– Foreclosure action for July 2010 remained pretty steady, which is probably a bad thing for us, all in all. NODs increased to 674 from 638 in June and 639 in May. NOSs were down to 573 from 600 in June and 582 in May. TDs ticked up to 298 from June’s 294, but down from 327 in May.
– 124 Trustee’s Sales were scheduled for this week. 62 were postponed, 34 were canceled, 23 went back to the lenders as REOs, and 5 were purchased by third parties. Inclinejj tracks similar stats for various markets he is interested in, and Reno Is WAY above his numbers for cancellations. Last week, there was a tag on the site for one property that I had never seen before – "Brought Current".
– One interesting postponed property was the Somersett Town Center, which was supposed to go to sale on the 30th. They got a 3 week reprieve, and are back on the courthouse steps August 21.
– NRES bought 11 TD properties, and sold 8, most notably 2525 W Lake Ridge Shores which was the site of the eviction standoff and fire a couple weeks ago. Greenstreet bought 3 and sold 2. Wood is Good bought 4 but didn’t sell any. ROI Strategies didn’t buy, but sold 2.
– The NOS of the week was for the Boulevard South project at Double R and South Meadows Parkway. Originally envisioned at a 1700 unit condo project in towers up to 40 stories high over a 5 story retail and parking base. One corner of the site was to be a Four Corners Marriott hotel, and another piece was supposed to become the Bordeaux, and high end retirement complex. Both to look dead, too.
– Great Time to Buy a Home – This gem from the President of the Nevada Association of Realtors was in the Homefinders insert to the RGJ Saturday. Is this a reprint from a 2005 article?
– Radioreference is a really cool web site that showed up in some comments on the RGJ this week. You can listen to police, fire, EMT, and air traffic control scanner traffic where available. I’m already addicted to the Reno feeds.
– 123Cam syndicates a bazillion web cam feeds from around the world. It is raining in Dubrovnik as we speak. It is a whole lot of fun.
– Siena – What a mess. Some of the investors have contacted me and provided some pretty shocking documents. But I need a mole from inside to speak about how the hotel vs. casino operations are doing, and ant other information you my know. My email link is at the bottom of the page, and I’m as confidential as you ask me to be. Always. I hate that Reno’s downtown is being held hostage in what comes down to a family feud, so spill your guts!
Just another month gone by for Reno real estate. Feel free to go off on tangents! It’s only a blog.
Doolin
Re “Great Time to Buy a Home” by the President of the Nev. Assoc of Realtors.
I was in Tucson this past week. The President of the local realtor assoc. there put out a release almost exactly verbatim to the one here in Reno. I mean almost literally word for word.
Quite obvioulsy this is a pre-packaged communique from NAR headquarters sent out to be released at the local level by the local foot soldiers.
skeptical
One of my favorite stats just went bonkers — Price Reduction in the last five days.
I occasionally check Mitch Argon’s site for the quick number. It typically hovers at around 60-80.
Well, here we are at the end of July, supposedly the hottest part of the buying season, and it sits at 164 properties reduced in the last 5 days.
A great time to buy, indeed…
Sully
Regarding “Great time to buy” – sounds just like Wall Street as the NASDAQ kept going down, down, down. Still waiting for NASDAQ to finalize a bottom 10 years later – I suspect real estate will also bounce around in a similar manner for a few years.
sleezy
It’s Official! We have hit bottom! How do I know? Mikez told me so! 🙂
SmartMoney
Yeah, let’s not forget, Japan’s real estate fell for 20 years before it finally bottomed.
smarten
Skeptical –
Do you have the price stratas for the 164 properties reduced in price in the last 5 days? I suspect that if you do; and the majority were in the $275K and above price stratas; you would be telling us that this was a positive sign; wouldn’t you?
Just curious.
Reno Ignoramus
Regular readers of this blog will recall that I have been keeping a death watch on the price of Smithridge condos since I had sold one of them in 1979 for $61,500. I had noted that the lowest price for one of them had dropped to $41,500 about 3-4 months ago. Well it appears that they have now fallen below the $40,000 mark. There is one on the MLS for $39,000.
At the height of the bubble a couple of these places sold for $220,000. $220,000 to $39,000. That’s an 82% decline in value. Probably not even Bantering Bear would have predicted an 82% drop in price. Unbelievable.
MikeZ
[SmartMoney] Yeah, let’s not forget, Japan’s real estate fell for 20 years before it finally bottomed.
About 15 years, ’86-’03, but more important than the duration, the valuation trend lines returned to where they should be, extrapolating the prior pre-bubble trend lines.
Return to the long-term growth trend is another good indicator that a bubble has fully deflated.
Randolph
As of this morning, the first 270 listings on the Reno-Sparks MLS are priced at $50K or less.
There are 261 listings between $50K and $75K.
There are 303 listings between $75K and $100K.
You have to go through 834 listings before you get to a property priced at $100K.
Make of this what you want. But one thing is for damn sure….Reno isn’t San Francisco, or Palo Alto, or Monterey, or Malibu. Somebody the other day said prices in Reno are returning to their working class roots. That person was correct.
MikeZ
[RI] $220,000 to $39,000. That’s an 82% decline in value.
If it’s the same/identical unit, in similar condition, that’s a staggering price decline, if not then you’re looking at the price difference between apples and oranges.
Walter
The bottom end of the MLS is comprised of mostly marginal condos and houses, almost all either REO or short sales. Sellers in this range are getting significant pressure to reduce prices because they look around and see that there are 35 properties listed between $49K and $50K. The banks really don’t care at this price point; they will go as low as it takes to unload them.
The price compaction is getting intense at the low end. The days of the $17K condo (not a hotel room in the GSR) are at hand. These bottom end houses will soon be $40K.
MikeZ
[Randolph] You have to go through 834 listings before you get to a property priced at $100K.
Make of this what you want.
What do YOU make of “834 listings under $100K?”
Explain what dots you’ve connected, and why.
Donna
I wonder just how low these bottom end properties are going to go. Are there 834 buyers out there for these places? To buy a place for $50K, you need $10K down. I suspect that many of the people who would consider buying a place for $50K don’t have the $10K down. I suspect that many people who have $10K down wouldn’t want one of these places. A case of those who are willing are unable, and those who are able are unwilling.
When you can buy a house for less money than the price of a nice well-equipped car, it seems very strange.
Sully
As of April/2010 the NBER has not officially called the end to the “Bush Recession”
Now they even have names that put the blame on recessions.
Too bad they don’t call it like it is and mention Lord Rothschild, who controls the FED and several major U.S. based banks.
There is still time for those overpriced cars to come back down to earth, especially if enough houses are selling at the same price they are.
MikeZ
[Donna] To buy a place for $50K, you need $10K down.
I would think a $50K home buyer w/intent to occupy is likely to be FHA (3% down), not Wells Fargo.
sleezy
The sad part is most people don’t even have $50k in savings to buy the house outright.
Steve Herschbach
Hi sleezy,
That is perhaps the most cogent remark I have read here in some while.
Perkins
You think it’s news that most people don’t have $50K in savings?
My brother in law is the F&I guy at a local car dealership here in Reno. This is a new car shop, not one of the cheapo depot places. He says 75% of the people coming in don’t have more than 2 months income saved up. Maybe $8-$10K in savings. If they lost their job and were without work for a couple of months, they are flat out busted.
Steve Herschbach
No, I never thought it was news. But it is sad how many people are approaching their latter years with little or no savings. Some have no choice, but I have seen far too many who did have the ability to save do anything but. A raise is usually seen as an excuse to buy something, not pay down debt or save.
Sully
What Steve says is also showing in statistics. The US savings rate is low and the personal debt rate is high. In times like this, the FED lowers interest rates (.0000025% or practically nothing) on savings accounts in order to loosen up the savings and get consumers spending. This works in normal times, however this time there are no savings to free up and too much debt to pay down.
Hence my comment above that this recession is not even officially over and any talk about a recovery slow or otherwise is premature and wishful thinking.
…and yes a 50K house is most likely to be FHA not WFC financed.
I know this isn’t much about real estate, its the tangent Mike invited to go on. 🙂
HighlyTrainedRealEstateAnalyst
Great points Sully.
Also, keep in mind that the treasury rates are not low only due to increased demand, they are being kept artificially low because the Fed and the banks are among the biggest purchasers. The largest banks can borrow money from the Fed at a rate that is lower than treasuries – A pretty good deal if you can arrange it.
When you combine this with the fact that jobs are being permanently lost due to overseas manufacturing and outsourcing, there is a definite cause for concern regarding any sort of sustainable recovery.
Sleezy
Steve you stole the words right out of my mouth! :d
Loretta
This Siena situation is getting out of hand. Thanks for keeping us posted as we watch our local gem deteriorate on a daily basis.