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#114: A First-Hand Look at Crime in Vegas
June 29, 2011
Like any large city, Las Vegas has its fair share of crime. But when it comes a little too close to home. . .well. . .that’s not a feature. In this episode of Living in Las Vegas, we talk about crime in Vegas, share a personal experience, and show you a website that can tell you exactly how much crime is in your neighborhood. Show notes:
- Visit LASIK of Nevada (50% Off Premium LASIK + $200 more if you mention VVN)
- LiLV Stuff
- NEW TOLL-FREE Listener Line: 866.966.4599
- Sign up for Email Alerts (form found on right side of our website)
- Get your questions answered: OnAirQ@LivingInLV.com
- Weather (110) / LiLV Pool (83)
- Vic Vegas and Frankie Scinta are cool peeps
- Thanks Christina!
- Ray and Melissa at El Segundo Sol (Third time’s a charm!)
- Ri Ra + Savile Row
- Listener Email: Studio visit, cell phone carriers
- Crime in Las Vegas
- Living in Las Vegas Moving Kit
- CrimeView Community Incident Map
June 29, 2011
Welcome to Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. Touring, making an offer, or preparing a listing this weekend? Read this first! 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. This week, I’ve got a sneak peak inside an age restricted community (shhh! I’m under 55!) and we open a “mystery box” called “title insurance.”
Summary: The number of available properties dropped slightly to 14410. I have seen some anecdotal evidence that while properties are moving fast in very desirable areas, there is weakness in other spots — particularly larger homes. Be prepared for a drop in the days on market numbers, as the way “Combined Days On Market” is calculated is changing to reflect foreclosure and investment activity. The number of properties under contract is also stable, but still bloated by literally thousands of short sales yet to be approved. The number of properties closing is seasonally high, as many families want to move while school is out for summer — finally a sign of normalcy in this crazy market. The drop in median price of sold units partly reflects sluggish sales of larger homes, and always reflects “bargain hunters.”
The News: Let’s start with some follow-up. I said this last week, but even nationwide “Cash is King” for buying real estate. A few months ago, I talked about HUD homes being the next big thing, and it turns out that May was a record month for sale of those homes. Is it really “A great time to buy a house?” I get asked all the time, and I’m not the only one who thinks it’s controversial. Remember that locally, volume of homes sold is higher than last year even without the home buyer tax credit? Turns out that the experts are surprised. Nationwide there was a drop of only 3.8%.
Once again people are talking about “shadow inventory” — this time it’s “down.” Now they are defining it as “the number of properties that are not currently listed on multiple listing services and are delinquent by 90 days or more, in foreclosure and owned by lenders.” That definition keeps changing.
Banks and state Attorneys General still haven’t come to an agreement on foreclosure fraud, but two of those AGs say if the talks fail, they’re suing the banks. JP Morgan Chase is already settling some civil fraud charges. Between large numbers of people who are out of money, slow judicial systems, and fraud investigations, it may take many months to get through a backlog of foreclosures.
I’ve got some good local news. Traffic at McCarran Airport is up 5% compared to a year ago. People coming to Vegas is great news for our hotels and casinos, which obviously is good news for our entire local economy. Another bit of good news, Vegas is one of the top 25 metropolitan areas best for real estate investors.
#113: What We Found at the Sahara Liquidation Sale
June 22, 2011
In what was one of the most surreal experiences since we’ve lived in Las Vegas, this edition of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast find hosts Scott and Melissa roaming around the shuttered Sahara Hotel and Casino, in what felt like a weird version of a scavenger hunt. Show notes:
- Visit LASIK of Nevada (50% Off Premium LASIK + $200 more if you mention VVN)
- LiLV Stuff
- NEW TOLL-FREE Listener Line: 866.966.4599
- Sign up for Email Alerts (form found on right side of our website)
- Get your questions answered: OnAirQ@LivingInLV.com
- Weather (105) / LiLV Pool (82)
- More new Friends!
- Our first week on KSHP Here’s the promo [mp3].
- Spa Day
- Social House and social media
- Jewelry shopping and the difference in service
- Sahara Liquidation Sale - Completely surreal
June 17, 2011
Let’s kick off the weekend with Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. Touring, making an offer, or preparing a listing this weekend? Read this first! 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’ll talk about financing your new home, and how to give your offer the best odds of getting accepted.
Summary: Available units are still stable, this week at 14530, but that’s still up 19% from last year. While over a third of the increase is due to foreclosures, short sales and non-distressed listings are up substantially as well. Prices of non-distressed homes is starting to trend up. The number of contingent and pending listings is up slightly, but is still down 14% from last year. Part of this reflects banks working through short sales in a more efficient manner. Closings are still going strong, but be ready for a ramp up over the next 2 weeks as we approach not only the end of the month, but also the Independence Day weekend. Available rentals are still trending up, but we still have less than a 2 month supply.
The News: Foreclosure activity is down to a 42 month low, falling by a third from last year. However, Nevada still leads the nation in foreclosures, and some researchers think the number is mostly down as banks fix problems with filing. In other foreclosure news, the Feds say that Bank of America has actively hindered their investigation into foreclosure fraud. Meanwhile, New York and Delaware are getting even more serious about investigating, and Michigan has issued criminal subpoenas. Good news for those of you trying to negotiate a short sale with CitiMortgage; not only are times to complete the sale down, but on average they are paying $12,000 in incentives after closing.
This week we were told what many suspected, our housing crisis is officially as bad as the Great Depression. Some experts think we may have a bottom by “next winter.”
Just a couple of fun items at the end. First, the top 9 things home buyers are looking for now; and second, a federal judge has decided that RightHaven cannot sue on the behalf of the Las Vegas Review Journal. This almost amused me enough to post the entire article, as it appeared in the RJ.
#112: I Hope We Pass the Audition
June 15, 2011
In our first episode to be syndicated on Las Vegas’ AM 1400, KSHP, this episode of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast features the great outdoors, man’s best friend, and proof that you can be a senior citizen and still rock. (And yes, I wore the same shirt four episodes ago. So what.) Show notes:
- Visit LASIK of Nevada (50% Off Premium LASIK + $200 more if you mention VVN)
- LiLV Stuff
- NEW TOLL-FREE Listener Line: 866.966.4599
- Sign up for Email Alerts (form found on right side of our website)
- Get your questions answered: OnAirQ@LivingInLV.com
- Weather (101) / LiLV Pool (84. . .YES!!!!!!)
- We’ve got some more new Friends!
- KSHP Syndication deal. Here’s the promo [mp3].
- Capital Grille and their lockers
- Red Rock National Conservation Area
- Listener Email: Dog parks
- Paul McCartney concert
June 15, 2011
It’s time for another edition of Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. Touring, making an offer, or preparing a listing this weekend? Read this first! 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’ve found something really rare for you, a Summerlin home for only $135,000! Really! And it’s bigger than a cardboard box! We’ll also talk about the most dangerous part of the escrow period.
Summary: The number of available units remains stable at 14613. Clearly there’s a good balance between the number of sellers and buyers. The real test will be whether that holds in Autumn. Contingent properties did rise, reflecting short sales working through the system. This is a painful but necessary part of getting back to a “normal” market. I am seeing anecdotal evidence that programs like HAFA are starting to get the backlog moving more quickly. The best place to see this is in the total time on market for sold properties, which is slowly but surely dropping. The number of available rentals is slowly rising, but we still have less than 2 months supply.
The News: There’s a lot of news this week, so let’s get started. Experts are admitting that they don’t really know what will happen to the residential real estate market in the future — let alone the commercial real estate market or the land market — but it could still be ugly. The equity Americans have in their homes has not been this low since World War 2 (a situation that will oddly enough improve when more foreclosures and short sales go through).
Mortgage rates are down yet again for the 8th straight week to 4.49%. That means a buyer with 20% down can be in a median priced Vegas home for under $650 per month, including taxes and insurance. This is crazy and just can’t continue forever.
The Feds are finally getting tough with 3 big mortgage servicers on HAMP. They plan to stop paying Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and JP Morgan Chase for the program until they shape up and start following the law/rules. This is part of a larger government initiative to help more troubled homeowners.
Locally, I have a glimmer of good news: our mortgage delinquency rate is falling. This has to happen before we can possibly have an end to the foreclosure and short sale crisis. Even so, we still do have declining prices in most parts of town.
June 13, 2011
We just announced over on the Vegas Video Network website that we’ve struck a syndication deal with KSHP, here in Las Vegas. The entire lineup of VVN programming will be on from 6PM – 10PM every Friday, beginning June 17th.
Here’s the press release: Vegas Video Network to be Syndicated on Las Vegas Radio Station KSHP
(If you go to the link, you’ll hear the promo being run as well!)
#111: Stranded at the Drive-In
June 8, 2011
Remember back in high school when you and your friends would pile into your buddy’s car and go to the drive-in theater? Well, you would if you were hosts Scott and Melissa’s high school friends! In this episode of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast, we hear from Ellis Island Casino after our review of their property and discover the only drive-in movie theater in Las Vegas. 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 (90) / LiLV Pool (76)
- We’ve got some new Friends!
- Ellis Island responds to Episode 101 of the LiLV Podcast
- West Wind Drive-In Theater
June 3, 2011
Thanks for dropping by to read Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. Touring, making an offer, or preparing a listing this weekend? Read this first! 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’ll help you figure out how to make sense of the real estate news.
Summary: By some odd quirk, we have 14632 available — the exact same number as when I put together the May 6 Friday Figures! Despite a nationwide drop in the number of homes under contract, our number is up. Much to my surprise, we had another strong week of closings! Despite the short work week, many sellers (and buyers too) wanted to get the transaction completed by the last day of May.
The News: It hasn’t been a good week for economic news. This morning we learned that unemployment is up to 9.1% and only 54,000 jobs were created last month — a third of what we need just to have jobs for people who are new to the workforce. As CNN and our local Fox affiliate point out, “Home prices won’t rebound until jobs come back. But jobs won’t come back until the housing mess gets fixed.”
Even though the Case-Shiller index showed a decline in housing prices, the CoreLogic Home Price Index showed an increase in prices! Some experts expect a further price drop this summer as desperate sellers try to get out. Foreclosed homes are on average listed at 27% below non-distressed properties nationwide. Remember, that’s a lower starting price, it does not imply that you can make an offer for 27% less than list price and get it accepted!
Future foreclosures may be on the wane — fewer delinquencies and more modifications — but many experts think the recovery is “slow.” Despite this, the CEO of Bank of America sees bad mortgages as a problem going forward. The Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development has gone on record to say we should expect a foreclosure settlement between various government officials and banks within weeks. It is not known whether the settlement will be more than a slap on the wrist to banks that have broken the law.
While mortgage interest rates hit yet another low this week, some Fed officials are calling for a rise in the interest rates banks pay to borrow money from one another and the government. In the long run, this would push up mortgage rates. Needless to say, other experts think that’s a bad idea.
#110: 1AM on a Saturday? Let’s Get a Tattoo
June 1, 2011
For this Memorial Day weekend, some of our good friends from California decided to visit Vegas for some much-needed “adult-time”. So for this episode of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast, we check out some nearly nude “street performers”, drink “Devil’s Margaritas” by the pool, and spend early Saturday morning getting a couple tattoos. 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 (90) / LiLV Pool ($84$)
- VEGAS VIDEO NETWORK News: Radio syndication in the works for ALL VVN shows!
- Scott’s surgery from just hours before the show (trooper!!)
- Listener Email: More on Cirque, Vegas “Haters”
- Chart House tip
- Street Performers (enough, already)
- Don’t Tell Mama
- Insert Coins (high score!)
- Presidential Limo
- Mastro’s Ocean Club restaurant
- Mario Barth King Ink tattoo adventure
