Foreign National Mortgages Are Back for Las Vegas Homes!

During the recent mortgage melt down, banks had suspended all foreign national financing except for Canadians buying second homes in the United States. But as of last week, foreign national mortgage financing is once again available for citizens of other countries wanting to buy vacation homes in Las Vegas.

Most Las Vegas mortgage lenders, like Bank of America and Wells Fargo, don’t have these programs available, but there are now a few smaller “rising star” lenders that have foreign national funding for second homes. The basic guidelines of the programs are as follows:

1. Can only be for a second home, no investment properties
2. Buyer cannot own any other property in the United States
3. 30% down payment
4. An international credit report with acceptable credit scores – must be paid for in advance (about $200)
5. Buyer must have 24 months of credit history
6. $417k maximum loan amount
7. Debt ratios – housing debt ratio cannot exceed 36% of total income and total debt cannot exceed 45% of income
8. Buyers with diplomatic immunity are not eligible

The best news is that the interest rates and closing costs are excellent – very comparable to what a US citizen would pay. Over the past few years we have had hundreds of calls from the UK and Australia from buyers who wanted to purchase Las Vegas real estate because the exchange rates are great and the prices are so low. Most were willing to put up at least 50% for a down payment. But many were unable to come up with all cash for a purchase. Now second home ownership is once again affordable for these buyers with only a 30% down payment.

So call up all your out of the country friends and let them know the good news. (Maybe they’ll let you stay in their purchase as a thank you!) And tell them to give us a call at 702-985-7654 so we can get them hooked up with one of these great loans.

Real Estate and Real Life - Say What?!!

Communication is key in real life and in real estate. How we express ourselves and how other people interpret our words can make a HUGE difference to the context of a conversation. When buying Las Vegas homes, a miscommunication can lead to a lawsuit. In real life it can also be serious or just plain funny. Case in point:

My friend, Jamie, recently purchased a property in San Diego, California. This house is 80 years old and was originally the home of a sea captain’s widow. The home is only about 700 square feet and will need almost $150,000 in rehab work. But the location is great – only 5 blocks from the beach – and in a lovely residential neighborhood. (San Diego is pretty pricey - there are homes for sale in Las Vegas that are cheaper than the rehab! Luxury Las Vegas golf course homes with more than 4,000 sf are cheaper than Jamie's 700 sf fixer upper.)

Among the items that needed attention:

1. Shore up foundation
2. Exterminate termites, fleas and rats
3. Replace all interior sheet rock
4. Replace plumbing
5. Get all new cabinetry and appliances

I've never seen a foreclosure in Las Vegas that needed this much work! Not only that, but the floor plan needed to be redesigned within the existing footprint to make it more practical (no easy matter when you are only working with 700 square feet!)

After more than six months of trying to get permits (the City of San Diego does NOT make it easy!), finally the last blue print was signed off on, and work began last week. One of the first items on the agenda was removing the sheet rock and re-doing the foundation.

Unfortunately, the foundation was even worse than anticipated, and the home had to be raised to allow them to pour an all new foundation. In the process a Bobcat forklift was being used and the entire front of the house almost collapsed. (Thankfully they were able to save it!)

During this time, Jamie was emailing our friend Lisa about the progress being made and how fragile the whole structure was. Then she sent Lisa this message “Unbelievably busy with work, and then today my new-old house was almost knocked down by a bobcat doing foundation work. It's been a time alright.”

Lisa took this statement literally, and was hysterical thinking a wild bobcat had wandered up the road in downtown San Diego, brushing against the home and almost knocking it into oblivion. The following conversation ensued via email:

Lisa: “Are you kidding me?? A real bobcat..that’s incredible!”

Jamie: “I should have been more specific about this- actually it was a Bobcat forklift. Today they had to remove the foundation and lift the house in the air. Stressful wondering if the whole place was going to fall apart.”

Lisa: “OMG… I’m so stupid that I almost wet my pants in a fit of uncontrollable laughter thinking you meant a real animal. Promise me you won’t tell Diann!”

But of course this was one miscommunication that was just too good not to share. So Jamie, in an email to both of us, asks Lisa if it is all right to tell me about the “cat” with no other explanation. Keeping in mind I had not seen the previous correspondence, I immediately responded “What cat?” and Lisa, not realizing that I have NO idea what is going on, responds to me:

“The cute adorable kitten I left at Jamie’s doorstep was killed by the orange bob cat that strolled in her yard. Can you believe it?”

And now I am freaking out because I lost my cat a couple of years ago to wild coyotes in our back yard. I figured since Jamie knew how upset I was about losing my kitty she purposely didn’t tell me what had happened. I write Lisa back a LONG note about how devastating the experience was when my cat was killed and how sad Jamie must be. Fortunately I cc’d Jamie who finally clued me in on what had happened. But only after I had had a bit of a cry over my poor cat.

This is a perfect example of how one simple sentence misinterpreted in the wrong way can set off a totally unintended chain of events. That is why Las Vegas real estate contracts must be clear, concise and NOT open to interpretation.

Drive Past a Home and Get the Listing Right on Your Phone!

There are some incredible new phone applications coming out on the market every day, and the best one yet has been released for real estate. Ever been driving around a neighborhood and see for sale signs on some Las Vegas homes that looked appealing? Did you wonder what the price was and what it looked like inside? Wonder no more! Now you can get the complete MLS information right on your phone while you are still sitting in front of the house.

Just register for our new mobile text search and start cruising the areas you like the best. Using your phone, you will send a text message to our system to log on. Then you will enter the property street number and choose which street you are interested in. Our system will send you the complete MLS listing, including price plus all the photos that the listing agent has taken on the property. And if you want to schedule a showing, all you have to do is click the link right in the listing to call us immediately.

Our system will give you detailed information on ANY properties listed in the Las Vegas MLS system throughout Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, North Las Vegas and Pahrump, including foreclosures and auction properties. So don’t forget to save the application right on your phone. You can use it as many times as you like. And later on when you get home, you can log on to your main computer and bring up every home you texted about for further review and comparison.

To get started, just go to: http://www.greatlasvegashomes.com/text_mls_listings.htm. You can register the cell phone numbers that you want to use, and then you will receive an email with instructions to start texting for homes!