Of the homes currently on the market, there are 47 not located in Del Webb, The Vue and The Village.

Of the 47 homes, only 30 are available without an offer.

• 5 between $200k and $300k
• 10 between $300k and $400k
• 5 between $400k and $500k
• 6 between $500k and $600k
• 3 between $600k and $700k
• 0 between $700k and $800k
• 0 between $900k and $1million
• 1 over $1million

Of the 17 homes in escrow, 15 are subject to a short sale or bank owned and 2 are regular sales.

85 homes have closed in Somersett since January 1, 2010. 17 were bank owned, 27 were short sales and 41 were regular sales.

Dickson Realty, Northern Nevada’s premier real estate company, will extend their range of services to the master-planned community of Somersett beginning Sept. 1, 2010. 

“This is a remarkably positive sign for our community that new home development is occurring in northern Nevada,” said Nancy Fennell, CEO of Dickson Realty. “There are very few real estate firms that are expanding in these times anywhere in the nation, and it’s a testament to our relationships and experience in the market that we are able to make that happen in Reno, and specifically, in Somersett.”

In addition to providing on-site sales support for homebuyers, Dickson at Somersett will also offer services to those searching for commercial and rental properties, something that has not previously been offered by the company. Real estate specialist Debbie Bennington is the lead sales person for the project.

Dickson will be working in conjunction with New Britton Land, a land development firm, and HomeCrafters, a custom homebuilder out of Reno, to produce three home floor plans.

The new Dickson Somersett office will be located at 7650 Town Square Way in the Somersett Welcome Center and will be open from 10am to 5pm, 7 days a week. For more information on Dickson Realty, and the Somersett office, please call (775) 746-7222.

Sound too good to be true?  Well there is a catch.  The homeowner must get their lender (servicer) and the investor who owns the mortgage to take a short payoff of the loan.  Many lenders and investors are reluctent to do this.  So although the program looks great to homeowners it may be easier said than done.

Who qualifies?

1. Homeowner must be in a negative equity position (underwater).
2. Must be current on the existing mortgage.
3. Homeowner must occupy the property.
4. Homeowner must qualify for new FHA loan and have a minimum FICO score of 500.
5. The existing loan cannot be an FHA loan. 
6. The existing lien holder (lender) must agree to write down at least 10% of the unpaid balance.
7. The new re-financed FHA first mortgage cannot have a loan-to-value greater than 97.75%.
8. If there is a second lien it can be re-subordinated to the new loan, but the 2 loans combined cannot be great than 115% loan to value.

Interested homeowners should contact their servicer for more information.  When I looked on Bank of America’s website, my servicer, I found mention of the program but that they had not worked out the details and to keep checking back.  With the program scheduled to roll out in early September, you may find this to be the case with many lenders.

If you would like a copy of the FHA Mortgagee Letter that details the program, please feel free to contact me.

Personal income
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis says per-capita personal income in the Reno-Sparks region in 2009 was $43,986, a 6.3 percent decline from a year earlier. The region ranks 35th in per-capita income nationally.

Underwater home owners
“Nearly 62 percent of the homes with mortgages in the Reno-Sparks market have negative equity – their owners owe more than the property would sell for – and home prices in the market are off 49.4 percent from their peak,” Zillow Real Estate Markets Reports says.

The site is available in both English and Spanish and includes tools like educational videos, mortgage calculators, financial forms and checklists.   A virtual assistant will walk you through the site. 

Not all mortgages are insured by Fannie Mae, but this is a great general resource.  The site does provide a Fannie Mae Look-up Tool so you can find out if your mortgage is insured by Fannie Mae so you can take advantage of the Fannie Mae specific programs that are detailed on the site.

Again the key for anyone homeowner who is facing difficulties or anticpates that they may have an issue in the near future is to seek help as early as possible.  This website is a great first step.

Short Sale  (Deed-inlieu of Foreclosure Guidelines are similar) – According to the report the affect on your FICO score from short sale depends on how the sale is reported to the credit bureau.  If reported as “not paid as agreed” the score could go down 100+ points.  Late payments will also affect the FICO score and are reported for 7 years, with thier impact lessening over time.   Buyers looking to purchase after a short sale will have to wait to purchase another home.  If purchasing using FHA financing the wait is 3 years (possibly less if not in default at time of short sale).  For a Fannie Mae insured loan buyers need only wait 2 years if putting 20%+ down, 4 years if putting between 10%-20% down, and 7 years if putting less than 10% down.  If getting a Freddie Mac insured loan the wait is 4 years, 2 years if extenuating circumstance are documented.

Foreclosure – A foreclosure stays on your credit report for 7 years, with the impact lessening over time.  A foreclosure could lower your FICO score 100+ points.  Buyers looking to purchase after a foreclosure will again have to wait.  If purchasing using FHA financing the wait is 3 years.    If getting a Fannie Mae insured loan the wait is 5 years from the foreclosure sale date, 3 years if there are extenuating circumstances.  Additional underwriting requirements may be required.  The wait for Freddie Mac insured loans is similar with a 5 year wait, 3 years for exentuating circumstances.

Bankruptcy – Bankruptcies stay on your credit report for 7 years (10 if there was a full discharge of debt).  Bankruptcies generally have a greater negative affect on the FICO score in comparison to the above mentioned issue.  Buyers looking to repurchase after a bankruptcy using an FHA loan will have to wait 2 years from discharge date with a chapter 7 BK and 1 year with a chapter 13 BK.  If getting a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac insured loan there is a 4 year wait for chapter 7 or 11, and 2 year wait if chapter 13.   Some allowance are made for exentuating circumstances. 

Extenuating Circumstances – include serious illness or death of a wage earner, but do not include an inability to sell a house due to job transfer or relocation. 

For a full copy of this report please feel free to contact me.

The median price of  all sales in June in this category was $170,000.  Median prices for traditional listings topped the charts at $219,950.  Median for short sales was $151,000 and REO’s was $148,000.    The average days on market for all lisitng types was 146 days.  REO’s were on the market the least amount of time with an average of 85 days on market.  Traditional sales averaged 109 days and short sales averaged 208 days. 

Short sales have become very significant in our market.  In June 2009 only 103 short sales closed, that is a 240% increase in the number of short sales that have closed this June over last June.    Unfortunately the number of days on the market for short sales has not improved year over year – 204 days average last year compared to 208 days average this year.  Although we would all like to see this improve, the complex nature of short sales may continue to keep these market times high. 

Short sales are definitely a major part of our market.  Working with an “experienced” short sale agent is key to the success of a transaction when either buying or selling a home today.  Prospective buyers and sellers should ask their agent to show them how many transactions they have closed on either the buy or sell side of the transaction.

There are four primary elements to the Nevada Plan. 

1.  Mortgage modification with principal reductions and some forebearance.   The prinicipal reduciton component will be in the form of an earned forgiveness loan.   It is anticipated that 55%-60% of the programs funds will be expended on this program element.

2.  Second mortgage plan aimed at assisting borrowers who have a second lien interfereing with either a short sale or modification of the first mortgage.  Approximately 20% of the program funds will be allocated to this option.

3.  Foreclosure mitigation capacity building.  This program will expand the capacity of  HUD approved housing counseling agencies and allow them to increase “intake” capacity.

4.  Short sale faciliation-aid to the unemployed.  The Nevada plan calls for incentives to financial institutions designed to expedite the short-sale decision making and closing process.  The plan will allocate approximately 11.5% of the available funds to this part of the plan.

This fund was established by the Obama Administration in February 2010 to provide targeted aid to families in the hardest hit states of Nevada, Arizona, California, Florida and Michigan.   The total alloted to these 5 states is $1.5 billion. 

If you are interested in reading the entire NEVADA PLAN please feel free to contact me and I can forward it to you.