Reno Real Estate Blog - David Hughes

10 Fun Things To Do In and Around the Reno Area (Number 2)

Let’s go skiing

Reno is a great area for skiers.  There are 18 ski areas that are reachable within an hours drive of Reno.  That’s right, 18 ski resorts that offer great skiing, snowboarding and cross country skiing.  With the high elevations in Tahoe and the Donner Summit areas we get up to about 20 foot snow packs which means you can sometimes ski from November to the beginning on July.  Everyone loves the spring ski season.  You can go ski in the morning then golf or bike ride in the afternoon.  It’s a great time for all outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy it all.

If skiing doesn’t interest you then you can also go to the other snow parks in the area that offer snowmobiles, sledding, ice skating, snowshoeing, dog sledding and more. 

There is no…

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Reno Sparks Land Values Down by 40%

The Washoe County Assessor is coming out with a report saying values of raw land are down from 30-40% since the height of the market. The shocking fact is that most homeowners will be hit with a 3-5% tax increase this year because of a report that came out stating the replacement values of actual homes and buildings are up. Nevada  property tax caps were put in place in 2004 which states that excess property values were not taxed in prior years and can be pulled from abatement to increase taxes by the full 3% to be able to help schools and local governments. Land values in Northwest Reno, Stead, Spanish Springs and other communities north of the river are down by 30%. Large custom homes in the SW Suburban neighborhood are up by the full measure the county…

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Treasury pushing for 4.5% interest rates

The treasury department has presented a plan to loan banks money at 3% so they could in turn loan it to new home buyers at 4.5% and actually make a 1.5% profit. It is currently in the developmental stage and may not take effect until Obama is in office. "This will definitely stimulate sales and get buyers who are on the fence to make a move". What it does not do is address the foreclosure issue, well I guess in a way it does. In this current market, most of the foreclosures in the Reno Real estate market are in the lower price ranges so it would start to chip away at the vast inventory of homes on the market. Right now we have a 13 month inventory of homes on the market, meaning at the current pace it would take that long to sell all the homes on the…

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10 Fun Things To Do In and Around the Reno Area

(This is the 1st in a series of blogs about the many fun things to do in Reno and the surrounding areas)

Take a drive to Virginia City (about 23 miles outside Reno) and plan to stay for a few hours.  It’s about a 30 – 45 minute drive up a curvy road and well worth it.  Park your car and walk up the old wooden walkways to all the stores, saloons, museums and more.  Take a train ride through the historic mining areas, it takes about 35 minutes.  Take the kids through the fudge factory and watch them make all sorts of sweets and of course taste them all.  You can even take a tour of an old mine.  One of the many historic buildings include Pipers Opera House.  Built in 1885 and still being used.  Mark Twain, Buffalo Bill and President Grant were among…

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Government announces Mortgage relief effort

It does not come without some resistance.  It is focused on loans either owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It is for homeowners who are at least 3 months behind on their mortgage and owe 90% or more than the house is worth. They will either reduce total housing expense to 38% of your gross income or extend your mortgage from 30 to 40 years or defer some of the principal and make it interest only so distressed home owners can stay in their homes.

There are a lot of homeowners out there who are making their payments that are saying, "This is not fair". Consider this, real estate values are going down faster now than in the 1930’s and if these troubled homeowners do not get help they will lose their homes and now you face another…

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Downtown Reno moving forward

Despite the bad economy there are about six construction sites still plugging along in downtown Reno. Baseball is the driving force with the Triple A Reno Aces set to open their season next April in their new downtown stadium expected to bring approximately 5,000 people to the area. There will also be an entertainment district including shops and restaurants.  There will also be a renovation of the historic Freight house that will be converted to a restaurant. The Hyatt hotel chain will be opening a 6 story hotel just one block from the river.

The West Street market is set to open on December 6 and will include 17 shops and restaurants in another historic district of brick buildings on the river. I recently hosted the Dickson Realty Real Estate today…

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Sparks Whitewater Park Has Cloud Over It

Well, Reno built one why can’t Sparks follow its big brother and be able to have a little white water fun?  It was an overwhelming success in the downtown Reno area and was a catalyst for the downtown re-gentrification. The problem, according to the Nevada office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is that it threatens the ability of Native fish to return to their spawning grounds. The big difference in the two projects is that the Reno Park was built on an already disturbed section of the river, where as the Sparks section is undisturbed and offers some of the best fish habitat in the area.

The truckee river winds 116 miles from Lake Tahoe to Pyramid lake.

The 2.2 million dollar project is expected to open next spring and is to…

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48% Of Nevada Homeowners Are Under Water

That’s right! They owe more that their homes are worth. A good chunk of that is attributed to Las Vegas and their declining values, but in spite of that it is a very troubling statistic. The average “Joe the homeowner” is teetering on the edge, if they get transferred or lose their job what are the choices if they do not have the money to pay the difference in what they owe and what they could sell for. Nationwide the statistic is 20% of all homeowners owe more than their homes are worth.

There is some good news!  The number of trustee sales and notice of defaults are down from August to September this year, which hopefully will mean the steady flow of foreclosures coming on the market is starting to decline.

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