Our now famous list of the top 35 real estate blogs from August 2006 has been seriously withered down over the years; some of the blogs simply died out, while others lost focus, or quality. I thought it was high time that we updated this list by creating several sub-lists of top real estate blogs. The first of these is the current one, a list focused on real estate investing blogs.

The Top Real Estate Investing Blogs

To put this list together, we looked at close to 200 different blogs from both real estate investing-related companies and individual real estate investors. Here are a few things of note about the blogs selected:

• Any included blogs have been recommended by at least several people that I respect
• They are updated on a regular basis
• I generally have respect for the blogger/bloggers
• Their content is educational and informative

There are many other quality real estate investing blogs out there, but they couldn’t all make the list for one reason or another Most didn’t make the cut for the following reasons:

1. They were no longer active or were simply not posting at a regular frequency
2. The blog spent too much time on topics other than real estate
3. The blog was primarily a corporate blog, promoting the services of the company instead of providing top quality content for investors to learn from
4. The blog spent too much time simply promoting products and services (affiliate or other)
5. The blog used some other tactics that annoyed me upon repeated visits.

I recommend you check these out, add them to your reader, and participate on them by sharing your thoughts in the comments after reading articles on them. With all that in mind, lets take a look at the top 20 blogs (in alphabetical order, not of preference):

1-2-3 Flip
BawldGuy Talking
The BiggerPockets Blog – As if you didn’t know it would make the list
Build Bankroll
Flip This Wholesaler
Good Faith Investing
House Flipping Blog
Life as Real Estate Investors
Live and Flip
Llenrock Commercial Real Estate Finance Blog
REI Tips
Shaun’s Real Estate Adventures
Tom Tarrant

Honorable Mentions:
Adventures in Mobile Homes
A Student of the Real Estate Game
The Blog Of Matt Rosen
Flipping Smart
Mobile Home Madness
Struggling to Get Started
The Successful Landlord Blog

Congrats to all the blogs selected to this prestigious list. Keep up the good work, folks!

Please also be sure to check out the Real Estate Blogging network on BiggerPockets, where you can read or join over 1,000 real estate bloggers who are putting out fantastic content every day.

1/13/11 Update: We’ve removed one blog from the list because it appears that the focus has changed from real estate to ATMs; we’ve added TomTarrant’s blog to replace it .We will continue to remove any sites that fail to uphold the quality standard that we believe was there upon selection for the list. We may even simply replace these blogs going forward.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Top 20 Real Estate Investing Blogs

The thing I love about running my internet business is that if things are awesome, I can gloat a little bit and revel in my own genius. And when things suck, I have no one to blame but myself. Make no mistake about it, if you make the decision to run your own company you’re going to experience a little of both

The cool thing is that by running a blog you can give yourself a raise anytime you want. How is this done? It’s done by paying attention to the little details. This isn’t my favorite thing to do, but it’s necessary from time to time.

Some prerequisites

First things first. In order to implement the detail-tweaking recommendations I will give you here in a minute, it’s essential to first have a couple things in place. Without these two prerequisites, you aren’t going to get much fruit from your labor.

1. Be working in a niche where you have actual expertise or something valuable to offer.
2. Have a responsive readership. Not necessarily a large readership (what is LARGE, anyway? Large according to who?), but you need to have a community of readers that actually read your stuff and pay attention to what you’re doing.

Give Yourself a Raise – Some Tips

• Take the opt in box (you DO have one, right?) on your site and change the offer, or redesign it completely. If you’re using Aweber or a different system that allows it, implement a few split testing campaigns to test results.
• Add a pop up to your site to increase opt in rates.
• If you’re using CPC or affiliate ads, play with ad placement. A small change can easily bump your CTR by a percent or more.
• Add an image for the ebook you’re selling or giving away. Getting a cover designed will cost you only $50-100, and it will increase your conversions and sign ups noticeably.
• If you’re not giving out a premium for your opt in list, get on it!
• Go through your site and make sure an opt in box is visible from anywhere on the site.
• Do you list the categories on your blog in the navigation somewhere? Rename your categories to “topics”. I totally stole this from Tim Ferriss. People click on “topics” more often than they do “categories”. Why? Don’t know, don’t care. I just do what works.
• Add a page to your site called “free newsletter”. A simple page dedicated to getting signups to your newsletter. When I added this page, I didn’t realize it would be the highest converting opt in form on the site, but it is. Gold mine!

Perhaps you’ve thought of some of these before. This isn’t rocket science of course. What this all boils down to is “tweak your site til it works better”. But I have a way to offer you that improves the process. I don’t believe in a shot gun method. If it involves an investment of my time, I believe it’s important to be as deliberate and methodical as possible.

Theft is a virtue

Here’s what I do. I steal ideas from others. Why? Because if it’s working for them…I know it will probably work for me. Theft is a great way to get ahead if you ask me. When you see someone getting great results from something, feel no shame in copying them.

Of course I feel obligated to clarify that I don’t think you should actually commit theft, but I don’t know why. It’s a smart audience that reads this blog. You know what I mean…you see something implemented on someone else’s site that really seems like a good idea, and then you implement that same concept on your own. Don’t reinvent the wheel. You’re not alone out there…there are a ton of other successful bloggers and marketers out there that you can learn from. Steal!

Color is a detail not to be overlooked

For example, have you ever noticed that many corporate sites like MSN, Microsoft and a million others all have a blue motif of some type? Why do you think that is? It’s all a big coincidence, right? No, it’s very much intentional. This was one of the first concepts I stole back when I was first learning to become a thief >;-)

My favorite colors for the business I conduct as a sales professional and sales trainer are; blue, green, grey, white, and black. You’ll notice I implement these colors on my site (along with orange, which is a strong color on problogger.net, and I want to be like Darren as much as possible), but you’ll also notice that in most of my avatars, I’m wearing blue, green and grey. What’s up? These colors communicate trustworthiness, confidence and expertise to the human psyche. I like em because they create the psychological impression I’m going for. Is this completely over the top? Only if results are the most important thing to you when it comes to operating your business. And only if you believe details matter.

A quick caveat

Clearly, I’m also still going to have to bring real value to the table. I’m going to have to continue actually helping the people I work with. If you’re a scammer or a schlep, you’re not going to be able to get away with it just because you put on a blue shirt . That said, we all know walking into an appointment wearing torn up clothes and smelling like dope probably isn’t the best way to make a professional impression. So if appearance and presentation matter (they do), then it’s reasonable to address the details in a deliberate fashion and make sure you’re creating the impression you want.

Small details + more small details = big results

These details have significance. A small significance. And since the significance is small, so many people over look them as not important. But they ARE important for one reason…they add up. You have to realize that the math is being done whether you’re an active participant or not. The sum total of all your actions create an end result, and if you want a different (i.e. BETTER) result, you simply have to pay attention to these details. Make the details work for you instead of against you. It means extra work of course, but that’s why we make the big bucks.

How small details give you a raise

So can the recommendations I offered you earlier actually give you a raise? Absolutely without a doubt. Your raise is there for the taking. All you have to do is execute. Small details add up, so don’t make the classic mistake of overlooking them.

As I admitted earlier, tweaking the fine details is NOT my favorite thing to do. I’d much rather be busy creating a new site or building a project with a new business partner. However, let me illustrate. If I can go change the opt in box on one of my pages, and it gets a 1% improvement in conversion, that may seem like the most boring thing in the world, but look at the numbers.

If you’re getting even just 5,000 visitors a month, that translates to 50 subscribers per month. 600 per year…these are subscribers you wouldn’t have won otherwise. Let’s say you sell an ebook for $24 and your conversion ratio is 2%. I’m just throwing numbers out there, but you see where I’m going with this. It all adds up to $288 for the year. How long did it take you to put up a new design for that opt in box? 30 minutes? An hour? I don’t know about you but I’m still cool with making $288 an hour, and all you need to do is go tweak your site for a minute.

A guy I know who runs a business forum recently just took his adsense ad and moved it from a sidebar and put it above the fold, right under his header. It took him about 2 minutes, and now that forum makes him another $200 a month. 2 minutes of work = $2400 for the year. Geeks like us get off on things like that. You should too. Now go give yourself a raise:)

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Bloggers: How to Give Yourself a Raise Today

For the past several years it seems that every time you ran into a real estate agent he would proclaim that the market was at the bottom and it was time to buy. Of course, that was nothing more than the agent’s vested interest speaking. The market continued to slide in just about every city. Some fared worse than others, but few areas of the country were spared.

Recent Data

There is good news. The latest report from the Case-Shiller U.S National Home price Index shows that real estate prices have shown their first quarterly increase in three years. Does that mean that the bear market in real estate prices is over? Not by a long shot. There are many foreclosures on the horizon and the national economy is still hurting. However, it’s a start.

At this point we’ll take any good news we can get. The index tracks twenty major cities in the United States. There were only two that showed declines, Detroit and Las Vegas. Detroit has suffered major declines in jobs, especially in the auto industry. The most recent figures show that the unemployment rate is a staggering 28.9%. The real rate is even higher due to the way those figures are calculated. With so many people leaving the area in search of better opportunities, there is a tremendous oversupply of housing creating serious downward pressure on home prices

Las Vegas is a horse of a different color. Massive speculation during the boom led to overbuilding and runaway prices. Consistently at or near the top of the nation in foreclosures, there is a huge oversupply in Las Vegas as well. The loss of construction related jobs coupled with a decline in tourism have resulted in an unemployment rate of 13.1%, well above the national average. The good news for Las Vegas is that investors have come back in search of bargains. The warm weather, entertainment options and Nevada’s lack of a state income tax make this a desirable location for many.

Better Days Ahead

It certainly isn’t smooth sailing from here, we will have many ups and downs as we move along. The real estate market will never be the same as before but people have a way of adapting. Investors have already adapted to the evolving market by looking for different opportunities or changing strategies. Those who are unwilling to change have left in search of greener pastures or will do so soon. Markets are always evolving, it is up to us to evolve right along with them.

Your big opportunity may be right where you are now. – Napoleon Hill

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Has the Real Estate Supertanker Finally Turned?

The Nevada State Legislature recently passed the mortgage mediation law great fanfare. The law was expected to save as many as 17,000 Nevada homeowners from foreclosure. The law, which went into effect July 1^st, allows homeowners in default to request a mediation hearing with the lender.

To be eligible a homeowner must have received a notice of default after July 1, 2009. The homeowner must pay a fee of $200 if they request a hearing and the lender is also required to pay a $200 fee. In anticipation of a flood of requests, the state has trained in excess of 100 lawyers and ex-judges to handle the cases.

Where is Everybody?

The official estimates were that between 1,250 and 1,500 homeowners per month would participate in the program. However, after six weeks there have been a total of ten requests. Not ten per day or ten per week, just ten total. That amounts to 1.67 requests per week! How did they get it so wrong?

 The fee may have kept some from asking for mediation but $200 isn’t exactly an exorbitant sum. The more likely reason is that no amount of mediation helps someone who has lost a job. If a payment is reduced from an unmanageable figure to a lower, but still unmanageable amount, does it make a difference? People who are significantly underwater, or owe much more than a home is worth, don’t see the benefit of a lower interest rate or more time to pay.

Starting Over

So many people have made a decision to walk away from their obligation and start over. It is happening to so many people that the stigma seems to have disappeared. In the Las Vegas area just about everyone knows someone who is in foreclosure. It is not limited to one income group either, many multi-million dollar homes are being taken back by the banks.

 The idea of mandatory mediation may have been a good idea. Why not see if there is a solution to foreclosure? However the Government grossly overestimated the demand for the program. Imagine that, the Government got it wrong.

The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem. – Milton Friedman

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

What If We Had A Mortgage Mediation Party And Nobody Came?

More Pain to Come

To be sure we are not out of the economic slump by any means. Consumer confidence fell for the second straight month in July. That seems to be a reflection of the persistent woes in the job market. On the national level unemployment is expected to reach 9.7% for July and is expected to continue rising for the foreseeable future. Foreclosures are expected to continue to climb as well. Until the job market stabilizes people will continue to lose homes.

Some markets, such as Las Vegas, are having an unexpected problem. The thinking was that all of these people who were losing their homes would boost rental demand and cause rents to rise. However, investors have been buying theses bank-owned properties and using them as rentals, thereby increasing the supply. A recent article in the Las Vegas Review Journal (article) explored how the glut of apartments and rental homes is resulting in a decrease in rent. The theory of rental demand hadn’t taken into account that the population in Las Vegas has decreased for the first time in more than twenty years. That decrease is directly attributable to the loss of jobs.

Some Things Are Working

In a recent article we talked about the first-time buyer tax credit program being successful. It seems that another program has proven to be more popular than anticipated. The CARS program, otherwise known as “cash for clunkers”, exhausted its budget in a little more than a week. Congress has scrambled to add more money to keep the program running.

Money is starting to move again which is the key to any recovery. An economy is nothing more than money in motion, when the money stops flowing there is a ripple effect that is felt by everyone. Things won’t suddenly get better, a recovery is gradual. These mixed signals that we are now seeing is a sign of better days to come.

Sure there’s still a lot of trouble ahead, but perhaps the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t an oncoming train after all.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Light At The End Of The Tunnel?

“The new phone books are here, the new phone books are here!”That was a line from Steve Martin in the movie The Jerk, he was finally “somebody” because his name was in the phonebook. Well, today I received the latest edition of the Dex yellow pages directory for Las Vegas. Without even opening it, I saw a snapshot of the local economy.

 Leaner, But Not Meaner

When the directory came I did what I always do, I retrieved the old book to put it in the recycling. When I put the old edition down next to the new one I was shocked. While I would expect the book to be a little thinner, this one looked like it had undergone gastric-bypass surgery. There were 170 fewer pages of advertising. As I thumbed through the advertising I also saw significantly more filler pages, or pages without paid advertising.

 To be sure, there is more competition for the advertising dollar from a multitude of outlets. However, the yellow pages are essential for certain businesses. Regardless of the other things that they do, they will always be in the directory. A great many people will turn to the yellow pages for emergency needs, such as heat, a/c or plumbing repair, rather than look through newspapers, magazines or the internet. Many of these businesses will cut everything else before they cut their yellow pages budget.

A Sign of The Times

The yellow pages serve as a mirror of the local economy. Many businesses are closing, no need for them to advertise. The are few new businesses opening up, no advertisers there either. Drive down any main thoroughfare and you will scores of empty stores and offices and plenty of “for rent” signs. Those businesses that haven’t closed are often forced to cut back. While logic would say that they should advertise more to attract new business, many business owners see the dollars going out as an expense rather than an investment and pare the advertising budget.

 The phone books are a lagging indicator of the economy in that advertising decisions are made well in advance of the publication date. However, it can still be a useful tool. How has your local directory changed? I’m sure it’s much smaller as well. When it begins to grow again that could be a sign that things are improving. If a business owner is more optimistic about his own future he will be more likely to invest in advertising.

Something as simple as watching the size of the yellow pages may tell you that it’s time to pick up the pace of your investing.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

What The Yellow Pages Can Tell You About The Economy

There was a very interesting article here on the Real Estate Dispatch last week. It was by Tom Koziol on the topic of consumer credit scoring models (article). I found it interesting because just one day earlier I was speaking to a friend of my who is an independent auto broker. She was telling me about several clients of hers who were having trouble obtaining auto loans despite stellar credit history and substantial income.

In their haste to shore up their credit portfolios, banks have been reducing credit lines and credit limits. Banks fear that people will increase their debt load beyond their ability to repay. To guard against this banks have been slashing credit limits across the board regardless of their customer’s history. This preemptive strike has been impacting the credit of even the best borrowers.

It’s not unusual to see credit scores drop dramatically even though the borrower has never missed a payment, borrowed more money, or made any significant changes at all. What has happened is that the percentage of credit utilization has changed.

Imagine a scenario where Joe Customer has a FICO score of 720 and a $25,000 credit line from ABC Bank with an outstanding balance of $5,000. That’s a credit utilization ratio of 20%, a healthy number in the eyes of a lender. Now ABC Bank, concerned about the risk in their credit portfolio, decides to cut Joe’s limit down to $10,000. Joe isn’t concerned because he had no intention of borrowing more from them anyway. What Joe doesn’t realize is that his credit score has dropped because his credit utilization is now 50% and his ability to borrow on favorable terms has been impacted.

An economy is nothing more that money in motion. When the money stops moving the economy stagnates. It is also a closed circle in normal times. A consumer makes a purchase, a manufacturer supplies the product that a worker is paid to produce, the worker uses his pay to become a consumer and the cycle starts again. Outside forces can act on the normal operation of that circular machine. One force would be the Government pumping money into the economy to stimulate it. However the tightening of credit acts to pull money out of that circle and slow it down.

It makes perfect sense that the banks would want to reign in reckless borrowing by those who are irresponsible. However denying credit to your best and most responsible borrowers is pure insanity and, ultimately, economic suicide.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Collateral Credit Damage

Home sales in many markets are dominated by bank REOs, or Real Estate Owned as foreclosures are called after they have gone back to the bank. Generally these REOs will sell below market and can be a great deal for the buyer. However in areas that have an overabundance of REOs they do not sell below the market, they are the market.

Las Vegas

On the surface it may appear that the Las Vegas market is going to lead the housing market out of the doldrums. Looking strictly at the numbers you will see that April home sales were up 78.3% from April of 2008. The median price has dropped to $141,720, a 39.9% reduction from a year ago. Figures for inventory, days on market, and days of supply have dropped as well. These are all good things, right?

Not so fast, it depends on which side of the transaction you are on. For buyers these numbers are awesome. Homes in Las Vegas are more affordable than they’ve been in a very long time. First-time homebuyers can take advantage of an $8,000 tax credit to make it even more affordable. For buyers it’s all good.

Which leaves the sellers. REOs absolutely dominate the Las Vegas market and there are a large number of short-sales as well. In a normal market these distress sales would be an aberration and not a major factor in real estate prices. However, distress sales in Las Vegas counted for a whopping 86% of all closings in April. In a normal market an appraiser can overlook distress transactions when compiling comparable sales. When 86% of closings (article) are distress sales, they become the comps and there isn’t much that you can do about it.

Hobson’s Choice

A seller is now left with the choice of pricing a property low enough to compete with the REOs or not selling it at all. Indeed, many homes have been pulled off the market as sellers wait for prices to improve. Many sellers can’t lower prices to compete because they owe too much on the house. A recent report shows that an astounding 67% of Las Vegas homeowners owe more than the house is worth (article). Their options are to sit tight, try for a short-sale, or lose the home to foreclosure. Ouch!

New homebuilders are facing the same pricing pressure. However, they have overhead and holding costs to deal with as well. They have reacted to this by limiting the number of new homes to a bare minimum and greatly reducing prices on homes that are at or near completion. Some Las Vegas builders have actually reduced prices to a point that is below their cost in an effort to finish projects even if it means taking a loss. The positive point here is that a reduction in the supply of new homes will lead to an increase in sales of existing homes.

In their attempt to alleviate the foreclosure problem the Government created programs to help struggling homeowners. Unfortunately these programs may only prolong the agony. One program, Fannie Mae’s Home Saver, has experienced a re-default rate of 70% (article). Not exactly a promising statistic and it shows that this mess is going to be with us for quite some time.

The bottom line is that this is a terrible time to be a retail seller. If you are an investor who is looking to buy for cash flow, it’s a great time. If you’re an investor who is looking to buy cheap rehab properties and flip them at low prices, it’s not such a bad time. If you are someone who absolutely must sell, good luck because you are going to need it.

What do you think a stimulus is? It’s spending – that’s the whole point! – Barack Obama

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Pity The Retail Seller

As a young boy (way too many years ago) whenever I wanted something that was outrageously expensive my mother would say, “sure, I’ll go out back and pick some cash off of the money tree.” This was, of course, a variation of the adage that money doesn’t grow on trees. Ah, if only it did.

Unfortunately there are a whole lot of grown men and women who never outgrew that childhood misconception. Many of these irresponsible adults inhabit the various state capitols as well as that bastion of fiscal irresponsibility otherwise known as the United States Congress. Let’s not forget the shinning example of financial restraint residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. What were their mothers teaching them?

Lessons Learned

What conjured up these monetary thoughts from long ago? It was actually an article I was reading about the budget woes that California was facing. We all know that the economic downturn has affected all but a few state budgets. My own state, Nevada, is facing a shortfall of approximately $1 billion, which is nothing compared to California’s anticipated deficit of $15.4 billion. That number is already 18% of the budget and could grow to over $21 billion depending on the outcome of a special election on May 19^th.

It was the following quote that caught my attention:

“Sacramento is not Washington – we cannot print our own money. We can only spend what we have.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger, California Governor

What a concept! Only spend what we have, hmmm. It seems to imply that if he could print money he would. I hope nobody tells him that the Constitution does allow states and municipalities to have their own currency.

States are learning some valuable lessons that the Caped Crusaders of the Washington Beltway don’t seem to understand, you can’t spend money like a drunken sailor with impunity. Creating social programs ad nauseum will lead to problems when the revenue dries up. California and most other states are now faced with the prospect of cutting programs, worker layoffs and raising taxes. Exactly the opposite of what should be done during a recession.

Swampland Shenanigans

Unfortunately Washington can and does print money as needed. A recent report shows that the United States Government will borrow 46 cents for every dollar it spends in the next fiscal year. Imagine if your household did that, how long could you survive before you went bankrupt? At some point this house of cards has to come crashing down.

So how is this being handled? By spending more money of course. We’ve had the bank bailouts and the stimulus package. A budget deficit that was at one time projected to be an unprecedented $1 trillion is now expected to top $1.8 trillion. Obama’s proposed $3.6 trillion budget is using economic assumptions that call for the GDP to decline by 1.2% this year and actually grow by a fairly robust 3.2% next year. Most economists call these numbers pure fantasy. Now the President is pushing for a health care plan with an initial cost estimate of $1.5 trillion, any wagers on how much higher the actual bill will be?

But have no fear. Just as he promised during his campaign, President Obama has gone through the budget line-by-line in an effort to cut wasteful spending. He came up with a “whopping” $17 billion in cuts. That represents less than ½% of his proposed budget. To put it another way, it would be like having credit card debt of $10,000, reducing it by a “whopping” $46 and being ecstatic about the progress you’ve made.

  Another fine mess you’re gotten me into. – Stan Laurel (Laurel & Hardy)

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

What Do You Mean Money Doesn’t Grow On Trees?

Most people have heard of schemes in which a lender is defrauded by someone who uses an inflated appraisal to obtain a loan for much more than a house is worth. This type of scam generally requires the cooperation of several people. In addition to the person running the scam you need an appraiser who provides the inflated valuation, a real estate agent who goes along with it and, frequently, phony buyers. Sometimes the buyer is a victim in the scam but it is usually the lender that is left holding the bag when the other participants disappear.

However, in an unusual case of “man bites dog”, the usual victim becomes the scammer. Unlike most of these schemes, which involve small-scale criminals, this one involves some of the biggest names in the real estate industry.

The Particulars

A lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court in Arizona against Countrywide Financial, KB Homes and LandSafe Appraisal Services (article) accusing them of artificially inflating home prices. This is definitely a new twist. This allegedly took place in the Arizona and Nevada market. According to court documents the scheme netted $280 million between 2005 and 2008.

The lawsuit claims that KB Homes steered buyers to Countrywide Financial who, in turn, used LandSafe Appraisal Services to provide the incorrect valuations.  Some of the appraisals may have been inflated by more than $80,000. Talk about being upside down!

The article didn’t have a response from any of the defendants, nor could I find any elsewhere. If these allegations prove to be true it could cause a lot of problems for Bank of America since they purchased Countrywide.

Housing On Steroids

Manny Ramirez Suspended for 50 Games

It’s bad enough that we have been suffering from the collapse of a runaway housing market that came crashing down. Like a baseball player who was caught using steroids, we now see that some of the housing gains were “juiced” as well. It remains to be seen how widespread this is, perhaps it was just an isolated incident. Somehow I don’t think so.

This breach of trust could make it difficult for builders in the future. Will people begin to look at them they way they look at car dealers? The housing industry could learn a lot by watching what Major league Baseball is going through with the steroid scandal. The builders need to get out in front of this problem and make sure that it doesn’t happen again.

You can observe a lot by just watching. – Yogi Berra

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

An Inflated Appraisal Scheme With A Twist

I feel like I just stepped out of a time machine after travelling back to 2003. That was when I first moved to Las Vegas from New York. The real estate market hadn’t reached the bubble phase yet but the market was strong. Entry level new homes were selling for about $90 per square foot with premium homes in the $100-125 range. Resale homes were going for about the same price depending on age and location. The buyer’s choice was to purchase a resale home that was ready now or buy a new home that could be tailored to their individual taste but required a wait of six months or more before it would be completed.

I was one of those who opted for the new home. I purchased it in February of 2003 and it was completed in September of that year. In the time it took for the builder to complete the home, the prices of the same model had increased by about $30,000, or about 8%. That number pleased me because it indicated that the market was appreciating nicely. It turned out that I had bought my home just before the boom took hold.

The Heady Days

From that point on the market seemed to go straight up with no end in sight. Within two years the price of my home had gone up by about 125% based on model match comparable sales. Builders had jacked up the price of new homes to $200-250 per square foot. I was certain that this growth was not sustainable and actually looked to other areas for my real estate investing.

We all know what happened next. People were caught up in the frenzy and used newfangled mortgage loans to buy houses that they couldn’t afford with little or no money down. The bubble burst and Las Vegas became one of the nation’s leaders in foreclosure activity.

What Goes Up Must Come Down

Eventually the market stopped dead in its tracks and the law of supply and demand took hold. Banks were faced with an ever-growing inventory of foreclosed homes, or REOs, and were forced to slash prices in order to sell them. Builders initially held the line on prices but were forced to lower them to avoid holding costs associated with completed homes in their inventory. The local cost to build a basic home is about $100 per square foot and that was thought to be the absolute floor on prices for a new home.

The banks, however, are not concerned with profit. They are already facing huge losses and are just looking to get rid of these REOs. The average price of an REO is about $84 per square foot and that put the builders at a severe disadvantage. At those prices they are not able to compete, are they?

Builders Fight Back

Builders are not starting any new projects but have quite a few developments in progress. Some builders have pulled out of this market or shut projects down until conditions change in a way which would allow them to compete. Other builders have projects that are too far along to stop or close enough to being sold out that it makes little sense to stop now. What they have done is slash prices in order to compete (article). This is a calculated move on the part of the builders. They have done the math and come to the conclusion that taking a loss on these homes is preferable to the costs associated with keeping these projects open indefinitely.

The buyer is the main beneficiary of this situation. Your choice now is to buy a foreclosure for an average of $84 per square foot and deal with the associated problems. You’ll have repairs to deal with, possible evictions, dead lawns and a host of other problems. Or you can buy a brand new home without those problems at prices as low as $80 per square foot. Builders are offering a host of other incentives as well such as free upgrades, help with closing costs and other perks. Those who are considering a new home purchase should use a buyer’s agent prior to visiting these builders so that you take full advantage of the situation. For the buyer happy days are here again.

If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there’d be a shortage of sand. - Milton Friedman (Economist)

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Builders Lower Prices To Compete With REOs

It has become common for builders and real estate agents to require a pre-qualification or pre-approval from a lender prior to working with them on the purchase of a home. This is done so that the builder or agent doesn’t spend a lot of time with someone who will not be able to get a loan. It also helps the potential buyer by letting them know home much home they can afford at the beginning of the buying process.

Pre-qualification and pre-approval are not the same thing.  A pre-qualification is just a quick snapshot of the potential buyer’s position based on income and credit. It merely tells them how much money they might be able to borrow based on the information that they provide. A pre-approval is different in that it goes much further. The lender will generally go through the verification process. In addition to checking credit they will verify income and employment and perform other parts of the underwriting process. A pre-approval is the lender’s way of saying that if the property appraises at a value that meets their criteria of loan-to-value and the buyer makes the required down payment, the loan is approved.

Not So Fast

The collapse of the real estate market and price drops in many areas have caused lenders to decline loans for many buyers who had been pre-approved. This has caused problems for both buyers and sellers. A buyer finds a home that they like and puts a deposit down and the seller is happy to have found a buyer. Both are surprised when the bank denies the very loan that they had pre-approved because of changes in the real estate market.

In Las Vegas there has been an epidemic of this happening in the high-rise condo market. Buyers who had been pre-approved had placed many of these luxury condos under contract. However, in the time between contract and the completion of construction real estate prices had plummeted and the lenders refused to honor the commitment. The developers have been left holding the bag on many completed units. Buyers who had arranged their own financing rather than use loans arranged through the builder have lost substantial deposits in many cases because they were unwilling or unable to complete the purchase. This situation has forced many of the projects into bankruptcy or left them teetering on the brink of insolvency.

Turning It Up A Notch

It’s bad enough when this happens to an individual who is trying  to

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purchase a home. It’s even more problematic when it happens to a companythat is building a $3.1 billion resort. Fontainebleau Las Vegas had secured commitments from multiple lenders on the $800 million in financing that was needed to see the project through. Unfortunately the lenders decided to pull the plug on the project just as it is nearing completion. The lenders include some of the biggest names in the industry such as Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays Bank. At stake are 3,300 construction jobs and over 6,000 jobs when the 3,815 room resort opens in October of this year. The developer has filed a lawsuit (article) in an effort to get the lenders to honor their agreement.

This is just the latest blow to Las Vegas. The area had been rocked by the stoppage of the $4.8 billion Echelon Place and problems with the $8.7 billion City Center project. The area is one of the hardest hit by the recession with unemployment over 10% and at or near the top of the nationwide foreclosure rankings. Just as area residents are wondering “what else could go wrong” something does.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

When A Lender Reneges On A Pre-Approval