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VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM compliant by disregarding information showing that the collateral securing certain TierOne loans and real estate repossessed by the bank was overvalued because it relied on outdated appraisals, according to the SEC. The truth about the bank's loans did not The three executives attempted to appear IN THE NEWS Nevada's Picture Improves become apparent until late 2009 after OTS required new appraisals, which revealed more than $130 million in loan losses. After the announcement of these loss provisions, TierOne's stock price fell more than 70 percent, and the bank eventually collapsed in June 2010. Without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations, Lundstrom and Laphen agreed to settle the charges against them. Lundstrom was ordered to pay $500,921, and Laphen will pay $225,000. Langford did not agree to settle; the SEC's case against him is still ongoing. KNOW THIS Lenders completed 2,372 foreclosures in Nebraska during the 12 months ending in August, CoreLogic reports. Nevada rank: 7 90+ Day 6.90% 6.39% 7.9% 90+ Day 6.10% year ago 5.15% percent point change 18.5% -7.4% Top Core-Based Statistical Area LAS VEGAS-PARADISE, NV 90+ Day 7.85% year ago 7.30% percent point change 7.5% -24.6% note: The 90+ Day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are 90- plus days delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the August 2012 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary August 2012 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of Lender Processing Services. 8.14% Delinquency Rate august 2012 6.13% Foreclosure Rate 7.54% Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate august 2012 5.62% year ago 7.34% percent point change -23.4% Top County NYE COUNTY Delinquency Rate august 2012 6.99% Foreclosure Rate Unemployment Rate 12.1% 13.8% -12.3% for the Silver State, but the analysts at IHS Global Insight say things are finally looking up somewhat in Nevada, which was one of the fastest-growing states in the country for most of the last two decades . . . until the housing crisis hit. Job levels at last reached the bottom in The past five years have been challenging housing starts leveled off at just under 6,000 (annualized) in the first quarter of 2012, IHS reports. Still, the firm's analysts stress that Nevada's housing recovery will be slow, with starts not expected to hit pre-recession levels for another decade. eBrokerHouse Offers Agents Free Access to Platform 2011, and after a modest 0.8 percent gain last year, are slowly edging upward. In August, payrolls were up 0.5 percent over their year-ago levels, giving Nevada the 39th best showing among states in terms of payroll gains. The unemployment rate at last dipped below the 12.0 percent mark, to 11.6 percent in June—still the highest in the country— but rose again to 12.1 percent in August, then dipped back again to 11.8 percent in September. That said, IHS notes that unemployment in Nevada is still well below recent recession levels. With important sectors such as manufacturing, government, and construction still struggling, however, the research firm says Nevada will actually see slightly lower job growth in 2012 than in 2011, at only 0.6 percent. Nevada's unemployment rate will remain in the double digits for several more quarters, IHS predicts. On the housing front, Nevada was provider eBrokerHouse is making its transaction management and offer submission platform available for free to real estate agents. eBrokerHouse caters to all agents and niches of the residential real estate business, including REOs, short sales, traditional sales, and even rental properties. In the past, eBrokerHouse offered The Nevada-based real estate software agents a free 30-day trial and if they wanted to continue to use the service, a paid membership was required. Now, agents can take advantage of the Web-based platform at no cost with just a few restrictions on some features of the paid version. Free accounts are limited to a maximum arguably the state hardest-hit by the downturn. At the end of the second-quarter 2012, home prices there were 55 percent below first-quarter 2007 levels. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the mean existing home price dropped another 12 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of this year but rose 4.9 percent in the second quarter. While the housing market in Nevada, and especially in Las Vegas, continued to decline in early 2012, IHS says it appears to have bottomed out as at the start of the summer. For growth to return, IHS says the current inventory of homes for sale needs to be absorbed so new homes can be built again. The good news, the research firm says, is that home vacancy rates are down from more than 5.0 percent two years ago to 4.1 percent early this year and foreclosure sales have declined with strong investor demand. With a dropping vacancy rate, it looks as if of 10 active listings, 1 GB of file storage, and only one user. Agents who opt for the free service will have access to all other features available on the eBrokerHouse platform, including unlimited buy-side transactions, online offer submissions, task management capabilities, broker price opinion tracking, a customer relationship management (CRM) interface, and a built-in system for managing and scheduling showings. "The industry is lacking a simple and uniform transaction management platform that every agent can use without cost being an issue," said eBrokerhouse CEO Alan Fenn. "We want to fill that void and be the one system that every agent can use to manage all aspects of their transactions in a paperless, mobile, and more organized environment." According to Fenn, the free version of eBrokerHouse will work for the vast majority of agents. High-volume list agents and teams that need more flexibility can easily upgrade to a paid membership and remove the restrictions of the free account. KNOW THIS Las Vegas' homeowner vacancy rate dropped from 5.5% over the past year to 2.3% in the most recent quarter, according to CNBC's analysis of Census data. 95

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