With 5,000 people moving here each month, somebody had to spill the beans!™

ALL All Video & Audio All Audio (New) Blog
Browse > Home / Archive: August 2011

#122: Sailor Jerry is not to be Trusted

August 31, 2011

Before we speak of the evil that is Sailor Jerry, we talk about one of the best deals in Las Vegas; Restaurant Week. Then, we get jazzy at The Smith Center and talk comedy at the Hard Rock Cafe. Show notes:

icon for podpress  Show #122 [59:47m]: Download

Learn how to Produce Your Own Pro-Level Podcast
Private Telephone Consultation

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

August 31, 2011

Once more it’s time for Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. Here’s the no-nonsense, no spin information you and your REALTOR need 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 and every Friday at our new time, 3:30 PM. Today we talk about Chinese drywall and small multifamily properties.

Summary: The number of available units once more has stayed near unchanged, this week at 14065. However, the remarkable thing is that the median price of both single family homes and condos/townhomes is up! Why? Because the median price on foreclosures is up 5% from 6 weeks ago. Just like available units, contingent and pending units are noodling around their narrow range. We still have strong numbers on sold properties, which means that new inventory is coming in the market to replace closed inventory. Some of that sold inventory is clearly being put to work in the rental market, with no detrimental effect on rents — good news for our future recovery!

The News: Let’s start off with the federal government attempting to cover up the criminal actions of banks through the foreclosure fraud settlement. Foreclosure rates are still high, with 1 in every 611 homes receiving a foreclosure filing of some sort in the 2nd quarter of this year, a slight rise. One of the more alarming facts is that the number of FHA delinquencies has skyrocketed — so REALTORS better have their blue pens ready to fill out lots of HUD paperwork in 2012. However, all that resulting distressed inventory is weighing hard on any possibly housing recovery.

No surprise, mortgage rates are up to a whopping 4.22% on average. I’ll start to worry when they get over about 5.5%. Interest rates are of no matter to cash investors, and finally somebody at CNBC agrees with me that we won’t have a full recovery without a healthy number of real estate investors who are renting property to all those people displaced by foreclosure and short sale.

Another thing that may be key to a long term recovery is principal reduction. While bankers and investors hate the idea, it would reduce the number of short sales and foreclosures, and put homeowners in a position to use the the equity in their homes to start small businesses (which will really create jobs).


[Read more]


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

#121: Should You (or Your Parents) Retire in Las Vegas?

August 24, 2011

After talking about the upcoming meetup, car accidents on 215, one of the best comedy shows we’ve ever seen, and the fact that MGM has to deal with two disasters on their hands (Kardashians and the Harmon Tower), we consider whether or not we did the right thing by having Scott’s mom finally retire in Las Vegas. Show notes:

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

  • LiLV Stuff
  • Weather (109) / LiLV Pool (83) (Excessive Heat Warning in effect)

  • LiLV Meetup: Sept 9th, 4-7pm, Go to our Facebook Event Page to sign up! SPECIAL SPECIAL SPECIAL — First drink is on us. RSVP is required to get your first drink. Please send an email to meetup@vegasvideonetwork.com for each attendee!!

  • Car accidents on 215
  • Seinfeld/Poppa - GREAT comedy, rough drink service
  • What Were They Thinking: MGM -Kardashians open a retail store and the Harmon Towers are going to be imploded
  • Home Prices are down. Average price per square foot? $66
  • VVN: Congrats to Gooch of Awkward Silence 2.1 for his first show!
  • VVN: Something’s happening. . .tell you about it in September
  • Retiring in Las Vegas. The blue state hair decision.
icon for podpress  Show #121 [51:05m]: Download


Filed Under Audio, Facebook, LiLV, LiLV Contributors, Listener Meetup, Live Streaming, MGM Mirage, Vegas Video Network, Video · Leave a Comment  

#120: Vegas Video Network - Now on Your Television

August 22, 2011

First, the next meetup is CONFIRMED for September 9th at the RHUMBAR! (More details in the video version.) Next, two big announcements from VVN including a new host for Awkward Silence 2.1 and your ability to watch all our shows on your television (without using your computer!). Finally, we give a very cool behind-the-scenes look at The Smith Center. Show notes:

icon for podpress  Show #120 [65:33m]: Download


Filed Under Announcement, Audio, LiLV, Listener Meetup, Live Streaming, Live Video Chat, Vegas Video Network, Video · Leave a Comment  

August 22, 2011

In what began as an idea in the LiLV Live Chat Room has turned into our next Living in Las Vegas Podcast / Vegas Video Network Viewer Meetup!!!

This year’s Meetup takes place at one of our favorite bars in Las Vegas — RHUMBAR at The Mirage. The folks at RHUMBAR have set aside an area just for our gathering!

As an added bonus, by RSVP’ing (see below for instructions), your first drink is on us!!

****IMPORTANT****
Anybody can stop by. To get on the list for your **free drink**, please RSVP Facebook AND send an email with a list of attendees (each of whom should have their own email address) to meetup@vegasvideonetwork.com.

These meetups are a BLAST. We’ve been having them since 2006 and they are always a great time to have a drink, meet old friends, and make new friends.

We will be located in the North-East corner of the outside lounge. There should be a large Vegas Video Network banner near us. And while the time of the event says 4-7PM on the Facebook page, you can better believe many of us will be there long after 7PM!

See you there!!!


Filed Under Blog Post, Listener Meetup · Leave a Comment  

August 19, 2011

Hooray for Friday and the Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. Here’s the no-nonsense, no spin information you and your REALTOR need 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 and every Friday at 1 PM. Today we talk about the future of mortgages and give you some valuable tax information.

Summary: The number of available properties was unchanged at 14129, a change from 14057 a year ago. While it’s still true that prices of available homes are lower than last year, the rate at which prices dropped is falling. Also, we have a second week in a row of median prices on foreclosures actually rising!

The News: Bank of America is having another bad week: announcing 3500 employees laid off; they’re also being forced to consider a foreclosure fraud agreement that still allows at least one state investigation (assuming a settlement happens at all, in which case banks may face 50 criminal investigations). Of course, they aren’t the only player in the mortgage fraud mess that’s under fire. S&P — yes, the same S&P that downgraded the United States Government — is now being investigated by the Feds for giving overly optimistic ratings to Mortgage Backed Securities (bonds based on the mortgages of you and your neighbors). Only the timing seems politically motivated; the investigation should have taken place 3 years ago. Fannie Mae is also under fire for allegedly forcing foreclosures over modifications and short sales.

I sincerely hope nobody is surprised to learn that 95% of refinancing homeowners — and there’s a lot of them — are choosing fixed rate mortgages. After all, mortgage rates haven’t been this low in over 50 years! What are the odds that rates will be lower than this in 5 years, when a typical ARM would reset? You’ve got better of winning a few hands of baccarat against James Bond. Take the sure thing: 4.15% for 30 years! Those refinancing homeowners are also choosing shorter terms when they can.

Home sales were down nationally in July, with just over 9 months supply — a far cry from what’s happening in Vegas. Locally, we’re looking at a year where closings rival the boom. Apparently what happens here does stay here! Some experts expect our prices to bottom out in late 2012. In my opinion, that depends what happens with the availability of jobs and mortgages. More on that on today’s show!


[Read more]


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

August 12, 2011

It’s Friday again, and that means it’s time for the Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. Be sure you look at this 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 and every Friday at 1 PM. Today we talk about interest rates, and introduce a great new segment called “What Were They Thinking?”

Summary: The number of available properties was unchanged at 14202. The median price on foreclosed properties appears to be recovering, which is very good news for the market as a whole. The number of rentals has been on the rise, but that hasn’t made any dent in rental rates.

The News: Mortgage rates are at record lows — for reasons I will explain on the show today. If you can pull off a 15 year mortgage, you can have a rate as low as 3.25%. As a result, mortgage applications are up over 20%.

While home prices are down 12.7% nationwide from last year, other people are starting to notice that median prices are changing within a narrow range (alert the media, Lawrence Yun agrees with me!). Remember that a year ago, we were still sorting out the end of the Home Buyer Tax Credit. Home inventory is also down, by 13.3%.

Foreclosures are down as well, for the 10th month in a row! However, Fannie, Freddie, and HUD still own a quarter million foreclosures between them, and a lot of strange ideas are being floated to get rid of them. Fannie Mae is selling them at a record pace, partly thanks to HomePath financing, but since they just got saddled with a bunch of mortgages from Bank of America, expect plenty more FNMA foreclosures. I hope nobody is surprised that banks are dragging their feet when it comes to foreclosing on more expensive homes.

[Read more]


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

#119: What Really Happened at the VVN Invitational

August 10, 2011

Considering the high-stakes nature of the 1st Annual VVN Mini-Golf Invitational, it’s not surprising that some misinformation was disseminated. In this episode of Living in Las Vegas, we provide an accurate assessment of the event. We follow with a great experience at Capital Grille, which has the best deal on wine we’ve ever seen. Show notes:

icon for podpress  Show #119 [60:02m]: Download


Filed Under Audio, LiLV, Listener Meetup, Live Streaming, Vegas Video Network, Video · 2 Comments  

August 5, 2011

Who’s ready for the Friday Figures? All information from the GLVAR MLS system. Be sure you look at this 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 and every Friday at 1 PM. Today we’ll be talking about the Truth About Open Houses and look at whether we really have a “Buyer’s Market.”

Summary: The number of available properties dropped slightly to 14202, a change from 14303 at the beginning of July. Time on market for available units continues to drop! Combined with the fairly static number of available units, it is clear that there are a lot of purchase offers being written. This is the third month in a row that we have had a substantial increase in the number of foreclosures for sale. Another source of concern is that the number of sub-$50k single family homes is on the rise; we are likely to have more than 500 houses in that price range in a matter of weeks. Condos in that price range are declining on a wave of cash buyers. The number of properties under contract is also stable. The surge of closed sales in the last two weeks is further evidence that there is lots of buyer activity all along the property pipeline. The number of available rentals is up as well, which tends to indicate that our large number of closed properties includes quite a bit of investor activity. Smart money is getting into our market now.

The News: Remember last week I mentioned that B of A was demolishing some foreclosures rather than selling them? This week there were a couple of interesting articles on that. One more follow up from last week is this item on “fixer upper” properties. Here’s an interesting article on The Missing Move-Up Buyer that conveniently forgets to mention the reason — many current owners don’t have any equity and would have to short sell to move at all. Despite the fact that there are many first time buyers out there, the home ownership rate hasn’t been this low since 1965, when the first Baby Boomers were just out of high school!

Foreclosures fell in the first half of the year, but foreclosure starts did rise in June. It will be a few weeks before we have July numbers. Meanwhile, New York’s Attorney General is getting serious about enforcing foreclosure law. Let’s hope that’s the start of a nationwide trend (remember, homeowners vote and banks don’t). Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the foreclosure crisis is only a residential real estate problem; commercial mortgage late payments are at a record high.

Mortgage rates have fallen to a multi-decade low, but experts don’t expect that to spur buying because unemployment is still high.

[Read more]


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

#118: Hercules Punch and Cabanas at Caesars Palace

August 3, 2011

We covered quite a bit a ground on this episode of Living in Las Vegas. First, a gauntlet was thrown. (Pity poor Wayne.) Then, rumor has it we’ve got another LiLV Meetup in the works. Finally, we start getting healthier and to celebrate we drink from a punch bowl made of ice (and filled with vodka) in a cabana at Caesars Palace then wonder how a chipmunk called our toll-free listener line. 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 (84)
  • VVN: The Smith Center Calls Us, 1st Annual VVN Mini-Golf Invitational, Scott adds 100lbs to Pub Crawl
  • LiLV Meetup: Sept 9th
  • Cabana and Hercules Punch at Caesars Palace (Thanks, Al!)
  • Getting Fit at Studio 222
  • Listener Audio: Wayne
icon for podpress  Show #118 [74:02m]: Download


Filed Under Audio, Caesars Palace, LiLV, Listener Meetup, Live Streaming, Pools, Vegas Video Network, Video · Leave a Comment