What a year! It has been our honor to serve our members' legal needs throughout the year. The Legal Team worked to provide quick, quality support and are proud to share the ground we covered:
2021 Highlights
Published 40 Legal Articles on hot topics presented into the Legal Information Line!
Filmed 9 Legal Videos on top legal issues!
Provided numerous virtual and live presentations on Legal Impact issues!
Advocated for private property rights for our more than 20,000 members during the 120 days of the Silver State's legislative session.
Answered 2,160 calls into the Legal Hotline!
To recap, the top 3 legal questions into the Legal Information Line this year reflected the current competitive housing market conditions, and concerned additional term tactics in a multiple-offer environment.
This year, the #1 Question was: Are acceleration clauses such as this legal? "I will pay $2,000 over the highest offer up to $300,000."
The #2 Question: Are appraisal clause modifications such as this legal? "In the event that property does not appraise, the buyer agrees to pay some dollar amount [like $10,000] over appraised value in cash at the COE."
The holiday season can be a difficult & dangerous time for people with mental illness & substance-use disorders. Being aware of your needs and triggers, taking care of your physical health and managing your time are just a few of the steps you can take to manage the increasing stress, anxiety, and grief that the holiday season may bring. @RALINevada shares more tips and resources here.
The REALTORS® Relief Foundation's Hope Rising campaign has recently surpassed its fundraising goal of $8.5 million. RRF provides housing relief to victims of hurricanes, floods, wildfires and other disasters.
The campaign received more than 2,500 donations from Realtors®, state and local Realtor® associations, MLS organizations and other companies. Lead supporters included Texas REALTORS® (Lead Large State), Arkansas REALTORS® (Lead Small State), Northeast Florida Association of REALTORS® (Lead Local) and realtor.com® (Lead Corporate Donor). Major donations were also received from NAR and its subsidiary organizations ($1,250,000) and Florida REALTORS® ($600,000). Associations of all sizes made contributions, including the Eastern Arkansas REALTORS® Association, which pledged $30 per member. Nevada REALTORS® contributed $70,000 to the cause. Click here to read more on the successful campaign.
CNBC Real Estate: 24% of first lien mortgages boast an interest rate below 3%
American homeowners are house rich, sitting on a record amount of home equity. Taking advantage of all that extra cash, however, becomes more difficult as interest rates rise. Soaring housing demand over the past year and a half, driven in large part by the pandemic, caused home prices to spike. There simply wasn't enough supply to meet the demand. Prices have now climbed close to 20% from a year ago.
As a result, homeowners gained a massive amount of tappable equity - the sum borrowers can generally take out of their homes while still leaving at least 20% as a cushion. By the end of the third quarter, borrowers had a record $9.4 trillion in tappable home equity collectively, or an average of $178,000 per borrower, according to Black Knight, a mortgage data and analytics firm. That marks a 32% jump year-over-year. Continue reading by clicking here.
