Problems determining who holds the actual mortgage note and enforcement of regulations are two reasons that loan modification and foreclosure mediation programs aren’t saving people from losing their homes, according to participants at a Tuesday forum sponsored by the Lied Institute.
Housing
The long-failing North Las Vegas Housing Authority is ready for its tombstone. The public housing agency, infamous in recent years for its poor management and misuse of federal funds meant to help the city’s neediest residents, is officially no more. In December it folded into the much larger Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority, a year later than officials originally hoped.
Ennis Jordan, 63, a semiretired business owner who worked mostly in the construction materials trade, owns 15 acres on Mount Charleston. Here, at Bristlecone Heights, Jordan has built what he confidently believes to be, at 9,125 feet, the highest dwelling in Nevada.
New regulations regarding energy consumption audits probably will add to paperwork that comes with buying a house, rather than bring business to companies specializing in performing those audits, Realtors believe. The energy audit typically costs $300 to $500 and can be waived if the buyer and seller agree, said Paul Bell, president of Las Vegas Greater Association of Realtors.
Nobody thinks about saving a rain forest as a result of “green building” techniques, but they might think about saving more than $1,000 a year on utility bills, a Las Vegas homebuilding executive said.
Most of the 600,000 households in Clark County saw some amount of reduction in their 2011-2012 property tax assessments that were recently mailed out, but roughly 13 percent of homeowners are still overpaying, Seattle-based ValueAppeal.com reported.
The state consumer advocate is glad to see the end coming for a new type of financial enterprise in Nevada.
The Federal Trade Commission has banned consulting firms from charging up-front fees for negotiating modifications of residential mortgage loans. The prohibition takes effect Jan. 31.
Buyers of condominiums at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas will get the chance to tour and close escrow on completed units next month, according to a company spokeswoman and lawyer representing a number of investors. But an attorney for about 150 condominium buyers they still haven’t received all the required real estate disclosures.
