Let me say upfront: This post has nothing to do with the Reno real estate market. I am taking a breather from market stats today and instead taking the family to the lake.
It’s Saturday morning and I have just returned from another very enjoyable event that took place in everyone’s favorite development, Somersett. I must say, Somersett is really developing into a strong community of its own. The brand spankin’ new fire station #19 (located near the entrance to Del Webb’s Sierra Canyon development) opened recently, and to commemorate, the firemen and firewomen hosted a pancake and sausage breakfast. I was very pleased, not only with the production, but also with the impressive turnout. It seemed as though half of Somersett attended. [If you attended, I’d love to hear your thoughts comments.]
In addition to the breakfast, which was prepared by my favorite caterers, Men Wielding Fire, the firefighters had all their equipment on display and open for kids to play on. Excellent photo ops abounded. Various safety-related booths and exhibits were also set up, including a station to have your child photographed, ID’d and entered into the national children’s database.
With bicycle safety, face painting and giveaways (coloring books, magnets, badges, pencils, bookmarks, etc.) there was plenty to keep the kids entertained. But I have to say the hit of the event was the appearance by Smokey Bear. Representatives from the US Forest Service were on hand to talk about forest fires and their prevention, and, of course, Smokey Bear attended. Again, more photo ops.
In other Somersett news, Whispering Vine Wine Co. has officially opened their second location at Somersett Town Center. [FYI, for those of you who commute from Somersett, this location also features a drive up coffee window.] Last night was the grand opening party for this new location. All guests received a Riedel wine glass with Whispering Vine’s logo on the glass. Great marketing idea. With live entertainment, hors d’oeuvres provided by Roundabout Market, and a great outdoor atmosphere, not surprisingly the residents of Somersett showed another great turnout.
And on a different note: After multiple warning notices and letters, the Village at Town Center has finally begun towing illegally parked vehicles. At least two were towed last night. If you live in the Village, mind the no parking zones, which btw are almost all the streets in the Village.
Reno Ignoramus
Somersett today:
118 listings, as about 10 sellers have appeared to give up. They will wait and return their house to the market in time for the Spring Bounce next March.
7 price reductions
4 pendings.
3.3% of resale inventory with a pending offer
If current pendings actually close, 2.45 YEARS of inventory as of 8/07.
Of the 4 pendings, 2 are “pending-loan” so who knows what will happen. 1 has been “pending-house” for a long time, so who knows what will happen. 1 pending looks pretty solid.
Untold amounts of builder inventory.
Lindie
Well Guy, since there aern’t any buyers wanting to look at any houses on this beautiful August weekend, and even if there were any buyers, none of them could get a Dumbo, I mean, Jumbo loan anyway, going to the Lake sounds like a good thing to do.
Doofus
No happy camper Smokie Bear pics can diminish the fact that Somersett has stalled out dramitically at less than 50% build out. There is virtually nothing new being built. The Village is repo central (so lets do the Vue and really mess things up even more). Sierra Canyon is a fire sale. The sellers are either writting off 20% or believing they made 35%. Go figure. I think the upside folks have a serious lesson learn.
2sleepy
I like somersett, what concerns me is what is going to happen to the HoA dues if they have to pay for all the assets with only 50% of the dues that they anticipated, also..will the builders maintain control of the HoA indefinitely since they aren’t likely to reach build out anytime soon?
n
Somersett is a nice community and weathering the storm is going
to get tougher. Unlisted home on Castlehawk just hit the NOD
foreclosure list. Looks like a flipper gone very bad.
Grand Wazoo
The whole HOA issue in a development only half sold has the potential to bite owners of the Palladio and Montage in the backside as well.
Lindie
Speaking about the Palladio, did you all see that all the Palladio listings in the MLS went “Price Reduced” today?
Congratulations Bubblesitters! If you had bought a Palladio condo last week, you would have already seen the value of your “investment” (I use the term very loosely) decline by this week.
Oh, wait. There is some realtor on tv saying that you can’t ever lose money on real estate in Reno because they aren’t making any more land and everybody wants to live here…..I gotta go listen.
Reno Ignoramus
Regarding the house in Somersett described by n, you are going to see a lot more of this. As debtowners realize that the value of their house is 75% of the unpaid balance on their mortgage, many of them will just go straight to foreclosure. They will just skip over the trying to sell it part. You think this was a subprime borrower with a lousy FICO buying a house in this price range? Something tells me not. I have posted before that as more prime high FICO borrowers realize they owe $500,000 on their $375,000 house, they will default. Just walk.
As for the deteriorating prices at the Palladio, can anybody say this is a surprise? Posters here have been saying for months that the Palladio prices are fantasy. How would you like to be the new owner of a Palladio condo, that you bought three weeks ago, that the developer is now selling for less on a per sq. ft basis?
Fools? Fools? Where are the Fools??
GreenNV
RI, give Palladio a chance. The “reductions” that just showed up match the retail hand-out from a month or so. No news here. They continue to close 4-5 units a week. I’ve digged them all. It will be a whole lot easier when their final condo map gets recorded, and sort of scary that it hasn’t yet. In the mean time, any specific unit you want info on?
You want Somersett dynamics? I have the Mort*** family with the Ri** family with the Rios-Ve** (agent) holding 6 or 7. One just dropped their asking $300K,killing the comps for all the friends and family.
Still not at break even. Must have been a fun family bar-b-que this weekend! “You tanked my conp, bitch!”
Reno Ignoramus
Green, a price reduction is still a price reduction even if it shows up on a pricing sheet before it shows up on the MLS. Isn’t it?
Do you have any info on the Palladio unit that is being hawked on Craiglist for $428 a sq. ft? Do you know what it sold for from the developer?
Reno Ignoramus
GreenNV, I just noticed that this Palladio unit showed up on the MLS today. It is Unit # 909, if that helps.
GreenNV
Palladio Update:
34 of the 87 units have closed. 33 units remain from last month’s rate sheet, leaving 10 in the ether somewhere.
2 are on the resale market. 909 is 1191 SF and is listed at $509,000. It was bought 7/11/07 for $480,000 on a purchase agreement from 7/21/05. 709 is also 1191 SF and is listed as reduced to $549,000. It was bought 7/16/07 for $495,000 on a purchase agreement from 7/6/05.
Several are for Lease. 506 is 760 SF, purchased for $253,900 and is listed at $1100 per month. 908 is 826 SF, purchased for $250,000 and is listed at $1195 per month. 909 is listed at $1900 per month.
1001 is 1502 SF, purchased for $530,050 and is listed for $2250 per month. 1007 is 651 SF, purchased for $208,978 and is listed at $1600 per month.
It looks like the people with 2004 purchase agreements are going to do pretty well.
Reno Ignoramus
Thanks GreenNV. Great work as usual. It looks like 909 is going to lose money. One month after purchasing this seller puts it on the market for $29K more than he paid. Hard to imagine that his seller’s commissions and costs won’t put him in the red, even if he gets a full price offer (not).
709 make eke out a few bucks if seller gets a full price offer. But if 909 has the same view, and is higher up, why would somebody pay more for 709? Looks like 709 ends up losing money also.
So the first two resales out of the box look like losers. Interesting that 909 is also for rent.
GreenNV
Thx for the kudos, RI. If you or the masses are interested, I have posted a spreadsheet on the sales at the Palladio so far. Funny, they claim 87 units, but I get 92 from the condo map. So 20 to 25 units are “out there” somewhere. Closings are slowing.
PA = purchase agreement
F = furnished
NF – not furnished
http://www.filefactory.com/file/41d2e5/
Interesting, yeah?
Perry
Does anyone have the prices before the recent drop? They came out so high I didn’t really even pay attention.
Diane Cohn
Green NV, I worship the ground you walk on… 😉 How a happy-go-lucky post on the wonders of Somersett morphed into a down-and-dirty analysis of Palladio sales, I’ll never quite follow, but the value added to this blog is immeasurable, so thanks!
derrick
just a few questions and comments about somersette… I was up there today doing some work . I couldnt help but wonder .. It looked as if alot of homes didnt have RV access, also the lots seemed rather small for the most part. 1/4 acre lots and under. Houses were VERY close to eachother..
I dont believe there is much retail either. I wonder how much snow they get and how bad the wind is?
I like somersette but it seems a bit over-rated. personally I prefer large lots and RV access If im going to drop 600k on a house LOL. somersette also lacks development in regards to retail and convience, Unlike out here in wingfield/spanish springs.. with the newly built town center/sparks crossing, and Eagle canyon under construction now (13 acres at buildout).
GreenNV
Derrick, some interesting observations on Somersett.
– Lot size – Yeah they are small. The stated planning policy in Reno (and Sparks and Washoe for that matter) is to cluster housing as close as possible to maintain “open space” and minimize infrastructure costs. A side benefit is that it is a lot cheaper for the developer.
– RV Access – I am pretty sure that RV storage is banned by Somersett’s CC&Rs. When the lots are that tight, it is bad enough that you are looking at your neighbors windows, without having to have see their RV in the foreground. Intersting, but I find RV access is a lot more of an issue in $300,000 properties than in the $600,000 properties.
– Retail – Its a big issue. Until the minimal retail opened at Town Center a few weeks ago, getting a quart of milk meant up to a 12 mile round trip to Scolari’s on Robb. There may be a bit more coming to Town Center in the future, and there are some retail parcels at the entrance at Sharlands / Mae Anne, with a bit more scheduled at Robb / Sharlands. No Costco or Best Buy on the western horizon. There will be more around Cabela’s at Boomtown, but it isn’t easily accessible from Somersett.
– Weather – Somersett is screened from the worst of the winds coming down the Truckee River Canyon (look where last year’s fire burned). Elevation on the western end (Sierra Canyon) is pretty high, and picks up quite a bit more snow than the valley floor, but not as much as Verdi because of the wind screen effect.
– Convenience – I can’t argue for positive access to retail, but the homes are a whole lot quicker to get to than sitting on Pyramid during rush hour trying to get into the vacinity of Spanish Springs. Start us at City Hall and give us 4 or 5 tasks to run, and I’ll beat you home 95% of the time. You want to do a race? (I don’t live in Somersett, but would assume the abobe of any REO there you want) Blogger’s suggest choices on the tasks? Diane bestows the tiara? Guy sets the guts of the deal (Miss Trudie gets to hold up the round card).
Deal?
Grand Wazoo
Speaking of condos (as we were a bit ago), do an MLS search on 280 Island Drive and look at the inventory at Park Tower. At least one foreclosure, a couple of obvious short sales, and a penthouse previously listing for $900K+ suddenly reduced to $775K. As Frank Zappa once said, there seem to be more than a couple of owners in Park Tower with “bovine perspiration in their upper lip area”.
derrick
interesting points.. So retail isnt as convient as wingfield springs, they get more snow, lot sizes are considerably smaller than wingield/spanish springs (you can watch your neighbors eat dinner lol), no rv access, no room for a pool?
My mother lives in spanish springs as well, she has 4bed/3 bath 3,600 sqft stucco home nicely landscaped on 1 ACRE! infact all of the neighbors in the culdesac have a 1 acre lot .. We both live only 2 miles from spanish springs town center and about 2 miles from the eagle canyon shopping center. Actually there really isnt any reason for me to go downtown, We have all we need here and very close.
In regards to rv access being an eye sore for the neighbors . many homes in our area have seperate stucco buildings that match the homes and are for rv’s (50k upgrade) but hardly an eyesore.
Traffic for the most part isnt that bad on pyramid, if it is we have vista drive, and a new route currently being built between vista and pyramid with more retail planned.
Im not saying somersette isnt nice but your $ dollar certainly doesnt go far, and you dont get much at all.
my belief is what good is a 3,000+ sq.ft home when you have a postage stamp for a backyard? Not to mention you cant even store your toys..
dj
Somersett allows RVs parked in garages but not outdoors. So far very few have garages that are large enough.
2sleepy
I dunno, I live in Caughlin Ranch and even though I hate HoA’s I’m delighted that people can’t park RV’s here-
As far as the wind, its very windy here especially on summer afternoons, but I have left here, driven to Sommersett and it has been every bit as windy if not windier.
derrick
I figured somersette was extremely windy. sleepy we have hoa’s where I live as well (spanish springs), to which I am very happy we have, it helps keep the area nice and parks looking good. It’s only 45/month and has gone up 10.00 in over 4 years. I feel its a SMALL price to pay, considering how much good it does.
As far as Rv parking, It is not allowed here either on the road or driveways. Also not Everyone has rv parking to begin with. Just a few scattered here and there. Without an HOA im sure we would have rv’s, broken down cars, and god knows what creating eyesores all over the place. which in turn would drag down property values and simply make it less desirable.
bl
I’ve lived in several nice communities and we’ve never had problems with RV’s parking on the street or in the driveways. City ordances take care of that. The HOA in Sierra Canyon costs about 4 times as much as your Spanigh Springs HOA. Our HOA is controlled entirely by the Del Webb and its job is to ensure the entire development looks like a model home sales area.
If you leave your garage door open you get a notice. If you leave a hose connected to the hose bib, you get a notice. The HOA (Del Webb) send out over 200 notices in the Spring for yard clean up and weeding. Frankly, that’s excessive. You have weeds – do you know how many weeds you have to have to qualify for that one? Well, it’s not written down anywhere so 2 weeds qualify.
But Del Webb does expose a soft underbelly from time to time. Example, they put on weekend sales events and invite the owners to come down for refreshments and live entertainment – let’s the prospects met the happy home owners. You should hear the conversations that take place in the models, away from the salesmen’s ears. Pretty much a reflection of what I’ve said here.
Those behind the door conversations could explain some of the sales slump.
I own a home in Sierra Canyon. Would I do it again. Probably not. We picked this over Genoa but I think it was a mistake.