David Hughes' Blog: Foreclosures

Last night I was interviewed by KRNV Channel 4 about the growing number of foreclosures and the damage that is being done to them by the sellers, as their homes are being taken back by the banks. Shelby Sheehan asked me about these eyesores that sit for months with dead grass and sometimes people will even move into these homes and camp out until the bank gets control of these homes.  Shelby also asked me when their is damage done by a seller, or others, to these homes. "Do the banks try and file charges". The answer sadly is "no". It would be very difficult to prove who actually stole the appliances or took a hammer to the sheetrock.

There is such a back log with the banks and the process that these foreclosure agents have to go through before they can…

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This weekend on Sunday from 1-4 there will be approx. 40 open houses throughout the Somersett master planned community in the western foothills of Reno. A lot of the homes will be featured on the Dickson Realty Real Estate today show that will also air 12 times this weekend. The listing agents in Somersett have organized to have almost half of every home on the market in Somerett open this weekend.

There will be maps available at the town center of all the open houses or you can go to www.somersettrealestate.com to download a map and list of all the open houses.

Open houses are typically not the best marketing tool but have made huge resurgence in these uncertain times. Agents are pulling out all stops to get their sellers home exposed in this highly…

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From 2002 till 2006 builders went crazy building houses.  Now we have the lowest amount of new starts on new homes in 17 years. Builders were outpacing the buyers and now there is a glut of unsold, vacant new homes on the market.  Even though builders have cut back, so has the number of buyers in the market. For this recovery to begin we have to eliminate the amount of inventory currently being held by the builders in the Reno Sparks area.   First time home buyers are the key…   As renters start to realize the amount of rent they are shelling out they can make a monthly mortgage payment, they will now become first time home buyers.   The crazy thing is the new homes are selling for less than existing homes on the market, and this cannot last.… Read Full Post

The Global Insight National City house value report for the first quarter of this year says that the $251,500 median home price in Reno is 0.2 below what they consider absolute fair market value. Back in 2004 was the last time that home prices in Reno were considered to be at fair market value. In the spring of 2006 we were at the peak at 40% overvalued, and 2007 about 25% overvalued.

Bank owned properties are currently making up about 40% of the listings on the market in the Reno area and 66% of the homes going into escrow. Because of the number of short sales and foreclosures on the market I am seeing the median price continuing to go down for the next couple of months. Reno and Las Vegas were on this list in the bottom 50 of areas with the steepest…

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