Since then, I have negotiated 7 other full releases for short sale clients (http://www.lasvegashomeresources.com/testimonials/shortsales.pdf).  If you think it might be time to sell your house in a short sale in the Las Vegas / Henderson area, you should call us right away so we can help you get out from under the debt, not just the house.  Negotiaiting is something everyone does. Negotiating effectively, is something that I have a particular talent for.

When a person owes more on a property than it is worth, and they ask the bank to accept less than is owed on the property so that they can sell it, this is known as a short sale. Like when you owed your friend $50, but you only had $30 of it and you said, “sorry Mike, I’m a little short” and Mike said, “don’t worry about it”.

Why not buy short sales?

There are a variety of reasons why short sales do not go through. Here are 4;

1. The process of dealing with the banks on a short sale requires skill, effort and knowledge on the part of the listing agent (the person the seller hired to sell the house). Many do not possess this trifecta of assets.

2. There must be a hardship. Many sellers just want to sell short because their neighbor did, but their neighbor lost their job, or was never earning enough money to afford the home in the first place. Just because you want to, doesn’t mean you can.

3. If they buyer does have a legitimate hardship, then, that buyer, who is already (typically) despondent over their current financial situation, is required by the bank to go through their finances with a fine tooth comb to prove that hardship. Many people just don’t have the stomach for it.

4. Patience (or lack thereof). Short sales often take a very long time to get accepted. I’ve seen them take more than 4 months just to get approved. Many buyers just aren’t that patient.

In the month of April, 2009 in Las Vegas, 36% of the properties listed for sale were short sales. Only 6% of the closings were. This shows that short sales can work, but often (1 in 6 times that month) they don’t.

The prices on Las Vegas bank owned homes are mind-boggling.  Don’t wait for the bottom.  You can’t predict it.  You won’t know where the bottom was until it’s gone.  Really.  What are you waiting for?  If you would like information about buying a home to live in or an investment property in Las Vegas, with no cost or obligation, please contact me.

702-369-6000
or toll free @
1-877-7RE-JEFF
(1-877-773-5333)

I saw a house yesterday, in move-in condition listed for $26 per square foot!  Granted it was an older home that needed updating, and it was in a so-so neighborhood, but $26 per square foot?  By the way, it was listed for $26 per square foot, and the offers were multiple.  It sold for more.

I showed a home to a woman yesterday that was built in 2000 and was listed for $84 per square foot.  It was overall in good shape, but needed paint, carpet and some other minor cosmetics.  She really liked it.  This morning I learned that it already had 9 offers on it.  When I did a price comparison, I saw why.  It was priced too low, even for this market.  The banks are starting to intentionally under price properties so that they sell more quickly.

I had another client look at a home on Saturday that the bank had made real nice.  New carpet, fresh paint, a new sealed-burner gas stove and a matching dishwasher.  They had pulled it off the market while cleaning it up and then RAISED the price.  We joked that they should have put a refrigerator in if they really wanted to sell it.  Pricing is down to 1997 levels, and interest is high, especially in the under $300,000 range.

I’m not suggesting that the problems are solved. I was also on a street Saturday with about 15 houses and 5 were vacant, but the market is shifting again here. The question is, where is it going next? We still have a lot of inventory, so it’s not necessarily going up, but the dynamic is definitely changing.  Some banks are holding their ground a little more.  Sometimes they are squeezing the buyer, and that is not how a buyer’s market usually works.  The big key, is that while interest rates are low, you can buy a nice property for significantly less that you could buy the materials to build it and some of the banks are getting more and more competitive, creating all kinds of mixed market signals.  You could buy a lot of Las Vegas homes right now for about $500 per month.  Most renting Las Vegans are paying more than that.

The prices on Las Vegas real estate are just outstanding. Don’t wait for the bottom.  You can’t predict it.  You won’t know where the bottom was until it’s gone.  Really.  What are you waiting for?  If you would like information about buying a home to live in or an investment property in Las Vegas, with no cost or obligation, please contact me.

702-369-6000
or toll free @
1-877-7RE-JEFF
(1-877-773-5333)

Let’s first look at values.  There are plenty of homes in great neighborhoods listed for $70 per square foot.  There are certainly a few listed lower like the one that came on the market today built in 2005 and in move in condition for $50/ sf (call me if you want to buy it).  So you buy a 3 bedroom / 2 bathroom rental for $100,000.  You have the money to pay cash and you don’t want to over leverage yourself. You collect about $900 per month in rent. OK, great!

BUT what if you decided to put down 50%, and buy 2 of them?  First of all, you should have no trouble getting the loans.  Second off, your monthly mortgage payment on EACH property is only about $315 per month (with moderate credit)!

Now are you SURE you don’t want to use at least a little leverage? C’mon! I’m not suggesting that you abandon your beliefs altogether or become irresponsible with your money, but that is reasonably safe, wouldn’t you say?

The prices on Las Vegas real estate are ridiculously low.  Don’t wait for the bottom to start investing here.  You won’t know where the bottom was until it’s gone.  Really.  What are you waiting for?  If you would like information, with no cost or obligation, please contact me.
702-369-6000
or toll free @
1-877-7RE-JEFF
(1-877-773-5333)

1. The months from March through June are historically the best 4 months for real estate sales in Las Vegas.

2. Interest rates are at historical lows. 30 year fixed rates are under 5%

3. The $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit is causing people to believe that they can’t afford not to buy their first home right now.

4. The media is finally telling people that it is time to buy. Sunday’s Las Vegas Review Journal newspaper had an article called “Why houses look better and better” and that is just one such article of many across the nation.

5. The median price is down to $135,000 in Las Vegas.

So, is it the perfect storm? Well it is certainly having those types of results.  Right now in Las Vegas approximately 75% of the houses being sold are selling for full asking price or HIGHER.  Properties are hitting the market and being fought over by investors and would-be home buyers alike. Is it because there is a shortage of properties?  No, it’s because the banks are really desperate to unload these properties so they are pricing them below what the drastically reduced market sees as reasonable. 

The game is tricky though, and you need to be careful. For example, I know a condo complex where you can buy a 1 bedroom condo near the air force base for about $30K! The problem is that there are so many of them available, it still might not be a good investment. But if you are looking to live there, on an FHA first time home buyer loan, your principal and interest payment is going to be less than $150 per month!

Less than $150 per month!

Less than $150 per month!

Less than $150 per month!

Are you ready to get serious about buying Las Vegas real estate?  What are you waiting for?  If you would like help buying real estate in Las Vegas, whether for your personal use, or for investment, please call me.
702-369-6000

Here is how crazy pricing has gotten on Las Vegas Real Estate. Just a few hours ago, I was in a gated community in the south part of Las Vegas, in a mansion that was more than 6500 square feet of luxury and decadence. The master bedroom closet was bigger than many bedrooms and even had a refrigerator in it like in the new Heineken commercial. 5 bedrooms, 4 1/2 bathrooms, 3 living rooms, 4 car garage, 2 laundry rooms, expensive tile and stone everywhere, circular staircases – you get the picture. I can’t believe you could build this house for less than $200-$250 per square foot (and I’m sure that’s low). Now it did have some maintenance issues, but basically it was in good shape. Probably less than $20K in repairs needed.

Are you ready?

Are you sure?

You’re not going to believe it.

I didn’t believe it when I saw it on the MLS.

I had to go see it with my own eyes.

$71 per square foot. The bank is selling this house for less than $500,000. It JUST hit the market.

Are you ready to begin investing in Las Vegas real estate?  Now is the time.  Really.  What are you waiting for?  If you would like help buying real estate in Las Vegas, whether for your personal use, or for investment, please contact me.

www.CapeCodAREI.com/contact 702-369-6000

CW is writing a lot of loans for investors with excellent credit and at least 20% down, as well as First Time Home Buyers. Las Vegas has been a hotbed for this activity, but the loans are being written nationwide.  You hear so much negativity everywhere about banks not lending and the so called ‘credit crunch’.  Well if you want to call responsible lending a bad idea, then be my guest, but the truth is, money is flowing into the housing market and though there are fewer loans being written these days, the loans that are being written have a much smaller chance of default than what was being written just 2 years ago.  I think that is more helpful to us than just making loans for the sake of moving some money around.

Here in Las Vegas, you see more investors showing up to take advantage of the real estate prices. Check out the percentage of owner occupied homes in Las Vegas over the past 6 months in the chart at the bottom of this post.

Notice anything? Don’t be last!  Are you ready to begin investing in Las Vegas real estate?  Now is the time.  Really.  What are you waiting for?  If you would like help buying real estate in Las Vegas, whether for your personal use, or for investment, please contact me.
www.CapeCodAREI.com/contact

For the first time in over 2 years, prices have been stable; for 9 straight weeks $180,000 is the median price and holding; even better, the supply of homes has decreased and demand for homes under $300,000 has increased. The local real estate market is behaving somewhat normally. 9 weeks ago we had 101 days supply available, now we have 66 days of supply and the number of properties going under contract are up.

What does this mean?  Are we out of the woods?  I seriously doubt it, but these are good indicators that good things are starting to happen.  I will tell you that this past weekend, as my good friend was driving back to Las Vegas from Los Angeles, he said that the traffic going towards L.A. was horrible – then he corrected himself and said that he would not have wanted to be driving in that traffic, but that it was good for Las Vegas.

It’s true that we still have problems here, but these are good things.  Are you ready to begin investing in Las Vegas real estate?  Now is the time.  Really.  What are you waiting for?  If you would like help buying real estate in Las Vegas, whether for your personal use, or for investment, please contact me.
www.MyFastEasySale.com

Other service businesses continue to grow here as well. If you are a landscape contractor or want to start a pool maintenance company, we constantly have more lawns and more pools. That is what happens when 5000+ people move into your area every month.

There is the new airport, the Wal-Mart distribution center and a new call center for the City of Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency, which could be bringing as many as 2500 more jobs.  A few days ago Ecompass Group Affiliates, an electronics repair, parts, and logistics firm, announced they will be opening their own 38,000 square foot Las Vegas center. It will be located in ProLogis Park, where Amazon.com and Monster Cable have located in a 513,000 square foot building.

These latest non-hospitality jobs are not only a further diversification of the Las Vegas economy, they are a sign that the lower commercial and industrial rents and property pricing have made Las Vegas an even more appealing market to enter.  With it’s low-to-no tax structure, technology, communications and connectivity infrastructure, and logistics capabilities it offers so much to business locating in Las Vegas.

Relocation.com ranked Las Vegas as their top relocation city for 2008, and has predicted Las Vegas as the top relocation destination again for 2009.  Other predictions and surveys have also ranked Las Vegas high among top relocation cities of 2009.  This doesn’t come as a surprise as many (like me) in recent years have been looking to escape the cold nasty weather for warmer climates.  Frankly, I don’t know how people live in those places.

Remember, Las Vegas has more non-gaming entertainment per square mile than anywhere else in the world. Add no personal income taxes and it becomes more apparent. Combine this with the fantastic bargains in Las Vegas single family homes, and it becomes an even more attractive destination. All of this also provides businesses an ability to present these perks to potential hires, and to their additional advantage, an apparent desire of many wanting to relocate to Las Vegas.

No, we are not out of the woods yet, but this is where you are going to want your investment dollars, because Las Vegas will emerge earlier than any other metropolitan area.

If you would like help buying real estate in Las Vegas, whether for your personal use, or for investment, please contact me.
www.CapeCodAREI.com/contact