David Hughes' Blog: Reno Real Estate

Good news!  You are getting more shifts and can let that pesky real estate license expire. But you thought it was going to be so easy to just jump in there and sell all your friends and family a house.

In these tough times buyers and sellers are turning to seasoned professionals who have been through tough markets before and have the know how to get their property sold. I do feel for the agents that work hard and are having to get a part time job to keep up in this market.  You do what you have to do to survive. But the agents that aren’t full time and this is not their profession should maybe rethink and get back to the mall.

The old adage still stands, 10% of the agents make 90% of the money.

Let me paint you a little picture.  Let’s say somebody comes to you and says, “Hey how would you like a nice 6% investment on your money?” But next year your money is only worth 75 cents on the dollar, meaning the value of the asset that your investment was tied to has gone down in value and or the very qualified borrower of the money has lost his job and cannot sell his home for enough to pay off the mortgage (short sale). Bad things are happening to good people right now and it cannot be helped until prices stop falling.

There are too many variables out there right now that is scaring investors into investing in mortgage backed securities. Rates right now should be in the 5-5.5% range but because of the added risk investors are building in a 1%…

1350 Whisper Rock Way  $995,000

Beautiful, professionally decorated, custom home in Somersett featured on the Designer Showcase Tour.  Fully landscaped .67 acre lot which includes water feature and outstanding mountain and golf course views from the front and back of this home.  Gourmet kitchen with Dacor stainless range, sub zero fridge and separate sub zero freezer, travertine and granite, custom cherry wood cabinets.  4" oak plank hardwood floors, brushed nickel hardware and large entertainment center built in.  4629 sq. ft., 5 bedrooms + bonus rooms, 5 bathrooms.  Click here to see a Virtual Tour of this amazing home.  Live in Somersett with all its many amenties including:  The $9 million town center with work out facilities, 9 hole golf course,…

Ok folks, here it is.  Right now in the greater Reno Sparks and outlying areas there are currently 2817 homes on the market. Of those 18%, or 505, are foreclosures and 33%, or 923, are short sales. Short sales are where the sellers are trying to sell their homes for less than they owe and the bank has to agree to this, which in about 80% of the time, they cannot come to an agreement and the bank ends up foreclosing on the seller anyway (stay away from these whenever possible).

So far this year there have been 2670 homes that have sold and of that number 748 have been foreclosures, 219 have been short sales. So can see there are a lot more foreclosures that are actually closing escrow over the number of short sales that are actually closing. The…

Golden Gate Golf announced last Wednesday that they entered into a contract to buy the 2 struggling golf courses from Arrowcreek Golf Holdings. They held a town hall type meeting last Thursday and will be holding another tonight (October 6, 2008) at 6 pm to discuss ideas of how to make the public course more accessible.

Golden Gate Golf is owned and operated by Charlie Leder and Bob Bowker.  Leder is a professional golfer and has been a past president of the PGA. Bowker operates Pajaro Valley Golf Club in Royal Oaks, California.

These meetings with the members of Arrowcreek, they want to find out what the members are looking for going forward. They are currently advertising on Golfnow.com and you can get a rate as low as $40.00 on the public course,…

Fantastic Silver Star home overlooking the 8th hole on the Somersett championship golf course.  The views of the mountains and golf course are unsurpassed. There is 2100 sq. ft. with the master on the main level, 2 bedrooms and an office loft upstairs. The kitchen has upgrades including slab granite, beautiful cabinetry and a large center island.  This home has never been lived in!  It is the developers close out!  $389,000.   It is fully landscaped with a large paver patio overlooking the golf course.  You also have full access to 2 pools, work out facility, par 3 golf and 27 miles of walking trails.  Click here for a Virtual tour. 

Ever know someone with 2 or 3 different email addresses?  Granted, sometimes you have to have a different business and a personal email address. But if you are in business and you change your email address, it is the kiss of death.

 I just had a friend of mine who has worked for ReMax for 20 years send me a change of email address because he switched providers.  What are you thinking? Don’t make your customers have to try and find you.  Make it easy for them, keep it the same. You can always forward your old one to the new without anyone knowing the difference.

 I have a very seasoned agent at my company and I sent an email to her company email address which is first initial last name @dicksonrealty.com (all the agents within our office are the same…

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…