Today the city held a "tourism" rally to promote (and reaffirm) our tourist trade. Tourism has been down the last year and has hurt the local economy, but if you're a visitor it has worked out well for you (room prices are unbelievably cheap at the moment). A friend of mine was in town for a few days checking out the real estate market here after visiting some relatives in nearby St. George.
Larry is a Denver Realtor so naturally we ended up talking about the First Time Home Buyer tax credit and how it would effect the market once it expired. He was of the opinion that the market would suffer once its was no longer available. His daughter Liz Hotz has had only first time buyers as clients this year (and has closed more deals than Dad as a result) and most of them were motivated by the credit to buy a home now.
With the economy the way it is, steady home sales and a reduction in foreclosures is a necessity to getting things back on track. The April foreclosure numbers were released today and sadly, once again Nevada is leading the nation.
So my question to everyone out there is this: Do you think home sales will decline significantly once the First Time Home Buyer tax credit expires?