What if the Mayor Ran Reno Like They Run Their Household? One Candidate Already Does.
Overspending, constrained revenues, and long-term obligations have left the City in a financially fragile position — one where judgment, restraint, and risk management matter more than rhetoric when it comes to the mayor.
Dec 23, 2025
Reno City Councilmember Devon Reese’s 1.7 Million Dollar house at 8665 Golfwood Ct. in Somerset.
Reno closed last year with an estimated $24 million structural deficit, and this year looks to be the same.
That’s why it is reasonable to examine how leaders who seek greater responsibility approach financial decisions and run their lives.
One such figure is Devon Reese, who has served on the Reno City Council since 2019 and is running for mayor in 2026.
This is about patterns of financial decision-making — and what they signal.
Reno’s Structural Deficit and the Culture That Created It: $24 Million in the Hole.
A Choice Between Stability and Prestige
Before being appointed to City Council in 2019, Reese and his husband lived in a 2,000-square-foot home at 1665 Spicewood Cir. in Somersett, which his mother gifted to him. By any measure, it was an affordable option — modest in size, manageable in cost, and aligned with long-term financial sustainability. The current Zillow estimate is $546,000, about average for Reno. He could have stayed there.
Instead, once Reese had the additional income from the City Council, he sold Spicewood. He used the equity from that home to purchase a 5,700-square-foot house at 8865 Golfwood Ct. in Somersett, which he acquired in 2020 for approximately $1.03 million and later refinanced, extracting cash and taking a home equity loan. The Golfwood house is currently estimated at $1,734,200 on Zillow.
The result was a dramatic escalation of fixed-cost financial obligations. Reese then transferred Spicewood to family members Cassidy and Wendy Reese.
Devon and Filipe enjoyed a 2-week vacation in Europe in 2025 January, 2025
The Cost Structure of Golfwood
Based on publicly available recorded deeds, estimated interest rates, and standard loan assumptions, the Golfwood property now carries:
Approximately $1.43 million in mortgage debt
Roughly $6,800 per month in mortgage and HELOC payments
About $1,600 per month in taxes, HOA, insurance, and upkeep
That places the total cost to own at approximately $8,500 per month, or over $100,000 in cash outflow per year, just for a place to live.
To sustain that housing cost within standard lending ratios, roughly $330,000 in gross annual income is required, before accounting for any other personal debt.
Reese had multiple VA-backed loans over time on both properties, which he obtained because he was married to Felipe Cisneros, who had served in the US Marine Corps.
Financial analysis indicates that Reese has no built-up equity in his home, due to refinancing and taking a home equity loan. In other words, he is underwater, just like Reno under the current leadership.
This is not reasonable housing. It is high-leverage housing.
Reno’s $24 Million Deficit: What It Really Means
The HELOC as a Signal
In early 2024, during a high-interest-rate environment, Reese added a $202,000 HELOC to the property at an estimated interest rate of around 9%.
A HELOC at that rate materially increases monthly obligations, reduces equity, and introduces variable-rate risk when borrowing costs were peaking.
People typically get these home equity loans to finance lifestyle choices such as vacations and to pay off other debt, such as credit card debt that is run up from living an extravagant lifestyle.
That is not how risk-averse balance sheets are managed. This is high-risk behavior that often leads to bankruptcy. Of course, Reese knows this, as he went bankrupt in 2009, but he continues high-risk behavior.
Devon and Felipe enjoyed a 2-week vacation to South America in April, 2025.
Links to Supporting Documents
Link, 4747983-1.pdf - Grant deed with no transfer tax, for Spicewood from Virginia Reese to Devon Reese, Sept 26, 2017, indicating a gift of the property.
Link, 5064118-1.pdf - Original VA loan on Golfwood, Aug 11 2020.
Link, 5059541-1.pdf - Deed transferring Spicewood to family members Cassidy and Wendy Reese, July 27, 2020.
Link, 5201886-1.pdf - Deed refinance VA loan on Golfwood, July 8, 2021.
Link, 5435093-1.pdf - HELOC Deed for Golfwood, Feb 12, 2024.
Link, Case-09-51211-gwz - Reese Bankruptcy filing, April 24, 2009
For reference, I spent 10 years in banking doing financial analysis on real estate projects. Hence, this type of modeling is familiar to me and is typically used to assess risk for high-end borrowers. All information used is publicly available.
Devon Reese parties with Mayor Hillary Schieve. Notice the chamber orchestra.
Publicly Displayed Lifestyle
At the same time, Reese has publicly posted photographs on Facebook showing:
A 2-week vacation to Europe in January of 2025
A 2-week vacation to South America in April of 2025
Large home gatherings featuring high-end food and champagne
Attendance at black-tie events with celebrities.
The relevance is simple: they stand in visible contrast to a household balance sheet that appears highly leveraged, much like the City of Reno’s own finances.
Power, Influence, and Donations: Inside Devon Reese’s Rise in Reno Politics
A Familiar Pattern for Reno
Reno’s fiscal posture today looks uncomfortably similar:
Ambitious commitments to big projects
Heavy reliance on leverage and future assumptions
Bond debt, Tax incentive financing
When revenues fall short, the City reaches for reserves, accounting maneuvers, or one-time fixes — the municipal equivalent of tapping a line of credit to make the numbers work. That parallel should give voters pause.
Devon Reese parties with Stephen Colbert while Mayor Schieve chats with then Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen.
Leadership Is About Restraint
Cities do not fail because leaders lack vision. They fail because leaders confuse aspiration with affordability.
Reno does not need champagne governance. It requires restraint, discipline, and leaders who understand that prestige choices often carry hidden costs.
Voters considering the City’s next mayor should ask a straightforward question:
When faced with a stable, affordable option versus a larger, more prestigious one that required maximum leverage, which choice did you make, and why?
Because how someone manages their own risk is often the clearest preview of how they will manage ours.