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Wednesday, March 11, 2009 | 9 p.m.
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Sun Topics
Sun Archives
- Report: 58.2 percent of Las Vegas homes have negative equity (3-4-2009)
- ‘More pain to come in this Vegas land market’ (3-1-2009)
- New-home sales plummet again with no signs of improvement (2-27-2009)
- Las Vegas counts on Obama housing rescue (2-27-2009)
- Report: Las Vegas home prices at July 2003 levels (2-24-2009)
- Economist: Vegas housing market to recover in 2010 (2-23-2009)
- How Obama's mortgage relief plan pencils out (2-21-2009)
Homeowner Relief?
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Las Vegas reclaimed the title as the foreclosure capital of the country in February, and the state set a record with its most-ever number of households in default on mortgage payments. That’s the first time since October that Las Vegas held the top ranking of cities with a population of 200,000 or more.
The city’s foreclosure rate of one filing for every 60 households was seven times the national average.
The number of default notices filed against homeowners who are delinquent in making mortgage payments rose 32 percent in February to 8,406. That’s compared with 6,064 notices in January and 4,367 in February 2008, according to RealtyTrac, a California firm that tracks foreclosures.
That is the highest amount in Nevada since the firm started tracking foreclosures in January 2005 and another ominous sign for the Las Vegas housing market. In January, foreclosure filings fell 4 percent from December, causing some to wonder whether the foreclosure crisis was slowing.
In Nevada, there were 15,783 foreclosure filings in February, a 9 percent increase over January when there were 14,444. The good news is that the actual number of foreclosed homes from January to February fell more than 1,000 to 2,817, but that may be more of a reflection of a moratorium on foreclosures by some lenders and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Nevada had one filing for every 70 households, which leads the nation. The state, which had held that top spot for more than two years, had its total increase 4 percent compared with January and 156 percent compared with February 2008.
Nationwide, foreclosure filings rose 6 percent from January to February and nearly 30 percent from February 2008.
RealtyTrac executives called the increase in foreclosure filings surprising because many of the foreclosure-prevention efforts in place in January were extended through February.
Las Vegas’ foreclosure woes are exacerbated by the condominium market and its overabundance that has dragged down the overall housing market, Sharga said.
Arizona ranked second in foreclosure filings with one filing for every 147 households, while California was third with one filing for every 165 households.
The Reno-Sparks area is in the top 10 at No. 8 in February with one filing for every 108 households.
For cities, the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., metro area was second in the nation with one filing for every 65 households. Six California cities were in the top 10. Phoenix was ninth.
Of the 15,783 foreclosure filings in Nevada in February, 13,100 were in Clark County or one filing for every 60 households. There were 7,258 notices of default filed in the county and 2,151 homes repossessed.
Despite thee stark numbers, Clark County wasn’t the worst in the state when it comes to foreclosure filings. Lyon County had one filing for every 30 households. There were 219 notices of default and 30 homes foreclosed in that county.
In third place was Nye County with one filing for every 92 households. That was followed by Washoe County with one filing for every 107 households.
Brian Wargo covers real estate and development for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at 259-4011 or at wargo@lasvegassun.com.
You just have to wonder where all the people are going. Even our apartment complexes are experiencing low occupancy rates-73% in some Henderson complexes. Are they all going back to Tijuana, Juarez or Matamoros? Chicago or Atlanta? "Kemo sabe, this is looking bad." "Yes Tonto, saddle up Silver, and away we go...."
Thank you sen. Reid. Thank you for the energy price crisis that started all of this. Thank you Mr. Obama for preaching the evil of a company coming to Las Vegas for a meeting. Thank you for making our city a ghost town and destroying the lives of the unemployed and the under employed. Let's give the federal employees a raise with your new spending bill and to hell with the taxpayers filing bankruptcy.
Excellent point, Bdover, about the low occupancy rates of apartments; I'm sure it's just sheer coincidence that the states with the highest number of foreclosures also happen to be the ones with the highest amount of illegal aliens.
I, for one, am delighted to know that the economic downturn means fewer of those high-assimilating illegals with their obnoxious six foot bumper stickers designed to continually remind us that no matter how many benefits they manage to squeeze from the American taxpayer and legal residents, by golly, they're never going to have any loyalty to THIS country! Because, you see, the third world toilet they came from is so much better and really something to be proud of.
bdover -- more like "what you mean 'we' paleface?" when the Lone Ranger suddenly faced the Nations' warriors riding down on him.
Narcissa -- you're just wrong.
LOL @ neiman1!~! The previous captain of the Titanic, after hitting the iceberg, grabbed the first life boat and abandoned ship, right before she hit the bottom and broke in half. But all that happened is somehow the new Captain's fault?
And it seems timely to mention that Vegas just posted its 13th straight month of decline - which happened on whose shift??
But keep up practicing the comedy routine; Vegas is always looking for new, real wacko acts.
Tex, he never cares. He gets up early, posts his rants on every article he can, and never defends any of his ludicrous assertions. It's never any he likes fault, but it's always those dirty dems fault.
To REDFERRET. like a weisel. Defend my post. OK. Let's try recent history. Do you think gasoline going from $2 a gallon to $4 a gallon had anything to do with the decline? Do you think this had anything to do with people not being able to spend on other things or fly to Las Vegas with their discretionary money?
Do you think the democrats NO to everything had anything to do with it? No drilling in Alaska's Anwar. No drilling off the coast anywhere in America. No nuclear dump so nuclear plants can be built anywhere except overseas. No coal because it's dirty. No oil shale, we don't like it. No No NO. and the money leaves and we are broke.
Do you think Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buying all the stupid loans from Countryside and the rest had any fault? Do you think the regulations requiring these loans is at fault? Do you think Barney Frank's live in boyfriend of 10 years being in charge of "new products" at Fannie Mae was at fault?
Wall Street didn't get greedy with these loans until the federal government starting backing these loans with FHA guarantees. They saw a government "program" and ran with it.
Think, remember, blame those responsible,,not just want things to be different. President Mouth didn't have to make Las Vegas the symbol of waste and extravagance for everyone. When you lose your job, will you still want to blame the people that tried to stop all this? Or will you take any personal responsibility for allowing them to destroy us?
Sorry 7 am is too early for you, I am sure union folks don't rise so soon.
I'm up and at em before then. I just question the need to cut and paste on every post before 7. And I'm not a union man, so another thing you are completely wrong at.
Besides your one sided complaint that it's all the dems fault is wrong to the bone. This is a multi-party failure that needs a multi party solution.
Additionally you STILL have no idea what the president said. You never did. Talk about out of context.
Also your complaint about not getting energy here and now is outdated. Bush had the power to do things and he didn't. So why don't you level the blame on more than just two or three people in one party. Your monomania has become tiresome.
I asked my friends in Cali why they dont come to Vegas anymore and they said they can't afford it.
I was like "wow" you mean its not Obamas fault. They laughed and said they the whole economy is lousy and it started in 2007 for them.
Now who was pres in 2007? Hmmm?
**Report shows one in 60 households faced foreclosure last month**
That is shocking. I wonder if prosecutions will ever happen on the level of mortgage originators who placed these loans with people of insufficient means, then sold them off knowing they'd probably default -- found a cool site; Balkingpoints.com -- awesome satellite camera view of earth
It is HILARIOUS to read neiman1's rant on Obama each and every day. Someone contact Fox Reality; he needs his own show!!
Also I love how if you are going to put me down and call me a weasel, at least understand how to spell it.
President Obama is sending Hamas (yes, the terroist organization) $900 Million to rebuild the Gaza Strip at the same time he is talking down corporate meetings and vacation trips to support our economy on the Las Vegas Strip. Where is some of the $900 Million coming from? Nevada taxpayers. Thank you Obama, Harry and Nancy, your priorities are as poor as are your visions of the Nevada and US economies.