Over the past few days I have had occasion to visit a few of the new home developments throughout Reno.  This morning I was sorting through assorted brochures that I had collected and noticed I had accumulated quite a few builder price sheets.  Because these latest prices are not always available on the builders’ online sites, I thought I share them here for any interested parties.

A couple things to note: (1) Although these price sheets are current at the moment, they can and do change; (2) Some of the prices shown are “base” pricing; upgrades and options may change the price reflected; and (3) these price sheets are in no way intended to be an exhaustive representation of all the builders who are currently building in Reno.  There are many more.  Like I said above, I just thought I’d share the info I’ve collected over the past few days.

And one final note, if you see something that interests you, give me a call and we’ll check it out and size it up against the other comparable properties in that neighborhood.

• Centex Homes - Cyan - Sierra Meadows.pdf
• Centex Homes - Cyan - Sierra Rose.pdf
• Lakemont Homes - Canyon Pines - Vintage and Reserve Collection.pdf
• Monterey Development Group - The Village at Somersett Town Center.pdf
• Monterey Development Group - The Village at Somersett Town Center - model pricing.pdf
• Pulte Homes - The Vue at Somersett.pdf
• Pulte Homes - The Vue at Somersett - model home pricing.pdf
• Ryder Homes - Talon Pointe at Somersett.pdf
• Toll Brothers - Mountain Crest at Somersett.pdf
• Toll Brothers - Saddle Ridge at Damonte Ranch - price list.pdf

Homes sitting unoccupied nationwide set a new record last quarter - with 18.6 million vacant houses according to the US Census Bureau.

Here in Reno we have our fair share of vacant houses. A quick look at today’s listings show: Of the 4,586 residential listings in Reno-Sparks, only half are owner-occupied. The rest are either vacant, rented or under construction.

Here is the breakdown:

Data courtesy of the Northern Nevada MLS (NNRMLS) - August 2008.

So welcome to August.  The "buying" season is officially over for those hoping to relocate before the start of the school year.  The "selling" season will show up in the stats for the next couple of months as escrows close and be trumpeted by the RSAR and RGJ as if some corner has been turned, some bottom reached..  Barring some blockbuster numbers from Jack and Diane (sorry Guy, I couldn’t resist) in their pending market reports, Summer 2008 looks ho-hum at best.  Over 40% of sales are REOs.  It looks to me like another 30%  or more are short sales (when they finally, finally close).  Once again, this 25% segment of market listings is representing at lest 70% of sales, and conversely the "normal" 75% of listings are only generating 30% of the sales.  Weak.  Then  deduct the 10% of  the sales from the MLS that are now builder listings, and you get a pretty grim picture of what is really going on out there for sellers.

How did Washoe do in July?  Gross NODs totaled 549, down from 552 in June and 554 in May.  Something near 20% of the NODs are from HOAs at this point, and NODs are holding pretty steady.  NOSs were up 43% from June to 481, breaking all records.  And TDs soared 30% from June to 280, again, a County record.   When I look at my charts, the chances of preventing a NOD from becoming a NOS is basically 0% right now.  And only 20% or so of NOSs are being saved from Trustee’s Deeds.  I think NODs will start declining as everyone evaluates what the Government bailout means, and I think TDs will continue to rise for a few months.

This is probably the last time for the Creep Report, unless you are finding it particularly informative.  Preparing it entails manually opening up every NOS to search for information - if I’m going to go blind, mama said their are more fun ways!

When I started tracking Creep, I really expected the percentages to start rising in the South Meadows and it really hasn’t happened as dramatically as I would have thought.  89511 has some pretty high end homes going to sale, but the zip code also includes Fallen Leaf and some homes east of 395.   Do you folks see any significant shifts going on?

Being a Second Gunman on the Grassy Knoll sort of guy, I have to wonder why the Center for Regional Studies is 10 days late releasing their monthly data to the public (they released it to the RGJ earlier).   We taxpayers pay for their services, and I would hate to believe that industry forces are preventing them from posting their research.  It really is the best data we have on what is really going on in the region.

There are cows grazing next door, and I’m about to cook a steak for dinner.  Does that make me Evil Mikey?  Enjoy the weekend, bloggers.

Yesterday’s RGJ reported that the Grand Sierra Resort is negotiating with a few interested parties on the sale of the property.  All involved parties are quiet on the details but the RGJ reported that “The Grand Sierra Resort Corp. bought the property for $150 million from Caesars Entertainment in 2005.”
If The Grand Sierra Resort Corporation bought at the peak of the market, then, based off of median price declines for residential property (26.4%), today’s selling price should be around $110 million.
We’ll see what it ends up selling for.  I hope the new owners put in the long-awaited indoor water park.

[Update 08/01:  Mike Van H references his posts regarding the GSR Sale in his comment below.  Interested readers can read those posts on Mike’s site, Downtown Makeover.] 

But don’t worry, your funds are safe and accessible through Mutual of Omaha according to online sources. Just another sign of the times as the domestic house of lending continues to fall. Thank goodness the system still works, for now.

Meanwhile, liquidity options for WaMu are running low, though I’m sure the government won’t let that one unravel, much.

Word on the street is that the IndyMac bailout will cost the FDIC 10% of its reserves… true or false?

Then (toward the end of the ego-fest in the UK Telegraph) Donald Trump says buy real estate now, as it’s the place to be.

Some poor woman back east committed suicide just before her house went to foreclosure. Please, if anyone is even considering this, don’t do it! It’s just money. What’s important is you, not your insurance payout.

And then there’s that mystery surrounding the Wells Fargo Earnings Report… fact or fiction?

But here’s the good news: Brian Kaiser sees a light at the end of the tunnel based on recent numbers.

And today the House passed the "Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008" which introduces several key programs to help homeowners refinance out of toxic loans and get first time buyers into home ownership. Overall it’s a mixed bag, but I think it will prop up the system and have some positive benefits.

Back to the topic of buy now or wait, in the lower price range stuff is really starting to move. Over at Carson City-based Creative Real Estate Online, the investor forums are totally active. They are coming into the marketplace nationwide for deals that cash flow. The contrarians are here, and they’re buying properties.

Ninety days have passed since I took a snapshot of the Pendings on our MLS. Readers may recall I followed up with a check of the status of these “pendings” at 30 days and again at 60 days.

So how have the pendings fared after ninety days?

As has been the case with the 30- and 60-day observations, those pending listings with a status of “Active-Pending-Loan” continue to exhibit the highest probability of closing – with 88 % having closed within ninety days.  On the other end of the spectrum, those pending listings that had a status of “Active-Pending-Short Sale” had the least probability of closing – with only a little over a third (36%) having had closed, even after three months.  It should also be noted that after 90 days, 38% of those pending short sales had dropped out of escrow; either by being placed back on the market as Active (19%) or taken off the market completely (19%) – probably destined for foreclosure. 

Bank-owned properties and short sales continue to be the most popular types of properties for buyers – with 14% and 22%, respectively, currently under contract (pending). (see table above).  Also of note, is that 58% of the bank owned properties on the market three months ago have now been sold.  Bank-owned properties continue to dominate sales in this market.

This post will be the last installment of tracking these listings.  Data courtesy of the Northern Nevada Regional MLS (NNRMLS) – July 2008.

1475 Palisade is the Old Southwest house purchased in December 2004 for $619,000, and gutted to the studs before construction stopped.  It had been listed at $479,000, and went back to the bank as an REO.  The bank listed it at $313,000, and it just closed escrow at $213,900 in what appears to be a cash deal from a pair of locals (Derungs, Pelster).  Listing agent Larry, if you are still out there, can you fill us in on your experiences working with the bank on the short sale, and how the offers you presented the bank stacked up to the final sales price?

Ridge Field of Dreams is still a bit of a work in progress.  2260 Ridge Field (RF 1) was the builder house listed at $912,275.  It closed November 16 for $863,495.  2395 Ridge Field (RF 2), purchased in September 2005 for $596,076, was foreclosed on on October 31.  In a double closing, the bank sold it to a buyer that pre-negotiated a deal for $531,158.  2385 Ridge Field (RF 3) has been reduced from $1,189,999 to $999,999.  This is the only Somersett property that did not come current on their special assessments, and was "sold" for $5811.04 last week (2 year redemption period).  2335 Ridge Field (RF 4)  was purchased for $761,906 in December 05 by RF 3’s daughter, and was originally listed at $929,000.  It is currently listed at $589,999.  The Trustee’s Sale was scheduled for July 2, and seems to have been delayed - there is no evidence of the default being cured.

4390 Interlaken was only mentioned in comments on one of the other blog posts, but is an interesting REO story with walk-on appearances by Guy and myself.  It is a nice house located on the east side of Lake Ridge, and was purchased for $293,000 in December 2001.  It was refied in 2004 for $265,000 by First Horizon and a Weststar Credit Union Issued a $200,000 HELOC in 2005, setting up an almost ideal investment situation.  There was a long listing history, starting at $679,000 and finally dropping to $579,000 or so.  The owner only needed to clear $475,000 or so at the time to pay everyone off, but stayed greedy.  Guy and I tried to set up a deal similar to the double escrow on Ridge Field at about $290,000, the amount then due on the first mortgage.  First Horizon blew us off.  I went to the auction on the courthouse steps in January, and the sale got delayed and was never re-advertised.  The Weststar rep who showed up never asked me who I was, what I was doing out there on a nasty morning, or what my interest in the property was.  On April 1, Weststar stepped up and bought the house for $300,000 at the new sale, trying to protect their second position  They listed the house at $399,000 (about what I would have done, before the lawn died from neglect), and the house just closed at $355,000.  With holding, escrow and commission costs of about $25,000, Weststar recouped about $30,000 of their $200,000 exposure.

(More fun on the Recorder’s site!  Enter a bank’s name in the Grantor field, and search for Deed from the pull-down menu.  It is a quick way to see what the banks are actually unloading as REOs)

[Ok I’m finally getting around to posting the charts from our friends at Ticor Title.  Thank you everyone who asked about them (both on and off-blog); it shows you care… seriously.]

So, Washoe County’s recorded units sold (resales) continue to increase: 491 in June over May’s 444 recorded sales (resales).  This increase represents more than a 10% increase in month-on-month sales.  However when factoring in new home sales, which continue to fall, the increase in cumulative number of sales is closer to 1%; 658 total sales in June compared to 654 total sales in May.  An increase nonetheless, and one now marking the sixth consecutive month of increasing units sold.

The second chart, which tracks Notices of Default filed with the county, shows declining NODs for the second consecutive month; finally bucking the meteoric rise depicted for so long in this chart.  Looking back at the historical numbers, we’ve seen one-month dips before, but none lasting for two months.  Let’s watch this one.

Today I went out with some buyers looking in the $200K-$250K range. Like all internet shoppers they sent a specific list of properties to see. Of course they’d picked all the best deals, which meant that half were in escrow by the time we hit the pavement. No problem, I found some other best deals for them to consider. Here are three of the particularly interesting properties we looked at:

Lots of opportunity out there right now if you’re willing to contribute a little elbow grease! If you want to make an offer on any of these properties, please contact JoAnn at 877 963 4263.

I must confess, Guy and I have become die-hard Inman groupies, and this year we’re dragging JoAnn along with us. Inman Connect San Francisco is one of the most cutting-edge conferences in our industry focused on the convergence between real estate and technology. All the best bleeding-edge solutions are launched there, and it’s a wonderful gathering of truly forward-thinking people looking to change real estate for the better.

Six months ago we attended Inman Connect in New York City, where Guy and our fabulous assistant Trudi whipped out the camera and started interviewing bloggers about their blogging habits. Die-hard local market junkies looking for the next hot deal in Reno, stop reading now. This kind of frivolity is not for you. Also, people with no sense of humor should not read any further, nor watch the video below.

Well-known bloggers including Kris Berg, Teresa Boardman, Jay Thompson, Dustin Luther, Lockhart Steele, and Frances Flynn Thorsen all make appearances in our little flick, along with corporate personalities Matt Heaton from Active Rain, Mike Simonsen of Altos Research (who, BTW, really needs to make one of those cool little median price widget charts for Reno), Christian Sterner from WellcomeMat, and our very own Shari Chase of Chase International. The video also features several interviews from folks new to real estate blogging. And of course, no bloggerati video would be complete without Joe Ferrara and Rudy Bachraty cameo appearances. So take a look, and see if you spot anyone else you know.

Remember, put your humor hat on. Be prepared to see Guy Johnson in a whole new light. And in the spirit of Where’s Waldo, bonus points to you if you spot Pat Kitano and Sherry Chris. Send your friends, links and love to this post… you know, just for fun!