Las Vegas Real Estate Blog

Richmond American’s Positano located outside of the Mountain’s Edge master-planned community in the southwest portion of the Las Vegas Valley offers homebuyers four unique floor plans in the Season’s Collection price from the $270,000s.  The Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall designs include three bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and an attached two-car garage.  And, available room options allow the homes to feature up to five bedrooms, three baths.

Richmond American is offering upgrades and premium packages at no additional cost from April 14th to May 20th. The offer is in celebration of the builder’s 35 year anniversary. For more information contact MillionSaverHomes 702.212.3513.

Popularity: 9%

According to a report by the Northern Nevada Multiple Listing service released this week, the median price for a home in the Reno-Sparks metro area climbed t0 $315,000 during the first three months of 2007.  This was  up slightly from $314,250 during the fourth quarter of 2006.  However, sales were down from 929 in the fourth quarter to 830 which has prompted many to speculate that the Reno-Sparks market has not completely recovered from the downturn in the market that started last year.

Local market watchers expect prices to drop slight in the coming months as there is still a rather large inventory still on the market.  The MLS showed that the number of listings for existing single-family homes increased to 3,442 during the first quarter, up from 3,278 in the fourth quarter.

Popularity: 10%

Foreclosure activity remained high across the country in the first quarter of 2007, according to Realty Trac Inc.  More than 430,000 foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — reported, up 27% from the previous quarter and up 35% from the first quarter of 2006.  While a surge in subprime defaults is being pointed to as the largest contributing factor to the rise in foreclosures among low-end homes, Realty Trac is quick to point out that there is also an increase in forelosures among homes with an estimated market value of more than $750,000.

Nevada had the highest state foreclosure rate in the first quarter, one foreclosure filing for every 75 households — 3.5 times the national average. The state listed a total of 11,514 foreclosure filings during the quarter, an increase of 66% from the previous quarter and more than double the total reported in the first quarter of 2006.

Popularity: 9%

It wasn’t just the poor and middle class that utilized ARM products over the last few years to purchase homes. The wealthier also turned to ARM products to purchase luxury homes in areas of the country that were typically more expensive. Now, luxury homeowners faced with default pressures are panicing and selling their homes for less than their mortgages. Some are even turning to pre-foreclosure style auctions to cut their losses and run.

There are some within the industry cautioning against over reacting citing the cyclical nature of the real estate market. If and when possible, they argue that these luxury home owners should attempt to refinance and then sit back and wait for the market to improve.

Of course this approach would be viable if you actually had the cash needed to refinance. However, I’m going to go out on a limb here and speculate that many homeowners wouldn’t be taking the drastic step of auctioning off their homes in pre-foreclosure if they actually had the cash available to refinance. It’s more likely that many purchased larger homes than what they could actually afford and are now, like so many other Americans, strapped for cash and struggling to meet a burgeoning mortgage.

Popularity: 31%

A recent In Business Las Vegas article talked about what the “experts” were saying regarding the current state of the Las Vegas real estate market. Here it is in a nutshell:

• Las Vegas will have the steepest decline in home prices between April 2007 and April 2008.(Fiserve Lending/Money Magazine)
• Prices will drop 7% to 10% by early 2008. (Nevada Assocition of Realtors)
  
• The housing slump is expected to worsen. (Jeffrey Mezger, CEO/KB Home)
• U.S. home prices may plunge as much as 20% in some markets because of rising defaults from subprime loans (Kenneth Heebner, Fund Manager/CGM Realty Fund
  

Popularity: 9%

Allure Las Vegas is magnificent 41-story high-rise condominium tower of contemporary design overlooking the world famous Las Vegas Strip. Interior floor-to-ceiling walls of glass, aligned with soaring ceilings of nearly 10 feet and private balconies, seamlessly merge interior and exterior space for an effect of pure exhilaration.

Other amenities include an outdoor pool deck with cabanas, fitness center with locker rooms, media center, conference room, catering kitchen, business center with high-speed Internet computers, Wi-Fi in all public spaces, resident storage, 24-hour security and valet parking.

Allure has 428 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units ranging from 671 square feet to 4,400 square feet. Prices start in the mid-$500,000s.  Construction of the $150 million, luxury condo tower on Sahara Avenue is on track for completion in September 2007.

Popularity: 9%

Gemstone Development’s newest project, ManhattanWest will hold its grand opening, April 21st from 12:00 p.m. to 4 p.m. ManhattanWest is a mixed-use project comprised of 700 residences, 150,000 square feet of office and 40,000 square feet of retail space on 20 landscaped acres.

ManhattanWest offers several convenient amenities for its residents such as a barbecue pavilion, grass volleyball court, neighborhood coffeehouse and clubhouse lounge, 100 feet above the ground floor pool, and a 7,000 square foot fitness center.  For more information, contact MillionSaverHomes.

Popularity: 9%

RealtyTrac Inc reports that Nevada’s foreclosure filings in March were triple those of a year earlier. That means that Nevada’s rate of 1 for every 183 households was more than four times the national average.  Las Vegas ranked second on the list of metropolitan areas showing increased foreclosure filings right after Stockton, California.
On a national level, banks began foreclosure proceedings against 47% more U.S. homeowners in March compared with a year ago.  That means that more than 149,000 foreclosure filings were filed last month.

Popularity: 9%

The 3,500 acre master planned community of Mountain’s Edge recently was ranked by RCLCO, a leading independent real estate advisory firm, as the second fastest selling master planned community in the U.S. in 2006. In 2005, they were ranked third.

The survey identifies master planned communities as large-scale developments featuring a wide range of housing prices and styles, an array of amenities and multiple non-residential land uses (such as commercial, hotels, and education facilities) offering residents an attractive and convenient lifestyle in which to live, work and play.

When fully developed, Mountain’s Edge will feature four elementary schools, one of which is already open, two middle schools and a high school. The community will have a fire station, shopping centers, restaurants and more than 500 acres of parks, trails and open space.

Mountain’s Edge has more than 181 models home and more than 240 floor plans available. Builders with actively selling subdivisions are: Amstar Homes, Beazer Homes, D.R. Horton, Engle Homes, KB Home, Kimball Hill Homes, Lennar, Meritage Homes, Pardee Homes, Pulte Homes, R/S Development, Ryland Homes, Toll Brothers, Warmington Homes Nevada and Woodside Homes. Other builders, including Astoria Homes and StoryBook Homes, are expected to begin sales in the coming months.

For more information contact MillionSaverHomes.

Popularity: 9%

Could LV actually reach a population of 4 million by 2040? Accoding to Robert Lang, founding director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech, that’s not all that far-fetched of an idea. Lang also believes that those 4 million resident will come to occupy an area that includes Mohave County in Northern Arizona and that the LV metropolitan area will come to be known as the bi-state region.

That type of growth is expected to cause more than one problem. For example, how will planners and city/state officials deal with an interstate highway system which was built in the 1950s and lacks direct links between Las Vegas and Phoenix? Or, what about the water supply? LV lacks the type of water supply that Phoenix has. Challenges like these and others could well impede LV’s continued growth if not addressed and addressed soon. Some argue that these problems may already be impacting LV’s current growth. To what extent, is still to be determined.

Popularity: 9%