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I have decided  to work with a group of professionals that have the biggest selection of listings to advertise and share with my clients. My Broker, Thomas Payne has years of experienced and is always accessible if I have any questions.

Realty One Group is is the fastest growing technically advance real estate company in Las Vegas/Henderson. They have offices that are centrally located from Summerlin to Green Valley and thru out The Las Vegas Valley.

To all my past and future clients I look forward to providing you with the latest updated information on Las Vegas Real Estate.

Respectfully, Steve Harless - Realty One Group - 702-217-1680

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INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE December housing starts were reported down 4.0% last week. This put them at a 557,000 unit annual rate, a little below expectations. We did have a colder and wetter December than usual, with a good part of the East hit with the biggest snowfall ever recorded for the month. The drop in starts all came from single-family units, but they're still 27.7% above their January/February 2009 lows. Volatile multi-unit starts were up 12.2% for the month, following their 69.8% November rebound.

Building permits, which are less effected by weather, were UP 10.9% in December, to an annual rate of 653,000 units, well above expectations. There was an 8.3% hike in permits for single-family units, which are up 48.5% over their January 2009 low. Over the past two months, the 18.5% gain in building permits is the largest in 20 years. In line with this, the National Association of Home Builders, which held its annual convention last week, reported that builders expect to start construction on 610,000 homes in 2010. That's UP 38% over last year!

According to Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey, mortgage rates dipped lower for the third week in a row. Fears of a stock market correction are moving money into mortgage bonds, which should keep interest rates down. But many experts still feel rates will head back up if the Fed sticks to its plan to stop mortgage bond purchases on March 31.

>> Review of Last Week

OOPS!... Last week featured a combination of unexpected developments -- Chinese credit tightening, Presidential sword-rattling over bank regulatory reform and doubts about Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's Senate confirmation. These surprises shook investors, sending all market indexes down for the week. But China was just raising interest rates to cool down an economy now growing at 10%. And the President's tough talk to bankers, plus Senators cooling on Bernanke, were seen by many as political efforts to appeal to people who don't like the Wall Street bailouts. Of course, all this happened after Republican Scott Brown took Ted Kennedy's Massachusetts Senate seat. Talk about surprises!

Economic news included the Producer Price Index (PPI) going up 0.2% in December. This was a bit more than expected and raised inflation concerns at the wholesale level. But the Fed maintains it won't raise rates to control inflation until the labor market shows more signs of recovery. Last week didn't provide much encouragement there, with Initial Unemployment Claims up slightly, although Continuing Claims dropped below 4.6 million.

The only encouraging words came from corporate pronouncements on Q4 earnings. Results were better than expected, as 47 of the 60 S&P companies reporting delivered upside results. These included biggies like Google, GE, McDonalds's and IBM. There were also winners in the financial sector, but investor uncertainty pushed stocks down overall.

For the week, the Dow fell 4.1%, to 10172.98; the S&P 500 dropped 3.9%, to 1091.76; while the Nasdaq was off 3.6%, to 2205.29.

Tanking stocks normally send bond prices skyward, but uncertainty about Bernanke and new bank regulations kept things in check. The FNMA 30-year 4.5% bond we watch did end UP 19 basis points for the week, closing at $100.94. Mortgage rates are staying at their historically low levels and, as noted above, average rates dipped in the most recent Freddie Mac report.

>> This Week’s Forecast

HOUSING, THE FED, GDP, THE PRES... This should be a super interesting week, highlighted by Monday's Existing Home Sales, Wednesday's New Home Sales, a meeting of the Fed and Advanced Q4 GDP. Everyone's looking for another positive GDP number, following the positive GDP we saw for the first time in Q3. Then Wednesday evening, we'll have the President's State of the Union message, which will no doubt grab everyone's economic attention.

>> The Week’s Economic Indicator Calendar

Weaker than expected economic data tends to send bond prices up and interest rates down, while positive data points to lower bond prices and rising loan rates.

By Buck Wargo

Friday, Jan. 22, 2010

The North Las Vegas ZIP code that includes the Eldorado residential development led the valley in foreclosures in 2009, according to statistics released by SalesTraq.

ZIP Code 89031 recorded 1,167 foreclosures, easily topping No. 2 on the list, 89108, in the city limits of Las Vegas with 902. The ZIP code is bounded by Rancho Drive, Washington Avenue and U.S. 95.

SalesTraq President Larry Murphy said the top 10 list is essentially the same from 2008 with the one addition, 89178 in Mountain’s Edge. It entered the list at No. 10 with 680 foreclosures.

Four of the highest-ranked ZIP codes were in the north valley and four were in the southwest. Two were on the east side. None were in Henderson.

Murphy has projected Las Vegas will have 26,000 foreclosures in 2010, an increase of about 2,000 over 2009. The valley had 25,288 foreclosures in 2008.

Look for this year to mirror 2006 with zero percent appreciation and home prices skipping along the bottom, housing analyst Larry Murphy said Thursday at his quarterly Crystal Ball presentation.

New-home sales will increase from last year's 5,184 closings, the fewest since 1985, but prices will continue to drop, the president of Las Vegas-based SalesTraq told about 200 real estate professionals at the Suncoast.

 Last year, Murphy projected the median price of an existing home in Las Vegas could dip below $100,000, though he didn't think it would. He's reporting a median price of $120,000 in December, down 25 percent from December 2008.

The median price has leveled off since April, when it was $125,000.

"I told people we won't recognize the bottom the day or the month it hits," Murphy said. "It'll take six months to look back over our shoulder and say, 'I think that was the bottom.' I think we're going to see a year pretty much last like year."

Existing-home sales increased 57 percent in 2009 to 48,075 closings, while new-home sales decreased 48 percent. New-home median prices declined 20 percent to $212,883 in December.

Murphy expects to see 26,000 foreclosure homes hit the Las Vegas market in 2010, up a little from 23,981 in 2009, but not the "tsunami" of bank-owned homes some analysts are predicting.

"While foreclosures aren't going to go away in 2010, I don't see a wave of them coming. I see a steady stream," he said.

Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac projected 3.1 million foreclosure filings in 2010, a 2.5 percent increase from 2.8 million in 2009.

"Banks own about 10,000 homes, by my count, that are not on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service)," Murphy said. "People say it's a conspiracy. We love a good conspiracy, but I think this is how long it takes to go through the process. How's that conspiracy been working out for them so far?"

With a median price of $116,900 for foreclosure homes, compared with $150,000 for a short sale, or sale for less than the mortgage balance, Murphy thinks banks will "wise up" and start approving more short sales this year. They'll account for roughly 15 percent of home sales in 2010, he said.

The trend toward "strategic defaults," or people walking away from their mortgage, will continue this year, Murphy predicted.

A home purchased for $300,000 during the boom period has lost about half its value, or $150,000 of negative equity for the homeowner. It will take 20 years at 5 percent annual appreciation to recover that loss.

Steve Bottfeld, principal of Marketing Solutions, said some economic indicators are improving in Las Vegas, including visitor volume, gaming revenue and home sales. 2010 is going to be a year of transition and new standards, he said.

"What will sell in 2010? Foreclosures and short sales," Bottfeld said. "What will prices be in 2010? We're really looking at very flat prices. Stable ... that's the word. Will prices go up? Not significantly. Will they go down? Not significantly. They're going to stay close to where they are. We're going to see slow but steady improvement."

Murphy said Las Vegas homebuilders built "way too many" homes in the first half of the decade, about 50,000 more than needed. There weren't as many people moving to Las Vegas as everyone thought and about one-fourth of the homes were purchased by investors and second-home owners.

"We built 38,000 homes in 2005 and we only needed 18,000. That's 20,000 too many," he said. "Now we need to build 50,000 too few homes and that's going to take some time. For the homebuilders out there, I wish I had better news."

The number of active subdivisions in Las Vegas Valley dropped to 230 by the end of last year, compared with 350 at the beginning of the year and 525 in January 2008.

Homes available for sale on the MLS has steadily declined from 23,803 in January 2008 to 10,262 in December, or a 2.6-month supply at the current sales rate, SalesTraq reported.

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.

Breaking News

HUD TAKES ACTION TO SPEED RESALE OF FORECLOSURES

With certain exceptions, FHA currently prohibits insuring a mortgage on a home owned by the seller for less than 90 days. This temporary waiver will give FHA borrowers access to a broader array of recently foreclosed properties.

The waiver will take effect on February 1. 2010 and is effective for one year, unless otherwise extended or withdrawn by the FHA Commissioner.

Limits to waiver:

All transactions must be arms length.
In cases in which the sales price of the property is 20% or more above the seller’s acquisition cost, the waiver will only apply if the lender meets certain specific conditions.
The waiver is limited to forward mortgages, and does not apply to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) for purchase program. Specific condition and other details are in the text of the waiver at www.hud.gov