Current Home Lending Info Blog for Southern Nevada

According to Home Builders Research, Inc. and the research done by Home Loans of Nevada, The Schwartz Group, The Greater Las Vegas Area is seeing fantastic increases in sales.

In the month of February, there were 2,606 Recorded Sales alone.  This does not include the additional 375 New Homes that were sold in February as well.  The resales in Las Vegas, Henderson, N. Las Vegas, and the other surrounding areas of Southern Nevada have had 5,142 recorded resales for just January and February alone!  This is a year to year increase of 70%, or an additional 2,125 homes in just the first two months!

While median home sales continue to stay low at $145,000, this is obviously creating a flood of home purchase transactions.  Another interesting fact of the first quarter is that, while the number of sales has risen so dramatically, the number of homes on the market has stayed relatively consistent even with the increase in sales.  The main reason for this, by looking at all of the facts, has to do with the fact that Henderson, NV and Las Vegas, NV are still seeing a large increase of new residents moving to the valley.  According to the research I did with Realtor.com, Las Vegas and Henderson are the number one and number two most searched cities in the United States, month after month. 

Looking at the statistics provided by MLS, Multiple Listing Service, which is a Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors Service, shows that Foreclosed homes also known as REO or repo homes that are owned by the lenders account for almost 80 percent of the exisiting home sales.  However, with almost 5,000 homes currently listed, foreclosed homes only represent 39 Percent of the homes on the market.  This fact is not surprising to those that watch the market and are in the industry.  As a lender myself, I notice that most buyers who are coming to the market are statistically First Time Home Buyers and are looking for a "Good Deal," so there first choice is to see the homes that are either foreclosed or are available for sale via Short Sale.

For those that don't know, Short Sales are homes that are placed on the market by the individual owners of the home, but require final approval by their lender because they are working with the home buyers to sell the properties at a price lower than what the actual loan payoff is.  With 39% of the homes on the market being foreclosures, another 30% of the listings are short sales, but they account for a much lower percentage of actual sales at 9%.  I believe the primary reason for this is due to the fact that short sales do take much longer to get contracts approved by the lenders due to the number of foreclosures and short sales that each bank currently is handling.  Short sales typically go to a negotiator after they had a contract requested for purchase, and the seller has signed off on the purchase.  Depending on the lending institution, the negotiator could take 2 weeks, or it could take 3 months.

This just goes to show that now is the time to work with realtors that are specializing in the REO and Foreclosure Market, as they can stay on top of these transactions with a much better success rate due to the knowledge that they have and are continously receiving.  The same holds true with dealing with a lender who can act quickly, efficiently, and provide great service to both the real estate agent, the buyer, and the lender who is selling the home.

Look for my next blog tomorrow, where I will discuss the lending industry, and the drastic change in the number of real estate professionals and how that can help real estate agents, buyers, sellers, and banks.

Happy House Hunting!  Please subscribe to my blog so you may keep up with the constant updates we are adding daily!

David J. Schwartz, Mortage Planner