David Hughes

Lets face it, they are not that motivated to buy real estate. "This does not apply to all single men but a very good majority".

I have been in real estate for 25 years and by far, single men have been flaky, unreliable and afraid of commitment to a piece of real estate. Housewives drive our market...they are motivated, they know what they want and they are going to make sure their spouses get out of their lazy boy chairs, turn off ESPN Sportcenter and get their butts behind the wheel and buy them a house, very simple. If you are a new realtor and you have a single man as a client you have a 50-50 chance at best of closing a deal with them.

You can show them the best deals backed up by the best market statistics and it will pale by comparison to his buddies in the sports bar that say " I had a friend who bought a house in that area for a dollar." So now based on Mr. Wizard sucking down Coronas at the speed of light, your single client will be writing the most ridiculous offers you have ever seen. And then, if you do make it to escrow, Mr. Wizard will advise your client that he heard there are radon infested locusts in that area and you need a special locust inspector that specializes in Radon to inspect the house. You get the picture, they will listen to any chowder head that they just met in a bar instead of their Realtor.

Oh and don't forget the loan process where he has to talk to every lender in the county to make sure he is getting the best rate because he heard one of his buddies got a 2% rate and the seller paid all his closing costs, funded his unborn kids college fund and threw in a cruise at the last minute.

Remember...Housewives drive the real estate market.

If you are serious about Reno Real Estate visit my website at Homes-Reno.com.

The media has been informing us for some time that this doom and gloom in our real estate market will be here for at least another year, with further equity depreciation to come. But lets look at this not from a doom and gloom aspect, but rather an opportunity to really see what buying a home now does to comparing it to...waiting for the so-called bottom of the market.

Current interest rates on a conventional 30 year fixed loan is approx. 4.625% today, and 4.875 on an FHA 30 year. Experts are stating that mid to late 2009, we will see long term rates possibly in the mid 6% range.

Lets say that you are interested in buying a $400,000 home today with 20% down = $320,000 loan amount. At 4.625% you principal and interest payment would be $1,645.25.

Compare this to the "fence sitter" waiting for the bottom of the market. That same $400,000 home is now worth $360,000 (10% equity depreciation) 20% down = $288,000 loan amount. At 6.5% your principal and interest payment would be $1,820.36. That is a savings of approx. $175.00 per month, or $2,100.00 per year!

Purchase amount or interest rate? You decide!

Kevin Anderson

Countrywide Home Loans
695 Sierra Rose Dr.
Reno,NV 89511
Office 775-770-2810
Cell 775-560-5252
kevin_d_anderson@countrywide.com

375 agents in 11 offices in Northern Nevada and Lake Tahoe have once again distinguished themselves as the preeminent real estate firm in the area. Dickson realty was established in 1973 by Fianna Dickson who was a dominant business woman and leader in our area until her retirement in 2000. The company is still being run by her brother and sister in law Harvey and Nancy Fennell. Dickson Realty has always prided themselves on having the most experienced agents in the industry and continues that tradition today, competing with the large corporate firms by putting up numbers like this:

• First in Real Estate market share in units for 2008
• First in Real Estate market share in dollars for 2008
• Voted Reno magazines "Best of Reno" for 2008

Dickson's typical market share is about 30% over all and 65% in the one million dollar and up market. I have been with Dickson Realty since 1988 and could not imagine being with another company in this difficult market. "They provide the necessary support it takes to survive in tough times".

If you are thinking about buying or selling there is no other choice, visit my site at Homes-Reno.com

1968 is the year they starting keeping records and existing home prices have risen in every year through 2006. Even in a balanced market, home values will usually rise the rate of inflation plus 1.7 percentage points. When you buy a home it should be approached as a long term investment, even when temporary corrections have occurred in markets that became overheated. Most of the country has never experienced a downturn since record keeping began.

Here's a thought, a buyers return on his down payment is usually substantial. While it represents a small portion of the purchase price, the total appreciation is based on the total value of the home. Buying a house should not be an in and out proposition. When held for the long term, real estate is one of the safest investments a buyer can make. The rate of return on your home will dramatically increase the longer you hold on to it. How about this, after only 3 years a typical home owner will earn a 90% return and after 10 years it will skyrocket to 625%.

In the past twenty years the stock market has had wide swings while the housing market has had a continual rise in values. A typical home owner versus a renter will accumulate a net wealth of about $172,000 compared to about $5000 for the renter.

Biggest jump in 5 years according to the National Association of Realtors, buyers are taking advantage of the large inventory of homes on the market as well as the foreclosures. Single family homes including condos jumped 5.5% from August to September of this year. The current median price for a home in Reno is $288,000 compared to $309,000 this time last year and Sparks is even better at $250,000 compared to $285,000 last year. What this is telling me is that sales are starting to go up during a typically slow time of year heading into winter and the holidays. By spring if this continues we could hopefully see some sort of bottoming out of the downward spiral we have been in.