Las Vegas Homes News

Oct. 27, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Analyst says Southern Nevada prices stable

By JENNIFER ROBISON
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Someday, Larry Murphy will be able to stop talking about housing bubbles.

Thursday wasn’t that day.

At his third-quarter Crystal Ball seminar and forecast, Murphy, president of the Las Vegas real estate research firm SalesTraq, once again declared that Southern Nevada isn’t experiencing a housing bust. He shared reams of data showing that housing prices in Las Vegas are rising, and will likely continue to do so at least through the end of the year. In the third quarter of 2007, he said, analysts may even be discussing local housing shortages.

The median new-home price in the Las Vegas Valley was $323,000 in September, a 7.7 percent increase when compared with the median in September 2005.

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Oct. 22, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Number of foreclosures on rise in Nevada, U.S.

By JENNIFER ROBISON
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Sheldon Klain thought he had a deal.

Klain, a manager at the city of North Las Vegas, accepted a similar job with the city of Dallas in the spring. So he and his wife, Jennifer, listed their Las Vegas home for sale in April and prepared to move.

The Klains had an offer on their property — a 2,200-square-foot home on a third of an acre with a pool — at the full listing price of $475,000 by May. The deal was scheduled to close July 15, about the same time the Klains closed on a $269,000 home in the Dallas area.

But the sale fell apart when the buyers backed out at the last minute. Now, in addition to the $1,400 a month the Klains are shelling out for their Texas home, they’re carrying about $2,800 in monthly mortgage payments on their Las Vegas property.

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Oct. 22, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

By JENNIFER ROBISON
REVIEW-JOURNAL

So how much of a bargain is a home in foreclosure?

“Under the best circumstances, you’re buying the home wholesale, and typically, we consider wholesale 20 percent or more under market value,” said John Izzo, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Premier Realty.

ut the ideal circumstances can be tough to come by. Stiff competition for properties in default, bureaucratic rigmarole and sorely needed renovations can all stand in the way of a picture-perfect foreclosure purchase.

“(Buying foreclosures) is not for the beginner investor or the first-time home buyer,” Izzo said. “It’s for seasoned investors who have cash and good (financial) backing.”

If you’re determined to wade into the foreclosure market despite the uncertainties, keep these pointers in mind:

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Oct. 21, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Real Estate News
William Lyon Homes is offering buyers a savings of $20,000 in the gated neighborhood of The Cottages at Centennial Ranch, according to Mieko Donovan, sales agent.

Qualified buyers receive the discounted savings plus a washer, dryer and refrigerator when they purchase at the neighborhood and use the builder’s preferred lender.

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Oct. 18, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Median home price same as a year ago; fewer permits being filed

By HUBBLE SMITH
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Housing prices have flattened out, and new home permits have dropped substantially, a reflection of the soft housing market in Las Vegas, housing experts say.

The median price of a resale home in September was $285,000, exactly the same as it was a year ago, Dennis Smith of Home Builders Research reported Monday.

Smith has suggested for several months that prices would be flat at best and possibly turn negative toward the end of the year.

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Oct. 09, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Residential builders ‘backfill’ construction labor gap, official says

By HUBBLE SMITH
REVIEW-JOURNAL
As a commercial contractor, Crisci Custom Builders benefits from the slowdown in the Las Vegas housing market, Crisci Vice President Rick Ramberg said.

Residential builders are “backfilling” the shortage of construction labor in Las Vegas, especially the “dirt guys” who do grading and underground utility work, Ramberg said.

“They’re looking to us for work right now,” he said.

Las Vegas-based Crisci is finishing construction of the 4,500-square-foot Bank of America branch at 410 E. Silverado Ranch Blvd. It’s the 14th Bank of America that Crisci has built in Las Vegas since rolling out a prototype building in 2002 at Tropicana Avenue and Fort Apache Boulevard.

The $1.5 million bank project is part of the surge in commercial real estate development in Las Vegas this year. Through June, commercial building permit valuation totaled $948.9 million, more than double the $453.8 million a year ago, the Center for Business and Economic Research reported.

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Oct. 08, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

High-rise condo market failures cause lenders to grow cautious

By HUBBLE SMITH
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Calmerica loan officer Bob Charles has worked eight months trying to find construction financing for a luxury condo project in Las Vegas that may be “caught in the same mud” as Club Renaissance, a 60-story downtown tower that was announced in January 2005 but has yet to break ground.

“Of the 80-plus lenders that would have thrown their money at this project last year with the frivolousness that Paris Hilton shows when she throws money at her next party, only two lenders are left that will even take a call on a condo project in Vegas,” Charles said. “Well, Paris Hilton came out last month to say that she’s not partying anymore and lenders have mostly done the same.”

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Oct. 06, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

By HUBBLE SMITH
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Those looking to buy a home in Las Vegas maybe shouldn’t be holding their breath while they wait for prices to drop by double-digit percentages as predicted by many national real estate experts and reports.

Those predictions have been circulating, for years in some cases.

Ed Leamer of the University of California, Los Angeles’ Anderson Research Center said Las Vegas home prices are overvalued by 30 percent or more and a crash is imminent. That was in 2002.

Most recently, Moody’s Economy.com projected that home prices in Las Vegas will drop 13 percent and prices in Reno will drop 17 percent in the next year.

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Oct. 04, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Reno-Sparks expected to see 17 percent price dip, report says

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Housing prices, slumping after a five-year boom, are projected to decline in more than 100 of the nation’s metropolitan areas, with a drop of nearly 13 percent forecast for Las Vegas.

Prices in Reno-Sparks will drop about 17 percent, the report said, while prices in Carson City will decline nearly 10 percent.

Besides Nevada and Arizona, the Northeast, Florida and California are among the areas hardest hit.

The forecast by Moody’s Economy.com, a private research firm, presents one of the starkest views yet of the housing slowdown that has been gathering force in recent months.

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Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
and Las Vegas Sun

Oct. 01, 2006

High-rise development to open this spring

Special to Real Estate

Workers recently topped off the 45-story east tower at Turnberry Towers’ high-rise condominium project. The tower is slated for completion this spring.

The west tower also is under construction and will be completed in spring 2008. Located on 10 acres on Paradise Road and Karen Avenue, the community will encompass two 45-story towers upon its completion.

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