THE BIGGEST LITTLE CITY IN THE WORLD
In the Silver mines of Nevada, towns were born and boomed, and then most fill back into ghost towns. In the boom times of Virginia City and Gold Hill, working the tailing of mines, old Chinese could be seen sifting through the tailings. They knew that pieces of silver could be found here that were overlooked by the mining operations. Sometimes even a big chunk.
Five to six years ago the Reno area was the place to buy cheap real estate that could be flipped or rented to make a profit. Two years ago this began to change. Homes began to hang on the market and prices began it fall. Today the market is off 30% to 35% from their six year high. Some builders are having to lower their prices to compete with the foreclosure and short sale markets. The mortgage market melt down only added to this problem. Current thinking is that once the over supply of properties has sold off, the market will again begin to rise.
It is not uncommon of for properties to sell in the $150,000 to $200,000 range which turns out to be in the price range that a home can be held as a rental to await the return of real property values with a break even, or perhaps a positive. So we might take a page from the canny Chinese who were looking for silver in that which was thought to have no value.
