Chance Gates' Blog

The Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for May’s preliminary reading rose to 77.8 from 76.4 at the end of April. It was the highest reading since January 2008.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted composite index of mortgage applications for the week ending May 4 rose 1.7%. Refinancing applications increased 1.3%. Purchase volume rose 3.4%.

The producer price index, which tracks wholesale price inflation, fell 0.2% in April after a flat reading in March. On a year-over-year basis, wholesale prices are up 1.9%, the seventh straight month of slowing year-over-year increases. Core prices — excluding food and fuel — rose 0.2% in April.

Wholesalers increased their inventories 0.3% to $480.4 billion in March, the slowest pace in four months. Sales at the wholesale level rose 0.5% to $411.1 billion in March. On a year-over-year basis, sales were 6.5% higher since March 2011.

The trade deficit increased to $51.8 billion in March from a revised $45.4 billion in February. Exports rose 2.9% to $186.8 billion in March. Imports rose 5.2% to $238.6 billion in March.

Import prices fell 0.5% in April, following a 1.5% increase in March. On a year-over-year basis, import prices are up 0.5%. Export prices rose 0.4% in April after a 0.8% increase in March. On a year-over-year basis, import prices are up 0.7%.

Thanks to my friends at Prospect Mtg

RENO, Nev. – The annual Wolf Pack Caravans return later this month as the Wolf Pack rolls into Carson City on May 16th at Carson City Toyota Scion.

The event, which begins at 5:30 p.m., is headlined by Nevada’s Hall of Fame coach Chris Ault, who will discuss how the team is evolving offensively and defensively and who will emerge for the 2012 season in the new era of the Mountain West.

The annual Coaches Caravan will stop in Carson City and Reno this year. The event is free but an RSVP is required (by May 14) to Holly Aycock at 775-682-6961 or holly@unr.edu.

Wolf Pack Caravans

Carson City Caravan
Wednesday, May 16th 5:30 PM-7:30 PM
Carson City Toyota Scion

Reno Caravan
Thursday, May 17th 5:00 PM-7:00 PM
Legacy Hall on the University of Nevada Campus

Nevada Wolf Pack Athletics

As a Reno/Sparks Nevada real estate agent and property manager, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.com http://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  To checkout some of  my property manager services goto http://chancegates.com/property-management-services/

If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable

If the modification fails, contact your local real estate agent to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney.

cnbc.com

If a borrower  qualifies he  can get as much as $150,000 knocked off the  principal.  In order to qualify as of January 31,2012 a homeowner must of been behind by 60 days.  the homeowner must be up side down on their loan.

In order to qualify for the modification, the borrower must answer the letter with full documentation of income, showing that under the terms of the modification they can still make the monthly payment. A borrower with no income would therefore not qualify. A borrower’s current monthly payment must be more than 25 percent of gross income, and the borrower must show they are unable to afford that.

“If you can afford to make your monthly payment and are choosing not to, you will not get this principal modification,” says Sturzengger.

As a Reno/Sparks Nevada real estate professional and property manager, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.com http://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  To checkout some of  my property manager services goto http://chancegates.com/property-management-services/

If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable

If the modification fails, contact your local real estate agent to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney.

Logo of the National Association of Realtors. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Information about NAR is available at www.realtor.org.

Pending home sales increased in March and are well above a year ago, another signal the housing market is recovering, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 4.1 percent to 101.4 in March from an upwardly revised 97.4 in February and is 12.8 percent above March 2011 when it was 89.9.  The data reflects contracts but not closings.

The index is now at the highest level since April 2010 when it reached 111.3.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said 2012 is expected to be a year of recovery for housing.  “First quarter sales closings were the highest first quarter sales in five years.  The latest contract signing activity suggests the second quarter will be equally good,” he said.

“The housing market has clearly turned the corner.  Rising sales are bringing down inventory and creating much more balanced conditions around the county, which means home prices will be rising in more areas as the year progresses,” Yun said.

The PHSI in the Northeast slipped 0.8 percent to 78.2 in March but is 21.1 percent above March 2011.  In the Midwest the index declined 0.9 percent to 93.3 but is 16.9 percent higher than a year ago.  Pending home sales in the South rose 5.9 percent to an index of 114.1 in March and are 10.6 percent above March 2011.  In the West the index increased 8.7 percent in March to 108.0 and is 9.0 percent above a year ago.

The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

# # #

*The Pending Home Sales Index is a leading indicator for the housing sector, based on pending sales of existing homes. A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed but the transaction has not closed, though the sale usually is finalized within one or two months of signing.

The index is based on a large national sample, typically representing about 20 percent of transactions for existing-home sales.  In developing the model for the index, it was demonstrated that the level of monthly sales-contract activity parallels the level of closed existing-home sales in the following two months.

An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, which was the first year to be examined as well as the first of five consecutive record years for existing-home sales; it coincides with a level that is historically healthy.

NOTE: Existing-home sales for April will be reported May 22, the next Pending Home Sales Index will be released May 30 and first quarter metro area home prices will be released May 9; release times are 10:00 a.m. EDT.



The Commerce Department reported that consumer spending rose $32.3 billion or 0.3% in March, just one-third of February’s increase. Personal income in March increased $50.3 billion or 0.4%, after a 0.3% rise in February.

The Institute for Supply Management reported that the monthly composite index of manufacturing activity rose to 54.8 in April from 53.4 in March. A reading above 50 signals expansion. It was the 33rd straight month of expansion.

Total construction spending rose 0.1% to $808.1 billion in March from a revised $807.3 billion in February. Economists had anticipated an increase of 0.5% in March. Compared to a year ago, construction spending is up 6%.

Factory orders fell 1.5% in March, the biggest drop in three years, to a seasonally adjusted $460.5 billion, following a revised 1.1% increase in February. Excluding the volatile transportation sector, orders increased slightly in March.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted composite index of mortgage applications for the week ending April 27 rose 0.1%. Refinancing applications decreased 0.7%. Purchase volume rose 2.9%.

The Institute for Supply Management reported that the monthly composite index of non-manufacturing activity fell to 53.5 in April from 56 in March. A reading above 50 signals expansion. It was the 28th straight month of expansion in the services sector.

Thanks to my friends at Prospect Mtg

RENO, Nev. – The Cleveland Browns selected Nevada linebacker James-Michael Johnson in the fourth round on Saturday to open up a school-record four draftees for the Wolf Pack in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Johnson became the 37th player in Nevada history to get selected in the NFL Draft. He is the first Wolf Pack player to be selected though Nevada all-time great Marion Motley starred for the Browns in his career.

In the fifth round, linebacker Brandon M. Marshall was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is the first Jaguars’ selection of a Nevada player since 2004 when Jacksonville took linebacker Jorge Cordova.

In the sixth, the Wolf Pack had its first defensive back selected since 1993 (Brock Marion) when corner Isaiah Frey was picked up by the Chicago Bears.

Nevada wide receiver Rishard Matthews capped the school-record class in the seventh round when he was selected by the Miami Dolphins.

The previous record for most players drafted from Nevada was three, set in 1998 and tied last year.

Nevada Wolf Pack Football

Portrait of Alexander Graham Bell Français : Portrait de Alexander Graham Bell (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with – a man is what he makes of himself.
Alexander Graham Bell

America is a country of inventors, and the greatest of inventors are the newspaper men.
Alexander Graham Bell

Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.
Alexander Graham Bell

Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.
Alexander Graham Bell

Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds. I may be given credit for having blazed the trail, but when I look at the subsequent developments I feel the credit is due to others rather than to myself.
Alexander Graham Bell

Neither the Army nor the Navy is of any protection, or very little protection, against aerial raids.
Alexander Graham Bell

Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.
Alexander Graham Bell

The most successful men in the end are those whose success is the result of steady accretion.
Alexander Graham Bell

The nation that secures control of the air will ultimately control the world.
Alexander Graham Bell

What this power is I cannot say; all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it.
Alexander Graham Bell

Monday June 18, 2012 at the Reno  Livestock Events Center in Reno NV.

The first four BFIs were held in Chowchilla. The BFI moved to Las Vegas in 1981, then to Denton, Texas, in 1982. That fall, Feist and Hartnell College student Bill Wittmer were in a car accident while on a fishing trip in Alaska. Wittmer died, and Feist just wasn’t up to a 1983 event.

The BFI has called Reno home since 1984, though the roping was held outside in the rodeo arena the first several years.

“We moved it inside to remove the weather factor,” Feist said. “One year when we were outside, the weather was atrocious. It rained, hailed, sleeted and the wind blew. It was typical Reno weather & three seasons in one day. It was terrible to see guys roping for that kind of money in those conditions.”

Tickets will be available starting June 1 at D-M Western Store
in Reno and at the Silver Legacy Hotel starting June 16th.
Plenty of tickets will also be available starting at 7:30 am
on Monday, June 18th at the Reno Livestock Events Center.

The World’s Richest One-Day Open Team Roping!

www.bobfeistinvitational.com

As a Reno/Sparks Nevada real estate professional and property manager, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.com http://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  To checkout some of  my property manager services goto http://chancegates.com/property-management-services/

If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable

If the modification fails, contact your local real estate professional to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney.

Pending home sales, a forward-looking indicator based on signed contracts, rose 4.1% in March, the highest level since April 2010, after an upwardly revised 0.4% increase in February. On a year-over-year basis, pending home sales in March were up 12.8%.

The Commerce Department announced that gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services produced in the U.S. — increased at an annual rate of 2.2% in the first quarter of 2012. This follows a 3% pace of growth in the fourth quarter of 2011.

New home sales fell 7.1% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 328,000 units from an upwardly revised rate of 353,000 units in February. The initial February reading was 313,000. The January rate was revised higher to 329,000 units. On a year-over-year basis, new home sales in March were up 7.5%. At the current sales pace, there’s a 5.3-month supply of new homes on the market.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city housing price index — on a non-seasonally adjusted basis — fell 0.8% in February, after a 1% decrease in January. On a year-over-year basis, prices fell 3.5% compared with February 2011.

Orders for durable goods — items expected to last three or more years — fell $8.8 billion or 4.2% to $202.6 billion in March, the biggest drop in more than three years. This follows a revised 1.9% increase in February. Excluding volatile transportation-related goods, orders posted a monthly decrease of 1.1%.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending April 21 fell by 1,000 to 388,000 from a revised 389,000 the prior week. Continuing claims for the week ending April 14 rose by 3,000 to 3.315 million.

As a Reno/Sparks Nevada real estate professional and property manager, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.com http://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  To checkout some of  my property manager services goto http://chancegates.com/property-management-services/

If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable

If the modification fails, contact your local real estate professional to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney.