I’m not talking about sales values or sales volumes, what I’m talking about is the County is reducing property values (taxable value) by 7%.

Assessed property values in Washoe County for 2010 to 2011 could tumble by $2 billion. County officials are lowering assessed property values which are 35% of appraised values by 7%. This is the first year of huge declines since the large Reno boom to bust real estate market. To give you an example of how it will help property owners, if your property taxes are currently about $2200 per year they will go to about $1450 for the upcoming year.

The median price for a home right now is about 183,000  which is 48% less than it was in 2005, I do think  Washoe County is trying to keep up with homeowners in keeping values where they should be.  Josh Wilson County assessor thinks it would be the end of 2010, before we start to see a bottom because of all the loans that were made five years ago, meaning there are a lot of loans that will be resetting this year to higher interest rates and home owners are still underwater on their values

I get the question all time from buyers that when they buy this house will my property taxes go up, the answer is no. In Washoe County taxes get reassessed about every three years, I do think it is good to see the assessor being proactive in reducing property values by 7%. Click here to see how your Reno Real Estate taxes are calculated.

I do agree with Josh Wilson over the next 12 months there are a lot of people still underwater with their loans and they will have to sell for whatever reason. Until these loans get out of our system we are going to have to deal with short sales. Right now the problem is short sales, 40% of them will not close escrow, it will still take 4 to 5 months to  close the escrow if the bank does approve the deal. Short sales are what is driving this market down, sellers don’t care what they price their home at as long as they get an offer, yes it is true 40% of them will not be approved. But if you  ask these $12.00 an hour bank negotiators enough, some of them will get approved and continue to drive the market down. A typical negotiator can be dealing with as many as 1000 files at a time (how much attention do you think your file will get).

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After leaving in 2007 the Hartford financial services will be leasing almost 29,000 square feet on Double R Bld. and employing 150 people. The economic impact to the area will be roughly 12 million dollars and we welcome them with open arms. EDAWN is  responsible for bringing them here along with another 12 companies since July 2008 representing 372 jobs and an economic impact of approximately 67 million dollars. EDAWN is a private non profit organization created in 1982 to help diversify the economy in Northern Nevada.

Visit them at www.edawn.org

In 2005 Reno was named the number one place to do business by INC. magazine, for the number one place to buy Reno Real Estate go to www.homes-reno.com

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     No really, it could be radioactive.  

That was the news story this morning in the NY Times and on the Today Show. You could have low levels of radiation and/or radon in your granite counter tops.

OK, just get me the disclosure form and move on.

Back in the seventies after walking to school up hill both ways we would go home and eat lead paint chips with a side of granite. Hey I still feel fine, I think.

Wednesday, June 18, The Planning Commission denied Flying J’s application for a master plan amendment to the McQueen Neighborhood Plan to rezone a parcel located at I-80 and Robb Drive from Single Family Residential  (large lot residential) to Special Planning Area.

I am not denying that the truckers need a place to stop, eat, sleep, etc.  I just don’t think Reno needs to have 4 truck stops.  Currently there is Boomtown, Sierra Sids and the Alamo Truck Stop within a 15 mile radius.  Reno does not need another and especially not in a residential area.
The Planning Commission vote was as follows:
Darrin Georgeson, Chair, voted to approve the Flying J master plan amendment.
Jim Newberg, Vice-Chair, voted against, stating findings 1,2 and 5 could not be met.

Douglas Coffman voted to approve the Flying J master plan amendment.
Elizabeth Ford voted against, stating findings 2 and 4 could not be met.
Kevin Wieske voted against, stating findings 1 and 5 could not be met.
Dennis Romeo voted against, stating findings 1,2 and 5 could not be met.
Lisa Foster was absent.
  
This is just Round One! Flying J has 10 days to appeal the vote of the Planning Commission. Please stay tuned in and involved for the long haul! 

Councilman Dave Aiazzi will be hosting a Ward 5 Town Hall Meeting at UNR’s Crowley Student Center, Student Union Theater, 3rd floor TOMORROW, Thursday, April 10th from 5:30 to 8pm. The Crowley Student Center (nicknamed “The Joe”) is located east of Lawlor Events Center. Free parking is available in the parking garage on Virginia Street.

The Somersett No Truck Stop committee has been actively opposing the Flying J truck stop but they need the voice of many. They are addressing Flying J’s impact on congestion at the Robb Drive interchange; air pollution; environmental risks; safety concerns; the negative visual impact at the “gateway” to Reno; earthquake risks and leaks of diesel fuel into the Truckee River, California’s lawsuit against the Flying J for tank tampering, truck stop zoning, etc.

Somersett resident, Rob Morrison, has coordinated the collection of over 700 signed petitions against any action that may lead to a Truck Stop at Robb Drive and I-80. If you have not signed the petition please visit the Roundabout Market, located in the Somersett Town Square, and ask to sign it.

A group of Somersett residents attended a Ward One Town Hall Meeting last night and let residents of that Ward know why they should join the fight to stop the Flying J Truck Stop from being built at Robb Drive and I-80.

Somersett is in Ward 5. They encourage you to attend the meeting and let Councilman Aiazzi and other residents of Ward 5 know why you oppose the Flying J Truck Stop.

Remember: Your voice is important. Please sign the petition today if you have not already done so. Be sure to include your e-mail address on the petition so that they can include you on important updates.

Northwest Neighborhood Advisory Board Meeting, Thursday, March 20th, 2008 at 6:00 pm at the Fire Station on Mae Anne and Sharlands. Flying J’s proposed Master Plan Amendment is scheduled to be discussed. It is very important that we all, as a community, attend this meeting.  Please tell everyone you know about this meeting. 

Ward 1 NAB meeting is scheduled for April 8th, 2008at 6:00 pm, City Hall, 7th floor Caucus Room. Flying J is scheduled to present their Master Plan Amendment request, so Ward 1 residents may want to attend this meeting. If you are not sure if you are in the Ward 1 area, please click here.  There is a .pdf file that has a map that highlights the area. 

Flying J held a required public meeting at McQueen High School on March 4, 2008. They indicated that they intend to proceed with a request for a Master Plan Amendment for a PUD (Planned Unit Development) on their property at the south end of the Robb Drive bridge at I-80 so that it can essentially be rezoned for virtually any type of development. In other words, Flying J plans to use the Special Planning Area and Planned Unit Development process to try to circumvent the City Council ordinance regarding truck stops.

Please get involved and help us Stop the Truck Stop! 

For the month of January the fed has dropped the rate by a total 1.25 basis points. There are a lot of buyers out there right now, as soon as we get a break in the weather we are going to see a surge in home sales. They have had enough of the holidays, the bad weather and especially the bad news from the media. There are some very good deals out there for buyers who want to brave the weather, I was showing homes today in Arrowcreek and some of the homes had three feet of snow on the walkways. Some sectors of the Reno Market are hitting the bottom in the 250,000 range, the Northwest Suburban and Double Diamond are very good examples of that with buyers getting some good values on the same homes that were selling for 350,000 three years ago and will be there again in  a few years. These are two areas that make sense for investors looking for a single family rental property. The schools, shopping and proximity to some of our larger employers make these two areas prime spots for tenants. Visit my Reno MLS link and see what Im talking about.

Lakeridge homeowners are appealing a Reno master plan change for the proposed 577 unit Positano project. The home owners are saying it could be built without a change allowing for much higher residential densities. They are also saying that improper procedures occurred at the Reno planning Commission meeting when some commissioners change their minds just before the vote. The big question is whether a property should be granted much greater densities than the surrounding neighborhoods rather than continue sprawl. The massive size of the project is not compatible with homes in the 900 acre Lakeridge area say the home owners. With the Lakeridge golf course, the Lakeridge Tennis club and Lakeridge apartments as immediate neighbors, the commission said the project is isolated from single family homes and is an ideal spot for a high density project. Positano is the first major controversial case heard by the commission  since August.

The city of Reno is allowing developers to abandon their unfinished subdivisions and avoid the high cost of continuing projects that are not selling in the current slow housing market. Under the new policy approved by the council, developers must secure the vacant lots and prevent erosion, dust and other code violations on the properties, but they can walk away from finishing streets, sidewalk and other costly public improvements until the economy improves and they decide to proceed with their projects. Centex, West Haven and SilverStar Communities asked if the could stop making payments on construction surety bonds, which cover the cost of multimillion dollar public improvements.

They don�t want to finish until the market is better the city said.

When a developer wants to subdivide a tract of land, he files a map that is approved by the planning commission, before a final map is approved and construction begins, the developer must acquire water rights, pay surveyors, engineers and planners, water and sewer hook up fees, road impact fees and park construction taxes. But before construction begins the developer must post with the city a construction surety bond, the annual payments on the bonds are 1 to 1.5 percent of the cost of the improvements. Developers can avoid those annual bond payments under the new policy and their property reverts to its past acreage, bringing a much lower tax bill.

Reno has 9310 lots among its recorded subdivisions; up from 8030 in February 2006, throughout the Truckee Meadows, 15,036 unsold home lots are recorded on final maps up from 11,111 at the end of 2004.

With new home sales expected to hit 2000 this year, the inventory of recorded, unsold subdivisions lots represents about a seven year supply a normal supply is 2 to 2.5 years. As of September, 62,584 lots have been approved on final or tentative subdivision maps in the Truckee Meadows, that�s up from 45,964 in 2000 before a building boom began.

The glut of residential lots is the result of a sharp increase in building permit applications in Washoe

County that accompanied skyrocketing housing prices. Building permits for 4300 units were issued in Washoe county in1999 but by 2005, 6,458 were issued, a 50 percent increase. Through October of this year, permits for 1936 units were issued. The county said the policy could help builders who paid cash for their land and public companies that start work and now want to suspend work until the market turns around.

The policy won�t help small private builders who are financed by banks that require them to maintain their land approvals. There will be a number of builders to be foreclosed on next year and their lenders will take back entire subdivisions. We expect these subdivisions would be sold at a lower price, providing another blow to the housing market. Another hit will come when more existing homes are dumped on the market at discounted prices next year, 36 percent of existing homes on the MLS are vacant and owners and speculators can�t hold onto them forever. As a result projected home prices will drop another 5 to 10 percent next year.

There is also a prediction that when the market starts to rebound in 2009 that there will be a temporary housing shortage because the builders have maintained a relatively small inventory of homes already built. At the height of the market there were about 45 builders in this area selling homes, by the end of 2008 there will be about half that. The builders who will still be in business will have very little inventory and if the demand does increase there very well could be a shortage of homes in the spring of 2009.

For the greater Reno Sparks area about 895 subdivision homes, including models were up for sale at the end of September including 518 in Reno, according to the Center for Regional Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. The actual number of finished new homes for sale in the Reno Sparks area is probably closer to 500 units. With 110 subdivisions under construction each one averaging about five homes ready to move into, this is a low number of unsold, finished homes.

The major price cutting on new homes in Reno occurred in 2005 and prices haven�t change much since, while national home builders can discount prices most local builders can�t do that because they owe money to the bank. There is a lot of concern in the market place right now builders need the market to stabilize and give some comfort that we have reached a bottom. They are in recovery mode and a lot of buyers are sitting on the sidelines.