January 16, 2025 • 31 mins
What if the rising costs of living in California are paving the way for a real estate boom in Las Vegas? Join us as we uncover how migration patterns are reshaping the Vegas housing market, fueled by escalating fire insurance costs and a quest for affordability. Discover the impact of this influx on local property prices and the broader implications for homeowners navigating the evolving insurance landscape. We'll also spotlight Nevada’s auto insurance challenges, where high accident rates and uninsured drivers add a twist to the ongoing narrative.<br><br>Navigate with us through the latest market trends, from post-holiday listing surges to the strategic maneuvers of sellers adjusting prices. As interest rates take a slight dip, we'll provide insights into what lies ahead, influenced by upcoming Federal Reserve meetings. Plus, explore the groundbreaking I-10 loan program, designed to bridge the gap for those without traditional identification, and learn essential tips for solar panel maintenance and cost-effective mortgage strategies. This episode is packed with valuable advice, ensuring you're equipped to make informed decisions in an ever-fluctuating market.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Vegas Realty.
Check your go-to podcast forall things Las Vegas real estate
.
Whether you're buying, sellingor investing, we bring you the
latest market trends, insidertips and expert insights to
navigate the ever-changing LasVegas realty landscape.
Tune in each week as we breakdown the data, answer your
questions and help you make thebest real estate decisions in
(00:20):
the entertainment capital of theworld.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hey, las Vegas.
Thanks for joining us back hereat Vegas Realty Check, local
Las Vegas real estate news.
I am Trish Williams and I'mCourtney Boehm and we're happy
to be here this week in Vegas.
Gosh, what are we?
The third weekend, thirdweekend, yeah, of the new year,
and already it just feels like alot's happened in the last few
(00:47):
weeks that it has, yeah, openingup with some news.
Just a highlight I guess thisisn't in our paperwork here, but
one of the things that's beenI've been seeing a lot in the
news is they're saying that,because of the wildfires in
California, that they'reexpecting that that's going to
(01:10):
put a big kind of stress on theVegas real estate market, rental
and sell market because theythink that some people are going
to move out here, whether it'stemporarily or permanent,
because of you know, it's goingto take a while to rebuild
California.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I think you know, I think a few factors definitely
are playing into that.
One is I think some people arejust scared right now to be in
California in general, and youknow there are still a lot of
people that work remote, thathave ability to move, and if
they're not going to renew fireinsurance or they're canceling
fire insurance, I just don'tknow how sustainable it is to
(01:48):
stay there currently.
So I think we're going to see alot of, unfortunately, price
gouging and people takingadvantage of that here.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, and even if they do renew the insurance or
they don't cancel it, the ratesare going to be so high.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
I think I said this, maybe last week or I'm not sure,
or maybe I told you, but I hadclients from Laguna that moved
here.
You know they're retired,they're well off.
They lived in Laguna for 30years.
Their fire insurance went to$20,000 for the year, that's
crazy.
That's higher than most of ourproperty taxes, and this was
about eight months ago, yeah, soI can only imagine now what
(02:25):
that's going to look like, and Ithink it's going to if you can
even get fire insurance movingforward in the next few years.
Who knows how that's going tolook, but I think it's going to
just become really unaffordablefor a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, I feel like we're getting in an environment
where, like with the government,you know, and everything,
they're kind of like likegutting everything that got like
too big and too, like, you know, too meaty.
I guess, too, there there wastoo many, too many people
involved in certain things, youknow they're they're starting to
like look at this and kind oflike gutted and start with the
clean slate, and I feel like, atsome level that needs to happen
(02:59):
with insurance is because it'sum, it's, it's just getting it,
it's so I mean, obviously theyhave these costs, they have
these things, but there's apoint where it's just going to
be the average person just can'tafford insurance.
So what's going to happen there?
So, there needs to be a plan.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
And that's what you know those clients.
They said you know, we workedour whole lives to get this
house paid off and now we haveanother mortgage payment,
literally yeah, and that's um, Idon't know.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
There's got to be something that can be done about
that um, but uh, hopefully,moving forward in future years,
we're going to see something, umin regards to that.
That's because even with autoinsurance, you know it's
mandatory to carry it but it'sraising so much and so rapidly.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
It's really, I think, getting hard for a lot of
people to afford certain things,and California has always been
extremely expensive and,unfortunately, now I think it's
going to be worse and I thinkit's going to be harder to get a
home here.
I do think it's going to bemore expensive.
The values are going to go up.
And even you have friends inCalifornia that said they're
(04:05):
probably moving out of herealready.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, yeah, no, definitely that seems to be a
trending topic with a lot ofpeople right now in California,
and also, I mean, when it comesto auto insurance and things
like that.
I hate to harp on lawyers again, but I feel like some of this,
like inflation that's happeningin the insurance industry, is
(04:30):
the lawyers are to blame forthis.
For any small thing, they'llsue the, they go after and sue
the insurance for the max amount, and sometimes it's not
necessary or necessary to dothat or go that route, so I feel
like that's part of it too.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, and you know, even as far as auto insurance, I
know I have a friend who has abrokerage and she said in the
last few years there's a ton ofcompanies that are pulling out
of the state of Nevada justbecause of the accident rates
and all of that.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah, yeah.
And then the uninsured, thepeople that are driving
uninsured, and then you know thedriver has to go and go for
their insurance for to get backto hold because the person that
hit them or the person that wasinvolved was not insured.
And I see all the time um inthe city which drives me nuts,
um is people just driving around, no plates, nothing I see it
(05:25):
all the time, don't even try,like not even attempting to try.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
I see it all the time .
You're a very safe driver.
I've drove behind you before.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I am a slow driver people.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
I am a frustrating driver.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I never go above the speed limit.
So yeah, i't.
So yeah, I get lots of honks.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
That's good, you know .
It reminded me that I need toslow down a little bit, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
A lot of people get frustrated honking, but that's
okay, I try to stay safe.
So also in the news ReviewJournal did a recent study and
this recent study is forecastingthat all of the land in Las
(06:10):
Vegas will be sold out by 2035.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Which is crazy and I think you know the market has
changed completely to just allnew builds.
It almost seems like lately.
I mean, how many new buildconstruction is going up in the
last two, three years?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
All over the Valley.
All over the Valley, yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
I remember 15 years ago, maybe even 10 years ago,
you passed Red Rock and therewas maybe houses for like five
minutes, and now it's built outall the way past Red Rock.
It's Red Rock Casino.
It's just crazy.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
And they're proposing a new master plan now in Kyle
Canyon, which is wow, so far out.
But yeah, I think we're juststretching out to that limit and
the Bureau of Land Managementowns 80% of the land currently
in Nevada.
I do think that before we runout of dirt here, they're going
(07:02):
to sell that, but even that, theland that they do own is not in
the city.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
No, it's, and I actually did some research on it
, but it's, you know, it's mostof all the national or historic
sites.
They control a lot of like theyou know, the livestock grazing
and mineral development, thingslike that, and they're really
trying to protect our land.
But I did some research.
It says they own 245 millionacres of surface land and
(07:28):
one-tenth of the country's landbase.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Wow, that's amazing, so is some of it totally livable
.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
I mean, who knows where it is, it's probably out
in the middle of nowhere.
But at that point we're goingto have to literally ask them to
give us some land so we canbuild more, and that's yeah, and
that's.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I mean that that 80 is in all of Nevada, and Nevada
if you go I mean Vegas, is justa little small piece of Nevada.
If you go, like outside, evenyou're driving anywhere, he's
just miles and miles of openland.
Um, so I mean, I'm not sure ifthat's really.
I feel like it's too far fromthe city.
I mean, cities can stretch andgrow, of course, but I think
(08:10):
that what this overall is goingto do is just make the values
and the price of the land that'sexisting within the valley so
much more valuable.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
And California is going to drive that market as
well.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Absolutely, and 10 years is not far away.
That's going to drive thatmarket as well.
Absolutely, and 10 years is notfar away.
That's going to happen in ablink of an eye.
So 2035 is right around thecorner and that's what they're
estimating will be completelysold out by.
So yeah, no more new homemarket.
We'll be in the resale marketforever.
I'm not necessarily mad aboutthat.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
as a lender, you know we have our own feelings on new
home builds, but for you as aas a realtor, that's amazing
because they offer so many greatincentives for us Not always,
not always.
Not always.
Some of them do.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Some of them do.
Sometimes, when the newbuilders, they, they, they, just
they have this likerelationship with realtors where
, like when they're when theyhave plentiful traffic and when
everything's just coming in,they're like, oh, we don't need
you to go away.
And then when they're trying toget business, it's like realtor
, be my best friend, of course,I think for us, as a lending
standpoint, it's more so if theyhave in-house lenders.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
they can offer a lot that we can't, even though we
try not to let people know that,but either way, you know's,
that's where that feeling comesfrom as a lender standpoint yeah
, no, definitely it's a.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
It's common knowledge out there.
They have good, um, you know,buy downs and things like that
and they can offer more, butusually their price per square
foot is higher than resale.
So you know, you're kind ofthere's give and take in
everything, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
So you just got to weigh it out and I I don't know
if you've ever I've heardstories right I haven't directly
dealt with it where you knowthey would offer all these
incentives and then towards theend things would change on
certain things as far as ratebuy downs and things like that.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I have heard of that yeah, sometimes, um, it depends
on like how far they're out.
If it's like standing inventory, it's a 30-day close or a
45-day, then they say, oh, weguarantee you this rate.
But then if it's far out, likesix months down the line or
something.
They say they'll give you apercentage towards your closing
costs, but when it comes time tobuy that rate down, it's not
the same um, attractive rate buydown options that they have
(10:21):
when they're trying to get youin quickly.
So, yeah, no, um, always, uh,definitely some pros and cons of
new construction for sure.
So our inventory let's get intoour weekly numbers that we do
every week here on the showWe've got some a little bit more
inventory on the market.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Yeah, I see that we're up 83 from last week.
We have, as far assingle-family homes on the
market, 5,026.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
All right, that's good, and condos and townhomes.
They're up 81 at 1824.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I mean, do you think any of this has to do with
what's going on with California,or this is just kind of no, I
just think this is just Januarytraffic.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
I think people were holding off till after the
holidays to list and it's not acrazy number.
I think it's very common forthis time of year to see that
little bit of spike New listings.
We are at 1,048, which is up123 from last week and we had
763 price decreases, which is up113 from last week.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
So people are trying to get their house sold.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah, definitely.
I think people are sellers atleast are now understanding.
It's like we had all theexcuses last year.
It was like, oh, it's notselling because of the election,
it's not selling because we'rein holiday season.
We had all these reasons whythere was an activity, but now
there's no reason.
So it's like, okay, it's got tobe the price, Now we got to
(11:52):
start adjusting.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
So I think that's where we're at with that, and we
are definitely getting somehomes under contract.
We were at 281 from last week,so that's a pretty good amount.
We have 797 homes undercontract from last week.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
And you know I always say that 3,000 is my favorite
number.
So if that is a week over weektrend, that is my favorite real
estate market where it's 3,000sales a month.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
So that's the number?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Yeah, I don't know.
I just feel like that market is.
It's the type of market wherethere's enough inventory for
buyers to find homes, but it'smoving at a decent enough rate
for sellers to be able to gettheir homes on the market and
sell within 30 days.
So that's my ideal market, justfrom my experience for-.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
It's a healthy, good market.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yeah, for the past 11 years that I've been in real
estate, whenever we averagearound 3,000 sales a month, I
think it's a wonderful balancedmarket, so hopefully this is a
trend that keeps on happening.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Yes, let's absolutely keep up that trend, and we have
518 sold, which is up 166 fromlast week.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, that's also a good number.
I love to see those solds andunder contracts up.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Yeah, so we do have some listener questions to go
over this week.
I feel like it's been a whilesince we talked about our
listener questions.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Absolutely, do you want me to talk about rates
first.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yes, please.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Absolutely.
So let me kind of go over rates.
So obviously we have a newpresident that's coming this
year and so-.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Five days, four days.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Yeah, five or four days, Very soon, yes.
So with that last week, in thelast few days we did, you know,
go.
We were around a 7.25, which isis higher than we saw, you know
, certain times in December.
Right now, today, our nationalaverage, we're sitting at a 7.1
on a 30-year conventional andthen right at about a 6.5 on a
(13:50):
30-year fha va.
That's so it is.
It definitely came down alittle bit.
We're trending down.
We do have the feds meeting.
We have a couple coming up.
One is january 29th.
They forecast and I say thatlightly because at the end of
the day we don't have a crystalball, but yeah, the forecast is
for that meeting that we'regoing to stay relatively stable
(14:11):
and exactly the same as wherewe've been.
We do have another one comingup on March 19th and they are
predicting that the rates aregoing to slowly start coming
down.
So we'll see what happens.
March 19th is definitely theday to kind of look out for on
those type of rates.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Okay, great.
And then you highlight a loanprogram on every show.
So what is that?
What's your program of the week?
Yeah, so the program of theweek.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
this week is going to be an I-10 loan, so the I-10
loan is designed for someone whowants to buy a home that does
not actually have a socialsecurity number.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Okay, so this is somebody, someone that's from
another country.
Yes, that is so.
I guess that would mean they'renot even here, like on a green
card or work permit or anything,right?
Speaker 3 (14:56):
So typically they can be.
But an I-10 is basically a ninedigit code that they get for
paying taxes.
Okay, so they're living here.
They don't have to be livinghere, but usually they're living
here in the United States,they're working, but they don't
have an official social securitynumber.
So the IRS basically gives themthis nine digit number and they
(15:19):
use that to file taxes andthings like that.
So with this loan, it reallyallows the ability for someone
who does not have a socialsecurity number to buy a home.
This loan is really awesome.
So, credit wise, you don't haveto have a huge, you know, 640
and above.
Typically, with this they'realso going to ask for 20% down.
(15:41):
Okay, now there are somestipulations.
Even with an I--10 number youactually do, when we pull, it
actually shows a credit score,really.
So there is a credit score thatcomes up, which sounds weird,
because if you don't have asocial security number, how do
you have a credit?
How?
Speaker 2 (15:57):
do you have a credit score Like is it, credit cards?
You can't get a credit card,can you?
Speaker 3 (16:03):
So it'll show Based on your bill and previous
history on paying bills.
Okay, so you can go as low as15% down.
However, with thosestipulations, there has to be
where they're actually showingtrade lines on credit.
Okay, so it has to show activeor paid, and it can be rent, it
can be utilities, it can becertain things that you can
(16:25):
actually get put onto yourcredit to show that you're
making payments.
There are going to want to seesome work history, of course,
some type of income.
It can even be 12 months ifwe're looking at doing a bank
statement I-10, which you can do, or a 1099.
But they're going to want tosee some type of income and
there are some stipulations tothis.
The biggest thing is a lot ofpeople assume that if they don't
(16:46):
have a social security numberthey know people that moved here
from another country that theycan't get a loan, and that's
just not the case.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Okay.
So if you're, if you're livinghere, you're working here,
you're paying taxes here, so youhave this ITIN number, which,
which is your kind of taxaccount that they set up, then
you are still able to purchase ahome.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Absolutely, but if you're still living in another
country and that that's a,that's just a whole different
scenario.
So I'll go into that loanprogram another week.
But that's considered yep,that's considered a foreign
national.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
They're not living here, but they want to purchase
here okay, okay, I didn't evenknow that you could uh get a
loan if you've lived in anothercountry absolutely, and
typically the things they'regoing to look at are money down.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
They're going to want to see some income, some
reserves three, six months.
But you definitely on thosetype of loans they are
considered higher risk.
So minimum usually is 20%.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Right, Right and 20% is not bad.
I mean that I feel like that'sa fair minimum to have on,
especially these outside the boxloan programs.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Absolutely so.
That's a fair minimum to haveon, especially these outside the
box loan programs.
Absolutely so.
That's a great program andusually they're, you know, 30
days on average closing time,not too crazy.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
That is not too crazy .
No no, sounds like it's apretty simple Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Well thank you.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Thank you for that highlight.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
And people.
If you want to find out moreabout that, make sure to contact
Courtney to go over somedetails.
And let's get into our listenerquestions.
First one is Steve.
Steve has a house that he wantsto make an offer on.
It has a lot of lush landscapeand it's a big property.
Steve's concerned about thewater bills.
(18:21):
Is there any way of findingthat out before I purchase?
So yes, absolutely Um.
Often, when it comes to waterpower, even gas bills, any
utility the utility companieswill offer.
You can call them and they'llbe able to give you an estimate
of what the last six to 12 monthaverage is.
(18:42):
Um, I always recommend doingthat, especially when you're
buying a property that has a lotof landscape, a lot of
everything, because our waterrates have gone up substantially
over the last couple of yearsand that could be a factor.
I mean, I have seen, withoutany exaggeration, homes that
have thousands of dollars permonth in water bills.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
I believe it.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
On very large properties.
So that is I mean that's a hugeconsidering factor because,
especially if it has just, youknow, grass and everything still
that's going to be and it'sgoing to be one of those things
that you may still want the home, you may still want all that
big property, but you might wantto factor in that you're going
(19:25):
to have to make that more desertfriendly landscape in order to
make it affordable and I thinkyou know, when you move into a
home I think it is important toknow the overhead cost.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
So, outside of you asking the other agent, which
I'm sure they can get a lot ofthat information yeah, there's
also, you know, you can evencall NV Energy and ask for any
property, the average high andlow of a property address, and
they'll give it to you.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Yeah, absolutely.
It's very easy and it's noteven hard to obtain when you
call a utility company.
So a lot of times your realtorwill do that for you.
I do it for my clients if theyrequest it.
And, yes, we can always ask theseller or the other agent to
provide copies of bills.
There's times that I found theyconveniently forgot where one
(20:08):
bill was, there's one that theycouldn't place and that happened
to have been the highest one.
So I always like to refer tothe utility companies because
definitely you're going to getthe facts of what's going on
there, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Absolutely yeah.
The next question is I bought ahouse with solar and the solar
isn't working and the companywent bankrupt.
What do I do?
Well, courtney, you seem to bethe expert of this.
Yeah, so I do have a backgroundin solar, with solar, and, of
course, the question was by Kim.
(20:43):
So, kim, if you want to call me, I'm happy to answer all these
questions and help you as well.
But I do have a background insolar and unfortunately, there
was a ton of small solarcompanies that came here during
the solar boom, which was maybe8, 10 years ago, from Utah,
california, arizona.
A lot of the smaller companiescouldn't necessarily sustain,
especially at the cost that theywere offering people to buy
(21:06):
solar panels, so a lot of themhave gone out of business.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Yeah, and even SunPower, which was a pretty big
company, over the last yearwent bankrupt.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Yeah, a lot of them have been bought out by larger
companies like Sunrun and thingslike that.
So with solar, there are acouple different options.
Option one is going to be and,like I said, kim, if you want to
call me I'm happy to go overthat with you but option one is
going to be you can, you know,google or look at there are
technicians that'll come out andlook at the solar and try to
(21:34):
fix it.
Since the company is bankrupt,obviously the company is not
going to come out.
So there are solar techniciansyou can pay to come check it to
at least see if it's working.
Okay, if it's not working, thenthe next steps would be if you
want to continue to go solar,save money on your power bill.
You can also look at getting itremoved.
(21:55):
A lot of handymen and certainhandymen specialize in removing
solar, so that's not really ahuge task.
Takes maybe, based on how bigthe system is, three, four hours
, maybe even less, to remove.
They can remove it and then youcan look at possibly doing a
power customer option withSunrun.
Or if you want to go solar,look at other companies.
(22:16):
But if it's sitting on the roof, you want solar and it's just
not working.
Get a technician first to checkthe system and then always
remove it, and you can replaceit with a company.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Yeah, because I mean, that's one of the things.
I actually I've been in a verysimilar situation with Kim Solar
was on my home purchased, paidin full.
It was a $27,000 set of panelsthat the previous owner bought
and they're owned, there's nopayment on them, which has been
great over the years, and nowit's not performing like it used
(22:48):
to and I kind of don't know.
It's with SunPower, I don'tknow what to do about it, but
it's also.
You know, I'm still at thatpoint where it's like, okay, but
there's still $27,000 worth ofpanels up there.
You don't want to just throwthem away and you definitely if
there's a way to get thoseoperating optimally again.
That's the route you want totake.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
So in the first step is to see if they're actually
working right.
The second thing is based on,you know, solar panels that were
put on 8, 10, 15 years ago.
They might not be as efficient,or a lot of people are just
using a lot more power.
The reason being is because thesummers now are much warmer
here, and so people are.
October was hot, even Novemberwas still warm, so people are
(23:32):
just using and consuming a lotmore energy than they were 5, 10
years ago as well.
So some people do add secondsystems to cover all the usage
that they're using above andbeyond.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Oh, the excess usage, yeah, that's a great idea.
And cleaning?
Does cleaning the panelsactually do anything?
Speaker 3 (23:50):
So it really depends.
You know certain companies likeSunrun.
They have an app where you cansee the production.
So usually if it's producing ata really high rate, cleaning it
isn't going to change it.
It's if you're not producinghere.
We don't get these crazy likemud storms and things like that.
So unless it's completelycovered, usually it doesn't
affect it too much it depends atthe the.
(24:12):
It depends at the rate at whichit's.
I mean, if it's just covered indirt or something, then it may
yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
That's a.
That's another thing to give ashot to.
Okay, great.
And then Carlos, carlos reallywants to be a homeowner.
The payments for the type ofhouse that he wants just seem
too high and wants to know howhe can have options for getting
lower payments.
That's kind of a simple oneright.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
I mean there are options, obviously.
At the end of the day, I thinkit's finding a home that you're
comfortable with as far as apayment.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Yeah, yeah, and that's part of your approval.
Sometimes people's approval,even at that point, is higher
than a payment that they'recomfortable with, and that's
where you have a discussion withthe lender on what payment.
What's your comfort zone as faras that payment?
But the more money you put down, your payment's based on your
loan balance.
So the more money you put down,the lower that payment goes.
(25:08):
There's things like putting 20%down, getting rid of PMI or MIP
that can make that extraportion of the payment go away.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
You can also do.
You know there and I don't knowhow much you're seeing this
right now seller concessions,are you seeing a ton of that
right now when they're doingrate buy downs?
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Yeah, yeah, they're still.
They're still out there.
I feel like that, as the marketstarts warming up, it's going
to go away, but there is still.
We're still in an environmentwhere that's still relevant.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
And there used to be.
You know there was talks aboutthe 3-2-1 buy downs which had to
come from.
It couldn't come from the buyer, so it had to come from the
seller side.
And you know people used totalk about those where the rate
for the three years it would be3% and then at two years in it
would go down 2% and then 1% andthe cost of doing those was
(25:57):
very large.
There's not a set amount.
I've seen it for ten, fifteenthousand dollars sometimes a buy
down on those.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
I sold an eight hundred.
I was an eight hundred thousanddollar house about a year and a
half ago.
Seller.
The seller agreed I had thebuyer.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
The seller agreed to pay for the three, three, one
buy down and it was a cost atthirty two thousand and so when
you're looking at a market, Ithink at the end of the day you
know you can just buy down arate.
Sometimes it's best to takethat money and use it towards
closing costs to make it moreaffordable for somebody, or just
actually buy down the rate andit stays like that until they
(26:36):
refinance.
A lot of times those 3-2-1 buydowns once that's over, if you
haven't refinanced or you're notout of the home, then the
payment in three years maybeisn't affordable at that point.
So you really have to look athow much it's going to cost and
where it's best to put yourmoney.
Sometimes it's best to just buydown the rate indefinitely
until you change the mortgage orrefinance or move.
And then when we're looking atthis market, a lot of times
(27:00):
using the money towards buyingdown a rate, most people, based
on the predictions, are probablygoing to refinance in the next
couple years two, three years.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
So if their break even is three, four years of
what the cost is to buy down therate, sometimes it's just not
worth it and I tell people thisall the time if you're not using
a down payment assistanceprogram or some kind of program
that has like a term that youhave to stay locked in that loan
most loans six payments you'reready to refinance.
(27:32):
It's no big deal, no penalties,nothing.
You can already go andrefinance into a lower rate if
the rates are better then, soyou still have that option as
well.
I know, years ago, back in 2018, when I bought my current home,
I paid for a rate buy down.
There was a certain cost to it.
(27:53):
And two years later, in 2020, Igot rates came down to 2%.
2020, I got uh, rates came downto 2%.
So I was like, oh well, hey,got a way better.
Uh scenario there refinanced atthe 2%, so that buy down, um, I
paid a good chunk of money forit, but I only used it for two
years, so it never really Iguess.
(28:15):
Uh realized, uh, you know, likeseeing that scene value in that
, you know, because I didn'thave it for long enough.
But there's always thosescenarios too.
So it's definitely I wouldadvise don't get into something
that you can't afford, thatyou're going to be stressed
about every month.
Make sure that the payment,regardless of what you're
(28:36):
getting into, is affordable.
But there's always the futureto look into because you can
gain 20 equity if you didn'talready put 20 down and then
refinance and remove that mip orpmi.
You can refinance if the rateslook better and get that at a
lower rate.
You can make extra payments andget that loan balance down
(28:59):
quicker.
You can do the rate buy downs.
You can ask the sellers forconcessions.
There's a lot of things thatyou can do to make that payment
more comfortable for you.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Absolutely, and there are max seller concessions that
based on the type of loan thatthey can actually do in general.
But I think each case is sodifferent and right now I do
think people are going torefinance in the next year or
two.
So when it was at 3% duringCOVID, was it worth using a rate
buy down Because you'reprobably never going to touch it
ever again?
I mean, if you're buying downfrom a 3% to a two and a half, I
(29:31):
mean those rates are unheard of.
So you know, right now I justdon't think it's worth using a
ton of money to do a rate buydown.
Most people are going torefinance in the next 12 to 24
months yeah, because we all feelvery confident the rates are
going to start coming down soon?
Speaker 2 (29:45):
um, I, I really hope so.
Yeah, me too, yes.
Um.
So, courtney, someone wants totalk to you about getting some
money.
How do they reach you?
Speaker 3 (29:55):
yes, if you're interested in getting some money
, give me a call at 702-416-6918or shoot me over a text.
I'm always happy to chat.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
All right, if you need to spend that money on a
home, please give me a call,trish, at 702-308-2878.
And if you're watching our show, please like, share, subscribe.
We are realtycheckvegas.
That's our link tree where youcan link to either of us or both
(30:23):
of us on all different types ofportals.
And we do want to send aspecial shout out to our
marketing partner, chicago Title.
Thank you for everything thatyou do and we'll see you next
week.
Bye, bye.
Welcome to Vegas Realty.
Check your go-to podcast forall things Las Vegas real estate
.
Whether you're buying, sellingor investing, we bring you the
latest market trends, insidertips and expert insights to
navigate the ever-changing LasVegas realty landscape.
Tune in each week as we breakdown the data, answer your
questions and help you make thebest real estate decisions in
(00:20):
the entertainment capital of theworld.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hey, las Vegas.
Thanks for joining us back hereat Vegas Realty Check, local
Las Vegas real estate news.
I am Trish Williams and I'mCourtney Boehm and we're happy
to be here this week in Vegas.
Gosh, what are we?
The third weekend, thirdweekend, yeah, of the new year,
and already it just feels like alot's happened in the last few
(00:47):
weeks that it has, yeah, openingup with some news.
Just a highlight I guess thisisn't in our paperwork here, but
one of the things that's beenI've been seeing a lot in the
news is they're saying that,because of the wildfires in
California, that they'reexpecting that that's going to
(01:10):
put a big kind of stress on theVegas real estate market, rental
and sell market because theythink that some people are going
to move out here, whether it'stemporarily or permanent,
because of you know, it's goingto take a while to rebuild
California.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I think you know, I think a few factors definitely
are playing into that.
One is I think some people arejust scared right now to be in
California in general, and youknow there are still a lot of
people that work remote, thathave ability to move, and if
they're not going to renew fireinsurance or they're canceling
fire insurance, I just don'tknow how sustainable it is to
(01:48):
stay there currently.
So I think we're going to see alot of, unfortunately, price
gouging and people takingadvantage of that here.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, and even if they do renew the insurance or
they don't cancel it, the ratesare going to be so high.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
I think I said this, maybe last week or I'm not sure,
or maybe I told you, but I hadclients from Laguna that moved
here.
You know they're retired,they're well off.
They lived in Laguna for 30years.
Their fire insurance went to$20,000 for the year, that's
crazy.
That's higher than most of ourproperty taxes, and this was
about eight months ago, yeah, soI can only imagine now what
(02:25):
that's going to look like, and Ithink it's going to if you can
even get fire insurance movingforward in the next few years.
Who knows how that's going tolook, but I think it's going to
just become really unaffordablefor a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, I feel like we're getting in an environment
where, like with the government,you know, and everything,
they're kind of like likegutting everything that got like
too big and too, like, you know, too meaty.
I guess, too, there there wastoo many, too many people
involved in certain things, youknow they're they're starting to
like look at this and kind oflike gutted and start with the
clean slate, and I feel like, atsome level that needs to happen
(02:59):
with insurance is because it'sum, it's, it's just getting it,
it's so I mean, obviously theyhave these costs, they have
these things, but there's apoint where it's just going to
be the average person just can'tafford insurance.
So what's going to happen there?
So, there needs to be a plan.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
And that's what you know those clients.
They said you know, we workedour whole lives to get this
house paid off and now we haveanother mortgage payment,
literally yeah, and that's um, Idon't know.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
There's got to be something that can be done about
that um, but uh, hopefully,moving forward in future years,
we're going to see something, umin regards to that.
That's because even with autoinsurance, you know it's
mandatory to carry it but it'sraising so much and so rapidly.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
It's really, I think, getting hard for a lot of
people to afford certain things,and California has always been
extremely expensive and,unfortunately, now I think it's
going to be worse and I thinkit's going to be harder to get a
home here.
I do think it's going to bemore expensive.
The values are going to go up.
And even you have friends inCalifornia that said they're
(04:05):
probably moving out of herealready.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, yeah, no, definitely that seems to be a
trending topic with a lot ofpeople right now in California,
and also, I mean, when it comesto auto insurance and things
like that.
I hate to harp on lawyers again, but I feel like some of this,
like inflation that's happeningin the insurance industry, is
(04:30):
the lawyers are to blame forthis.
For any small thing, they'llsue the, they go after and sue
the insurance for the max amount, and sometimes it's not
necessary or necessary to dothat or go that route, so I feel
like that's part of it too.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, and you know, even as far as auto insurance, I
know I have a friend who has abrokerage and she said in the
last few years there's a ton ofcompanies that are pulling out
of the state of Nevada justbecause of the accident rates
and all of that.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah, yeah.
And then the uninsured, thepeople that are driving
uninsured, and then you know thedriver has to go and go for
their insurance for to get backto hold because the person that
hit them or the person that wasinvolved was not insured.
And I see all the time um inthe city which drives me nuts,
um is people just driving around, no plates, nothing I see it
(05:25):
all the time, don't even try,like not even attempting to try.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
I see it all the time .
You're a very safe driver.
I've drove behind you before.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I am a slow driver people.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
I am a frustrating driver.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I never go above the speed limit.
So yeah, i't.
So yeah, I get lots of honks.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
That's good, you know .
It reminded me that I need toslow down a little bit, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
A lot of people get frustrated honking, but that's
okay, I try to stay safe.
So also in the news ReviewJournal did a recent study and
this recent study is forecastingthat all of the land in Las
(06:10):
Vegas will be sold out by 2035.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Which is crazy and I think you know the market has
changed completely to just allnew builds.
It almost seems like lately.
I mean, how many new buildconstruction is going up in the
last two, three years?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
All over the Valley.
All over the Valley, yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
I remember 15 years ago, maybe even 10 years ago,
you passed Red Rock and therewas maybe houses for like five
minutes, and now it's built outall the way past Red Rock.
It's Red Rock Casino.
It's just crazy.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
And they're proposing a new master plan now in Kyle
Canyon, which is wow, so far out.
But yeah, I think we're juststretching out to that limit and
the Bureau of Land Managementowns 80% of the land currently
in Nevada.
I do think that before we runout of dirt here, they're going
(07:02):
to sell that, but even that, theland that they do own is not in
the city.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
No, it's, and I actually did some research on it
, but it's, you know, it's mostof all the national or historic
sites.
They control a lot of like theyou know, the livestock grazing
and mineral development, thingslike that, and they're really
trying to protect our land.
But I did some research.
It says they own 245 millionacres of surface land and
(07:28):
one-tenth of the country's landbase.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Wow, that's amazing, so is some of it totally livable
.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
I mean, who knows where it is, it's probably out
in the middle of nowhere.
But at that point we're goingto have to literally ask them to
give us some land so we canbuild more, and that's yeah, and
that's.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I mean that that 80 is in all of Nevada, and Nevada
if you go I mean Vegas, is justa little small piece of Nevada.
If you go, like outside, evenyou're driving anywhere, he's
just miles and miles of openland.
Um, so I mean, I'm not sure ifthat's really.
I feel like it's too far fromthe city.
I mean, cities can stretch andgrow, of course, but I think
(08:10):
that what this overall is goingto do is just make the values
and the price of the land that'sexisting within the valley so
much more valuable.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
And California is going to drive that market as
well.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Absolutely, and 10 years is not far away.
That's going to drive thatmarket as well.
Absolutely, and 10 years is notfar away.
That's going to happen in ablink of an eye.
So 2035 is right around thecorner and that's what they're
estimating will be completelysold out by.
So yeah, no more new homemarket.
We'll be in the resale marketforever.
I'm not necessarily mad aboutthat.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
as a lender, you know we have our own feelings on new
home builds, but for you as aas a realtor, that's amazing
because they offer so many greatincentives for us Not always,
not always.
Not always.
Some of them do.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Some of them do.
Sometimes, when the newbuilders, they, they, they, just
they have this likerelationship with realtors where
, like when they're when theyhave plentiful traffic and when
everything's just coming in,they're like, oh, we don't need
you to go away.
And then when they're trying toget business, it's like realtor
, be my best friend, of course,I think for us, as a lending
standpoint, it's more so if theyhave in-house lenders.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
they can offer a lot that we can't, even though we
try not to let people know that,but either way, you know's,
that's where that feeling comesfrom as a lender standpoint yeah
, no, definitely it's a.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
It's common knowledge out there.
They have good, um, you know,buy downs and things like that
and they can offer more, butusually their price per square
foot is higher than resale.
So you know, you're kind ofthere's give and take in
everything, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
So you just got to weigh it out and I I don't know
if you've ever I've heardstories right I haven't directly
dealt with it where you knowthey would offer all these
incentives and then towards theend things would change on
certain things as far as ratebuy downs and things like that.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I have heard of that yeah, sometimes, um, it depends
on like how far they're out.
If it's like standing inventory, it's a 30-day close or a
45-day, then they say, oh, weguarantee you this rate.
But then if it's far out, likesix months down the line or
something.
They say they'll give you apercentage towards your closing
costs, but when it comes time tobuy that rate down, it's not
the same um, attractive rate buydown options that they have
(10:21):
when they're trying to get youin quickly.
So, yeah, no, um, always, uh,definitely some pros and cons of
new construction for sure.
So our inventory let's get intoour weekly numbers that we do
every week here on the showWe've got some a little bit more
inventory on the market.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Yeah, I see that we're up 83 from last week.
We have, as far assingle-family homes on the
market, 5,026.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
All right, that's good, and condos and townhomes.
They're up 81 at 1824.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I mean, do you think any of this has to do with
what's going on with California,or this is just kind of no, I
just think this is just Januarytraffic.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
I think people were holding off till after the
holidays to list and it's not acrazy number.
I think it's very common forthis time of year to see that
little bit of spike New listings.
We are at 1,048, which is up123 from last week and we had
763 price decreases, which is up113 from last week.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
So people are trying to get their house sold.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah, definitely.
I think people are sellers atleast are now understanding.
It's like we had all theexcuses last year.
It was like, oh, it's notselling because of the election,
it's not selling because we'rein holiday season.
We had all these reasons whythere was an activity, but now
there's no reason.
So it's like, okay, it's got tobe the price, Now we got to
(11:52):
start adjusting.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
So I think that's where we're at with that, and we
are definitely getting somehomes under contract.
We were at 281 from last week,so that's a pretty good amount.
We have 797 homes undercontract from last week.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
And you know I always say that 3,000 is my favorite
number.
So if that is a week over weektrend, that is my favorite real
estate market where it's 3,000sales a month.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
So that's the number?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Yeah, I don't know.
I just feel like that market is.
It's the type of market wherethere's enough inventory for
buyers to find homes, but it'smoving at a decent enough rate
for sellers to be able to gettheir homes on the market and
sell within 30 days.
So that's my ideal market, justfrom my experience for-.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
It's a healthy, good market.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yeah, for the past 11 years that I've been in real
estate, whenever we averagearound 3,000 sales a month, I
think it's a wonderful balancedmarket, so hopefully this is a
trend that keeps on happening.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Yes, let's absolutely keep up that trend, and we have
518 sold, which is up 166 fromlast week.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, that's also a good number.
I love to see those solds andunder contracts up.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Yeah, so we do have some listener questions to go
over this week.
I feel like it's been a whilesince we talked about our
listener questions.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Absolutely, do you want me to talk about rates
first.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yes, please.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Absolutely.
So let me kind of go over rates.
So obviously we have a newpresident that's coming this
year and so-.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Five days, four days.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Yeah, five or four days, Very soon, yes.
So with that last week, in thelast few days we did, you know,
go.
We were around a 7.25, which isis higher than we saw, you know
, certain times in December.
Right now, today, our nationalaverage, we're sitting at a 7.1
on a 30-year conventional andthen right at about a 6.5 on a
(13:50):
30-year fha va.
That's so it is.
It definitely came down alittle bit.
We're trending down.
We do have the feds meeting.
We have a couple coming up.
One is january 29th.
They forecast and I say thatlightly because at the end of
the day we don't have a crystalball, but yeah, the forecast is
for that meeting that we'regoing to stay relatively stable
(14:11):
and exactly the same as wherewe've been.
We do have another one comingup on March 19th and they are
predicting that the rates aregoing to slowly start coming
down.
So we'll see what happens.
March 19th is definitely theday to kind of look out for on
those type of rates.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Okay, great.
And then you highlight a loanprogram on every show.
So what is that?
What's your program of the week?
Yeah, so the program of theweek.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
this week is going to be an I-10 loan, so the I-10
loan is designed for someone whowants to buy a home that does
not actually have a socialsecurity number.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Okay, so this is somebody, someone that's from
another country.
Yes, that is so.
I guess that would mean they'renot even here, like on a green
card or work permit or anything,right?
Speaker 3 (14:56):
So typically they can be.
But an I-10 is basically a ninedigit code that they get for
paying taxes.
Okay, so they're living here.
They don't have to be livinghere, but usually they're living
here in the United States,they're working, but they don't
have an official social securitynumber.
So the IRS basically gives themthis nine digit number and they
(15:19):
use that to file taxes andthings like that.
So with this loan, it reallyallows the ability for someone
who does not have a socialsecurity number to buy a home.
This loan is really awesome.
So, credit wise, you don't haveto have a huge, you know, 640
and above.
Typically, with this they'realso going to ask for 20% down.
(15:41):
Okay, now there are somestipulations.
Even with an I--10 number youactually do, when we pull, it
actually shows a credit score,really.
So there is a credit score thatcomes up, which sounds weird,
because if you don't have asocial security number, how do
you have a credit?
How?
Speaker 2 (15:57):
do you have a credit score Like is it, credit cards?
You can't get a credit card,can you?
Speaker 3 (16:03):
So it'll show Based on your bill and previous
history on paying bills.
Okay, so you can go as low as15% down.
However, with thosestipulations, there has to be
where they're actually showingtrade lines on credit.
Okay, so it has to show activeor paid, and it can be rent, it
can be utilities, it can becertain things that you can
(16:25):
actually get put onto yourcredit to show that you're
making payments.
There are going to want to seesome work history, of course,
some type of income.
It can even be 12 months ifwe're looking at doing a bank
statement I-10, which you can do, or a 1099.
But they're going to want tosee some type of income and
there are some stipulations tothis.
The biggest thing is a lot ofpeople assume that if they don't
(16:46):
have a social security numberthey know people that moved here
from another country that theycan't get a loan, and that's
just not the case.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Okay.
So if you're, if you're livinghere, you're working here,
you're paying taxes here, so youhave this ITIN number, which,
which is your kind of taxaccount that they set up, then
you are still able to purchase ahome.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Absolutely, but if you're still living in another
country and that that's a,that's just a whole different
scenario.
So I'll go into that loanprogram another week.
But that's considered yep,that's considered a foreign
national.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
They're not living here, but they want to purchase
here okay, okay, I didn't evenknow that you could uh get a
loan if you've lived in anothercountry absolutely, and
typically the things they'regoing to look at are money down.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
They're going to want to see some income, some
reserves three, six months.
But you definitely on thosetype of loans they are
considered higher risk.
So minimum usually is 20%.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Right, Right and 20% is not bad.
I mean that I feel like that'sa fair minimum to have on,
especially these outside the boxloan programs.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Absolutely so.
That's a fair minimum to haveon, especially these outside the
box loan programs.
Absolutely so.
That's a great program andusually they're, you know, 30
days on average closing time,not too crazy.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
That is not too crazy .
No no, sounds like it's apretty simple Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Well thank you.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Thank you for that highlight.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
And people.
If you want to find out moreabout that, make sure to contact
Courtney to go over somedetails.
And let's get into our listenerquestions.
First one is Steve.
Steve has a house that he wantsto make an offer on.
It has a lot of lush landscapeand it's a big property.
Steve's concerned about thewater bills.
(18:21):
Is there any way of findingthat out before I purchase?
So yes, absolutely Um.
Often, when it comes to waterpower, even gas bills, any
utility the utility companieswill offer.
You can call them and they'llbe able to give you an estimate
of what the last six to 12 monthaverage is.
(18:42):
Um, I always recommend doingthat, especially when you're
buying a property that has a lotof landscape, a lot of
everything, because our waterrates have gone up substantially
over the last couple of yearsand that could be a factor.
I mean, I have seen, withoutany exaggeration, homes that
have thousands of dollars permonth in water bills.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
I believe it.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
On very large properties.
So that is I mean that's a hugeconsidering factor because,
especially if it has just, youknow, grass and everything still
that's going to be and it'sgoing to be one of those things
that you may still want the home, you may still want all that
big property, but you might wantto factor in that you're going
(19:25):
to have to make that more desertfriendly landscape in order to
make it affordable and I thinkyou know, when you move into a
home I think it is important toknow the overhead cost.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
So, outside of you asking the other agent, which
I'm sure they can get a lot ofthat information yeah, there's
also, you know, you can evencall NV Energy and ask for any
property, the average high andlow of a property address, and
they'll give it to you.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Yeah, absolutely.
It's very easy and it's noteven hard to obtain when you
call a utility company.
So a lot of times your realtorwill do that for you.
I do it for my clients if theyrequest it.
And, yes, we can always ask theseller or the other agent to
provide copies of bills.
There's times that I found theyconveniently forgot where one
(20:08):
bill was, there's one that theycouldn't place and that happened
to have been the highest one.
So I always like to refer tothe utility companies because
definitely you're going to getthe facts of what's going on
there, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Absolutely yeah.
The next question is I bought ahouse with solar and the solar
isn't working and the companywent bankrupt.
What do I do?
Well, courtney, you seem to bethe expert of this.
Yeah, so I do have a backgroundin solar, with solar, and, of
course, the question was by Kim.
(20:43):
So, kim, if you want to call me, I'm happy to answer all these
questions and help you as well.
But I do have a background insolar and unfortunately, there
was a ton of small solarcompanies that came here during
the solar boom, which was maybe8, 10 years ago, from Utah,
california, arizona.
A lot of the smaller companiescouldn't necessarily sustain,
especially at the cost that theywere offering people to buy
(21:06):
solar panels, so a lot of themhave gone out of business.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Yeah, and even SunPower, which was a pretty big
company, over the last yearwent bankrupt.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Yeah, a lot of them have been bought out by larger
companies like Sunrun and thingslike that.
So with solar, there are acouple different options.
Option one is going to be and,like I said, kim, if you want to
call me I'm happy to go overthat with you but option one is
going to be you can, you know,google or look at there are
technicians that'll come out andlook at the solar and try to
(21:34):
fix it.
Since the company is bankrupt,obviously the company is not
going to come out.
So there are solar techniciansyou can pay to come check it to
at least see if it's working.
Okay, if it's not working, thenthe next steps would be if you
want to continue to go solar,save money on your power bill.
You can also look at getting itremoved.
(21:55):
A lot of handymen and certainhandymen specialize in removing
solar, so that's not really ahuge task.
Takes maybe, based on how bigthe system is, three, four hours
, maybe even less, to remove.
They can remove it and then youcan look at possibly doing a
power customer option withSunrun.
Or if you want to go solar,look at other companies.
(22:16):
But if it's sitting on the roof, you want solar and it's just
not working.
Get a technician first to checkthe system and then always
remove it, and you can replaceit with a company.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Yeah, because I mean, that's one of the things.
I actually I've been in a verysimilar situation with Kim Solar
was on my home purchased, paidin full.
It was a $27,000 set of panelsthat the previous owner bought
and they're owned, there's nopayment on them, which has been
great over the years, and nowit's not performing like it used
(22:48):
to and I kind of don't know.
It's with SunPower, I don'tknow what to do about it, but
it's also.
You know, I'm still at thatpoint where it's like, okay, but
there's still $27,000 worth ofpanels up there.
You don't want to just throwthem away and you definitely if
there's a way to get thoseoperating optimally again.
That's the route you want totake.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
So in the first step is to see if they're actually
working right.
The second thing is based on,you know, solar panels that were
put on 8, 10, 15 years ago.
They might not be as efficient,or a lot of people are just
using a lot more power.
The reason being is because thesummers now are much warmer
here, and so people are.
October was hot, even Novemberwas still warm, so people are
(23:32):
just using and consuming a lotmore energy than they were 5, 10
years ago as well.
So some people do add secondsystems to cover all the usage
that they're using above andbeyond.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Oh, the excess usage, yeah, that's a great idea.
And cleaning?
Does cleaning the panelsactually do anything?
Speaker 3 (23:50):
So it really depends.
You know certain companies likeSunrun.
They have an app where you cansee the production.
So usually if it's producing ata really high rate, cleaning it
isn't going to change it.
It's if you're not producinghere.
We don't get these crazy likemud storms and things like that.
So unless it's completelycovered, usually it doesn't
affect it too much it depends atthe the.
(24:12):
It depends at the rate at whichit's.
I mean, if it's just covered indirt or something, then it may
yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
That's a.
That's another thing to give ashot to.
Okay, great.
And then Carlos, carlos reallywants to be a homeowner.
The payments for the type ofhouse that he wants just seem
too high and wants to know howhe can have options for getting
lower payments.
That's kind of a simple oneright.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
I mean there are options, obviously.
At the end of the day, I thinkit's finding a home that you're
comfortable with as far as apayment.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Yeah, yeah, and that's part of your approval.
Sometimes people's approval,even at that point, is higher
than a payment that they'recomfortable with, and that's
where you have a discussion withthe lender on what payment.
What's your comfort zone as faras that payment?
But the more money you put down, your payment's based on your
loan balance.
So the more money you put down,the lower that payment goes.
(25:08):
There's things like putting 20%down, getting rid of PMI or MIP
that can make that extraportion of the payment go away.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
You can also do.
You know there and I don't knowhow much you're seeing this
right now seller concessions,are you seeing a ton of that
right now when they're doingrate buy downs?
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Yeah, yeah, they're still.
They're still out there.
I feel like that, as the marketstarts warming up, it's going
to go away, but there is still.
We're still in an environmentwhere that's still relevant.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
And there used to be.
You know there was talks aboutthe 3-2-1 buy downs which had to
come from.
It couldn't come from the buyer, so it had to come from the
seller side.
And you know people used totalk about those where the rate
for the three years it would be3% and then at two years in it
would go down 2% and then 1% andthe cost of doing those was
(25:57):
very large.
There's not a set amount.
I've seen it for ten, fifteenthousand dollars sometimes a buy
down on those.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
I sold an eight hundred.
I was an eight hundred thousanddollar house about a year and a
half ago.
Seller.
The seller agreed I had thebuyer.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
The seller agreed to pay for the three, three, one
buy down and it was a cost atthirty two thousand and so when
you're looking at a market, Ithink at the end of the day you
know you can just buy down arate.
Sometimes it's best to takethat money and use it towards
closing costs to make it moreaffordable for somebody, or just
actually buy down the rate andit stays like that until they
(26:36):
refinance.
A lot of times those 3-2-1 buydowns once that's over, if you
haven't refinanced or you're notout of the home, then the
payment in three years maybeisn't affordable at that point.
So you really have to look athow much it's going to cost and
where it's best to put yourmoney.
Sometimes it's best to just buydown the rate indefinitely
until you change the mortgage orrefinance or move.
And then when we're looking atthis market, a lot of times
(27:00):
using the money towards buyingdown a rate, most people, based
on the predictions, are probablygoing to refinance in the next
couple years two, three years.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
So if their break even is three, four years of
what the cost is to buy down therate, sometimes it's just not
worth it and I tell people thisall the time if you're not using
a down payment assistanceprogram or some kind of program
that has like a term that youhave to stay locked in that loan
most loans six payments you'reready to refinance.
(27:32):
It's no big deal, no penalties,nothing.
You can already go andrefinance into a lower rate if
the rates are better then, soyou still have that option as
well.
I know, years ago, back in 2018, when I bought my current home,
I paid for a rate buy down.
There was a certain cost to it.
(27:53):
And two years later, in 2020, Igot rates came down to 2%.
2020, I got uh, rates came downto 2%.
So I was like, oh well, hey,got a way better.
Uh scenario there refinanced atthe 2%, so that buy down, um, I
paid a good chunk of money forit, but I only used it for two
years, so it never really Iguess.
(28:15):
Uh realized, uh, you know, likeseeing that scene value in that
, you know, because I didn'thave it for long enough.
But there's always thosescenarios too.
So it's definitely I wouldadvise don't get into something
that you can't afford, thatyou're going to be stressed
about every month.
Make sure that the payment,regardless of what you're
(28:36):
getting into, is affordable.
But there's always the futureto look into because you can
gain 20 equity if you didn'talready put 20 down and then
refinance and remove that mip orpmi.
You can refinance if the rateslook better and get that at a
lower rate.
You can make extra payments andget that loan balance down
(28:59):
quicker.
You can do the rate buy downs.
You can ask the sellers forconcessions.
There's a lot of things thatyou can do to make that payment
more comfortable for you.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Absolutely, and there are max seller concessions that
based on the type of loan thatthey can actually do in general.
But I think each case is sodifferent and right now I do
think people are going torefinance in the next year or
two.
So when it was at 3% duringCOVID, was it worth using a rate
buy down Because you'reprobably never going to touch it
ever again?
I mean, if you're buying downfrom a 3% to a two and a half, I
(29:31):
mean those rates are unheard of.
So you know, right now I justdon't think it's worth using a
ton of money to do a rate buydown.
Most people are going torefinance in the next 12 to 24
months yeah, because we all feelvery confident the rates are
going to start coming down soon?
Speaker 2 (29:45):
um, I, I really hope so.
Yeah, me too, yes.
Um.
So, courtney, someone wants totalk to you about getting some
money.
How do they reach you?
Speaker 3 (29:55):
yes, if you're interested in getting some money
, give me a call at 702-416-6918or shoot me over a text.
I'm always happy to chat.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
All right, if you need to spend that money on a
home, please give me a call,trish, at 702-308-2878.
And if you're watching our show, please like, share, subscribe.
We are realtycheckvegas.
That's our link tree where youcan link to either of us or both
(30:23):
of us on all different types ofportals.
And we do want to send aspecial shout out to our
marketing partner, chicago Title.
Thank you for everything thatyou do and we'll see you next
week.
Bye, bye.
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