When Old Becomes New Again in Las Vegas

Whether it’s old houses being renovated or old movies being restored, Las Vegas residents are certainly attracted to both.  Over the past ten years I’ve seen dozens of Home Depots and Lowes stores spring up all over the Las Vegas Valley which includes Henderson and North Las Vegas.  All in very convenient locations for the everyday handy man and/or woman that recently bought a fixer upper house with the desire of turning it into a home…….a classic home to enjoy living in.  Many homebuyers are even purposefully seeking out "old Vegas" homes from the 60s and carefully updating the plumbing and electrical systems while retaining that "old Vegas" retro look in neighborhoods like Rancho Bel Air, Rancho Circle or the Scotch 80s.

A similar scenario has also recently been occurring with vintage classic films.  Digitally restored movies such as “Casa Blanca” and Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” have been brought to our local move theatres throughout the Valley.  And for "one night and one night only" each month, our local residents have thoroughly enjoyed them.  I for one had the pleasure of seeing both of these classics on the big screen with big sound in a theatre packed full of excited movie afficionados.  Young and old alike piled in to fill most of the seats.  It reminded me of the opening night for one of the new blockbusters such as “Transformers”, “Batman”, or “The Twilight  Series”. 

 

These vintage classics have been brought back to the big screen by fanthomevents.com.  I’m looking forward to December when an solid gold classic I’ve never seen will be on the big screen.  I don’t know how I’ve lived to be as old as I am and have never seen “To Kill a Mockingbird,” but I’m looking forward to this vintage film that will be brand new to me.

Patty Annis

Team Manager

The Tonnesen Team

Homeowner Help from Nevada Energy!

Tips from a Las Vegas Homeowner about what to do with old appliances 

What do we do with our old appliances? My old frig wouldn’t fit in the backseat of my sedan, so I really needed to figure out what to do. After asking a number of local appliance companies about "Delivery Of The New and Haul Away The Old" fees, I ran across a little known secret about Nevada Energy. Nevada Energy has a rebate program where they will not only come pick up the refrigerator, but they will mail you a rebate check for $50!!! 

If your refrigerator still gets cold and is between 10-30 cubic feet in size, you can call 1-877-289-8260 to schedule a pick up. You need to have it plugged in so they can verify at time of pick up that it still gets cold, and they will mail a check for $50 to you in about four weeks. And since they have a 4 hour window for pick-up, I was told I can simply run an extension cord to the Refrigerator, set it out on the driveway with a note giving them permission to haul it away, and when I get home from work – it will be gone! I love it! And it worked like a charm.

 

Now I need to find out what to do with an old stove and microwave….. I’ll let you know.

 

by Lisa Alberian
Tonnesen Team Administrator Extraordinaire

Bank Foreclosures Start Again in Las Vegas, but…

First, a little background:

Most large banks (Bank of America, Wells Fargo, etc.) are members of MERS, the Mortgage Electronic Registration System. This system allows a third party entity, like Recon Trust, to transfer notes between members of the system without recording the deed of trust into the new note holder’s name. So the name on the deed of trust and the name of the new note holder do not match since MERS was not required to record these documents. This made it difficult, if not impossible, for a homeowner facing foreclosure to actually find out who was foreclosing on them and try to work out an agreement. Many homeowners were foreclosed upon without ever being able to contact the existing note holder.

So in light of these national “robo signing” scandals, Nevada was among 11 states that enacted legislation to protect homeowners and regulate illegal foreclosure activity. In Nevada, Assembly Bill 284 was passed which required a bank employee to sign an affidavit stating that to the employee’s personal knowledge all previous transfers of the note were correct before the bank could start the foreclosure process.

Since there is no bank employee that could possibly attest to previous transfers of a note, AB284 effectively stopped the Las Vegas bank foreclosure process in Nevada, and foreclosure filings dropped from around 6,000 per month to less than 1,000. (Not all banks were affected by AB284 since they were not members of the MERS system.)

In October of 2012, however, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that banks using the MERS system would be able to foreclose on properties as long as the note holder and the name on the deed of trust matched prior to the foreclosure sale.  This ruling will allow the third party entities used by MERS to record a deed of trust in the name of the current note holder and consummate the foreclosure process. Recording the deed of trust gives homeowners the opportunity to contact the note holder and work out a settlement, but doesn't allow them a "free ride" to stay in their homes indefinitely with no payment.

What this means for the Las Vegas real estate market:

The housing inventory has been at an extreme low for the past eight months, with bank owned foreclosures of Las Vegas single family homes accounting for only 10% of the active listings at any given time. Active short sales account for about 20% of the active single family listings and the rest are “real” sellers. It’s a “seller’s” market, prices have risen steadily since January, there are multiple offers on most listings within days of coming on the market, and buyers are finding it difficult to make a purchase unless they bid above appraised value.   

Banks have started the foreclosure process again, and we do expect new inventory to begin hitting the market after the first of the year, probably in or March or April. However, the banks do still have very stringent hoops to jump through, and there is no huge wave expected all at one time. Still, there should be more listings on the market, allowing frustrated homebuyers the opportunity to finally get an offer accepted. Hopefully we will get back to a more balanced market that remains steady for the next few years. A balanced market is better for both buyers and sellers and the local economy.

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