UNDER THE HOOD OF OUR LAS VEGAS MLS LISTINGS
Wouldn’t it be great if high schools started a Driver’s Education kind of class for real estate? At some point—I think it was in the 1930s—Americans realized that it would be a good idea for the public schools to offer Driver’s Ed, just as a matter of public safety. If you’ve ever tried to deal with a clutch and stick shift built before the mid-50s, you’ll understand the need. Too bad the damage that can result from lack of real estate knowledge isn’t as obvious as a dented garage door. The first Realty Ed class session could deal with the history of MLS listings. Even given the void in the school system, a teenager wouldn’t need much real estate exposure to have at least heard of “the listings.” “The Multiples” is more obscure, as is “MLS” (when you Google that, you get a lot of major leagues soccer sites). They are all jargon that refer to the information published by “the” Multiple Listing Service. “The” is in quotes because there isn’t just one Multiple Listing Service in the United States; there are many different ones, run by different companies. Our Las Vegas MLS Listings are produced by our Las Vegas MLS Listing publisher, who cooperates with others across the country to come up with the not-quite-exactly-uniform format you see when you go searching online for Las Vegas homes for sale. If the high school kids’ first homework assignment is to go online to check out the Las Vegas MLS listings (like the ones I provide), what they find looks quite straightforward and self-explanatory. They see pictures and descriptions of each property for sale, an asking price, and details that a future owner would want to know. Square footage, lot size, the year built, number and types of rooms are all there, making it easy to compare properties. There may be more details in some of the listings than in others, but the real estate agent who prepares the MLS listing makes sure the most important elements are covered. What will not be obvious to the students (but what will make excellent Friday quiz material) is how the Las Vegas MLS listings embody other elements that are commercial and legal. Behind each of the listings (under the hood, in Driver’s Ed terms) is the fact that an MLS listing ordinarily represents a contractual offer by the listing brokerage to compensate other real estate professionals who represent potential buyers…which means it also is ordinary evidences that the owner of the listed property has made a separate “listing agreement” with the listing broker. Later on in the semester, there will need to be a discussion of FSBOs and the whole “For Sale by Owner” situation. It’s likely that one of the more troublesome ‘A’ students will then certainly raise her hand to ask something like, “Well then what happens when there is a Las Vegas MLS listing for an FSBO property? Doesn’t that mean there isn’t a listing broker to make the offer to compensate other real estate professionals who represent potential buyers?” That will be the moment when it is again demonstrated why teachers need three months off every year. Our Las Vegas MLS listings are a superb way to organize today’s active real estate offerings—but they are only one of many elements. Call me for expert assistance in getting all those elements fall into place!
STOCK MARKET IN TURBULENT CONTRAST TO SERENE REAL ESTATE
Last week was a head-swiveling version of a follow-the-dots puzzle for those who keep tabs national news related to on Las Vegas real estate. Children like following the numbered dots to reveal a picture. You can’t be sure what it will turn out to look like until the end. The week was a lot like that: Monday led off with the release of housing-builder sentiment: its best reading in 10 years! It was given credit for reversing an early-day 100+ point stock market drop. When the Dow closed up 68 points for the day, real estate performance got the kudos. Monday’s dot connected to the next one, which appeared as USA Today’s early Tuesday dispatch pointing out that the previous day’s market rescue was hardly a flash in the pan. The Money section’s lead story, “Housing Provides Much-Needed Lift to Wall Street” drew a broader picture. In a ho-hum year for the broader stock market, housing-related stocks were uniform “among the best-performing shares.” The S&P 500 may have been up less than 2% for the year, but homebuilders’ shares were up 13%; home-improvement retailers, 11.1%; home furnishings stocks, a blistering 26.1%! The reason was “the power of the resurgent real estate market to generate positive action in the stock market.” Then, on Wednesday, CoreLogic provided the next dot with its release of the August MarketPulse roundup, pointing to a 6.5% increase in its national home price index. This was the next logical dot—one that was hardly unexpected. The predicted continuation of price increases was again explained by lean inventories, continuing low mortgage rates, and consumer confidence-rated “the most optimistic in eight years.” Thursday’s dots had been anticipated, too: the morning announcement of July existing-home sales marked the 41st consecutive month of year-over-year price gains. Volume was up, too, as sales topped an annual level of 5.5 million for the first time since early 2007. TheStreet took that as “just the latest confirmation that the housing nightmare is mostly over.” By Friday, the last dots appeared in calm contrast to the frenetic news from Wall Street, which completed its worst week in five years. Even the real estate industry stocks that had rescued the day on Monday couldn’t buck the outrushing tide of equity losses. But the last dot for Las Vegas real estate watchers was found in the analysts’ post-mortems after the market’s close, as speculation increased that the carnage on Wall Street might well be sufficient to nudge Federal Reserve decision-makers away from raising interest rates in September. Real estate trackers were able to put their pencils down and relax for the weekend. So, what was the picture the follow-the-dots puzzle revealed? The real estate industry dots seemed to trace a simple circle…with a curved line near the bottom that looked a lot like a smile. Whether or not this fall’s Las Vegas real estate offerings continue to benefit from historically low mortgage interest rates (they dropped again last week!), there are great opportunities for buyers and sellers. Give me a call whenever you feel the time is right to take advantage of today’s market!
LAS VEGAS HOMEOWNERS EASILY CONQUER BAD HOME HABITS
Las Vegas homeowners take note: Neglecting your filters! That was only one of many “bad home habits” blogger Annie Stevens admitted to in last week’s confessional outpouring on the Aussie web site Domain. “Bad home habits” may not be a phrase Las Vegas homeowners are accustomed to thinking about, but it’s an idea worth mulling—especially if selling your Las Vegas home is something that could be in your immediate (or even middling) future. In its mildest form, a Stevens bad home habit would be one that needs to be straightened out before John and Jane Q. Public come to look your house over after it’s listed. In the extreme, a bad home habit can lead to escalating maintenance issues. Neglecting your filters is one of those. Filters you neglect can be the thin, washable, plastic-and-foam panels you slide in and out of your window air conditioner. If you have one, you are among the many Las Vegas homeowners who were grateful to have it last week. Filters you neglect can also be one of the larger, paper-foil-and-mesh replaceable thingies that you are supposed to replace in the workings of your central air unit. They can also be the cottony stuff you wad into your tropical fish aquarium, but that’s not the kind that’s a big homeowner concern. That one is strictly between you and the fish. In all but that last example, neglecting your filters can lead to an air circulation problem, or even to a burnt-out blower motor. This bad home habit can be blamed on the location of the filters. Being out of sight, it’s hard to remember they are even in there, much less that they require your tender ministration. Another of blogger Stevens’ bad home habits is “buying exercise equipment you will never use.” It’s easy to see why this is a bad budgeting habit, but not a bad home habit. After all, if you turn the garage into a home gym, it could be a selling point when you’re ready to sell. And if you don’t ever use the exercise equipment, it will be appealingly shiny and new (even if you are more out of shape than you want to be). Potential home buyers won’t care about that. Stevens described eight bad home habits, but some of them don’t apply to Las Vegas homeowners (she writes from Australia). For instance, leaving half-drunk cups of tea around the place is not a common Las Vegas homeowner failing. And sleeping with your phone is more of a bad lifestyle habit since constantly checking an iPhone in the middle of the night disrupts a normal sleep cycle. Much more applicable is Bad Home Habit #6: letting dirt build up on the things you forget to clean. It’s easy to forget to clean Las Vegas and things that are in dim, out-of-the-way corners, but when it comes to getting your home into shape for open houses and showings, it’s amazing how prospective buyers somehow seem to make a beeline for them. Fortunately, a few serious deep cleaning sessions will cure any vestige of bad home habit #6. It’s a Murphy’s Law kind of rule that any neglected maintenance feature will tend to go completely kaput just when you least want it to. As you get your home ready to put on the Las Vegas market, that’s why catching it in advance is definitely to your advantage. Also to your advantage: giving me a timely call!
Categories
Recent Posts
