Lake Tahoe Realtors Focus on Nevada Housing Market Improvement

A slump in the Nevada housing market?

Not according to some local Realtors, who told The North Lake Tahoe Bonanza last week that any downturn has been greatly exaggerated.

Since the same homes are not sold every year, the average and median home prices don’t accurately reflect a change in property values, one Realtor said.

“The 2007 market has a good chance to do very well because 2006 was a very tough year - people just did not have confidence and did not make a move,” said Dan Schwartz of Coldwell Banker Incline Village Realty and Tanager. “I believe we’ve hit rock bottom judging from the activity we’ve had since the first of the year.”Now that prices are said to be at their lowest, first-time home buyers in the region are expected to move before they begin to rise again.

“Last year, we had a combination of a slow market and a buyer’s market,” said Tom Bruno of Tanager Realty. “With the feeling that prices were dropping, many Realtors didn’t know how to get buyers to buy and sellers to sell.”

Though the “official average” price was up in 2006, Bruno, who has worked in the area for 36 years, said he had a feeling that prices were actually dropping slightly.

With home prices reaching a low point, Bruno also expects this year’s market to experience a surge.

“Days-on-market will start to go down, while prices will either go down for the next couple months or remain stable,” Bruno said. “Prices can be expected to start rising by the end of summer due to increased activity.”

Others have noticed signs of life already this year after a disappointing 2006. Nevada mortgage activity is starting to pick up once more.

“I definitely feel that there’s been a marked improvement since the beginning of the year,” said Ken Cash, mortgage broker/owner of Century 21 Mountain Properties.

Cash, who has worked in Incline Village for 16 years, said the media often influences the public’s attitude. He said more positive predictions in the news should encourage buyers and sellers.