LAS VEGAS NOT BENEFITING FROM BANKS CASH OFFERS

NUMBERS IN LAS VEGAS DON'T SUPPORT THE BANKS EFFORTS OF OFFERING CASH PAYMENTS FOR SHORT SALES IN OTHER STATES

Local LAS VEGAS REALTORs ASKS --
"Why is it that 48 percent of home sales are foreclosures and only 26 percent are short sales? "

"It's funny that they put this out there when hundreds of thousands of homeowners who want to short sell
get refused? " It's more PR than anything. If lenders really want to move mortgages off the books they would
approve short sales for the 10,000 homeowners in Las Vegas that are in short-sale limbo and will short-sell
for free - no $35,000 needed."

A mountain of pending repossessions is holding back housing recovery, where prices have fallen for six
straight years damping economic growth. Owners of more than 14 million homes are in foreclosure,
behind in their mortgage payments or owe more than their properties are worth.

Short sales represented 9 percent of all U.S. residential. transactions in November. Bank owned foreclosures
and short sales sold at a discount of 34 percent.

Lenders are finding out that some borrowers would rather risk repossession while living rent free for
years before they are forced out.

While Morgan-Chase is offering the largest incentive payments, other banks are also offering them, according
to interviews with 12 real estate agents in other states.

Morgan-Chase, the biggest U.S. bank, approves about 5,000 short sales a month. It generally offers about
$10,000 to $35,000 in cash payment at settlement. Not all of the sales include incentives.

For banks, a short sale could cut a year or more of the time it takes to unload a property. From listing to sale,
the transaction took about 123 days on average. Lenders spend an average of 348 days to foreclose and another
175 days to sell the property.

Wells-Fargo offers relocation assistance of as much as $20,000 to borrowers who short sell or agree to transfer
title through a deed in lieu of foreclosure.

Bank of America sent letters to 20,000 Florida homeowners as part of a pilot program, offering incentives of as much as $20,000 or 5 percent of the unpaid loan balance.So, it's happening elsewhere, but why not in Las Vegas?