Housing market will get a boost from state

Money to cover about 850 loans available for first-time buyers

Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Sun politics coverage

The state Housing Division is moving forward with plans to lend $125 million to first-time, lower-income homebuyers in Nevada.

Agency officials estimate the money, which will be raised through the sale of state bonds, will finance the purchase of about 850 homes.

Lon DeWeese, chief financial officer of the division, said a family of two earning up to $78,480 can qualify for a first-time loan. The average loan issued through the program is $125,124. The maximum amount is $349,000.

The money can be borrowed through banks, savings and loans, and other financial institutions.

The state Finance Board approved issuing the bonds Tuesday.

DeWeese noted that troubles in the real estate market have made homeownership more affordable. Forty-three percent of home loans issued in Clark County last month were to first-time homebuyers, he said.

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The Finance Board also authorized the sale Tuesday of $115 million in bonds to finance state projects.

Lori Chatwood, deputy state treasurer, told the board that $75 million will be used for capital improvements, $3 million will go toward cultural affairs grants and $26 million to $27 million will go to refunding bonds.

Among the projects to be financed are a 36-bed child and adolescent hospital in Las Vegas ($9.6 million), expansion of the Southern Nevada Veterans Cemetery ($781,448), a military readiness center in North Las Vegas ($11.7 million), and completion of the Las Vegas Springs Preserve Museum ($5 million).

The $3 million in cultural affairs grants will finance preservation and cultural projects approved in March. They included $300,000 to help convert the old Las Vegas post office and federal courthouse into a mob museum and $200,000 for the Neon Museum.

The board also approved three other bond issues totaling more than $29 million for parks and outdoor projects, most of them in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

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Proposals are streaming in for a shot at next year’s cultural affairs grants.

The mob museum is requesting another $343,462. The commission has so far given $2 million to the project.

The application from Las Vegas was one of 27 submitted by the deadline to the state Commission on Cultural Affairs.

The commission will again have $3 million to grant to projects this fiscal year. The applications were for projects seeking a total of $6.8 million.

Mesquite wants $40,000 to restore the Mesquite High School gym; Clark County is asking for $192,738 for preservation of railroad cottages; and the Neon Museum is seeking $360,000 for La Concha Motel Lobby.

The largest request is from Artspace Projects for $927,038 to restore the Riverside Hotel in Reno.

Ron James, administrator of the commission, said the awards will be decided in March.

Discussion: 9 comments so far…

By its2hot

10/14/09 at 2:34 a.m.

Suggest removal

"The state Housing Division is moving forward with plans to lend $125 million to first-time, lower-income homebuyers in Nevada.

Agency officials estimate the money, which will be raised through the sale of state bonds, will finance the purchase of about 850 homes."

Not in my community. We'll fight you tooth and nail. Section 8 and your followers can stay in North Las Vegas where they belong.
By burnemandturnem

10/14/09 at 7 a.m.

Suggest removal

Won't we ever learn? There are just some households out there that should not own their own homes. If they can't afford to buy it on their own, then maybe they should remain tenants.
By fogcity

10/14/09 at 8:15 a.m.

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I support the idea as long as their income shows that they can make the mortgage payments. If they have been paying 800-1000 a month consistently they will be able to do the same as a mortgage payment. It is important for homes to be occupied so that home prices can finally stabilize. While investors have helped, it is not the ideal approach as they do not have a vested interest in the community.
By vc

10/14/09 at 9:53 a.m.

Suggest removal

Home ownership is more than a payment. Its maintenance and upkeep. Its not enough to just barely be able to make the payment. A neighbor who doesnt maintain their home is worse for the neighborhood than a foreclosure.
By wizardofOz

10/14/09 at 12:42 p.m.

Suggest removal

Wheeew weeee!

Are YOU gonna get it now.

Bring on the YUPPIE SCUM HOUSE FLIPPERS. They're ALREADY sending out e-mails, faxes, and doing internet CONFERENCE CALLS on how to PIMP this BIG TIME.

The "Real Estate House Flipper Gurus" are ALREADY HAWKIN' their "Secrets to Getting the Deals Done" seminars to "...GET AROUND..." (they claim legally) the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, and etc. regulations on all this tripe.

Yep, they suuure are.

And don't you let yourself think for a NEW YORK MINUTE they don't have the POLITICAL CONNECTIONS to get it done (to you). JUST HOW DO YOU THINK THE "TOP SALESPEOPLE" became the "TOP SALESPEOPLE"...?

You will know when they arrive. You will have a basketball hoop smack dab in the middle of YOUR street at 11 o'clock at night (remember MIDNIGHT BASKETBALL?).

Hey, you think your gonna call your HOA about this. Don't bet on it. Maybe you remember some guy named Kevin Janison, (say, ain't he on TV, and ain't his Spouse the elected Queen of the School Board?), and maybe you remember some lawsuit he filed AGAINST his HOA that was tryin' to enforce the NO BASKETBALL HOOPS IN THE STREETS rule, AND THE HOA LOST...?

Fast forward to TODAY, er, I mean TOMORROW ('round midnight) and you're just gonna LOOOOVE what you're gonna get. Noise, visitors, cars, parties, drugs (maybe), cops, and above all, EVERYBODY'S (except yours) favorite midnight hoopin' sport.

I told you these YUPPIE SCUM REAL ESTATE HOUSE FLIPPERS were essentially POLITICALLY CONNECTED (in a big way).....(And just when will you start to believe it?)

Here's part of the article out of the RJ, JUNE 17, 2006:

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"...District Judge Michael Cherry ended a five-year fight by KLAS-TV, Channel 8 weatherman Kevin Janison. The judge ruled the Janison family could leave their basketball hoops out on the street curb part of the year..."

(AND LET'S NOT FORGET THIS PART OF THE ARTICLE:)

"...Janison and his wife, Terri, now a member of the Clark County School Board, started fighting over the hoops in 2001, when the Summerlin North Community Association began fining them for violating the HOA rules saying portable hoops should be taken from the curb when not in use...."

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The other side of this rigged two-headed coin is just HOW MANY GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS do you think will LOOK THE OTHER WAY ON PROPER ENFORCEMENT of these "programs"... 'cause their Real Estate, Banking, and Loan "pals" are rakin' in the dough...?

And just WHAT do you get for your TAX money?

YOU get Basketball, at midnight. Just for you.
By Babyboomer

10/14/09 at 3:52 p.m.

Suggest removal

I don't consider $78,000 low income....If they don't have the 20% REQUIRED down payment and be able to make the monthly payments...why is the state waving another carrot in their face.Haven't they learned anything. Besides Neveda is FAR FROM being out of the hole.
By ivegotcha

10/14/09 at 7:04 p.m.

Suggest removal

how can they do this when 3/4's of the state is unemployed. Im lost on this one.
By NLV-Indep13

10/14/09 at 10:31 p.m.

Suggest removal

$125M and $115M in state bonds (debt)? And the state (aka taxpayers) have already given $2M to the "Mob Museum", and plans to ask for more next year? With the housing market in collapse, record post-Great Depression unemployment, and the State budget drowning in a sea of red ink, this is what the circus in Carson City spends our money on? I think it's time some clowns were fired....
By buttercup3381

10/15/09 at 11:34 a.m.

Suggest removal

Clark County should request money to fill the gopher holes at Sunset Park softball diamonds 9 & 10 unless they want a huge lawsuit.