Condo on the Las Vegas Strip - Only $125k!

Didn’t think you could afford prime Las Vegas real estate? Now you can own a condo right on Las Vegas Boulevard for only $125k!  

Sneak preview - own your piece of the fabulous Las Vegas Strip for a fraction of the usual cost. Located right between the between the beautiful Bellagio and the vibrant MGM City Center in the heart of all the action, this rare Jockey Club condo is just right for the perfect vacation getaway.  

Just listed - lovely 9^th floor unit with one bedroom one bath unit and full kitchen is fully furnished with everything you need in a holiday home. As an owner, you can take advantage of the Jockey Club’s fitness center, pool, sauna or business center, and then stroll casually out the front door to the finest restaurants, shops and shows in the city.  

Want to know how great of a deal this is for Strip front property? Next door the MGM City Center condos start at $400k plus. The Jockey Club was actually built as a timeshare project, but a few of the units are privately owned, and this is one of them. They don’t often come on the market, and this will truly go fast once the photos and description are posted in our MLS. 

So call us fast at 702-985-7654 – first come, first served!

December is the "Black Friday" of Real Estate

For the past three years clients have been telling us they want a “steal of a deal” on Las Vegas real estate. So how come most of them stop looking in December? All month long, December is the Black Friday of real estate!

Savvy shoppers know that December is the best time of the year to buy property for a number of reasons. And that has never been more true of homes for sale in Las Vegas at the end of 2011 with interest rates and prices at an all time low already.

1. Motivated sellers! Many sellers will take their home off the market until after the holidays. This indicates a seller who is less motivated to sell. A seller who keeps their home on the market and easily available for showings wants to make that deal.

2. More negotiating room! Banks and other companies holding Las Vegas foreclosures want to clear their books so their year- end bottom line looks better to stockholders.

3. Less competition! There is less competition from other buyers who are distracted with holiday shopping and company parties. Or they may be waiting for more inventory to come on the market with the New Year. Yes, there will definitely be more listings after the first of the year, but again, these are likely sellers who are not as motivated to sell and may have until late spring or early summer to move.

4. Undivided attention! Real estate agents are less busy during December and have more time to hunt down that really special deal on your behalf. Listing agents are more willing to present lower offers to their sellers. Real estate agents may literally become your best friends during these slow months as they try to keep their sales moving.

5. Easier financing! Federal regulators have been threatening to tighten up mortgage guidelines yet again in 2012, and may also raise the amount of down payment required for FHA buyers. Not to mention that interest rates may also rise. A small percentage of increase in the interest rate means less buying power.

So this holiday season you have a choice: plan for the holidays, or take advantage of real estate’s annual Black Friday deals and plan for your future.

Buy a Property for $50k - Rent it for $1k per Month?!

'Where in Canada can you buy a $50,000 property and rent it for $1,000 a month?' was the lead-in for an article on the Las Vegas real estate market in the Montreal Gazette this past Friday. The article implied that paying $50k for a property and being able to lease it out at $1k per month was easy in Las Vegas and other distressed US markets.

If so, I would sure like to know where these properties are. I can’t seem to find any listed in our local Las Vegas MLS system. I would be happy to buy at least 10 of them this week myself! Already our phones are ringing off the hook from Canadian buyers who saw the article and don’t believe us when we tell them it was all hype. They think we are “hiding” the listings from them! (I have yet to see a real estate agent that can afford to “hide” listings and stay in business.)

Where does the press come up with these statistics?? They seem to have little or no basis in fact. Another news article posted recently said that the Las Vegas real estate market was going to go down another 10% to 12%. Again, this was reported with no supporting documentation, just a gobbled gook of random statistics that had no bearing on what was reported. But because of articles like these, we have to spend a lot of time re-educating buyers on fact vs. fiction and what is actually possible.

Sure, we absolutely have low cost homes for sale in Vegas. But they are in neighborhoods where the purchase price reflects the potential rental income as well. (And Buyers, please check those Metro crime statistics before making a purchase.) True, many of the Las Vegas short sale properties are listed way below market just to get someone to put in an offer. But the banks always do their own appraisal before approving a short sale, and will usually counter with a price that is within 5% of the actual market value.

That is not to say that you can’t get a terrific return on Las Vegas investment properties. It is absolutely possible to buy a cute newer home for around $100k and get $1k or more per month rental income. This is actually a great time to buy, as the latest statistics are finally showing a small upward trend in Las Vegas sales prices (see Las Vegas real estate weekly trends) and inventory has come down to a five year low. Just between October 1st and November 1st single family home inventory went from 11,500 active listings down to 10,500 active listings. (For homes under $200k we are once again experiencing multiple offer situations because investors and second home buyers from all over the world are trying to take advantage of the low cost to own.)

Not to mention, prices have dropped substantially, 50% to 60%, from just a few years ago. With the strength of the Canadian dollar vs. the US dollar, it makes all the sense in the world for Canadians to finally buy that snowbird property in the States. And the Australian buyers are also taking advantage of the favorable foreign exchange rates to purchase second homes and investment property in Las Vegas.

But someone somewhere has got to finally hold the press accountable for what they print. They aren’t doing anyone any favors by not checking the facts first. The client that buys that $50k property and expects to get $1k per month in rent is going to be sadly disappointed. The client that didn’t buy because he/she read that property prices were going to decline further is going to be really upset when they come back six months later and find that the home he/she wanted is even more expensive.