Rania Habchi

By Hubble Smith – How low can it go?

Some real-estate market watchers predict Las Vegas will reach bottom when home prices match those in Detroit, one of the nation’s hardest-hit cities for foreclosures and unemployment.  Homes are reportedly selling for just a few thousand dollars there.  Las Vegas is getting close. The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reports that the cheapest single-family detached house for sale on the Multiple Listing Service is $10,000.  It’s an 1,160-square-foot, single-story home with three bedrooms and a bath, built in 1957, at 1389 Lawry Ave., near Martin Luther King and Lake Mead boulevards.  The bank-owned home lacks amenities such as a pool and spa, built-in backyard barbecue and custom landscaping, and needs repairs.  However, it features decorative wrought-iron bars over the windows and reinforced-steel dead bolts on the doors.

What do you expect for $8 a square foot?

There are 10 homes listed for sale in Las Vegas for less than $25,000. Most are fixer-uppers in older parts of town, Realtor Robin Camacho of top10realestatevalues.com said.

Interested in a condominium?

She found 12 units on the Multiple Listing Service between $11,000 and $20,000, again not in the most desirable areas. At the bottom is a 776-square-foot, two-bedroom unit at 1720 W. Bonanza Road for $11,500.  Her best deals are found primarily in the east and north areas of Las Vegas. They’ve been built since 2000 and are priced from $55,000 to $100,000.  Some need work and some are ready for movein, like the 1,400-square-foot, two-story home near Sam Boyd Stadium that’s listed for $62,000. All it needs is a fresh coat of paint — maybe just wash the walls — and the carpets cleaned and it could be rented tomorrow, Camacho said.  The home sold new for $217,000 in 2007 and will probably get bid up to $85,000, she said.

Tim Sullivan of San Diego-based Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors said some home prices may fall even more.  “I think you will find that a few poorly located homes may see further price drops,” he said.  “But the best stuff may be leveling soon.”  The key to price stability in Las Vegas is jobs and foreclosures, he said. Camacho uses about 70 different factors to determine her top 10 deals, including price, home. Homes rotate in and out of her Web site almost hourly as new homes come on the market, she said.  “We’re looking to show houses that are the best value for our client’s money,” Camacho said, “not just the best price.”  Investors are snapping up some of the deals for rentals, looking to beat any possible price turnaround, she said. The median price of existing single-family homes in California turned up 4.2 percent in May to $267,570.

The median price in Las Vegas was $130,000 in May, unchanged from the previous month, Home Builders Research reported. It’s down 43.5 percent, or $100,000, from a year ago and has returned to the same level of December 2000.  Home Builders Research President Dennis Smith said he’s hearing from Realtors that real estate-owned assignments from the banks are increasing dramatically. Some of those are tentatively going to be listed at $40,000 to $50,000, he said.

How long it takes the marketplace to absorb these homes will help signal when we can expect to see the bottom of the resale housing segment, Smith said.  “The reason prices, especially resales, continue to go down is because that’s all that’s selling,” he said. “Why is that? Because the lending environment has changed to where it’s difficult to obtain a new loan on anything but (Federal Housing Administration) FHA and (Veterans Affairs) VA.”

An excess supply of homes on the market — many of them vacant and in foreclosure — continues to put downward pressure on prices, economist Keith Schwer of the Center for Business and Economic Research said. Nevada has been identified as one of fourhousing bubble states and has experienced the highest rate of foreclosures in the nation.  The Case-Shiller Home Price Index followed a tight trend line for Southern Nevada from 1987 to 2002, followed by a modest increase in 2003.

From 2004 to 2006, the index took off vertically, peaking in 2006, then descending steeply into March. It’s now dipped below the trend line, signaling a return to housing affordability in Las Vegas. Sellers have slowly and reluctantly lowered home prices, but not enough to soak up excess inventory, Schwer said. “We have seen housing price declines over time,” he said. “Housing markets invariably adjust slowly to an excess supply, but rapidly to excess demand.”

Housing analyst Smith doubts that median prices in Las Vegas will ever go as low as Detroit. “Detroit is home to GM,” he said. “How many people are moving from Detroit to Las Vegas and how many people are moving from Las Vegas to Detroit? I don’t know any.”

YES! you read correctly.

The Obama administration is giving $8,000 of tax credit for first time home buyers.

Property prices in the Las Vegas area are at an all time low.  We haven’t seen these prices since the late 1990′s.  Furthermore, interest rates are at their lowest.  Most of these properties are FHA funded and will only require a 3.5% of the purchase price as down-payment.

If you haven’t purchased a home in three (3) years and over; you can qualify for this program.

Like any deal, there is a catch.  This offer expires December 1st.  Meaning the deal has to close on or before that date for you to be eligible for the $8,000 tax credit.

The good news is, we still have beautiful homes in dire need of a loving and caring owner.

As of today; there are over 1600 homes priced at or below $100,000 in our Valley.

Feel free to contact me should you have any questions.

My question to you is:  who do you know that would like to buy Real Estate in Las Vegas in the next month or two?

Call me on my cell 702-595-6196 or you can email me rania@raniahabchi.com or fill out the online form.

Thank you

Rania

Step #1:

Get “pre-approved” with a lender. We need to make sure you are comfortable with the payment, and that your finances are “in order”. The lender will review what your payments will be based on the price you qualify for taking, into consideration any down payment amount. As we locate properties in which you are interested, we will run these payment numbers again with the accurate tax amounts, any HOA dues, SIDS, LIDS, assessments, figured in before we make an offer. We will need to have $1,000-$3,000 available for an Earnest Money Deposit to submit with any offer. This can be in the form of a personal check to present with the offer, but may need to be in certified funds once an offer is accepted and we are opening escrow. The Earnest Money Deposit check does apply towards the purchase of your home. You may need reserves (like in savings, or a 401K, or stocks, etc) in place to cover a certain number of monthly payments; you may need to have funds available to cover closing costs.  The different types of financing will be reviewed and we will find a loan program that will suit your budget. You will also eventually need to have a check for the appraisal, which is usually $400-$450, which will be ordered after we have acceptance of the offer.

Step #2:

We will discuss your wants and needs; this can be done face to face or via e-mail.  I will look into the available inventory and see what we can find that suits your needs.

Step #3:

We will go out looking at homes when it is convenient for you. Please do not talk to any other agents (for example, the listing agent whose name is on the sign in the yard), I am working for you, and I want what is best for you.  There is the rare occasion that I will represent a seller and a buyer for the same property (I am the listing agent and the buyer isn’t working with an agent and wants to buy my listing).  In this case, I am working for you as a buyer’s agent, and you don’t need to call the listing agent on the sign! That being said; if there is a listing in my inventory I think will work for you, I will definitely show it to you. This is because I am skilled in dual representation, which is representing both buyer and seller (whose wants and needs are opposite from each other). When it all boils down, in the end, the buyer wants the best deal possible, and the seller wants the same thing. If the seller feels like they are being taken advantage of, they will walk away from the deal, and if the buyer feels that they are being taken advantage of, they will walk away. The happy medium is to find the place where both sides are comfortable. This requires skill and loyalty to each side on the part of an agent, not “tipping the hand” so to speak. Not all agents have the ability to keep things separate and ethically and peacefully negotiate the fine line of agreement between a buyer and a seller. In most cases, the listing agents only want what is best for their clients (the sellers).  The same is true for new home tracts, the agents are very helpful, and knowledgeable about their product, but they represent the builder, not you as a buyer. So, even though it is very tempting to go looking at new homes, please don’t go without me!  They won’t allow me to represent you if you go there first without me.

Step #4:

Once we locate a home you want to make an offer on, we will sit down and write the offer. I am enclosing a copy of the contract, for you to review.  I will explain it when we meet.  I am also enclosing the other forms we will complete when we put in an offer on a property. Most of the properties we will be looking at are foreclosures or are in pre-foreclosure. Most of the pre-foreclosure homes are “short sales” which means that the owners are trying to sell them for less than (short of) their mortgage balance. This is a time-consuming process that sometimes works out and sometimes doesn’t, as the banks holding these mortgages are overwhelmed with this practice and the numbers of already foreclosed homes. The process is difficult also because of the many different departments of the bank. These departments don’t seem to communicate with each other, and we have seen a home for sale as a short sale that is under contract and almost made it through the escrow process, days away from belonging to the buyer and the foreclosure department hasn’t stopped the process and the house goes to the foreclosure auction and everyone loses out. The buyer doesn’t get the house (they do get their Earnest Money Deposit back though and have to start over), the bank now owns a home they really don’t want to own, and the seller now has a foreclosure on their record.  We use a short sale disclosure form reviewing all of the risks (although sometimes the risks payoff) and I am including a copy of it in this package. We will definitely get a counter offer on any bank-owned property. If we are putting in an offer on a home that is not bank-owned or a short sale, we may still get a counter-offer from the sellers. We will sit down, review any and all counter offers and look at the terms to make sure we can perform to the contract’s “new” terms and then decide whether or not to accept it.

There is the chance the offer will be rejected. If so, we go out and look again, or revise our offer on the first property.

Once we get an accepted contract from the sellers and/or bank you agree with as well, then I will open escrow with the title company and give them the check for the Earnest Money Deposit.  We will give the appraisal check to your lender and they will order it.

Step #5:

We will need to complete our due diligence (the steps we take to investigate the property to determine if it is suitable for purchase), such as a certified home inspection (I can send you information from a couple of different home inspectors I have worked with), and any other inspections (roof, mold, termite, structural) and the appraisal. Home Inspections cost between $295-$350 depending on the size of the property, there is an additional charge for out-buildings, pools, spas. The purchase agreement dictates how these things are paid for (generally you as a buyer pay for them).  They are paid up front to the inspector(s) at the time of the inspection(s). On a bank owned property, the time frame for completion of all inspections is usually 5 days, but never more than 10 days.

Step #6:

Once we get the results of the inspections, on a sale not owned by a bank or in a short sale situation, we will (if necessary) write up an inspection addendum requesting repairs or compensation (this is negotiable). Upon agreement between the seller and you, we will forward this to title so that it is put together with the original contract. If the property is bank-owned, there are no repair negotiations, the property is being sold “as-is” and the inspection is really for you to learn the property’s condition since there is no one to tell you anything about it. The bank has never seen the property and knows nothing about it. You will be required to sign and notarize a waiver of Nevada Revised Statutes #113 (I have included this form too).  The only rights you are not waiving are the rights for you to cancel the contract based on the results of your certified home inspection. Based on the certified home inspection there is always the option for you to back out of the contract and rescind the purchase agreement. This must be done in writing and within the 5 day due diligence period.

Step #7:

If there is a Home Owners’ Association, it is required by Nevada Law that you review and approve (or disapprove) of the Home Owners’ Association “Re-sale package”, including the Rules & Regulations, CCR’s, budgets, reserve studies, etc. There is a charge for this package, usually $200 or less per association (yes, some homes fall under more than 1 association, although it is common only in master-planned communities). On bank owned properties, you will be bearing the cost of this package, in most cases it is paid up front in order to obtain the package. Some banks agree to reimburse you for this, but not many. There is also a fee to transfer the account to you as the new owner of the property. This is usually no more than $200 per association as well and is paid at closing, not in advance. If there is no HOA, then this step is not applicable.

Step #8:

Now we wait for your lender to get the loan completely approved (through the underwriting department).  They will contact us should they need anything from you in order to process the loan paperwork. As soon as it is through underwriting, the lender will send the loan documents to the title company and we will set an appointment to sign them at the title office.  We will also find out how much money you will need to bring with you for closing costs to the title company (if applicable).  This will need to be in a form of a cashier’s check.

Step #9:

At this time (as we are preparing to go to the title company to sign your buyers’ documents) you will need to make arrangements for the utilities to be placed into your name (we should have a very good idea of what the closing date will be).  I will give you all of the utility company information to make this a little easier. Be aware there may be deposits required by the utility departments.  You will also have to shop for Home Owner Insurance.   The cost will vary depending on the size of the property and its location, the insurance Co, the coverage you want and the area in which the property is located.  The cost can be paid upfront or factored in with your mortgage payment.

Step #10:

The lender will receive the paperwork back from the title company and will review it (anywhere from 1-2 days).  Upon final review and all conditions cleared, they will send the funds to title. If it is a bank-owned property, there is also a 24-72 hour review period for the bank that owns the property to review their settlement statement and approve it (all the bank’s expenses for all costs associated up to the day of closing; property taxes, any liens against the property, HOA dues, any closing costs they are paying on your behalf, their own closing costs, etc). When title receives all funds, if it is before 2pm, they will send the paperwork to the County offices for it to be recorded.  This can now be done electronically with most title companies. Please keep in mind that this may be as long as 5 (maybe even up to 10-14 days on bank-owned property) after you originally signed your paperwork before the property records in your name(s).

Step #11:

As soon as the recording happens; I give you the keys and the place is yours!

In many cases, the list prices are so low that properties are getting multiple offers within days of coming on the market. You can save some  time by searching for properties right here! Use the property search feature on the right side of the screen. Be sure to look at the status of each listing: “EA”and “ER” are the status you are looking for. If you read “C”, or “P” this means  the property is under contract. You can also save listings, send me comments & questions and schedule showings from your computer.  Sometimes properties have  accepted offers  by the bank, however, the paperwork is not complete . I would suggest your send me your list of properties the day before the scheduled  home-shopping so I can call and double check  property status. Check it out, and let me know what you think!

Seems we’ve been inundated with bad news lately: from 40,000 locals possibly exposed to hepatitis and HIV to ricin showing up at a hotel to an animal clinic burning. Now seems like a fine moment to offer a reminder of some good stuff. Here’s a few things we love about living here.

1. No state taxes. ’Tis the season to count this blessing, as well as our tradition of having our cake and eating it, too.
2. Cake. Specifically, cupcakes from Vegas’ own Cupcakery
3. Celebrity chefs and, of course, the food they create. Joel Robuchon; Wolfgang; Emeril; Guy Savoy; Mario Batali. Pretty soon, the Food Network will be operating right here. Bon appetit.
4. Low utility costs. Okay, so summer doesn’t count, when $200-plus power bills are the norm. But two months of garbage pickup for under $40? A free landfill? And a water/sewer bill of under $90 for last July? As Homer Simpson would utter, “Yeah, I think I can live with that!”
5. Reality’s always optional here.
6. Telling people we’re from Las Vegas. No, we don’t live in a casino. Yes, it is fun. Yes, half of our friends are strippers.
7. Late-night dining at Tiffany’s Café in White Cross Drugs. Greasily delicious food, authentic Downtown atmosphere and a friendly staff of old-timers make this the best restaurant-in-a-drugstore option in town.
8. The free 3-D M&M’s movie at M&M’s World on the Strip. It also includes a free tiny package of M&M’s!
9. The music scene. Seriously, it’s better than you think. We’ve got damn good local bands like The Clydesdale, A Crowd of Small Adventures, Caravels and Anthems. You can buy tickets at the door for buzzed-about headliners that sell out three-night runs in LA (and most of the time, pay about half the price). Plus, in October, Vegoose!
10. The Anthem waterfalls. Until Steve Wynn builds a casino in Henderson, this is the closest thing off-Strip has to an absurd “wow!” factor. True to Vegas form, it draws just a bit too much attention to itself (do there have to be two?), and we do feel guilty enjoying it so much when the Valley is parched, but—a waterfall! In Vegas!
11. Southern Nevada Water Authority’s success at getting residential users to conserve. Sure, the SNWA is about to ruthlessly suck water from ranchers upstate, but until then, we’re seeing our neighbors tear out the lawns and put in the rocks and water less. And those commercials!
12. High-quality local commercials. This is also Jimmy Kimmel’s favorite thing about our fair city. We still miss the “Go Desert!” commercial sung to the tune of the theme from Ghostbusters, but we’ll be happy enough if John Barr and Glen Lerner continue to shill.
13. Foreclosure bus tours.
14. We’re always able to find a parking space. Or valet it.
15. The promise of CityCenter. A recession/depression looms, but so do a hundred cranes over a monster development right on the Strip. May more foreclosures be avoided and may it turn out to be as amazing and money-churning and Vegas-stimulating as its marketers promise.
16. Wholly overused slogans. Our Vegas may be showing in revealing this, but we feel a self-satisfied smirk cross our faces whenever we’re watching a movie or TV show, only to hear the millionth variation on the “What happens here stays here” theme. Yes, it’s nauseating; but we’re (from) Vegas, baby, Vegas!
17. Our ability to make any bad Strip story disappear. Remember the driver who plowed into a bunch of Strip-goers? Or the nut job who opened fire on the Strip? Or even the Monte Carlo fire? These are horrib—Hey look! A billboard with boobs on it! Never mind.
18. A city history straight out of a Martin Scorsese movie.
19. The incredibly beautiful construction of Frank Gehry’s Lou Ruvo Brain Institute Downtown.
20. Three Trader Joe’s in town and a whole bunch of new Fresh & Easy supermarkets.
21. Fantastic restaurant rows on both ends of the Valley. It’s only been open a few months, but the Sansone Park Place on Eastern Avenue between Silverado Ranch and Serene is already a local hit. It plays host to White Chocolate Grill, Makino, a chili place that has eight (drool!) options, Le Golosita (the best gelato on the planet) and Sweet Water Prime Seafood. Meanwhile, in Summerlin, the more established Boca Park continues to pack its parking lot with top-shelf restaurants Kona Grill and East Side Pizza. Strip malls? Yeah, sadly. But yum.
22. Penn Jillette. Between Penn & Teller: Bullshit! and Dancing With the Stars, this may actually be the city’s best recent ambassador. So he dances like Frankenstein, so what? He’s our Frankenstein.
23. Chicken-fried lobster at Binion’s.
24. Beer footballs.
25. Flip-flops in February; shorts in late March.
26. The Runnin’ Rebels. Screw Kansas. It was an awesome season.
27. Mixed Martial Arts. And its cheerleaders.
28. All-you-can-eat sushi, breakfast burritos or pancakes at 1 a.m. on a weeknight, all within a 10-minute drive from anywhere. Nutritionists everywhere shudder—hey, we’re the fattest city in the nation according to Men’s Fitness, might as well enjoy it.
29. The most quotable politicians on the planet. Gibbons in the middle of the hepatitis scare—attacks media “buffoonery.” Enough said.
30. Purple mountains’ majesty. Part 1. There’s something comforting about being surrounded by mountains on all sides. It’s like being the last Cheerio in the bowl of milk. When I travel, the mountains are the first thing I notice to be missing from the new landscape. In New York, Miami and D.C., it is the pancake flatness that makes me feel like the sky has been smeared on a little too thick. Every day, the interplay of sun and Vegas mountains delivers infinite permutations of awe: watching the sun rise up over the Strip while heading home from afterhours on the I-15 North. And then, as it sets, noticing how it first lights up the mountains to the east, darkening the sky to a deep bruise-y purple, while to the west, it is reversed, plunging Red Rock and Mt. Charleston into darkness while the clouds take on sherbet colors in the twilight. I know I could probably have any one of these gifts elsewhere and maybe even with a little water thrown in, but to have that powerful, thought-provoking, we’re-all-just-little-Cheerios feeling available to me every day is a guilty pleasure I just can’t fathom trading in for a little thing like the ocean. –Xania Woodman Part 2. Local writers who use Cheerios metaphors.
31. Exploration Park in Mountain’s Edge. A hill! From which to see the Valley! Check it out.
32. No more primaries!
33. The new, big, fat, extra lanes of U.S. 95 through the Rainbow curve. Worth the wait.
34. Plastic cones. Part 1. Above all on my morning commute, when those construction cones bring the most delight. Funneling all the cars into one lane, their brake lights consonant with the big orange cones. We crawl—crawl—by all of them, one at a time, so that we can take particular note that these cones are not the rubber sort, but of the plastic variety. Plastic cones as far as the eye can see. Awesome. Part 2. Plastic cones reconsidered. They are bigger and stronger than a real rack, and are much better suited to endure, into a very old age, the long haul of tugging, pulling, pushing, motor-boating, bank-vaulting and any sort of obsessive idolatrous worship. –Joshua Longobardy
35. Our enduring ability to love the unnatural. For example, fake rain. The Desert Passage has become the Miracle Mile, but they kept the awesome fake rain storm.
36. The Pinball Hall of Fame. Vintage games from the ’40s to the ’90s, and all playable for a quarter or two.
37. Midnight bowling. As long as it’s not cosmic.
38. CineVegas. The ever-growing film festival is becoming one of the best in the country, and the crowds prove that Las Vegans will support adventurous, independent filmmaking, as long as a few stars show up to walk the red carpet.
39. Tommy Burger’s chili fries.
40. Local brew pubs. We may never have our own winery, but Las Vegas is really keeping our bellies satisfied in the suds department. Tenaya Creek, Gordon Biersch, Big Dog’s, Chicago Brewing Company, Barley’s … we could go on, but we’re getting a bit thirsty.
41. We have every shopping option imaginable. Okay, so we still haven’t gotten that Ikea store yet, but who needs Swedish meatballs while they’re shopping for a desk?
42. Casa de Shenandoah. It has penguins, and also, Wayne Newton.