A Must Read: Lunacy in Las Vegas Housing - Realty Check with Diana Olick [CNBC]
By: Diana Olick
CNBC Real Estate Reporter
Just when you think you've heard it all in today's housing market, along comes a story that takes all those statistics and all those monthly foreclosure reports and all that testimony to Congress and just drop kicks them all out the window.
I'm going to tell you about a nice young woman named Katie. Last week Katie tried to buy a house in Las Vegas, and got a lesson in real estate reality that she will never forget.
Let's back up a bit for some background. Katie and her husband live in Maryland and are about to have their first child. Both work, but Katie's husband, who has a very solid government job, is being transferred to Vegas. And please note, the government is paying all his moving expenses, including Realtor and closing costs. Both he and Katie have credit scores right around 800.
So off the two went to Vegas, thinking they were in the right place at the right time.
The foreclosure capital of America, Vegas home prices are down more than 50 percent from their peak in 2006. The median price of a home there is $138,000, but, interestingly, the inventory is down to a less than 3-month supply. Compare that to the national inventory, now at an 8.5 month supply. Despite the low supply, prices are not recovering quickly because the sales are all by banks, looking to unload properties quickly.
But back to Katie. Her Realtor, who is also an old friend, emailed Katie the following warnings before her arrival on the Vegas strip:
- This market is crazy and many things are just not going to make any sense.
- I can guarantee you 99.99% of the listings emailed to you will no longer be available by the time you get here.
- Properties are selling in the blink of an eye.
- Properties are getting multiple offers within a few days of being on the market, the most offers I’ve heard a house had recently was 44 offers (I know, crazy).
- This market is crazy and many things are just not going to make any sense.
- 40% of all transactions are cash purchases, which makes it harder for the buyers who are financing to get their offers accepted.
- We have 1/2 the inventory we had a year ago and 4 times as many buyers as we did a year ago.
- Chances are we will have to submit several offers to have the chance of getting 1 accepted.
- This market is crazy and many things are just not going to make any sense.
- You will probably leave not knowing if you have a house or not because banks take 2 to 3 weeks to respond, because this market is crazy… you know the rest.
I'm guessing you noted the crazy part. Katie is looking in the $150-200,000 price range. Despite the warnings, Katie was completely unprepared for what she found. In seven days, she saw 50 homes. All but one were foreclosures.
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