M.V. Real Estate Market Strong, Despite Challenges

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

The Clark County Fair is, traditionally, also a showcase for the Moapa Valley community. The fair brings people out of the city to enjoy a day or two of small town living. Many of those visitors decide they want to make it their home.

But it is the local realtors that actually close the deal. During the Fair and in the weeks that follow, real estate agents are kept busy trying to keep up with demand in a market that seems to always be short on supply.

“We are seeing a limited housing inventory in the community with a huge demand,” said Clea Whitney, owner and broker of Clea’s Fabulous Moapa Valley Real Estate with offices in both Overton and Logandale. “That makes it a real challenge.”

At the end of last week there were only 28 single family homes being listed in the Moapa Valley.Eight of those were already under contract.

In the category of manufactured homes, there were only 16 being listed in the Moapa Valley area. Five of those were already under contract. And only about a half dozen of them had been converted to “real property.” The rest would require a cash offer as financing would not be available for personal property.
“That means that things are moving,” Whitney said. “We are busy all the time. I think my last day off was actually back on January 1.”

Local real estate broker Janet Marshall, of Foremost Realty in Logandale, agreed that the real estate market remains brisk.
“Moapa Valley is appealing to people,” Marshall said. “They come and look around and they want to leave the city and come here. And what can we say? It is a great community. A lot of them come to visit and end up buying. So I can tell you that homes that are listed here are not languishing on the market for very long. They are selling.”

Both brokers admitted that home prices softened just a bit during 2022 as interest rates on mortgages saw some sudden increases. Whitney said that the market slowed just slightly at the end of last year to the pace of what she called a “normal market.” But since the beginning of the year it has been busy again, she said.
“People need to move and people want to come here,” Whitney said. “So in January things picked up again to where it left off. It has been busy ever since.”

Marshall agreed that the increase in interest rates had not had a huge impact on sales volume in Moapa Valley.

With nearly 30 years experience in the local real estate market, Marshall said that even the sudden interest rate hikes have merely brought the rates to a more traditional level.
“The rates we are seeing now were somewhat normal to people until they dropped so low in the past few years,” Marshall said. “Only after that do they seem high.”

Even so, there are ways that buyers can soften the interest rate impacts on their home purchases. She said that she is seeing the use of “buydowns” helping borrowers cope with the higher rates.

A buydown is a way for a borrower to obtain a lower interest rate by paying discount points at closing. This brings the interest rate lower for the loan term and makes the monthly payment more affordable. This can be paid for through funds escrowed by the seller.

Whitney added that her advice to buyers in the current market is to be creative about the financing and be open to these kinds of techniques. “I tell buyers that they need to negotiate closing costs and buydowns,” she said. “Don’t be afraid to ask the seller to help with things. There are some creative ways of doing buydowns. And an agent that is creative and resourceful can help find a way to make those work for the buyer.”

Another interest rate protection technique where Whitney is finding success is through assumable mortgages. That is where a buyer purchases a home by taking over the seller’s mortgage loan and then paying the difference in the home’s price in cash.

“A lot of people don’t know about that option,” Whitney said. “But it is a great way to take advantage of lower rates. I mean people don’t want to leave a mortgage in the 2.8’s to take on a new mortgage at 6.5. Assuming the sellers loan and paying the difference in cash can keep the rate low. And those assumables are really not that hard to do. We have seen quite a few of them lately.”

For those selling their homes, Whitney emphasizes the importance of using every avenue possible for marketing. “Of course, you have to get the listing out on social media,” she said. “But there are also all the different real estate websites that are out there. We are connected with more than 65 different syndicated websites to market our listings. Things like zillow, realtor.com, homes.com and more; that is where a lot of people are looking these days. You have to be on those.”

But Whitney also doesn’t discount marketing the old-fashioned way. During the week of the fair, Whitney’s agents are holding two real estate open houses each day.
“We have a bunch of different things planned for Fair week,” Whitney said. “We are hoping to get people out to our open houses and just to show like crazy!”

For more information about these open house events and other listings visit cleasmoapavalleyrealty.com.

For information about Foremost Realty listings go to foremostrealtynv.com.