questions you may have about Las Vegas Public Schools from K-12.

Also listed is a sampling of the Private Schools, Colleges and Universities, and Vocational and Training schools in the Las Vegas Valley. All entries have complete contact information and many include links to their websites.

unlv

Another good source of information and links can be found in the Las Vegas Review-Journal site’s Community Links area.

Because you asked me for it…

June 24th, 2009

question-mark

This site has always quoted extensively from Larry Murphy & Steve Bottfeld of SalesTraq (with their permission of course…) for the simple reason these two guys have always been so accurate. Many of you have asked me to post anything I have from them that is new so here you go. At the bottom, I have placed a link to their page where you can find information about attending their “Crystal Ball Seminars” which will really open your eyes to the Las Vegas Real Estate scene.

May housing data strongly suggests that Las Vegas reached the bottom of the residential recession in the 2nd quarter of this year.
There are four reasons for that conclusion:
1. EXISTING HOME SALES CONTINUED TO EXCEED THE CREATION OF FORECLOSURES: May was the third consecutive month in which the number of foreclosures purchased exceeded the number of foreclosures created.
In our mind, that is the beginning of a trend. The impact created by the end of the foreclosure moratorium on March 6 may interupt this trend later this summer. But, the trend now looks solid.
2. SALES CONTINUE STRONGLY: May marked the 17th consecutive month of increasing existing home sales.
May’s 4,476 existing home sales were a 66% improvement over the same period last year and a 10.2% improvement over April’s sales.
3. INVENTORY IS AT THE LOWEST POINT IN MORE THAN THREE YEARS: At current sales rates, the 13,667 available listings – the lowest since January 2006 – represents just 4.3 months of supply.
A “hot” market is defined as one with 3 months of supply or less.
Financial institutions now sit on approximately 14,000 REO’s in Las Vegas and are certain to add more in the future, but will likely to continue releasing them for sale at a systematic, rational rate.
We know that it is in the best interests of the financial institutions involved to be judicious in the number of REO’s they release each month.
4. EXISTING HOME PRICES SLID JUST 2.4% LAST MONTH. That’s the smallest decline since March 2008 and a hopeful sign for the future.

Here are some additional details:

Existing home sales and foreclosures were the dominant statistics for May, as they have been for the last several months. But, now supply is edging into the picture.
For the 17th consecutive month, existing home sales improved. Almost two thirds of the existing home closings (64%) in May were bank owned homes (foreclosures) with a median price of $106,000. The balance was non-bank owned homes with a median closing price of $140,000.
The number of foreclosures in May was 1,769, a 26% decrease from last year, but an increase over April.
The new residential market suffers a distinct pricing disadvantage against the Existing home market. It hasn’t left the starting gate … and won’t until there is less of a price discrepancy. Currently, the average price per square foot of a new home is $106.59. Compare that to the average price of an existing home: $77.41.
That’s one reason why May’s new home sales remained in triple figures (383, an increase of 25 units over April). The median price of a new home sold was $211,489, a drop of 2.4% from April. The minimal drop in price echoes what is happening in the Existing home segment of the market.
New home inventory is also in decline. There were just 298 new home permits “pulled” in May. And, the number of new home communities slid to 300 – a 48.2% drop off the peak of 579 recorded in July 2007.
The question now is not: When will Las Vegas hit bottom? The question now is: How long will Las Vegas stay on the bottom? We will attempt to answer that question at the Crystal Ball Mid-Year Economic Forecast, which will be held at Texas Station on July 23. To register, please go to:

www.crystalballseminars.com

Straight From The Source

June 22nd, 2009

Every day the David Brownell Team gets calls and emails asking about all the programs and tax advantages for buying a home right now. While we are not tax experts, we do keep ourselves up-to-date on everything happening in this, our market by profession. Did you know that the IRS has a website that you can visit and search to get the answers you need? Hear it straight from the source. We use the site too. Visit here.

irs

I Want Music! I Want Fun!

June 17th, 2009

Well then these are your guys! Check them out…
head

A rocking Las Vegas Good Time, but somebody else takes care of all the annoying details. I know Jeff, one of the owners, and you couldn’t ask for a nicer guy. He will get you and your friends taken care of, all in Las Vegas Style… You can visit their site here

More blog friends

June 17th, 2009

Our newest friend;
Real Estate agents
Worldwide real estate companies directory and property buyers and sellers guide.

About as far from The Strip as you can get, yet remain in town…

June 16th, 2009

“…The air is light, the spirit festive and the drinks cold in Downtown, where, once a month the pedestrian-friendly streets transform into a huge block party during FIRST FRIDAY….”

vegasabove

This is Las Vegas trying hard to break out of the perpetual adolescence that has held it frozen for years. The Vegas art scene is up-and-coming; you may not like everything you see but I always find something to get us talking. Check it out here. There may come a day when we look back at this movement and remember when it was small…

Some Blogging Friends

June 12th, 2009

Real Estate Blogs - Blog Catalog Blog Directory

BlogFlux Tools

Top Real Estate blogs

Welcome to the all new David Brownell Blog!

June 10th, 2009
LasVegasMove.com Team Leader

LasVegasMove.com Team Leader

It is good to be back on track. Lots of great things happening in the Las Vegas real estate market;

Rates continue to be this weeks biggest story. After touching a high of 4%, the yield on the 10 yr treasury bill has dropped back to 3.78%. Until mid morning yesterday, it was looking like mortgage rates were going to continue to move up into the 6% handle. Fortunately some buyers stepped in yesterday and again today and the bonds are showing some resiliency. Trading demand at yesterday’s 30yr bond auction helped ease concern that international investors will slow purchases amid record U.S. debt sales and after release of this morning’s economic reports. Indirect bidders, an investor class that includes foreign central banks, bought 49% of the bonds on offer yesterday, the biggest percentage since 2006. Japanese Finance Minister said his country’s confidence in U.S. debt is unshakable. Japan is the second largest U.S. creditor with $687 billion behind China, with $768 billion. U.S. import prices rose 1.3% in May, for the third straight month and the largest increase since July last year.

 Interestingly, foreclosure activity fell six percent in May, according to the U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released by RealtyTrac on Thursday. However, May marked the third straight month where the total number of properties with foreclosure filings exceeded 300,000. 

Additionally, this week jobless claims fell 24K to 601K, fewer than forecast and the lowest level since January, from a revised higher 625K the prior week as businesses are slowing staff reductions. The improvement is clearly evident in the 4 week moving average, a less volatile measure, which fell to 621,750 from 632,250; its lowest level since February confirming global expectations that U.S. payroll contraction has peaked.

 I think the message is that while the economy may not be out of the woods, we are certainly seeing substantial signs of improvement.

And to round it out with an alarming set of statistics I have seen in a while. 1 million option ARMs will reset higher in the next four years, with 750,000 adjusting in 2010 and 2011 and the peak coming August 2011 when 54,000 loans recast. The delinquency rate for payment option ARMs originated in 2006 is soaring to 42.44% from 23.26% in the last year. For 2007 loans, the rate went from 10.1% to 35.25% on loans 60 days or more past due. Whichever banks are holding this paper are certainly going to have another challenge shortly. They might want to reconsider returning the tarp money as they are going to need it.

 Quick market check, stocks up as the Dow is at 8790, Gold is at 940/oz and oil has gone through the roof (up 100% since March) as inflation concerns are poking their heads up. Currently at $72/barrel (can you say $3/gallon gas… if you can’t now, you will soon.)

That’s it for now! I just wanted to get something up for those of you who have been asking for more.

 Thanks!

David