I’ve got a few little news items to add for now. First off, today’s big news is that nationwide, 28.4% of homes with mortgages are “underwater.” Needless to say, that percentage is much higher in Nevada!

Fannie Mae wants another $8,500,000,000 from Uncle Sam, bringing their bailout to near $100,000,000,000. Amazing!

And finally, for those of you considering a mortgage modification, you must read the fine print! You may be signing away important rights, such as the right to sue the bank for any fraud they may have committed regarding your mortgage! While at least one bank promises that was a “mistake” and things are “under review,” you should still make sure that you review documents very carefully and seriously consider having them reviewed by a licensed attorney.

Since then, it has gone into foreclosure, been snapped up in one day for almost $5 million, and is back on the market again for $7.9 million. The listing includes 25 fabulous pictures plus a video and tour, and points out that there has been a multi-million dollar renovation. The furnishings are included.

Renters, beware of the NAR lease scam. “In this scam, rental property is offered to consumers, who are led to believe that NAR is functioning as an intermediary to receive rental deposits from prospective tenants and, upon receipt of the deposit, to deliver the keys to the property to the tenant. The tenant is instructed to send money via Western Union to NAR’s purported agent, in the United Kingdom. NAR is not involved in this business and believes it is a scam.” At least it isn’t Elvis. 

A new HUD and DOT initiative is designed to tackle both housing and transportation costs at the same time. Many Americans have found themselves in a situation where they can’t really afford to live anyplace near their work. This is expensive and stressful for the entire family. 

This morning, I was forwarded a report on average closing prices here in Clark County. No shock that prices have declined again and foreclosure sales are up.  Prices are down roughly 60% from their peak, and have declined for 11 straight months. But the rate of decline is slowing. Greed and fear say to wait for prices to fall more, but the fact is that we won’t know where bottom is until prices begin to rise again. That’s one of several reasons I track not only average prices, but the number of homes in various price ranges.

At least we aren’t in Detroit, where the median home price is $7500, roughly what you would pay for a Hyundai. Yet more evidence that housing markets are fundamentally local, not national.

And one last item, how to spend time in Vegas without spending money.

I hope everyone will join me tomorrow for Friday Figures!

In the meantime, if you have a real estate need, please be sure to click the “Contact Me!” link in the sidebar, or just call the phone number at the top of the page.

Something funny’s happening in Las Vegas. Home sale prices from last year are down 28%, but home sales are up 15%.

The reason? Motivated sellers–those in distress or foreclosure–or banks with too many homes on the books are slashing asking prices in order to unload their properties. Motivated sellers in Las Vegas accounted for 64% of sales in October, the highest rate in the country according to Radar Logic, a New York-based derivatives firm that provided the data for this story.

That means buyers are getting deals and hastening Las Vegas’ recovery. In fact, buyers are eating up inventory fast enough that the discounts offered by motivated sellers are tightening as supply contracts. The difference between what motivated sellers have to offer and what non-motivated sellers can command has held steady for three months at a 17% discount, versus the 33% national average. So while it’s still a buyers’ market, prices have dropped to a level that’s stimulated demand.

“There’s a pretty active housing market, it’s simply at a lower-priced inventory,” says Michael Feder, chief executive of Radar Logic. “And there are now bidding wars taking place over homes in foreclosure.”

Prices in general have sunk to 2004 levels.  In some neighborhoods, homes are selling for about what they cost in 2002.  This is a level where it makes sense to buy, particularly if you can take advantage of the tax credit for first time buyers. Remember, you have to buy before the end of June to get it!  You’ll also have to act fast if you want to take advantage of the record low mortgage rates available;  we’re talking under 5%. 

The rest of Forbes’s list of real estate bargain zones is right here, but remember, our median home price is only $211,600 — less than just about anyplace in California. According to my mortgage calculator, you could be buying a median priced home for less than $1200 per month. 

For help finding your ideal Vegas home, call the phone number at the top of the page, or click the “Contact Me!” link in the sidebar.

Now make no mistake: renting is still the best option for a lot of people.  For example, if you only expect to be in an area for a year or two, renting is the way to go.  There are also people whose credit or money situation dictates that they must rent. I have nothing against renting, renters, or apartments.

However, we have a situation here in Vegas where renting is turning out to not be cost effective for many people.  Almost 2 weeks ago, I wrote about the 800 condos currently available for less than $100,000. Today, I ran the numbers on single family homes.

Despite the fact that Vegas home sales were up substantially in 2008 compared to 2007, we still have roughly 17,300 single family homes available today. Of those, 1,930 are priced at $100,000 or less. Only one was in an age restricted community. A total of 1869 are actually in the Las Vegas Valley;  the remainder are in outlying areas such as Pahrump, Mt. Charleston, or Boulder City. 

When I talked about condos, I eliminated the ones that were under $50,000 from consideration: they almost certainly need a lot of work to be habitable, and they almost universally won’t qualify for FHA financing. When we do that to our pool of single family houses here in the Valley, we find 1,664 homes priced between $50,000 and $100,000.

I wanted to know more specific information about these houses, so I narrowed the search to homes in the Northwest part of town for the sake of simplicity. There were almost 60 of them. It turns out that these houses ranged from roughly 900-1800 square feet, and sat on lots that measured roughly 1700-8000 square feet — a huge range. The vast majority were 2, 3, or 4 bedroom homes, but there was one 5 bedroom home. All had 2-3 bathrooms. Most had garages. There were even 2 that had swimming pools. Sure, it’s a safe bet that they need paint and carpet and maybe some repairs. 

Interest rates are still pretty close to what they were at the first of the year. We are still talking about being in an $80,000 mortgage for less than $500 per month, with perhaps less than $3000 in out-of-pocket closing costs — which can even be a gift from a family member — and a nice juicy tax credit for first time buyers. If we look at a $150,000 mortgage, the principal and interest is still roughly $850, well within the budget of someone currently spending $1000 per month in rent.

If you are planning on staying in the Valley a few years, and you are spending more than $600 per month on rent, you owe it to yourself to see if one of these homes might be right for you. If you are an investor, you have a great chance to either “fix and flip” or put together a portfolio of rental properties. 

That knocking sound you hear? It’s opportunity. 

To learn more about these homes, evaluate your housing needs, or discuss a purchase, please contact Bridget Magnus. Click the “Contact Me!” link or just call the number at the top of this page today.

I am still concerned about the fact that rental inventory is pretty slim, but it’s up from where it was a couple months ago as investors are starting to snap up some fantastic deals in the under $150,000 range. This is in turn creating a competitive market for young and working-class people who are using this opportunity to purchase their first home in the mid $100k range. “Lowballs” just aren’t being taken on homes listing below about $250,000.

This is not strictly about demand. This is also credit. You’ve got buyers and you can’t get loans approved. What do you do? You close subdivisions.

Clearly the “credit crunch” will impact the recovery of our housing market. In this case, it’s reducing future inventory.  While this seems like a good thing for right now, I am forced to wonder if it will still be a good thing a year from now.

I sure would be curious what Mr. Cage has parked in that 16 car garage.

Or perhaps you’d rather read TheStreet.com on IndyMac (if you have any pending business with them, you’d better give somebody a call first thing Monday).

And memo to the Review Journal:  all of us around the office could do without you folks making up pessimistic figures! My “trained monkey” only got about 16,500 active listings.  Maybe some went contingent between monkeys?