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#101: Hookers, Gangs and $1.75 Beer; A Different Kind of Island

March 30, 2011

It’s amazing what you see when you stay out until 4AM on a Sunday morning in Las Vegas. Which explains why in this episode of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast, we talk about things that can’t be un-seen. Show notes:

icon for podpress  Show #101 [49:12m]: Download

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Filed Under Audio, Casino, LiLV, Listeners, Live Streaming, Live Video Chat, Restaurant, Vegas Video Network, Video · 2 Comments  

March 25, 2011

And once more it’s time for Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. Here’s what you and your Realtor really need to know before touring, making an offer, or preparing a listing this weekend. You can see me tell you about the figures live on Getting REAL (Estate) in Vegas on the Vegas Video Network today at 1 PM. Today I’m talking about online real estate searches.

Summary: We’re down to 14846 available properties. The amazing thing is that this is happening without a home buyers’ tax credit, even though all the major banks have resumed foreclosures. The list of homes to be sold on the “courthouse steps” is still daunting, so this number may not stay low. Unfortunately, the price of available units is down. The number of short sales available and contingent continues to go down, which is probably a good sign (unless of course it means the homes that would be short sales now will be foreclosures by summer!). Closings are up as the end of the month approaches, and may remain elevated through spring and summer. However, seasonal buying patterns have been disrupted by the large number of low price distressed properties available over the last few years.

The News: I’m not a fan of any article that includes the phrase “throwing your money away on rent.” Did you get a roof over your head for that money? Yes! However, the article makes some good points about how to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of owning your home. This is more true since it seems that higher down payments will be the rule. While down payment assistance programs do exist, they are not always the best option. While mortgage rates remain below 5% at 4.81%, they are going up. It is my personal opinion that rates almost certainly will be higher a year from now. Home sales nationally are certainly in an interesting spot: sales are down almost 10%, yet inventory of available homes is down too!

Possible agreements for preventing foreclosures — or at least minimizing the damage they cause — are still flying back and forth with no actual settlement in sight. Shareholders in the big banks are also upset and want answers about how we got here and what’s going to make things right going forward. I certainly have no sympathy for Florida courts, where there is a big budget problem because foreclosure freezes mean no foreclosure fees!

Sometimes no news is good news: the Las Vegas unemployment rate remains at 13.7%, but at least it didn’t go up. Passenger count is up at the airport, which means more people are traveling in and out of Las Vegas, spending money while they are here. The Nevada Supreme Court is looking for ways to improve our mediation process, and they want volunteers from the public to help! The deadline to apply is Monday.

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Filed Under Blog Post, Foreclosures, Real Estate, Short Sales · Leave a Comment  

#100: Snowing in Vegas? Ask the DA

March 23, 2011

As we celebrate our 100th episode(!) of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast, we take some time to reminisce, drink some wine, talk comedy, visit MGM Grand (courtesy of CBS), talk home prices and explain why nobody was surprised the deputy district attorney who brought Paris Hilton and Bruno Mars to court was himself doing cocaine.

  • Visit LASIK of Nevada (50% Off Premium LASIK + $200 more if you mention VVN)

  • LiLV Stuff
    • Listener Line: 206.312.0105
    • Sign up for Email Alerts (form found on right side of our website)
    • Get your questions answered: OnAirQ@LivingInLV.com
  • Weather (61) / LiLV Pool (53)
  • VEGAS VIDEO NETWORK News: AUDIO-ONLY EPISODES are ready, Awkward Silence updates
  • Comedy with VVN Hosts Scott Pritchard and Brian Mollica
  • MGM Grand on Undercover Boss
  • Deputy district attorney arrested for cocaine possession
  • Viewer Email: Best place to eat in downtown Las Vegas
  • Hot or Horrible: Triple George Grill
icon for podpress  Show #100 [57:14m]: Download


Filed Under Audio, Comedy, Downtown, Fremont District, LiLV, Live Streaming, Vegas Video Network, Video · Leave a Comment  

March 18, 2011

Welcome to Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. It’s the “real deal” you and your Realtor must know before touring, making an offer, or preparing a listing this weekend. You can see me tell you about the figures live on Getting REAL (Estate) in Vegas on the Vegas Video Network today at 1 PM. Today we will take a look into the “crystal ball” at The Next Big Thing.

Summary: There are 15066 available properties, little change from last week but up substantially from last year! Prices of available units continue to slide in both distressed and non-distressed properties. The number of properties under contract to be sold is rising, but is down almost 20% from last year. This is actually good news, as it does reflect banks working through a backlog of contingent short sales! There does seem to be a slowing in the rate at which prices are dropping year-over-year; possibly the first step in a turnaround? Rents seem immune to the law of supply and demand for now.

The News: The mortgage settlement agreement between banks and the states is not a done deal yet, and it does look like many details will have to be hammered out. “At least a dozen states” oppose the deal, and that would be a quarter of them. In the meantime, the courts are starting to come down on banks that break the law (about time!) and internet “hactivist” group Anonymous is putting the evidence of bankers’ fraud in the public eye.

The silver lining on dropping home prices is that housing affordability reached an all time high in January. The housing bust has also resulted in a record number of empty homes in Nevada, making Vegas the second emptiest city in the nation. Mortgage rates are down: 30 year fixed is at 4.91% and 15 year is at 4.12% on average.

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Filed Under Blog Post, Foreclosures, Real Estate, Short Sales · Leave a Comment  

March 17, 2011

iTunesBug-VVN-LiLV-Audio[1] As those of you who are long time listeners/viewers of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast know, since launching the VEGAS VIDEO NETWORK in October/2010, we switched our main LiLV podcast feed from audio to video. Since then, we’ve received some very nice feedback about the switch (yes, I know Melissa is pretty). However, for some folks who don’t have video-viewing capabilities, or who want to listen to the show "on the go", the video-only options was limiting.

We’ve been considering this addition for some time. Come to find out, integrating an audio feed for each and every show currently running on the VEGAS VIDEO NETWORK, and doing so in an as automated fashion as possible, is not as easy as you might think.

We’ve spent time re-designing our production workflow and are happy to announce the Vegas Video Network now offers audio-only versions of all our current programming, including the Living in Las Vegas Podcast!

On the VVN website, we’ve added a new AUDIO page for folks who just want to listen or download their favorite episodes (LiLV or the other shows as well). I’ve added a audio-only RSS link to the top of the www.LivingInLV.com website.

Three Ways to Listen

If you want to list the most recent audio version of the LiLV Podcast on the web, click here.

For those of you who use iTunes, click here and iTunes will automatically start and load/subscribe to the new audio feed.

For those who want access to the RSS feed (suitable for Google Reader, for example), you’ll want to click this link.

Here are those links again:

Thanks all for the feedback and continued support. Melissa and I appreciate it!


Filed Under Announcement, Blog Post · 5 Comments  

#99: A Return to Lake Las Vegas

March 16, 2011

The live show got a bit of a late start because Melissa had to have a “conversation” with a pharmacist before getting to the studio.

Yikes.

After that bit of show and tell, in this episode of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast we head out to Lake Las Vegas for the first time in what seems like years. Then, we discover a GREAT comedy club that’s about to celebrate its one year anniversary.

icon for podpress  Show #99 [61:07m]: Download


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March 11, 2011

It’s a great day for Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. It’s the “real deal” you and your Realtor must know before touring, making an offer, or preparing a listing this weekend. You can see me tell you about the figures live on Getting REAL (Estate) in Vegas on the Vegas Video Network today at 1 PM. Today’s topic: “Full Disclosure.”

Summary: Available properties dropped again to 15158. Will the number remain stable over 15,000, or drop further? What’s really encouraging is the the number of available units dropped in almost every price category. That includes the under $50k and under $100k inventory that I’ve been worried about since I started working the figures! It’s no shock that contingent and pending listings are up when available properties are down. This means sellers are pricing reasonably and getting offers (instead of pricing high and having to let the listing expire with no offers). We did fall back to a more “normal” level of closed listings this week. Expect another rush of closings near the end of the month as renters want to get settled and banks want to get foreclosures and short sales off the books before the end of the first quarter.

Other Information: Some experts say that housing will continue to lag the general economic recovery, as it will take time to put the millions of unemployed people to work. Unemployment is falling in 24 states, including Nevada at 14.2% (15.1% in Las Vegas). House prices did decline in early this year both nationally and locally, but the number of homes sold did rise. “Cash is king” is still the rule of thumb for closed sales both nationwide and in Vegas. Nevertheless, mortgage applications rose 16% last week, propelled by mortgage rates that remain under 5% at 4.88%. While we are on the topic of mortgages, it turns out that even very smart people with degrees in business sometimes end up having trouble getting banks to play by the rules.

Foreclosure filings dropped 27%, but we aren’t out of the woods yet. Almost 1 in 4 homes is “underwater” — worth less than the mortgage amount — and it means those homeowners have a hard time selling their homes to move to new job opportunities (and no chance of extracting equity to finance a small business). While there are Federal programs to help certain homeowners who aren’t very far underwater, those programs are a bad joke in the Vegas market. This is particularly of concern since only 3 out of 5 short sales close in California. People who can’t sell, can’t refinance, and can’t afford to stay will walk away.

In local news, there has been a “small decline” in economic conditions, the drop in unemployment aside. If you are considering a loan modification, be sure you read this item on local mod scams first. And just for fun, the “Chip Monk.”

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Filed Under Blog Post, Foreclosures, Real Estate, Short Sales · Leave a Comment  

#98: Is Sinatra ‘Winning’ at Wynn Las Vegas

March 9, 2011

Along with news about the growth in Las Vegas over the past 10 years, this version of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast touches on the big Home Owner Association corruption case taken over by the U.S. Justice Department and whether the new Sinatra show at Wynn Las Vegas really swings. Show notes:

  • Visit LASIK of Nevada (50% Off Premium LASIK + $200 more if you mention VVN)

  • LiLV Stuff
    • Listener Line: 206.312.0105
    • Sign up for Email Alerts (form found on right side of our website)
    • Get your questions answered: OnAirQ@LivingInLV.com
  • Weather (everyone knows she’s Windy. . .) / LiLV Pool (54)
  • Chat room immediately gets involved in the show
  • Drive like Melissa (actually….don’t)
  • VEGAS VIDEO NETWORK News: Talking to potential hosts for three new shows. One show will start April 18th.
  • Census: 2000 vs. 2010
  • HOA Corruption in Las Vegas (guess being told to pull the weeds isn’t so bad afterall)
  • Sinatra: Dance With Me at Wynn Las Vegas
icon for podpress  Show #98 [61:40m]: Download


Filed Under Audio, LiLV, Live Streaming, Live Video Chat, Shows, Vegas Video Network, Video, Wynn · Leave a Comment  

March 4, 2011

March forth fourth Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. Here’s the facts and useful information you and your Realtor must know before touring, making an offer, or preparing a listing this weekend. You can see me tell you about the figures live on Getting REAL (Estate) in Vegas on the Vegas Video Network today at 1 PM.


Summary: It’s another drop for available units, this week to 15437. While median price on single family homes did rise, we now have over 400 houses priced at or below $50,000. It was no surprise that while available units is down month over month, contingent and pending units are up. It was just an amazing week for closings, with over 1000 units closed. This sometimes happens at the end or beginning of the month. While sales prices were up for the second week in a row, they were still down less than 1% month over month.Other Information: Various government foreclosure prevention programs are under fire this week, with bills to eliminate them circulating around the Capitol. It is undeniable that these programs have not worked as hoped. While Bank of America foreclosures have resumed, HSBC has halted them. JP Morgan may face fines and “enforcement” for its mortgage and foreclosure practices.

In general real estate news, interest rates fell again to 4.87%. USA Today did a nice item on why so many appraisals are coming back low. And here’s yet another round in the dispute over NAR’s home sales numbers.

Locally, we had the highest January home sales numbers since 2007. The price of a new home in the Las Vegas Valley rose 2.8%. Nevada has a new mortgage assistance program for those having trouble making payments. And finally: like the idea of living in a high rise condo, but not sure you want to buy one? Rent one instead!

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Filed Under Blog Post, Foreclosures, Real Estate, Short Sales · 2 Comments  

#97: Step 1-Rob a Casino, Step 2-Get Caught (rinse and repeat)

March 1, 2011

You thought the guy who robbed the Bellagio was a little mentally soft, wait to you hear about the trio of geniuses involved with the Rio Casino robbery. In this episode of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast, we teach you how not to rob a casino, followed by why visiting Maui as a Las Vegan is pretty cool. Show notes:

  • Visit LASIK of Nevada (50% Off Premium LASIK + $200 more if you mention VVN)

  • LiLV Stuff
    • Listener Line: 206.312.0105
    • Sign up for Email Alerts (form found on right side of our website)
    • Get your questions answered: OnAirQ@LivingInLV.com
  • Weather (58) / LiLV Pool (a place for Scott to break things)
  • Complicated haircuts
  • New definition of iPod Touch (Scott’s in trouble here)
  • VEGAS VIDEO NETWORK News: Working on a new show for Mondays.
  • Rio Robbery Recap
  • Hawaii for Scott’s BIG birthday celebration (Did you know Vegas is considered the 9th Hawaiian island?)
  • Stratosphere visit (impressive)
  • VVN Offer: We’ll pay for one viewer (or host…) to jump!
icon for podpress  Show #97 [60:06m]: Download


Filed Under Audio, LiLV, Live Streaming, Vegas Video Network, Video · Leave a Comment