No cash? Forget buying a Vegas house

To the editor:

A great housing market?

As of last week, there were 5,291 single-family homes for $200,000 or less for sale in the Las Vegas area. Interest rates are low. So all over the TV and radio, they're talking about how now is the time to buy a home. So hurry out and contact your Realtor.

But try to buy one -- especially for $100,000 or less. It seems that a vast majority of such homes have cash offers -- investors seeking to grab up cheap housing. Here's an example:

A beautiful home with a half-acre lot and an immaculate interior on a cul de sac in a good neighborhood. They were asking $99,000, but no closing costs. That meant that, as a veteran with 100 percent disability and full eligibility, I would've had to pay more than $6,000 to get a home for a "dollar down" VA loan. So we paid $300 for the home and termite inspection, then $450 for a VA appraisal -- only to learn that, because so many homes in the area were being bought up for cash at low prices, the VA would appraise the home for only $80,000. (It originally sold for more than $200,000.)

In other words, to hell with qualifying for a loan and having low housing prices -- the homes are being grabbed up by out-of-state, even out-of-country investors.

Looks like in this "great" Las Vegas housing market that if one can't pay cash down, forget buying anything under $120,000 or so.

Dale Day

LAS VEGAS

Friends like these

To the editor:

In response to the Jan. 21 story about Sen. John McCain talking to Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki about entering the race against Sen. Harry Reid:

My advice to Lt. Gov. Krolicki: Don't bother with the support of Sen. McCain. That could be costly. At the Nevada GOP caucus, Sen. McCain got zero votes for president. If Mr. Krolicki is "in bed" with Sen. McCain, it's over.

I voted for Sen. McCain in 2008, but only because he was the lesser of two evils.

JIM WHITE

LAS VEGAS

System gamed

To the editor:

Of all the things I see the self-proclaimed leaders of our fair state considering, I find it strange that no one ever thinks to means test the overly generous retirement programs for state workers. Does the state really need to take money from the poor and the middle class to give six-figure incomes to people who often gamed the system and are already in the top 5 percent of wealth or income?

And please do not lecture me on the sanctity of contracts. Governments are known for the ease with which they break their promises and contracts to the average person and the poor. As, for instance, when they claim that they will teach your child to do arithmetic and to read.

Doug Nusbaum

LAS VEGAS

Public service

To the editor:

I was saddened to read former state Sen. Joe Heck's recent comments attacking Rep. Dina Titus for her three decades of work as a teacher and public servant in Southern Nevada. Mr. Heck claims that she is running for re-election "to avoid getting a real job."

As a teacher who has given years of my life to educating future generations, I am left to wonder, does Mr. Heck think I should get a "real job" too? Does he feel the same way about the thousands of schoolteachers, college faculty, police, firefighters, nurses and so many others who have dedicated their lives to improving our community?

Mr. Heck attacks Rep. Titus for accepting a "taxpayer funded ... paycheck" and not working in the profit-seeking sector, as he claims to. I sincerely hope he was not similarly dismissive of the soldiers whom he was charged with caring for in the military.

What I found saddest about Mr. Heck's statement attacking hard-working public servants is that when he served for one term in the state Senate, he claimed to support teachers and faculty. Indeed, he used to take pride in having taught courses at the University of Nevada School of Medicine and the College of Southern Nevada and other public institutions. But now that he's caught up in a tight primary and must appeal to the right-wing hard-liners, he no longer considers public college teaching to be a "real job."

Mr Heck, if serving the taxpayers is so unpalatable to you, then why are you so eager to hold public office?

Gregory Brown

LAS VEGAS

THE WRITER, A UNLV HISTORY PROFESSOR, IS PRESIDENT OF THE UNLV FACULTY ALLIANCE.

Child abuse

To the editor:

In his Wednesday letter, Victor Moss said, "In her Saturday letter advocating more education spending, Lois White wrote, 'If we look at the highest-ranking states, we will notice they spend more and get better results from their students.' I have only one thing to say: Washington, D.C."

But Washington, D.C., isn't a state. If Mr. Moss insists on drawing a conclusion based upon his observation, we would be better off looking at the entire picture instead of a single entity.

If you make a simple scatter plot of spending versus educational success (as illustrated on statemaster.com) you will see that the more money states spend on education, the more educational success those states experience. Of course there are always outliers and a multitude of variables that affect the education of a child.

Education funding in Nevada is among the worst in the nation. To suggest cutting that already grossly inadequate funding is nothing more than advocating child abuse.

Institute a lottery. Tax mining at 8.2 percent, just like our sales tax rate. It's time to stand up and say enough is enough. We can no longer be willing to spend less than almost every other state on the education of our children.

Jeremy M. Christensen

LAS VEGAS