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On today’s Real Estate Coaching Radio Tim and Julie Harris answer this email from Jane Armstrong….
Hi Julie,
I want to share some conversations and information about the housing market and the economy in general that I have been getting. Please let me know if my thinking is flawed.
I am watching the Las Vegas market in particular. A friend is working in a government program in Las Vegas to assist homeowners with mortgage payments. Unfortunately for many homeowners, they got to the program too late and there was no money for them. My friend said that homeowners are beginning to panic because they realize that they have no jobs to go back to work. They received the unemployment benefits, stimulus money, took the forbearance, and that propped them up while waiting for the business to reopen. Many will never reopen or will reopen with fewer employees.
The people who have applied for the funds have had some bad news. If Wells Fargo was the source of the funds, any money owed for a forbearance had to be repaid before Wells Fargo would release any funds for this mortgage assistance program. Counterintuitive!!
Foreclosures are on the way yet for reasons other than what we saw in the recession. I am coaching some of my clients to get the NOD list. I further explain that a NOD does not mean that there is no equity in the property, yet the homeowner must sell because they can no longer make their house payments. This is where our coaching clients can be of great value to homeowners by explaining how they can sell their home, pay off any forbearance and missed payments, and still walk away with some funds. As we both know, many homeowners will sit in their house until the bank comes for it whether they have equity or not because they are poorly educated in how this works.
I am going to check with my title reps to see if there are lists of homeowners who took the forbearance. You may know more about this than I do.
Here is a great blog on California and Nevada markets:
GOODBYE CALIFORNIA
Californians are leaving in droves. Nevada, like all states, took a major 2020 economic hit and Las Vegas was hit very hard with the loss of convention business. Sadly, in Reno Harrah’s Closed. In Laughlin, the large Colorado Belle is no more. Vegas has seen too many casinos closed too mention, many will never re-open.
But despite that housing prices booming. Washoe is up 14% but some US communities saw increases over 25%. Western states averaged a 13.7% increase. Las Vegas up 8% and Californians flee to no state income tax in Nevada.
I am from SoCal and have/ had a cozy condo there- now in escrow. Why? Crime (catch & release), bad roads, rude drivers all play a part in sunny San Diego that I loved. The final straw? The City of San Diego bought the Marriott next door and turned it into a homeless center. This former hotel located on “Hotel Circle” is a major tourist area off I-8. I suggested a name change to “Homeless Circle”.
A person I know owns a touristy upscale boutique hotel there. I asked him how business was…great! The City of San Diego (that means taxpayers) rented his fancy hotel for the homeless! Not converting an off the beaten path Motel 6, but like the Marriott, an upscale hotel.
For the price of my old condo, I’m getting a new beach condo on the gulf in friendly Texas. Goodbye California.
Jeff Church
WatchDogJeff.com
Kind regards,
Jane
Jane Armstrong
Broker/Salesperson
Harris Certified Coach
eXp Realty
702-523-7498 Direct
