Aliante's Master Planned Festivities

Aliante's master-planned community recently hosted its annual "Roll 'N' Rock" at the Nature Discovery Park. The Fundraiser was held and benefited the Family to Family Connection in West Las Vegas.

The Family to Family Connection is a nonprofit organization that offers free services to families of newborn babies and infants up to 4 years old.

The event included many booths and vendors with other activities that ranged from bike safety demonstrations to a 1-mile fun walk.

Music and entertainment was enjoyed by all and was provided by D.J. Tony. There were many other activities including a decorating contest for strollers, bikes and wagons. Prizes were awarded for the best stroller, bike and wagon.

Costs were minimal for such an extravagant event.

Beginning at dusk, residents and visitors were able to view the holiday lights and decorations that were displayed and will continue to be on display throughout the season.

5 Ways To Keep Your Mortgage Rates Affordable

If you're on the market for a new home here are five tips that will help you obtain the low mortgage rates that you always see on television. One thing you can do to improve your chances is to pay your bills when you get them. Lenders want to know that you are going to make your payments on time month after month.

If your credit history shows that you have a habit of being late or missing payments then you will be considered a bigger risk.

Also making a larger down payment will increase your chances for lower mortgage rates. Lenders have learned that the more money you put down on a house, the less likely it is that you will default. Pay off as much debt as you can. Lenders want to see that you can afford to make all of your current payments and also the new mortgage payment they will put on top of it.

The biggest and most important is to purchase a house that you can truly afford. The rule of thumb is that you should not spend more than about 30% of your income on a house payment. Many lenders will stretch that to 40% or more depending on the rest of your debt. One thing to keep in mind is that the more you borrow and the closer you come to absolute limit of your ability to keep up with your payments, the higher your risk and the higher the rate you will be quoted.

Finally, you should shop around. Get realistic quotes from at least three lenders. If you do these things you should have no problem getting rates you can afford and keeping your house payment under control.

Rumors Of A Softening Market

These days there seems to be no end to the constant doomsday approach to the Las Vegas real estate market that is moving forward at break neck speeds. However no matter how much good news you see there is always some negative.

There have been new reports that claim that the Las Vegas housing market is softening. If this is the case, than it is very bad news for local consumers.

If the market is softening than there will be more exotic loans used in order for local consumers to purchase homes.

Of course those looking to purchase Las Vegas real estate will not be happy knowing that they will owe more on mortgages than their homes are appraising at.

The report shows that many local homeowners are upside down on their home mortgages. Lenders know they can rely on inexperienced appraisers who base their business on speed and fees.

These factors also cause problems with home equity, which will not be able to be created.

There Is Still Talk Of A Housing Bubble In Las Vegas

SalesTraq released their third quarter predictions recently. Larry Murphy is president of the Las Vegas real estate research firm and gives his so called crystal ball predictions at local seminars.

Murphy has done what he usually does, which is speak about the Las Vegas housing bubble. Many people disagree that there isn’t a housing bubble but Murphy isn’t one of them.

At his seminar Murphy released streams of data that showed the housing prices in Las Vegas. Murphy’s information showed that local homes prices are rising and will continue to rise throughout the year.

Murphy also report that there is a slight possibility that there could be local housing shortages. Analyzing the information median new home prices in Vegas was $323,000 in September, a 7.7 percent increase when compared with stats from last year.

Existing homes posted 0.4 percent appreciation rate with average prices sitting at $285,000 from the same time last year.

Las Vegas Home Auctions

If you are in the market for a new Las Vegas home, we have got news for you. Your chances to buy a foreclosed Las Vegas home below market value have recently greatly increased.

On November 19 at the JW Marriot in Las Vegas, Hudson & Marshall will be auctioning off 9 Las Vegas homes valued from $275,000 to $460,000.

Hudson & Marshall are a Dallas based real estate auction company and are not just hosting homes for the Las Vegas area.

There will also be more than 100 homes on the block in the foreclosure-plagued states of Colorado and Nevada.

According to reports rising foreclosure nationwide could translate into a huge opportunity for home buyers in declining real estate markets.

New Plans For Henderson

A Henderson developer already close to the breaking ground date on a proposed community wants to build an additional 3,000 home to support a proposed resort casino and new commercial project.

There has been a petition to the city by Focus Property Group for a 38 percent increase in the housing density at its Inspirada development. If approved, this increase will raise the number of units from 11,500 to 14,500.

Focus has said that they will submit an application to the city requesting a casino at the western Henderson development. Thus far there has been little opposition for the planned casinos.

However, scrutiny is anticipated to increase the density from city officals and from residents in the neighboring subdivisions worried about additional traffic and lost views.

Las Vegas Seems To Be Shifting To A Soft Market

There are those who are still arguing that Las Vegas is going to suffer a steep decline this year and that the housing bubble is going to burst. Marketing Solutions real estate consultant Steve Bottfield has said that consumers haven't seen that happen yet and probably won't.

There has been a 21.5% decline in new home building permits for the year and this has some developers worried. Also local home builders pulled 1,367 new permits in September, which was the lowest count in over 56 months.

According to Bottfield "Builders are not building as many houses, which means inventory is being adjusted downward".

This is has been reflected for a number of months according to other analysts. The word on the street is that until you see permits going upward, this is going to be a soft market.