The March sales numbers from the Center for Regional Studies finally got released today, and some very interesting (and disturbing, if you are a seller) trends are emerging. 55% of all resale SFR’s and condos recorded by the Assessor’s office were REO’s county wide. In both January and February, 35% of recorded sales were REO’s.
Using Guy’s "Special Conditions of Sales" figures, REO’s representing roughly only 10% of the MLS listings are accounting for 55% of actual resales. Private party resales actually fell from 107 in February to 79 in March. I’ve had 2 Chase agents and several agents from other brokerages tell me that they are no longer accepting owner listings. Looking at these numbers, it looks like an extremely wise business decision – the tail is wagging the dog.
Sales numbers gleaned from MLS data can’t distinguish new builder homes listed on the MLS from actual resales. Factoring Diane’s monthly sales numbers down 8% to get rid of manufactured housing, her resale figures are 7% over CRS’s numbers in January, 22% over in February, and 31% over in March. I am not criticizing or debating the validity of anyone’s figures here – each of us has our own methodologies, so the trend lines are all that is really important. And I realize there might be a huge surge in manufactured housing resales (not), but it seems to me that builder sales through MLS listings are becoming a significant and unreported percentage of resales.
DonC
Faust – capital gains and losses can get complicated in a hurry. But yes, assuming you could prove the house was an investment (lived in for less than 2 out of the last 5 years?), you could deduct the captial loss. You could either use it to offset capital gains or as an offset to ordinary income at a rate of $1500 or $3000 a year.
first time buyer...waiting
Thanks for all the useful info, esp. RI/BB/Smarten, I’ve been watching and waiting for a nice house in Saddlehorn, Arrowcreek or St James. St James seems to be picking up, at least 2 houses are pending of the 7 or so in the 890-1 mill. range. Saddlehorn is still very expensive and there’s not a whole lot on the market. Arrowcreek is also stagnant, yes there are a lot of Bella Terra and Montelana homes and a few in Granite Pointe but then it’s steep up in price from there. I’d really like to know: what is a fair price/sq ft for a custom home , let’s say St James with land, +/-view? Saddlehorn? Arrowcreek custom vs. semi-custom? Do you think a whole lot more houses will come on the MLS this summer/fall.
Everyone talks about recession but I see one BMV/Hummer etc after another driving around here picking up kids at Sage Ridge (20,000/child/year)It seems that this doesn’t effect them?!?
Any comments/advice???
relocating buyer
hi first time buyer, noticed you are not looking at estates at mount rose. any reason? new houses with large lots, but are they not desireable? thanks for your comments.
smarten
First Time Buyer – Are you really a “first timer” and looking at the higher end of the market?
To answer your question, I personally don’t look at a cost/square foot. A perfect example in St. James Village would be 106 Londonderry – a very reasonable [in a vacuum] $180/square foot. But who needs [or wants to pay for] 5,000+ square feet?
My personal price target for St. James Village is in the mid-$700Ks for about 3,200+/- square feet. If that equates to a more expensive [at least than Londonderry] price/square foot, then so be it.
The higher end of the Reno market is only now starting to come down in price. So I say, we’ve got a way to go [but I think we’ll get there]. Good luck!
Hey Diane. Do you think this “first time” homebuyer can qualify for local first time municipal financing for his/her intended St. James Village purchase[only kidding]?
MikeZ
FormerLurker: My 2cents – buy a home that you can afford and can accommodate you for a long time.>
My 2c – wait and buy next year or the year after and get much more home for the same $ or the same home for much less $. In the meantime invest that down payment and come out even more ahead when the market is ready.
I agree with you anent Reno being an attractive location to live – after all I choose to live here, too. But remember: you can live somewhere without buying a home.
I think you’d agree that it’s never financially beneficial to overspend, especially for such a very large purchase as a house.
first time buyer...waiting
Thanks for the comments!
Relocating buyer: I initially thought I wanted to live in Callahan Ranch for the views and also being out of the trees (maybe lower fire hazard?) but I personally don’t like the Mount Rose estates or most of Callahan Ranch. Cross Creek is nice but expensive and the 4 houses I looked at were not finished that well for almost a million.
St James is great but very far and with gas prices like they are, the beauty may fade.
I’ve been warned by quite a few “reno” people that the Galena area is destined for a blaze sometime soon. I was here during the Arrowcreek fire and that was scary. But I guess there’s been worse.
I’m also from So Cal where we have fire season, mud-slide season, earthquake season and riot season, so this isn’t that bad after all.
Smarten:Yes, believe it or not I truly am a first time buyer and I hate moving so I’d rather purchase a HOME that my family can be happy with for many years to come! I see our HOME as a place for my kids to grow up, not as an investment I plan to flip in a few years but I still don’t want to pay and arm and a leg or lose a substantial amount of money in the next few years. Therefore I am quite picky. I also don’t want to work like a dog to support a house payment. Life is too short for that. I moved here to enjoy all Reno-Tahoe has to offer, not work my life away to keep up with the Jones’.
I have already qualified for a large loan and the more time goes by before we purchase, the bigger my down payment will be. Some of it is invested in stocks doing fine so far and so I can wait for that “perfect HOME” I hope.
I really appreciate your insight into the Reno market:)
first time buyer...waiting
I didn’t read “former lurker’s” comment before, it seems he/she has the same ideas about this as I do, I just have not found anything.
first time buyer...waiting
I’m sure this is asked a lot but what do you all think about Zillow and their Zestimates?
Smarten: I think 700’s are reasonable as well, I can’t understand how normal it seems to many people to spend 1 million or close to that on a home, I think people have lost reality to what that amount of money is.
Londonderry 106 is a strange story, did it foreclose or what? as is and owner to fix interior and landscaping… add another 200+ for that alone! and to heat 5000+ sq ft is very costly in itself.
3 Wombats
Hi Relocating and First Time,
We too have just relocated to Reno with work.
We flew down a couple of times and looked – didn’t buy, even with some pretty good agent pressure that this was the best we could do. Most of the houses that we looked at then are still on the market and dropping their price ;-).
We opted to rent and look around a little bit more. We found a decent rental house on Craig’s list, requested a month to month so that when we found a house we liked at a price we felt was fair we could move. We know that our rental was listed for sale all last year and didn’t sell, so it finally went on the market as a rental. Could our rental house be foreclosed on? Sure! We aren’t too worried, as we believe that the bank would prefer to be generating some income from the property rather than add to the market with yet another property they will loose money on!
We have our cash stashed and it is just making more money waiting for the perfect house.
My take on neighborhoods that we have looked at:
Somersett – nice place and neighborhood feeling. Don’t jump on me, where we come from stucco is not ever used and so it’s not quite as offensive to us as most of you on this blog. Don’t like the earthquake factor. Love the schools!!! This would be very high on our list because of schools.
Caughlin Ranch – If we found the right house we could easily live there. Some of the areas are not as nice as others.
Saddlehorn – fantastic neighborhood, a little bit more of a commute, still over priced. Sellers will get the memo and prices will start to come down. Watching homes here very carefully.
Arrowcreek – Really great neighborhoods. Love being closer to skiing and the views are stunning. Same thing, great schools, will jump if the prices come down.
Mountain Gate – too much noise.
Estates at Mount Rose – very new so not a lot of landscaping and there is a lot for sale. Really close to Mt. Rose Highway.
Mountreux – for us it sort of had the snob factor, great place, too formal for us.
St. James – If I worked from home this would be my home, but I don’t, so we will skip it.
first time buyer...waiting
Hi 3 wombats:Donnybrook (Callahan Ranch)is going/went to the courthouse soon, not a bad house at all!
I heard there is a fault line/s in Arrowcreek and most of SW.
Sommersett’s pool/rec area puts Arrowcreek’s to shame!!!! And yes they have great schools, kids programs, neighborhood feel but my drive would be way too far!
Agree with Mountreux comment, spectacular area and homes built like they should be but still a bit over the top for us!
Mountain Gate-nice models, not cheap when you start adding upgrades, what do they really offer other than a “gate”?
Stop Trashing Reno
Somersett, Caughlin Ranch, Saddlehorn, Arrowcreek, Mountain Gate, Estates at Mount Rose, Mountreux, St. James: words that come to mind: Fierce winds, fierce cyclic fires, earthquake swarms, conspicuous consumption, socially irresponsible, agoraphobic, environmentally irresponsible, future slums. Those of you coming to Reno from elsewhere, think of McCarran as a firewall and take a look at the established neighborhoods, especially the old southwest north of Plum and west of Plumas. These neighborhoods are why people have wanted to relocate to Reno for decades. Most Realtors won’t tell you that locals make fun of all these obnoxious, resource draining hummer communities. They’re like a vampire drain on all that once made Reno beautiful.