In today’s market we have a lot of sellers that are over pricing their homes. Out of the inventory in total that is listed for sale, 59% is priced over what the market can bare. So, when we talk about extending that timeline of property sitting in the market, that’s going to be big part of that. The biggest trap is that when you read this general information in the newspapers, you automatically take that and you personalize it to your own property, you cannot do that. General information has its place but is not there to affect your individual sale or purchase. We have large groups of sellers that want to maximize their equity, but they need to be realistic on how to do that. Then you can fall into a scenario where you certainly want to max your equity, but you do that by over pricing the property and what sellers don’t realize you end up hurting your equity and getting less for the property. Another big trap out there is let’s start the purchase price higher and inch it down as the weeks go by. Making the home sit longer on the market to get at the what the market is asking for. Instead of just pricing it right and getting the home sold. If you have any questions about if your home is priced right and what is selling in your neighbor, please reach out to us so we can help answer any questions you may have.

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Exciting news for mortgage caps for Las Vegas funding! The FHFA (Federal Housing Finance Agency) are raising their maximum loan amount from roughly $453,000 which is right now. Starting January 1st of 2019 is going up to $484,000 rounding up the pennies. They increased it up about $31,000, making more loans, higher priced homes eligible for conventional financing. This is in support of a healthy real estate market that we are seeing after the recession in 2008. This is important for those who are selling their homes. Say your home is priced at about $550,000 or $560,000 some where between that range. Your buyer just got the ability to use a conforming loan with 20% down to buy the home instead of having to do a jumbo loan. It is significantly harder to obtain a jumbo loan due to having different rules set than conforming loans. One thing that has not been officially announced to the public is that there will be a couple of changes that fall out of this. One of them is VA loans and they always have the same maximum loan amounts as the conforming loans. So, VA loans will be increasing as of January 1st, 2019. We can expect FHA loans to be increased from $290,000 to $315,000. We believe this is a bigger impact, just because more homes are above that price and now it is easier to be a service to the FHA loan. If you have any questions about how to get financing or how these loans programs work, please reach out to us and John Ingram so we can help answer any questions you may have.

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Market trends in December show that we are transitioning from a strong sellers’ market, into more of a neutral market. We look into how many single family residents are currently on the market with no pending offers. The average days on the market is roughly one hundred-twenty-one days. 2018 was still a good year overall and one of the better years Las Vegas has had. Although we are still a little behind on value from December 2017 in closings. Distressed closing are at 1.6% of the market and that is REO homes, foreclosures, and banked owned homes. Only 1.2% of the market are short sales that have closed, and that is really low, and it is staying at a small number. Harvey explains that when looking for distressed homes, you will not find much. Most of buyers are using conventional financing and that was 50% of closings in December. In second place was cash, and that was about 26% of closed homes in December. Curious about the Las Vegas Housing Market? Want to buy a foreclosed home? Watch this video and all our Market Trend videos to see how YOUR market is changing. Should I sell my home now? Should I buy a home now? Can I get a mortgage? If you ask yourself these questions, we can answer these questions for you.

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Tracy Ruccia with Equity Title of Nevada warns us on the new ways that hackers are creating wire fraud. Hackers are finding new creative ways on how to steal your profits and payments when in escrow. Year to date so far in 2018 is nearly $17 Billion in wire fraud. So, what does that mean? As we talked before on past shows about emails, etc. being hacked, hackers are manipulating wiring instructions and getting not emails! Hackers are unfortunately getting smarter and are now intercepting an email that will come from a lender or even Real Estate agents. They will redo the seller’s payoff demand so when you go to sell a home, we (escrow) orders the payoff demand from the bank. The title company can end up paying off the seller’s mortgage but the proceeds will actually goes to the hacker. What do we do to protect our selves (escrow, lenders & Realtors)? Tracy suggests that we use different techniques and go back old school by communicating to each other (sellers, buyers, Realtors, lenders & escrow) whomever is trying to close the transaction. Actually picking up the phone making sure you are talking to the person you are supposed to be talking with. Communicate and again making sure that the payoff demand is correct and true. If you are worried about fraud or being hacked during a real estate transaction, know that communication is key. Outstanding job by Tracy as she helps us a better understand on how to prevent that from happening it our clients.

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Tune in every Tuesday at 9am to 101.5FM & 720AM, KDWN, The Talk of Las Vegas to hear Las Vegas Real Estate Now!

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John Ingram with Axia Home Loans talks about what happens to a mortgage if spouses get a divorce, and if one of them wants to stay in the home and take over the payments. John sees a lot of divorce decrees in his profession. Some decrees reference what happens to your residence and mortgage should you get a divorce, and some don’t. Staying in the home after a divorce can be a big financial burden. If you are in a situation where you might be using new alimony or child support in order to qualify for that home, this can be problematic also. There are hurdles to come over. Some traditional mortgages out there have built in rules for where you need to proof that you have a track record of actually receiving those dollars in alimony or child support, before it becomes sort of qualifiable income in a mortgage. It’s important to be giving yourself the time needed to meet those requirements prior to being forced to try to refinance the house or to force to sell the home. So based on your decree and financial responsibility, it is possible to stay in your home. Great job John Ingram for helping us understand how the process of getting a divorce decree and what happens to the mortgage. If you have questions about your mortgage and what’s happens if you may be getting divorced, please reach out to us and John Ingram so we can help answer any questions you have. Getting a divorce is stressful enough, so let us help you with any questions or real estate matters that we can.

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Tune in every Tuesday at 9am to 101.5FM & 720AM, KDWN, The Talk of Las Vegas to hear Las Vegas Real Estate Now!

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John and Montyne Connolly explain their challenges on selling homes that may be harder than usual, or under distressed circumstances. John shares his experience on selling a home for a client that goes through some rough patches along the way. They once had a seller who couldn’t live in the home for two years! The seller was a son of a friend who had a tragic time in that home and hadn’t been able to occupy the home himself. Although he did go by the home on a daily base to feed his long-haired cat. The cat was the only occupant during this time. John expresses to us how you cannot image the smell of that home. Even the owner did not want to go inside the home. John then gives the owner a couple of options; with the home being in a desirable location, the home could sell for roughly $150,000. The owner told John “well I thought it was worth a little more” John replied back and said, “definitely it is worth more, but you are going have to put about $10,000 into the home.” John gives an estimate to the seller that he can sell the home in thirty days including with the construction and we can sell it for $225,000. Lucky the seller had the money to invest. The work got completed and was put on the market. When the home sold, it sold for $232,000. Great job to the Connolly team for taking a hard situation and turning it into a great situation for a client/friend.

Subscribe to our channel to get the updated market trends each month for Las Vegas, and other great real estate tips and news!

Tune in every Tuesday at 9am to 101.5FM & 720AM, KDWN, The Talk of Las Vegas to hear Las Vegas Real Estate Now!

Call Harvey for all of your Real Estate needs: (702) 203-1165.

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Are you thinking of retiring soon? Looking for that special place where you can have fun, and still be able to afford to live? Anita Woodcock and Tara Graeber give us reasons why Las Vegas, NV is the best place to retire. Tara Graeber talks about the weather in sunny Las Vegas where you have over 300 days of sunshine. No more snow, no more snow shovels, and freezing temperatures. Anita Woodcock dishes on the tax benefits here in Las Vegas. That is big thing if you are looking to retire on a budget. No personal income tax, retirement tax cannot be deductible in Las Vegas, private and public pension can’t be taxed. Now that is huge benefit when retiring here. No inherent tax which is also in some other states as well. No Real Estate taxes in Nevada. Tara gives us in sight of the new beautiful medical facilities that we have, she talks about the VA (Veteran Administration) facility that is now open and cost over 600 million to build in 2012 which was a huge project here in Las Vegas. Harvey Blankfeld chimes in with the girls that his father volunteers at the facility and has commented to Harvey that the facility is amazing. Las Vegas and Henderson also have such well and established 55+ communities. We have the most age restricted communities in the country which totals about 21 communities. Looking for age restricted communities in Las Vegas? Be sure to watch this video and contact us for any questions.

Subscribe to our channel to get the updated market trends each month for Las Vegas, and other great real estate tips and news!

Tune in every Tuesday at 9am to 101.5FM & 720AM, KDWN, The Talk of Las Vegas to hear Las Vegas Real Estate Now!

Call Harvey for all of your Real Estate needs: (702) 203-1165.

Check out radio show website: https://lvrealestateradio.com/

Check out real estate website: https://brownblankfeld.com/

Crystal Jensen discusses relationships with tenants and landlords -11/13/18 by Harvey Blankfeld

Rick Cenname discusses the importance of knowing what liens have been recorded on your property by Harvey Blankfeld

-11/06/18 Jeff Edwards w/ PBT&K educates us on 1031 Property Exchanges by Harvey Blankfeld