While a decline in New Home sales throughout the country has put downward pressure on the stock market, the number of new homes being sold in Las Vegas is on the rise.  According to an article in today’s Las Vegas Review Journal, new home sales last month increased by 33.9% compared to a year ago and for the first five months they’ve increased 7.7% compared to a year earlier.

Part of the reason is that local builders are reacting to the market and pricing their homes accordingly.  A good example is a home I showed in D R Horton’s Log Cabin Landing community.  On a large, swimming pool lot, the single story, 2100 s.f. 4 bed/2 bath home is located next to the community park and is priced to sale at $220,000 – of course, you can make an offer.  Granted, this particular home doesn’t have the granite counters, but those are not an expensive item to replace.  Their sales person also sent info on an 1800 s.f. home that has an RV gate for $200,000.  No wonder new home sales are increasing while resales are declining a bit.  Why buy a trashed foreclosure when you can get new with warranties for these prices?

The new Villa Trieste community by Pulte is located just across the 215 Beltway from the Red Rock Station Casino, in the heart of the activity in Summerlin.  When the community was first launched last year, they received a good deal of attention for their LEED Platinum Certification.  They are the first single family home community in Las Vegas to achieve the high level of energy efficiency.  In addition to the highest standards for insulation, etc., the homes have their own solar panels which produce electricity.  When the owners are not home using using appliances, ac, etc., the surplus electricity the panels produce go back into the power grid and count towards the home’s electricity bill.

While I always liked the concept and the homes have some charming designs, the prices are now right.  The 1487 s.f. plan features 2 bedrooms and a loft and starts in the $220K price range.  The largest plan is 1960 s.f. with 4 bedrooms.  Even the largest plan is priced in the $270K price range.  This community not only wins the energy star for efficiency, they now win a star for value, location and design.

Over the last few months, we have seen very encouraging signs that the housing market in Las Vegas is beginning to stabilize.  Last month, for the first time in a couple of years, the median price of homes sold showed a slight uptick to $143K.  Down from two years ago when it was $310K, but better than the low of $134K.  Homes priced under $200,000 that are decent shape are getting multiple offers and selling quickly.  Often above list price.

While the improvement in the single family market is becoming more noticeable, we are also seeing the early signs that even the high rise properties are beginning to stabilize.  Over the past week, we have had several well priced condos at Turnberry Towers and Turnberry Place that have gone into contract.  Even the resale listings at Trump are beginning to decline.  There are still some bargains to be had, but I would not recommend waiting too much longer.  I will be very surprised if we don’t show moderate price appreciation by the end of 2010.

One of my favorite high rise buildings in town is the new Panorama North Tower.  Unlike the first two towers, the third tower is positioned so that each unit has a view of the Strip, the HOAs are lower than in the older towers and in general, I think this North Tower has more of a sophisticated vibe than the first two towers.  One problem we have had is the major lenders were reluctant to finance before the project is 51% sold.  I now have a lender, Fiona Brady with Avtek Mortgage who can do mortgages in this tower as long as you can put 20% down and it will be a primary or second home.

Give me a call or e-mail if you’d like to go see the fabulous units at Panorama North.

A recent article in the Las Vegas Review Journal reported on a study by Union Gaming Group which has noticed an uptick in sales of high rise condos.  Those of us who routinely work with the high rise market have also been noticing this.  The bulk of the sales at the moment are the lowest priced, foreclosure and short sale units.  While there is still too much inventory available to say that we have reached the bottom, from my experience, we are very close. 

Perhaps it’s the sunny, high 60 degree weather, but I am confident that a year from now we will look back and realize that this was indeed the bottom of the market.  I don’t expect that we’ll see prices dip much lower in the high rise sector, but I do believe we’ll see more of the over-priced listings getting realistic and dropping their prices down to the bargain price that it takes to get them sold.

I’ve recently been working with clients who are looking at homes in the $1 mil range.  I was fairly shocked to hear the husband of the couple comment about one home with dated carpet that they could move in and live with the carpet for awhile….Not a good idea in my opinion.

When we bought our current home, I wanted a home that didn’t have carpets but the seller had just installed new carpet and it was of a good quality so we kept it.  Big mistake.  Five years later we are getting ready to have it all ripped out.  We found some beautiful Italian porcelain tile that is going to be so easy to maintain and is a perfect match for our colors.  I know travertine is popular but we tried spilling red wine, oil, even the juice from a rare steak on the porcelain sample we brought home and it left no stains at all.  My only regret is that we didn’t do this before we moved in.  I know the seller would have been kicking himself that he wasted money on carpet that we just ripped out but it would have been so much easier than moving the heavy, antique desk and the baby grand piano.

My advise to sellers is have carpets cleaned so they show well but don’t replace them because you may well find your buyer shares my disdain for carpet.  And, buyers who don’t like carpet should never settle for carpet no matter how good the quality because if you don’t like it to start with, you will hate it as time goes by.

Fireworks over CityCenter and MGM

The fireworks did not disappoint this year as Las Vegas entered the new decade.  We were lucky to have an excellent viewpoint from the 43rd floor balcony of a penthouse at Panorama North Tower.  The views from this tower are incredible, in my opinion possibly the best views of our high rise buildings.

Some of my other favorite moments of 2009 were the opening of CityCenter.  Although, I’ve heard clients who are staying there voice complaints about the contemporary (or sterile) design, this project is so large that it is destined to be a major milestone for Las Vegas.  And, there were moments when it was questionable as to whether MGM would be able to get the project completed.  They did, I personally think it looks fabulous and it has employed over 10,000 new employees.  My favorite spot so far is the entry area to the Mandarin.  The bamboo planted in the center with the tall metal and glass buildings makes me feel more like I’m in Tokyo than Vegas.

Other favorites from last year, Jersey Boys at the Palazzo, Santana at the Hard Rock, Kid Rock at the Pearl.  Favorite restaurants, Nora’s Wine Bar and Osteria in Summerlin, Grimaldi’s Pizza in Henderson and NOBU in the Hard Rock.  While there are too many great restaurants and shows to list them all, I would say those were our three favorites.

I received an e-mail early this morning from Dave Liniger, Founder of RE/MAX International.  Dave’s e-mail was especially intended for RE/MAX agents with good news about the new regulations regarding “Short Sales”.  Dave’s e-mail referred to an article with Reuter’s* which summarizes the new “Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program”.  As the article states, the lending institutions who are indebted to the government (about 85% of our mortgages fall this category) are now required to give an answer on any short sale offer within 10 days.  No more waiting for 60-90 days or even longer to see if the lender will accept the offer.  In addition, the transaction must fully release the borrower from the debt.

With the new legislation finally in place, I do believe 2010 will be the year of the “short sale” with the bargains buyers have been finding in foreclosures now being sold in the pre-foreclosure process as short sales.  For those of you who are upside down in your home you can also click on short sale information for homeowners.  Whether you are a buyer or seller, we do have the expertise to help you determine whether a short sale is a realistic option and help you navigate through the process if it is.  For the complete Reuter’s article, go to http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091130/bs_nm/us_treasury_shortsales.