Current Real Estate Conditions Reno/N. Nevada

[renoguy]

I turned up another good link. This one is from Housing Tracker. Historical data that you can draw a trend from.
http://www.housingtracker.net/old_ho...vada&city=Reno

My take on the California factor is it’s still there and in full force. I think what’s going on is people no matter where they live are nervous about real estate right now. The media is really pushing the market downward trend and voodoo mortgage blow out right now. No one wants to buy at the wrong time so most people are on the fence watching. I have friends and family that come up from the bay area and ask me what things are going for here. When they find out they still tell me that it seems cheap or at least reasonable. They use the bay area as their yard stick and not the local job market. Personally I would think that the local economy should have the biggest influence on real estate but the numbers just don’t support that theory. Prices here are askew compared to wages. I think too many people moved here with big equity to pay off their new house or make the payment really low so the wages are not of concern to them. Most in my neighborhood that moved here from the bay area said they weren’t worried about jobs when they came. To me this indicates a cash purchase.

The traffic isn’t getting any better so I don’t think anyone is leaving. It is nice here. I’m looking out the window of my home as I type this watching a spring storm cresting the Sierra ridges leaving patches of white behind. The weather here is incredibly dynamic. I’ve lived here most of my life so I don’t appreciate it as much as newcomers. I work with some people from back east and they say it’s paradise here compared to Detroit and upstate New York. The sun seems to always be shining here. Water is scarce and it isn’t cheap to heat your house but, I guess everyplace has tradeoffs.

[2sleepy]

Housing prices in Reno have been influenced by people moving here from California (like myself in 1999) and I would expect they will continue to move here, but if their homes sell for less, they will be less willing/able to pay as much for homes in Reno as they did in the past, so yes - I think it will have some impact. The real problem here in my opinion is the overbuilding in new subdivisions, I've watched it for a couple of years and my husband and I have both been boggled by the number of people who are willing to pay 400k + for a house on a small lot where your view is your neighbors bathroom. The unsold new home inventory is going to impact existing home sale prices, how much I really don't know. As far as Fernley, it looks ok, my son lives there and pays $650 a month for very nice 2 bdrm/2bth 4 plex. The real strange thing about Fernley is that while there must be over 15k people there now, there is ONE grocery store, a very overpriced Scolari's