Even though foreclosures and short sales in Las Vegas have slowed dramatically, the city is still one of the hardest hit in the country. Nevada is still fifth in foreclosure filings in the nation behind Florida, New Jersey, Maryland and Illinois.

One in every 76 homes statewide received a foreclosure-related filing in 2014, which is down 38 percent from 2013. Filings included default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions. Nationally speaking, one in every 118 homes had a foreclosure filing which was down 18 percent from 2013.

In Nevada, creditors started the foreclosure process on almost 9,000 homes in Nevada, which was down 49 percent from 2013, and seized 4,100 homes which was down 37 percent.

If you have had a notice of default filed, the bank has started the foreclosure process or are going thru one now and do not have a Realtor, feel free to contact us to see how King Realty Group can help you.

Statistics sourced from RealtyTrac.

The Las Vegas area is being hit particularly hard by the subprime mortgage crisis. The highest foreclosure rate in the country is in Nevada. Foreclosure in the metro area is consistently one of the top five worse in the nation. Because of an overflow of available homes, this in turn slows the construction of new homes and inverse effect on property values. The Las Vegas foreclosure crisis jeopardizes future growth. Buying a Las Vegas foreclosure provides opportunity for more affordable housing for those who in recent years have been priced out of the Las Vegas real estate market.

The Las Vegas foreclosure crisis includes homeowners losing their houses in foreclosure after they are unable to continue to pay their mortgage payment. People with bad credit scores or finances were given risky loans, or subprime mortgages by lenders and banks, causing the foreclosures in Las Vegas. Homebuyers attracted by low interest rates soon faced adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs), payments were nearly impossible as they faced higher interest rates down the road, leading to foreclosures of Las Vegas homes. Taking advantage of uninformed or new buyers led by Predatory lenders perpetuated the situation of the valley wide Las Vegas foreclosure catastrophe. There were a high number of speculators who purchased investment homes at the peak of the real estate market and expected to flip them for a profit, only to see values decline during the Las Vegas foreclosure crisis.

A plan was introduced to North Las Vegas city council members to use eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages and foreclosures. This was an attempt to boost the city’s housing market. This proposal had never been tried in the U.S. so council members were skeptical but agreed to learn more about it. Continue reading to review the full story.

North Las Vegas City Council members will take a closer look at a controversial and complex proposal to use eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages and foreclosures in an attempt to boost the city’s sagging housing market.

Council members and the public were first introduced to the plan to use private dollars to help underwater homeowners refinance their mortgages during a presentation by representatives from Mortgage Resolution Partners at a March 6 city council meeting.

Council members were skeptical of the proposal, which has not been tried anywhere in the country, but agreed to meet with Mortgage Resolution Partners representatives at a later date to get more information and have their questions answered.

Mortgage Resolution Partners’ plan calls for the company’s private investors to purchase a specific subset of underwater home mortgages that are held in mortgage-backed securities. The mortgages would be bought at market value significantly below their initial value and then refinanced back to the original homeowner with a lower principle.

North Las Vegas would serve as the middleman in the process, using its power of eminent domain to seize the mortgages from trusts that own the mortgage-backed securities. Once the mortgage is refinanced and the home is sold again, the city would receive a small fee for its troubles.

Investors would see a return on their investment whenever a home is refinanced and the company itself would receive a flat $4,500 per transaction fee.

Nevada representatives for the company — which include prominent Las Vegas attorney Byron Georgiou, developer Michael Saltman and Daniel Greenspun, a member of the family that owns the Las Vegas Sun — argue the program will help homeowners facing foreclosures in Vegas and to prevent blight in North Las Vegas neighborhoods still reeling from the recession.

But the plan has drawn fierce opposition from bankers and real estate agents who question whether the untested plan is even legal. Detractors warn of unintended consequences from using eminent domain to seize mortgages, with some bankers warning they would stop lending for home mortgages in cities that adopted the program.

As of March, four cities in California — La Puente, El Monte, San Joaquin and Orange Cove — have made similar agreements with Mortgage Resolution Partners, although the company has not yet purchased any mortgages, its representatives said.

The company estimates 4,700 homes in North Las Vegas could qualify for the program if it is approved by the North Las Vegas City Council.

Some council members in the city of North Las Vegas questioned if this plan was even legal. Although this particular plan has never been used similar plans have been approved by 4 cities in California, but it is too soon to tell if it has succeeded. About 4,700 homes could qualify for this program if it was approved.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, mortgage defaults in America have significantly increased sending an alarm trend throughout the nation. Check out this article we found explaining this serious situation.

Mortgage defaults increased nationwide in the fourth quarter as more Americans began to default on all types of consumer debt.

The S&P Dow Jones/Experian credit default indices made this alarming trend more transparent in data released Tuesday.

The indices national composite, which measures all consumer defaults, increased for three consecutive months in a row, reaching 1.72% in December. This compares to a default rate of 1.64% in November and a much lower default rate of 1.55% in October.

The first mortgage default rate followed the same pattern, increasing from 1.47% in October to 1.58% in November, and then edging up again to 1.68% last month.

“The national composite rate was 1.72% in December, eight basis points above the November rate and 26 basis points above September’s post-recession low,” said David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee for S&P Dow Jones Indices. “It was primarily driven by the first mortgage rate at 1.68% in December, ten basis points above the previous month’s rate and 32 basis points above September’s post-recession low.”

From its historic low of 0.62% posted last month, the second-mortgage default rate reached 0.69% in December.

The surge in mortgage default rates mirrors a trend already occuring in the national composite of all consumer defaults. While all five cities covered by the report showed increases in their overall default rates in December, all five cities also remain below default rates posted a year ago in December 2011, said Blitzer.

As you can see, the rate at which mortgage defaults occurred in the fourth quarter of 2011 is not only alarming but downright scary. Thankfully, this dark period in the real estate and mortgage market seems to now have slowed down.

Source: HousingWire

As posted by the Las Vegas review journal in November of 2012, the sales of high rise condos declined significantly in the third quarter due to low supply. Continue reading below the posted story.

Sales of high-rise condos declined in the third quarter because of a limited supply of lower-priced units, with very few bank-owned properties on the market, Marc Ehrlich of Las Vegas-based HiRiseLiving.com said.

Condos in the process of foreclosure now represent less than 3 percent of the overall market, Ehrlich said.

Foreclosures are at their lowest point since 2007, down 90 percent from their peak.

He reported 229 sales transactions in the third quarter, excluding CityCenter, a 3.8 percent decrease from 238 in the previous quarter.

Sales fell 28 percent from a year ago.

Third-quarter sales volume totaled $66.3 million, compared with $68.7 million in the second quarter and $65.9 million in the year-ago period.

“I think the market is reasonably strong,” Ehrlich said. “There’s just not enough product for buyers to get their hands on, which bodes well for prices. People are willing to pay more, and traditional resales aren’t getting hammered as much because they’re not competing with distressed sales.”

HiRiseLiving.com showed a current available inventory of 5,655 condo units, including 51 bank-owned units and 125 units currently in default.

Banks are slowing down foreclosures and short sales, resulting in fewer units being offered at attractive prices, the condo market analyst said. Available units that are priced well move extremely fast, he said.

Highest average price was $329 per square foot for condo-hotel units, up 1 percent from the previous quarter. The south Strip market showed the largest increase of 7 percent, with an average price of $103 a square foot.

Some high-rise buildings are starting to show more stability with the number of condos that are “underwater,” where the mortgage balance is significantly higher than the current value of the unit, Ehrlich said.

A recent ruling by the Nevada Supreme Court validated the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, or MERS, which favors lenders and could lead to an uptick in foreclosures, he said.

“It could be backlogged, but we’ve been hearing about that for so long,” Ehrlich said. “It could be a function of underwater properties and existing owners that are going to ride it out.”

A third-quarter luxury condo market report from Las Vegas-based Northcap showed 245 sales transactions, including 90 condo-hotel units.

There were 493 sales in the past 180 days and 1,087 sales in the past 12 months.

A breakdown by property showed Signature at MGM with the most condo-hotel sales at 41, while the Martin (formerly Panorama North) had the most traditional condo sales at 29.

The average price for all condos sold in the third quarter was $262,963, or $180 a square foot, Northcap reported. For condo-hotel units, it was $196,291, or $260 a square foot.

Matt Brimhall, sales and marketing director for the 1,282-unit Trump tower on the Strip, said he closed 15 transactions in October, about one every other day, at $500 to $600 a square foot.

“I think that our brand and amenities are the key,” Brimhall said. “The fact that they can come and go as they please, yet still lease it out when they’re not here is a huge plus. These buyers from international destinations, they trust the brand.

“Owning at Trump is the ultimate status symbol for many of them.”

John Tippins, chief executive officer of Northcap and regional manager for ST Residential, said he’s seeing increased demand for living in downtown Las Vegas.

The Ogden is 98 percent occupied, and Juhl has signed 40 lease agreements in the past 30 days, he said.

“It’s unbelievable. We thought we’d lose some people from Ogden to Juhl. There really is no inventory downtown. As fast as they become available, they’re getting leased right away,” Tippins said.

Tippins said he signed seven letters of intent for live-work space at Juhl, or residential units above retail stores, something that hasn’t been successful in other markets.

Most of the condo resale inventory has been purchased has been put back into the rental market, he said.

“People have bought foreclosures and short sales at close to the bottom. They bought them right,” he said. “As foreclosures slowed down, people that bought now aren’t stuck. The investor that comes in and buys at $200 a foot typically paid cash, so they’re not forced to sell. You don’t have the competition that the garden-style (condo) has.”

As you can see due to the low supply of high-rise condos available in Las Vegas, this bodes better for sellers than for buyers. The market is reasonably strong and because supply is limited people are willing to pay more for these types of properties. Banks are slowing down the foreclosures and short sales which is also resulting in fewer units at rock bottom prices as it had been seen in the past.

Source: Las Vegas Review Journal