Housing News

Rep. Shelley Berkley puts D.C. house on sale for $1.5 million: Thursday, December 6, 2012; By Karoun Demirjian; As she prepares to head home to Nevada, outgoing U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley has already packed up her congressional office. Now, she’s also selling her house in Washington, D.C.

U.S. home prices rise in October by most in 6 years: Tuesday, December 4, 2012; By Christopher S. Rugaber, Associated Press; A measure of U.S. home prices rose 6.3 percent in October compared with a year ago, the largest yearly gain since July 2006. The jump adds to signs of a comeback in the once-battered housing market.

Nevada scenic-rivers link raises flag in audit of city housing program: Sunday, November 25, 2012; City/County Q&A:; By Joe Schoenmann; Some $6 billion in grants have been allocated through the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development's Neighborhood Stabilization Program since 2008, with most of that money aimed at helping local governments purchase and renovate homes for resale to those hard hit by the recession.

Las Vegas housing market shows continued improvement: Wednesday, November 21, 2012; housing:; By Eli Segall; The Las Vegas area housing market continues to outperform last year with rising sales and more building permits. There were 593 new home sales in October in the valley, according to a new report from Las Vegas-based Home Builders Research.

Nevada suffers setback on foreclosure rate: Wednesday, November 14, 2012; By Eli Segall; Nevada had the second-highest foreclosure rate in the country in October, with 1 in every 352 housing units saddled with foreclosure-related filings, according to a report published today by RealtyTrac.

Las Vegas sees drop in underwater homeowners, but area still hurting: Wednesday, November 14, 2012; By Eli Segall; Las Vegas had fewer underwater homeowners in recent months but remained high atop the country’s hardest-hit list. Some 63 percent of Las Vegas Valley homeowners with mortgages were underwater.

NLV program finds success rehabbing vacated homes: Friday, November 9, 2012; Housing: Four-year neighborhood stabilization project winding down; By Brian Nordli; North Las Vegas and four nonprofit developers have rehabilitated nearly 60 abandoned homes as part of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Since 2008, the city has filled 52 of them.

Price discount disappears for foreclosed homes in Las Vegas: Thursday, November 8, 2012; By Eli Segall; Most people would expect to get a discount when buying a foreclosed home. But Las Vegas home buyers on average received no discount at all in September when buying a seized home from a bank as compared to a traditional sale.

NLV council wants to further tweak home-upkeep rules: Wednesday, November 7, 2012; By Brian Nordli; The North Las Vegas City Council withdrew a proposed vacant homes maintenance ordinance from consideration Wednesday to make further adjustments.

Henderson's Dinosaur Man enjoys sharing his personal 'Jurassic Park': Saturday, November 3, 2012; Community:; By Brian Nordli; They call him the Dinosaur Man. He lives at 733 Greenway Road in Henderson at a place he calls “Shang-Gri-La-Prehistoric Park,” but the kids who know it, he says, have taken to calling it the Dinosaur House. His front yard is like a scene out of "Jurassic Park." There is a velociraptor, two triceratops and a blue brontosaurus. Baby dinosaurs hatch from eggs on the ground next to dinosaur bones. Everything is dwarfed, however, by the most popular dinosaur of all — front and center is a Tyrannosaurus rex almost the size of his one-story home.

Las Vegas mortgage agent fined $12,000: Thursday, November 1, 2012; Crime:; By Cy Ryan; A Las Vegas mortgage agent has been fined $12,000 and agreed to surrender her license in a consent agreement with the state Division of Mortgage Lending.

Improvements planned to boost pride, further reduce crime in public housing development: Thursday, October 25, 2012; Public Safety:; By William D'Urso; Just two years ago, Sheriff Doug Gillespie thought of broken windows, shootings and drug deals when the area containing Sherman Gardens Annex came to his mind. His thoughts changed to ones of hope Wednesday as Metro Police officers, the Southern Nevada Housing Authority and other partners broke ground on a new makeover project for the public housing development on Doolittle Avenue.

U.S. suit alleges 'brazen' fraud at Countrywide: Wednesday, October 24, 2012; By Christina Rexrode, Associated Press; The latest federal lawsuit over alleged mortgage fraud paints an unflattering picture of a doomed lender: Executives at Countrywide Financial urged workers to churn out loans, accepted fudged applications and tried to hide ballooning defaults.

Congressional candidates get personal at rally addressing housing: Friday, October 19, 2012; Politics:; By Karoun Demirjian; A bipartisan handful of Nevada’s congressional hopefuls addressed a crowd of about 200 in Las Vegas on Thursday about the one issue it seems every Nevadan running for office agrees needs work in Washington: housing. The Rally for Homeownership, sponsored by the National and Southern Nevada Home Builders Associations, featured Sen. Dean Heller, the Republican running for re-election to the Senate seat he was appointed to last year; Rep. Joe Heck, the Republican running for re-election to the 3rd Congressional District’s seat; and former Rep. Dina Titus, the Democrat running to represent the 1st Congressional District.

On housing, Nevada Senate candidates' differing views boil down to federal government's level of involvement: Wednesday, October 17, 2012; ELECTION 2012:; By David McGrath Schwartz; The issue of principal reduction is at the heart of the philosophical divide over how active the federal government should be in trying to address Nevada’s problem. And it marks a key difference in how the two candidates running for U.S. Senate would approach the housing crisis.