I was thrilled today to get a call from a buyer from Washington State this AM looking for a golf front pool home in Henderson.

The wish list sounds very reasonable. 300k, 2500 sq ft and single story. Not a lot to ask for honestly. I eagerly set out to do the search on the mls for him.

Much to my dissapointment, there were only 2 homes in all of Henderson! Two! Not even the "House Hunters" pick one of three. It would make it easy on us if that was all we needed to show.

Two homes.

I can't even say door number one, door number or door.....sorry Bob, there are just 2 doors! I almost felt like I do when I walk out of WalMart without buying something.

No I'm not hiding any Henderson Golf Front Homes down my pants....I swear!

I shot a screen shot of the search to show the buyer that I'm not making this up or trying to upsell him. You know for 25 cents more you can have the super duper dee doplar 3000 soda.

Well I emailed the 2 properties to him and we'll have to see what he says. If you are looking for a Las Vegas Home and don't necessarily need a golf front property please call Las Vegas Realtor Jeff Mix at 702-510-9625.

Las Vegas Short Sales

I just wrote a new post on our Las Vegas Short Sale blog on the new HR 3566 Fairness in Foreclosure Act proposed by Rep. Edolphus “Ed” Towns (NY-10). The bill is designed to limit banks from pursuing low income home owners for any kind of deficiency judgment. The bill also limits the time a lender can pursue a homeowner who lost their to foreclosure to 1 year or less if local laws allow.

Mr Town's was quoted as saying,"A deficiency judgment after foreclosure seems to be one of the greatest injustices that occur to homeowners after they have gone through the arduous foreclosure process. Not only are they behind by thousands of dollars on their mortgage payments and facing public auction of their houses, the ordeal may continue indefinitely.”

A lot of homeowners here in Las Vegas, the worst hit part of the country, may not even be aware the banks can still pursue them, take them to court and even garnish their wages if the bank was awarded a deficiency judgment. The average homeowner in Las Vegas faced with foreclosure really doesn't have the income nor the assets for the bank to garnish so the joke is on them. Like they say you can't get blood from a turnip.

As I state in my blog post I am no fan of the banks! The only issue with this is,without any recourse and the new AB285 law here in Las Vegas, this may drag this mess out even longer. I think it is in the best interest of the country to weed through the upside homes as quickly as possible. Whether it's through foreclosure, short sales or principal reductions, we need the toxic assets out of here. It's like a bad infection or gang green. Sure no one wants to lose a leg but not at the exspense of losing your life. So suck it up, let's get on with it! You can download the 9 page pdf of the H R 3566 Fairness in Foreclosure Act here. Look the bill over and let me know your thoughts on this.

Las Vegas Homes

How many times have you got to your listing and find the banks have changed the locks? I was on my out to the property to shoot the video tour of the home.

I had everything in tow a good Las Vegas Realtor needs to do a bang up job for our clients.

HD video Nikon camera...check, fluid pan head tripod....check, sd card.....check, extra battery incase mine dies......check, cleaned the lens.....check.

Well we get to the house and hey look, a gold cheap deadbolt on the door. That dosen't match the brushed nickel door handle on the beautiful beveled glass front door.

What's with the papers taped to the door? Well sometimes you have to get a little creative and solve the problem. Did they change all of the locks?

Hey how about the door on the second level?

It's time to break out the Real Estate Parkour!

Watch the video that ensued.

Well we were in luck! The bank had failed to change the upstairs deadbolt!

If you are faced with foreclosure or contemplating doing a Las Vegas Short Sale, please contact us at 702-510-9625. You don't need to hire an attorney and spend thousands when we can do it for free.

Las Vegas Real Estate Investment Calculator

We are excited to announce we have a wonderful new tool for Las Vegas investors. The biggest thing an investor needs to know is what is the bottom line.

Our new calculator allows to the potential buyer of Las Vegas Homes, 5 simple fields to quickly figure out what the ROI for a home is.

Simply enter the purchase price, downpayment percentage (100%) if paying cash, the interst rate if financing, monthly hoa's, yearly taxes and expected rent. Click on the calculate button and Viloa!

If an investor is looking to purchase Las Vegas Homes as a rental, the search criteria I really like for an investor is the following: Single Family ( these are typically easier to rent than a condo) Priced between 80,000 to 110,000 Yearly taxes under 1,200 Monthly associations max at 60.00

With this scenerio you can easily find Las Vegas Homes that rent for 900 to 1000 per month. So let's plug in the following numbers into the ROI calculator!

The calculator will now calculate the hoa fees and a yearly basis, compute the management fee with the first months rent plus 8% charge of rental income, your monthly mortgage payment and give you your gross and net income. So the above scenerio comes out with the following:

Cash invested: 27,000.0
Managements costs (8%): 1,862.00
HOA and Taxes: 1,740.00
Monthly Mortgage: 338.20
Gross Income: 11,400.00
Total Expenses: 7,660.37
Net Income: 3,739.63
ROI: 13.85%

As you can see this is a very nice return. Another interesting aspect is the difference in the return if you finance the deal. Let's use the same scenerio but with an cash purshase.

Cash invested: 90,000.0
Managements costs (8%): 1,862.00
HOA and Taxes: 1,740.00
Monthly Mortgage: 0.00
Gross Income: 11,400.00
Total Expenses: 3,602.00
Net Income: 7,798.00
ROI: 8.66%

It really makes good business sense to use OPP ( Other Peoples Money) if you are thinking of purchasing Las Vegas Homes as an income stream.

We also have another very cool calculator on our site that will estimate how long a home owner will be upside down on their home and if it's in their best interest to short sale and buy again in two years. Check the Upside Down Calculator Home Value on our site as well. I hope everyone finds these tools helpful!

Nevada's Hardest Hit Funds

If you are a homeowner in danger of losing your home, the Calvary has arrived!!! Finally, an assistance program that can really help those homeowner’s who have experienced a hardship and need to either have a few months of help making their payment, need a principal reduction on their mortgage, short sale their home or need help with an existing second mortgage who is preventing them from refinance, Las Vegas short sale or modification of their first loan. That’s right…four (4) different programs to fit just about everyone in the Las Vegas Valley!! Of course, some people will be left out of the equation, these programs are not designed to help those investors who do not occupy the home, and it’s not for the people who just want out because their home is underwater and not worth what they paid!

A brief description of the programs:

1. Mortgage Assistance Program (MAP) – Intended to provide temporary financial assistance for underemployed and people who experienced a loss of income and or employment. The program will pay 1/3 of the principal and interest portion of homeowner’s monthly mortgage payment, up to $500.00 per month for up to 6 months.
2. Principal Reduction Program – Homeowner’s can receive a principal reduction of up to $50,000.00. Nevada’s Hardest Hit Funds will contribute $25,000.00 and the participating Servicer (your mortgage company) must match dollar for dollar.
3. Short-Sale Program – Designed to help homeowner’s who need to initiate or are currently doing a Las Vegas short sale of their home. This program can help the homeowner by offering incentives to the lender and other parties involved, and also provide up to two months of rent to the homeowner, easing the transition from owner to renter.
4. Second Lien Relief Program - This program is here to assist homeowner’s who have a second mortgage that may be interfering with the refinance, short sale or modification of a first mortgage. This program can extinguish the second lien and the homeowner will be released from this debt completely.

What are the guidelines for qualifying for this Nevada's Hardest Hit Funds assistance program? If you purchased a home before January 1, 2009 and have experienced a hardship since 2008…….YES….2008!! What does the term “hardship” include? Have you been unemployed, has your income been reduced, have you or someone in your household had a serious illness, did you or a wage earner in your home become disabled, did you experience a death of a wage earner, divorce, legal separation, increased expenses, insufficient cash reserves to pay mortgage and cover basic living expenses???? Any of these situations are considered a hardship.

Other questions to ask yourself in order to qualify:

1. Do you or the co-borrower Own and Live in the property? a. OR have you moved out in the past 6 months b. OR have you relocated to another state for employment opportunities 2. Are you or the co-borrower a legal US Resident? 3. Do you or the co-borrower own any additional properties? 4. Did you or the co-borrower experience a hardship since 2008? 5. Did you purchase your home before January 1, 2009?

If you answered yes…you are a candidate! Each program does have other qualifying guidelines, but we need to know what your situation and goal to help find the program that fits your needs the best.

Please call Las Vegas Realtor Jeff and Lee Ann Mix to get started with this program. It will just take a 10 to 15 minute call with their hotline.