LV homes head to auction block

Nearly 100 Las Vegas homes will be sold at auction Sunday, but don't expect to get some kind of unreal deal just because banks are anxious to rid their balance sheets of carrying costs.

Los Angeles recently had an auction of 400 real estate-owned properties and the auction house boasted a 95 percent delivery of the broker's price opinion, Alexis McGee of Sacramento, Calif.-based Foreclosures.com said.

"That just means the auction company got a broker to say what they would list it at. That's kind of a streamlined appraisal," she said. "Broker price opinions are typically at or above market value. They're rarely lower."

Dallas-based Hudson & Marshall will auction the Las Vegas homes Sunday at noon at JW Marriott, 221 N. Rampart Blvd.

List prices range from $75,000 for a two-bedroom, 770-square-foot condo on West Bonanza Road to $993,000 for a five-bedroom, 4,500-square-foot home at 2780 Botticelli Drive in Henderson. Most homes are in the mid-$100,000s to $300,000s.

It's the largest Las Vegas home auction ever conducted in Hudson & Marshall's 40-year history, principal Dave Webb said.

Declining home sales have ripened the real estate market for buyers, he said, giving them plentiful choices at reduced prices. Robust foreclosure rates nationwide continue to fuel the buyer's market.

"Real estate markets have their ups and downs, but eventually rebound, making them good investments," Webb said. "Whether you're an investor or first-time home buyer, consumers should ride the wave of opportunity today's market offers."

McGee said Nevada ranks No. 1 in the nation in preforeclosure filings per capita and No. 2 in real estate-owned (bank-owned) properties.

Nevada had 3,173 preforeclosure filings in July, up from 2,867 in June, bringing the year-to-date total to 19,044, according to Foreclosures.com. With 746,973 households, that's a per capita rate of 2.55 percent. Florida is second at 1.76 percent and Colorado is third at 1.49 percent.

Rather than listing homes with a broker on the Multiple Listing Service and waiting months for them to sell, banks can clear their books in one weekend with an auction, McGee said.

"You're going to see more of these," she said. "They get 1,000 people to show up and that pushes prices up. They're doing a better job of selling than the agents."

Stephen Boyle, appraiser for Boyle & Drake in Vero Beach, Fla., said buyers and sellers have ended the stand-off in Florida's residential market.

"The buyers realize that the market is not going to crash, and the sellers realize that their asking price is inflated," Boyle said. "Our market has returned to the late 2004 price levels. Sales activity is just under the 2003 pace. Both are not bad."

The subprime mortgage meltdown continues to play a significant role in rising foreclosures.

In a recent New York Times story, Countrywide Financial said it was finding more borrowers with good credit falling behind on their loans and that the housing market might not begin recovering until 2009 because of a decline in prices that goes beyond anything experienced in decades.

Countrywide Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Angelo Mozilo said home prices were falling "almost like never before, with the exception of the Great Depression." With a large number of homes on the market, the housing sector would continue to suffer until sometime in 2008 and would not begin recovering until 2009, Mozilo said in the article.

Frank Nason, president and broker of Residential Resources in Las Vegas, said MLS listings are up nearly 2 percent in July to 29,325. At an average of 60 closings a day, current listings represent 489 days of inventory, or about a year and four months.

Listings categorized as "repo" totaled 1,107, an 18 percent increase from the end of June. The category is not a "required" field in the listings, Nason said.

"I receive some lender lists of preforeclosure and foreclosure units and the MLS seemingly understates the number of units that are distressed," he said.

Vacant listings make up 44 percent of single-family dwellings, 56 percent of condos and 48 percent of townhomes, Nason said.