Las Vegas Real Estate Blog

Inman - The Los Angeles Downtown Center Business Improvement District, a coalition of about 480 property owners, has launched an online map tool that displays property information for a range of properties and allows visitors to search for housing types by price, size, construction status and rent ranges, among other variables.

Potential residents, visitors and business professionals can access a map of every building throughout the downtown area at http://downtownla.com/map6.htm. Clicking on buildings reveals property details, such as photos, Web links, contact information and comments.

The property owners’ group commissioned Cartifact Inc., a Los Angeles-based technology company, for the map construction and design. Similar mapping efforts are also planned for Houston and Las Vegas, according to the announcement.

The Web-based interactive map includes an overview of all 19 districts within the greater downtown area that allows visitors to scroll over each district to view an enlarged map with buildings and street details. Each building can then be clicked for specific information.

Building-level details of retailers and shopping centers can include the shop and restaurant names.

For more information, contact MillionSaverHomes.com a local Las Vegas real estate broker at 702.212.3513.

Popularity: 29%

KNV.com - The median price of a new home in Las Vegas dropped in January to about $300,000. That’s about $6,000 less than it was in December. Analysts say the decrease could be a sign the Las Vegas housing market is cooling off. Still, the January figure is 7.5% higher than it was in January 2005. The median price of an existing home also dropped in January to $279,000.

For more information, contact MillionSaverHomes.com a local Las Vegas real estate broker at 702.212.3513.

Popularity: 21%

Hearing Wall Street housing analysts and California university researchers, homeowners should sell their homes now and buy them back in six months to a year at a 30 percent discount.

Rumblings of tumbling real estate prices in California have many experts predicting that Las Vegas will incur some of the brunt.

Possibly, but don’t expect the tide to turn quickly in Southern Nevada, said Larry Murphy, president of Las Vegas-based housing research firm SalesTraq.

The 40 percent and 50 percent Las Vegas appreciation rates that led the nation for much of 2004 were a “once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Murphy said. Coming back with a 19.2 percent overall gain in 2005 is not a bad follow-up act.(Continue)

For more information, contact MillionSaverHomes.com a local Las Vegas real estate broker at 702.212.3513.

Popularity: 19%

LV Sun - With the region’s spiraling growth bringing thousands of new residents monthly to the Las Vegas Valley - along with demands for more roads, fire stations and parks - local governments are striving to force growth to pay for itself in ways that would raise new home costs.

Clark County, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, facing growth-fueled demands for additional public services and facilities, are considering the region’s first development impact fees.

Although residential and commercial developers currently pay local governments various fees for projects, the fees often fail to cover the costs of street improvements, new fire and police stations and other infrastructure needed due to growth - leaving existing taxpayers to foot the bill.

The existing system, officials say, is fraught with inequities. Developers of large master planned communities pay more than smaller home builders. Developers of housing, office, retail and industrial projects also pay more to build in the Southwest Las Vegas Valley than in other areas.

The County Commission next month will consider hiring a consultant to study the issue.

For more information, contact MillionSaverHomes.com a local Las Vegas real estate broker at 702.212.3513.

Popularity: 22%

Las Vegas Sun - A football player-turned-investor has filed a lawsuit against the developers of the planned W Las Vegas Hotel, claiming they squeezed him out of plans to build a $2.5 billion luxury hotel, condominium and casino complex.

In a civil suit filed Feb. 10 in Los Angeles Superior Court, former Dallas Cowboys tight end Brian Roche accuses Edge Group LLC of staging a “land grab” and “interference with contracts and opportunities,” that left his company, The Roche Group, out of a deal with W Hotel’s parent company, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.

In August, New York-based Starwood and Edge Group, a group of private investors, announced plans to build approximately 3,000 hotel and residential units and a 75,000-square-foot casino on 21 acres just east of the Strip.

Edge Group principles Reagan Silber, Trevor Pearlman and Adam Frank are named in the suit.

The lawsuit says Roche held a binding memorandum of understanding and through joint venture partners was in contract to buy the property. Roche introduced Silber to his partners and then got cut out of the deal, the suit says.

“You can’t just go out and take somebody’s opportunity,” said Michael Sherman, Roche’s lawyer. “Edge Group does an end run around Roche, and the Roche Group loses the opportunity and interest and expected profits.”

Roche is seeking damages and a 60 percent ownership interest in the project, which the suit says is expected to reap $8 billion in profit over 20 years.

“Mr. Roche’s claims are without merit and we look forward to proving in court that the suit is unfounded,” Frank said.

For more information, contact MillionSaverHomes.com a local Las Vegas real estate broker at 702.212.3513.

Popularity: 21%

RISMEDIA - Rumblings of tumbling real estate prices in California have many experts predicting that Las Vegas will incur some of the brunt.

Possibly, but don’t expect the tide to turn quickly in Southern Nevada, said Larry Murphy, president of Las Vegas-based housing research firm SalesTraq.

The 40 percent and 50 percent Las Vegas appreciation rates that led the nation for much of 2004 were a “once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Murphy said. Coming back with a 19.2 percent overall gain in 2005 is not a bad follow-up act.

As long as Las Vegas continues to post strong job and population growth, the real estate market will remain healthy, said John Restrepo, principal of Restrepo Consulting Group.

“We’re not going to see the high double-digit growth rates of ‘04 and ‘05, largely because speculators have left the market,” he said. “We’re headed toward a more normal market, maybe 10 percent (appreciation) in terms of housing. It’s just cooling off.”

For more information, contact MillionSaverHomes.com a local Las Vegas real estate broker at 702.212.3513.

Popularity: 26%

LV Review Journal - LAS VEGAS (AP) - The median sale price of existing homes in the Las Vegas area rose 19.2 percent in 2005, with the biggest gains concentrated centrally, rather than in the upscale master-planned suburbs, a research firm said.

Las Vegas-based SalesTraq said it looked at nearly 56,000 transactions to come to its conclusion, which showed the largest increases were no longer in communities such as Summerlin, Green Valley and Anthem, but in the northeast and central part of the city.

“We came back with 19.2 percent after doing 45 percent (in 2004),” said SalesTraq president Larry Murphy. “That’s almost a miracle, too. I was saying there would be no crash, but prices would hit a plateau. This town just keeps blowing my socks off.”

The company said that houses in ZIP code 89109, the Winchester area east of the Strip, posted the highest appreciation last year of 69 percent, based on average price per square foot.

Inner-city ZIP codes 89101, 89104 and 89106 showed appreciation rates of 36 percent to 44 percent, while 89030 in North Las Vegas increased 36 percent and 89115 near Nellis Air Force Base jumped 37 percent.

Murphy said the increase in the Winchester area is primarily due to sales at Turnberry Place, a luxury high-rise condo development where units are averaging more than $1 million.

As long as Las Vegas continues to post strong job and population growth, the real estate market will remain healthy, said John Restrepo, principal of Restrepo Consulting Group.

“We’re not going to see the high double-digit growth rather of ‘04 and ‘05, largely because speculators have left the market,” he said. “We’re headed toward a more normal market, maybe 10 percent (appreciation) in terms of housing. It’s just cooling off.”

For more information, contact MillionSaverHomes.com a local Las Vegas real estate broker at 702.212.3513.

Popularity: 20%

Las Vegas Sun - Irving Downer waited four months and spent thousands of dollars for a mobile home relocation that was supposed to take a few weeks and cost him nothing.

Amid the growing number of mobile home closures in Las Vegas, Downer’s story is not an isolated one.

Downer, 65, had lived in La Jolla Mobile Home Park for 22 years when owner Icon Investment Group ordered residents to move out by mid-March so the property could be redeveloped. By state law, park owners have to pay for residents to relocate within 50 miles.

But Icon, based in Greenwood Village, Colo., went through three moving contractors while relocating Downer to nearby Millennium Estates Mobile Home Park.

Downer and other former La Jolla residents contend the first two contractors caused irreparable damage to their homes, and claim many items were stolen.

The second mover, Real Estate & Investments LLC, received a cease-and-desist order from state officials in late November because owner Ben Donlon did not have a required license to tear down and reassemble mobile homes. Continue.

For more information, contact MillionSaverHomes.com a local Las Vegas real estate broker at 702.212.3513.

Popularity: 22%

ENR.com - With people crowding into the Las Vegas area amid persistent drought, local officials are being forced to tap new water options. The Southern Nevada Water Authority needs an estimated 400,000 acre-ft more annually by 2025, according to Deputy General Manager Kay Brothers. “We have to be creative,� she says.

The water level in Lake Mead, the valley’s primary supply, is 74 ft lower than it was six years ago. To conserve, Clark County has banned new golf course construction and decorative fountains in commercial developments, among other things. In 2004, SNWA paid businesses and homeowners $1 per sq ft to tear up 68 million sq ft of grass and replace it with low-water alternatives. SNWA also has bought from Arizona’s Colorado River allotment. Continue.

For more information, contact MillionSaverHomes.com a local Las Vegas real estate broker at 702.212.3513.

Popularity: 13%

Before you can figure out what you need in regards to homeowners insurance, you first need to know what you have in terms of coverage. Most people choose to have their homeowners insurance paid from their mortgage escrow account and do not even examine the annual renewal statement when it arrives. At a minimum, you should verify that your name, address, and mortgage company are all correct.

Then, look take a look at the annual premium. Is it enough coverage for your house and your possessions? In most policies, a home’s contents are insured for 50 percent to 70 percent of the home’s value. So if you have $100,000 coverage for the structure, you generally have $50,000 to $70,000 coverage for the contents. If you don’t think that it’s enough, increase it.

It is also important that you make sure you have replacement coverage for your home. “Replacement cost” coverage pays the cost of rebuilding or repairing your home or replacing possessions without deductions for depreciation. That’s typically better than “actual cash value” coverage, which pays to replace your home or possessions minus depreciation.

For more information, contact MillionSaverHomes.com a local Las Vegas real estate broker at 702.212.3513.

Popularity: 22%