Buyers of Reno real estate these days are faced with the old Metallica verse of “sad but true”. Many of the homes they looked at a couple of months ago hoping for more of a drop have been picked off.

I was showing Toll Brothers Reno homes in Montelana Arrowcreek and they have sold around 9 of them during the last 6 weeks during a supposed bad market, slow time of year and blizzard conditions. This left my buyer with only a few to choose from, the view ones, one stories etc. had been plucked. After spending all day looking and revisiting some prior ones that had not come down, they kind of figured they had better get on it. I am picking through this low inventory/stable market now trying to find them something. Keep in mind, I am talking about South Reno here. This is by far the most stable segment of the Reno Tahoe real estate market as it is close to Tahoe, worlds highest and steepest skiing, the tech and biotech campuses, new hospitals etc….

Reno real estate has picked up; showings, pendings and closings are the best I have seen for this time of year in a couple of years. The buyers who have been on the fence are now trying to jump off of it. Some may get their pants caught and be stuck with their pants down in public if they don’t act soon as this record low interest rate/great priced environment starts to get traction.

You simply can’t argue about the dynamics of the most job, recreation, retiree, health care, close to California, newly built shopping, industrial parks etc. driven town in the United States.

Regardless of what the press says, (they are operating in the rear view mirror), (I operate out the windshield looking forward). I am still buying and my smart clients/friends that I coach/advise are buying.

I have had a sell/hold signal on Reno up until the last couple of months since 2004, I am not shooting from the hip here. Feel free to visit my postings under local market, I advised in spring 2004 to cool it and am advising now to heat it up (slowly). This is mine and many of my clients bread and butter here and I had better be on target.

By the way, last weekend when I was making appointments to show, I quizzed the showing desks of offices as I was making my appointments. After I got off of hold, they all said it was one of the busiest days since august or so. My own phone has been ringing with about 4 to 10 calls a day. I have had to start carrying my client preference sheet with me to get their home preference information. I took it out of my briefcase for the last year or so as I didn’t get many buyer calls to be honest. My website hits are up by about 300%, e mail contact me leads are about 3 a day compared to about one a month.

I may have the tea leaves wrong here but it looks like a duck, quacks and walks like a duck. In the past year, I haven’t bothered much with soliciting overpriced listings in a falling market. Guess what is now on my A list; you guessed it; more listings. I have and will be sending out letters, working my sphere and the usual stuff in 08. I can throttle back on my buyer marketing and throttle up on my listings as the phone rings in this type of market from buyers calling on listings anyhow.

In the past, I tended to be a little soft on my sellers and try to get them their price as I felt for their kids who needed to go to college, their retirement or what have you. I know many people who have done well pricing below the market in any type of market; it is a great model; get a lot of homes, price it low, move one. I sometimes question if that is a true fiduciary relationship? I hope I can get them within their expectations finally.

A straw pole of investors at our meeting the other night indicated many were buying. Of course, they are in the dilemma as many buyers; they need to sell something first. Which brings me to the Forbes article today (not that I am a news regurgitating blogger); Parts of L.A. and of course San Francisco are considered blue chip real estate markets in any market environment. They indicated that there is always a demand and the market is stable/picking up. Hm, I wonder who is our main client base again? With 10,000 boomers a day retiring and many of them from California, it won’t be long before they are back.

Anyhow, before I go on yet more of a tangent on Reno and Tahoe real estate, I had better return some of these buyers e mails and phone calls, (2 while I wrote this).

Have a good day,

Your Reno Carson City and Tahoe Realtor

Ron Bell

Broker Salesperson

Coldwell Banker Village Realty

Filed under: Local Market