Carson Valley (Reno: for sale, real estate, foreclosures)

[Cyberspacey]

Hi there...

We live in Minnesota and have been looking for a "suitable" horse property in the Reno/Washoe area for about two years.

We just visited for a few days and have concentrated more in Douglas County, specifically Caron Valley, mostly due to the vistas and lower cost for "more" land. I'm happy because I think we've at least narrowed the search area down!

I've run into a few observations while searching and looking for property here. First everything seems to be on a flood plain! Granted some are closer to the Carson River than others but...it's as if the entire Carson Valley might fill with water some day...

Second, there is very little property for sale, and what's "left", which I've seen become stale over the past two years, are way overpriced with owners who don't seem to really want to sell their properties. Most of these properties are starting to fall into disrepair.

Which brings me to my third observation, many real estate agents in the area will not give out information on these homes for some strange reason! It s a bit reminiscent of the way car sales worked for a while back in the 80s...put down a deposit for the car and then we will talk price. It's the strangest thing although I imagine they've had so many "maybes" on these stale listings that they are tired of responding? I don't really get it though. By now, with some of these houses DOM +360, I'd think the agent would have been asked every question in the book, especially about water rights. So I've started to assume that if the agent is slow or reluctant to respond, there's no good news there and cross that house off the list. That has left VERY few houses for sale!

Also there is a line, south of which there is only propane gas available. Can anyone offer some insight to the real cost of how much more that will be than natural gas?

Also, I have heard that it is much more expensive to build here...but since the inventory is so darn low, we almost feel backed into the build corner.

I also understand that when foreclosures were basically suspended, there are a lot of properties out there that should be on the market as foreclosures or short sales that still have their non paying owners living in them.

It seems like nevada might be waiting for suckers to roll in and overpay for these stale, declining properties and totally ignoring those of us that are unwilling to play. We've even felt like turning our search to Prescott, AZ rather than wait for Nevada real estate to get a clue.