High End Buyers "Dissed" by Las Vegas Realtor

With the current market for Las Vegas foreclosures, we are getting a lot of out of state enquiries on bank repossessions, auctions and short sales. Many of these requests are actually for high end Las Vegas homes where the foreclosures are not quite as prevalent, but where the buyer can really pick up some equity on distressed properties.

We received an enquiry last month from a Canadian couple who were looking to purchase Lake Las Vegas real estate. They were looking for a high end Las Vegas luxury property that they could use as a vacation home and they were planning on paying cash. One of our agents, Janet, was assigned to take them on a tour of potential homes.

Janet emailed the clients while they were still in Canada and sent them some listings to look over. They were able to narrow down their search and on the scheduled day Janet met with the buyers, who were very nice and very adamant about getting a real "deal." Since these are high end homes, Janet had arranged appointments with the listing agents on the ones they were interested in.

At the very first home Janet took the buyers to see, Mrs. Buyer got a funny look on her face when she saw the listing agent. She pulled Janet aside and asked for the agent's name. Janet told her, and as soon as she got the chance, Mrs. Buyer said to the agent, "Oh so YOU'RE Agent N." Of course the way she said it caused the listing agent to reply, "Yes, I am. Have we met before?"

"No," replied Mrs. Buyer. But you spoke to my husband on the phone the other day. I'd like to introduce you to Mr. Bottomfeeder." Agent N had to leave the room to compose himself when he realized what he had done.

As it turns out, like most Internet buyers these clients had been surfing the web and had talked to quite a few agents before deciding who they wanted to represent them. Evidently Mr. Buyer had talked to Agent N about a particular property and had asked if the sellers would consider a sales price quite a bit less than what the property was listed for. Unfortunately Agent N took umbrage and called Mr. Buyer a "bottomfeeder" and hung up on him.

Needless to say, the buyers were not interested in putting in an offer on Agent N's listing. But they are going to put an offer in on another home Janet showed them listed at over $6 million.

Who can blame a buyer for trying to get the best deal possible in today's market? And who are we as Las Vegas real estate agents to say that they should not give it a shot? We love it when we know we have gotten a smoking deal for one of our clients, and we are certainly not going to discourage them from doing so. Because Janet took their concerns seriously, she now has some loyal clients who know she truly has their best interests at heart. But Agent N, who insulted these same clients, lost out on a huge sale. Hopefully he learned a lesson, but at what a cost!

Las Vegas - New Construction

With Las Vegas foreclosures keeping prices down in all segments of the market, Las Vegas homebuilders and commercial developers are looking for ways to cut expenses during the development stage so that they can keep prices competitive with existing projects. Many are exploring new building systems that incorporate "green real estate" for energy savings as well.

In the Las Vegas condos high rise market, a yet to be announced project has a cost cutting system that will save the developer more than a third over the traditional high rise building expense building from the ground up. The developer says this will allow him to price his units competitively with low rise product, and blow other high rise projects out of the water.

In downtown Las Vegas VERGE, a midrise project, is utilizing more new technology to build their product in the redevelopment district. Inspired by architect Dennis Rusk, VERGE was initially priced about 20% under existing competition.

Both projects will also offer special financing on Las Vegas mortgage loans to entice Las Vegas new homes buyers to the table.

And innovation is also coming to the Las Vegas commercial real estate sector, which until now has resisted change. Booming market conditions dissuaded builders from considering out of the box solutions, but a slow down has them scrambling for alternatives. The following are excerpts from an article about a new commercial building application:

Developer touts new construction concept
By Mark Hansel / Staff Writer

A local developer has introduced an innovative building concept to the Las Vegas market.
LM Construction is using the Koreteck system - a series of connected panels that can be installed using a small crew with minimal equipment to quickly enclose a building - at Wagon Trail Village, a shopping center at Decatur Boulevard and Wagon Trail Avenue, just off Interstate 215.
Larry Monkarsh, owner of LM Construction, said this is the first time Koreteck has been used in the valley.

Monkarsh is a third-generation contractor and developer, and LM Construction has built more than 3 million square feet of industrial and commercial space. Local projects include the Arrowhead Commerce Center on Pearl Street, and the Arroyo, adjacent to I-215 between Buffalo Drive and Rainbow Boulevard.

He has been looking for a project that would be a good fit for Koreteck, but had a hard time persuading local partners of its value.

"Everybody I brought this idea to thought I was crazy," Monkarsh said. "Now I believe the market is ready for this product."

Monkarsh said the development business is very much an "if-it's-not-broke-don't-fix-it" industry and with the prolonged success of proven methods in the valley, builders were reluctant to explore new concepts.

Changes in the development landscape, including increased construction costs and slumping real estate sales, have made the industry more receptive to alternatives, especially those that reduce cost.

A product with the potential to shorten a development timeline and decrease the number of workers needed on a job makes more sense now than ever, even if it has never been tried in Las Vegas before.

In a recent demonstration at Wagon Trail Village, a crew of five was able to completely attach the product to a 50-foot-wide, 25-foot-tall end wall in less than an hour.

Although developers who market Koreteck probably cringe at the comparison, the product's exterior looks remarkably like Styrofoam, which may explain the reluctance of some to embrace its use.

Kris Kutterer of Virginia-based Koreteck said, however, that in this case looks are deceiving.
Koreteck, he said, is extremely durable and consists of a solid, galvanized 20-gauge steel core surrounded by polystyrene insulation. It can be ordered in heights up to 18 feet, which are stackable for greater heights. Widths are 2 to 4 feet with solid, noncavity construction in 6 or 8 inch thicknesses. Interior and exterior finishes are applied as they are with other building material.

Kutterer said the product also offers energy savings over traditional building methods with heating and cooling systems, regardless of climate and location.

The monolithic (single-piece) nature of the insulation that is formed around the metal core increases efficiency by eliminating the thermal bridging at the panel-to-panel connection used in conventional wall construction. Although the amount of credits vary by market, Kutterer says the system adds points toward Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.
Modifications, Kutterer said, are much simpler than traditional brick-and-mortar construction because panels can be easily removed to install an additional entrance or window.
"We can pretty much modify a project to suit a change in our clients needs, with a minimal increase in costs to them," Kutterer said.

Wagon Trail Village, Kutterer says, is typical of the type of project Koreteck was designed for. The roughly 24,000-square-foot center will include two future pad sites along Wagon Trail Avenue.

Koreteck can be custom designed for a client almost as a kit, with predetermined specifications and custom-made, numbered pieces shipped to the site. If a piece is damaged during construction, it can be reordered by number. Mark Hansel covers retail and Las Vegas homes for sale for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at 259-4069

Las Vegas Real Estate - Media Slow to Report Good News

It has long been my contention that the national media created both the real estate boom of 2004 and 2005, and then the real estate bust in 2006 and 2007. But unfortunately, bad news sells better than good news, and so the busts tend to last longer. Buyers are timidly trying to come back into the market, yet every new article about the sad shape of the economy makes them wonder if the time is right. Locally, the big question is: When is the Las Vegas housing market going to turn around? Sales of existing homes have picked up this spring, dropping housing inventory to a thirteen month supply, and in April the market had its first year over year increase in more than two years. The number of single family Las Vegas homes for sale rose for the fifth consecutive month to 2,206 in May, a 29.2 percent increase from a year ago. Applied Analysis, a Las Vegas-based financial consultancy, listed less than 22,000 homes in the resale inventory as of June 2, the lowest total since February 2007.

The number of contingent and pending sales has been escalating since the beginning of the year. About 45 percent of contingent sales have been identified as "short sales," or sales in which the lender will agree to accept less than the mortgage balance owed against the property as well as Las Vegas foreclosures. But local Las Vegas real estate agents are reporting multiple offers on homes under $225,000, reminiscent of 2004 when buyers were lucky to have two or three homes to choose from. Jackie Goodman, an agent on our team with Prudential Americana, started out with 21 homes from the MLS system last week to preview for her client, and 18 already had offers in on them waiting for final seller approval! Jackie had to start all over again to find enough good properties to show her client who was discouraged that her favorites had already sold.

And we are getting this type activity despite the “experts” who declare Las Vegas will see a 30% decline in the next few months. Are prices down? Yes, of course they are. But with the strong job growth and ever increasing population coupled with a steadily diminishing supply, my own personal prediction is that we will start to see actual appreciation in early 2009.

And fortunately the Fed is cooperating by keeping interest rates down near all time lows, even though credit restrictions are limiting the Las Vegas mortgages programs buyers have to choose from. Right now FHA is the most popular choice as purchasers that are buying a primary residence can still do a version of 100% financing through the Nehemiah program where the seller contributes 6% for down payment and closing costs.

So if you are wondering if now is the time to buy Las Vegas homes, well, they don’t ring a bell when the market hits bottom, but all the signs are there. And if you are trying to sell your home, hang in there, baby, better times are ahead as the market comes around to being more balanced!