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

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.

Real Estate (Photo credit: allan.hane)

Investors are buying up foreclosures in bulk, viewing the potential returns from REOs-to-rentals as better than most other investments.

But experts caution investors to be careful that they don’t take on more than they can handle, and make sure they devote some attention — and budget — into the rehabilitation of many of the properties they buy.

Nearly 95 percent of distressed homes are in bad shape and unsuitable for renting out, Morgan Stanley analysts estimate.

“The importance of getting construction — or specifically, re-construction or rehabilitation — right cannot be overstated,” according to a recent report sent to Morgan Stanley clients. “The quality and cost of rehabilitation can continue to benefit or haunt the asset far past the initial completion of work. For example, shoddy plumbing or other infrastructure work can result in significantly higher maintenance costs over time, and can also affect eventual exit pricing.”

Morgan Stanley provided estimates to investors in the report, citing estimates of renovation work to cost about 25 percent of the purchase price.

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.

RENO, Nev. – The annual Silver and Blue Spring Game will be held on Saturday, April 21 at Mackay Stadium and will feature free posters, fun activities for children, great food and a sneak peak at the 2012 Wolf Pack football team.

Gates to Mackay Stadium will open at 9:30 a.m. and the intrasquad scrimmage, featuring a unique scoring system for the offense (Silver) and defense (Blue), will begin at 10 a.m. The entire event is free and open to the public. Fans are asked to enter Mackay through the main gate at the southwest corner of the stadium. Tailgating will be permitted prior to the event in the lot immediately north of Mackay Stadium. All fans must be in the seating areas at Mackay Stadium and stay off the field/track level.

Though the team will take a halftime break, a game clock will not be used. The offense can earn points with a first down (+1), converting a fourth down (+2), a 15-yard or longer running play (+2), a 20-yard or longer passing play (+2) or scoring a touchdown (+6).

The defense earns points with stopping the offense on a series (+1), forcing a fumble (+1), recovering a fumble (+2), making an interception (+3), recording a sack or tackle for loss (+2), forcing a three-and-out (+3), stopping the offense on fourth down (+2) or scoring a touchdown (+6).

Fans coming to the free event should aware of ongoing construction on North Virginia Street and Interstate-80. The Nevada Department of Transportation will close the Virginia Street exit on westbound I-80 this weekend. Drivers are encouraged to use Wells Avenue or Keystone Avenue as alternate routes from westbound I-80.

Additionally, due to construction on North Virginia Street, fans are encouraged to use North McCarran as primary route to Mackay Stadium. Sierra Street and Evans Avenue can be used as alternate routes instead of Virginia Street.

Those who attend the Silver and Blue Spring Game will receive a free ticket good for admission to the Nevada softball team’s doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. at Hixson Park against No. 14 Hawai`i. Or, stick around and watch the Nevada women’s soccer team play an exhibition game at 2 p.m. at Mackay Stadium.

The event will feature a game-like atmosphere with the Nevada cheer team and band performing throughout the game and the traditional cannon fire accompanying each score. The first 1,000 fans entering the game will receive a free poster.

Famous Dave’s BBQ will be on hand selling food and the concession stands will also be open during the game. There will also be bounce houses, provided by the Boys and Girls Club, available for children to play in throughout the event. The Wolf Pack coaches and players will be available for autographs and photos after the game and Silver and Blue Outfitters will have merchandise available for purchase.

Parking on campus is free for the event.

Fans will also be able to get information on the new pricing structure for Wolf Pack football and reserve season tickets for the upcoming 2012 season as the Pack enters a new era in the Mountain West.

Nevada Wolf Pack Football

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.

I look at life, the experiences I’ve had, at the human condition, the dynamics between people, the news (world news), and draw from the compelling realities all around us.
Leslie Banks

I love the paranormal, because there, every genre I write can become one beacon for my imagination.
Leslie Banks

In all honesty, at that time, I never saw myself as an author… I was just a Mom in a state of panic, trying to enter a short story contest to win the prize money in order to keep the lights on in my home.
Leslie Banks

It was all a back-handed blessing, and my friends were the ones who kept the faith, read my work, and urged me to submit it to publishers (by sending it out for me – they would not hear no for an answer.
Leslie Banks

That has always been it for me: family first.
Leslie Banks

The story grew, got way bigger than the contest rules called for, and next thing I knew I had a book.
Leslie Banks

Pending home sales, a forward-looking indicator based on signed contracts, fell 0.5% in February after a 2% increase in January. On a year-over-year basis, pending home sales are up 9.2%.

Retail sales fell 0.5% for the week ending March 24, according to the ICSC-Goldman Sachs index. On a year-over-year basis, retailers saw sales increase 2.7%.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city housing price index — on a non-seasonally adjusted basis — fell 0.8% in January after a 1.1% decrease in December. On a year-over-year basis, prices fell 3.8% compared with January 2011.

Orders for durable goods — items expected to last three or more years — rose $4.5 billion or 2.2% to $211.8 billion in February. This follows a revised 3.6% decrease in January. Excluding volatile transportation-related goods, orders posted a monthly increase of 1.6%.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted composite index of mortgage applications for the week ending March 23 fell 2.7%. Refinancing applications decreased 4.6%. Purchase volume rose 3.3%.

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 3% in the fourth quarter of 2011. This follows a 1.8% pace of growth in the third quarter of 2011. On a year-over-year basis, the economy expanded 1.6%.

The Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for March’s final reading rose to 76.2 from 75.3 in February. On a year-over-year basis, consumer sentiment is up 12.9%.

Thanks to my friends at Prospect Mtg

Mark your favorite properties and get instant updates price changes,  new pictures and status changes.

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.

Loan Terms

Product type

1st mortgage

Repayment Terms of the Loan or Assistance

30-year, fixed-rate, fully amortizing

Interest Rate of the Loan or Assistance

See website for current rates

Approved 1st Mortgage Products

FHA 203(b), streamline 203(k), VA, RHS, or Fannie Mae: My Community

Possible Recapture tax if home is sold or refinanced within first 9 years of ownership

Mark your favorite properties and get instant updates price changes,  new pictures and status changes.

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.

Mark your favorite properties and get instant updates price changes,  new pictures and status changes.

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.