Northwest Las Vegas slated for condominiums and a mall - 11/29/08 08:54 PM
Little by little more plans are being announced regarding new commercial and residential real estate projects to be built throughout Southern Nevada. These are for the most part the first steps in the long process but show that a few developers are coming out of hibernation to prepare for the moment when they can actually start going vertical. They are anxious to get cracking as soon as the market conditions allow it.
Triple Five Nevada is among the front runners in this. Its plan calls for a good-sized mall to go in the Centennial Hills area in the northwest corner of … (5 comments)

MGM Mirage studying sale of land in Las Vegas - 11/28/08 04:49 PM
The weak economy is forcing many Southern Nevada resort operators to revisit their master plans. Not too long ago the trend was to acquire land on the Strip and almost anywhere else in town with idea of building more hotel rooms, casinos and luxury condominiums because the traffic seemed to be there. Now the focus has shifted rather dramatically away from further expansion to just being able to survive this nasty downturn.
MGM Mirage wants to do just that by seeking to unload some or all of the raw land it owns here. It has several choice Strip lots to offer, … (10 comments)

Home builders are extending the tin cup for Washington aid. Should they be rewarded? - 11/25/08 09:22 PM
It's becoming the fad of the year that major industry lobbyists are sent to march up the long, stone steps of the U.S. Capitol and ask for federal help for their flagging businesses. The belief seems to be that Congress is the cradle of group therapy that will cure their ills by handing out taxpayer money and somehow that will turn their fortunes around. The mortgage lenders have been there, the insurance lobby has been there, the banks, the car manufacturers, the list is long.
Now it's the home builders.
They did get a modest tax credit package passed in the spring but … (18 comments)

Bank of America mortgage workout program hits a snag - 11/23/08 10:45 PM
Bank of America went ahead and bought the failing Countrywide earlier this year because it wanted to widen its market share in mortgages and the price was so attractive. It also knew that Countrywide had a lot of bad paper in its books otherwise it wouldn't be having so much trouble. But it figured it could with time sort it all out.
Then Countrywide was charged by 15 states for predatory lending practices and earlier this fall Bank of America, on behalf of its subsidiary, reached a settlement on the charges. Accordingly, it would modify up to 400,000 Countrywide home loans … (7 comments)

Southern Nevada new home sales crawl along in October - 11/20/08 09:42 PM
Las Vegas home builders are finding it rather hard to attract buyers to their product lines. This has been going on for months while the resale segment has been heading in the opposite direction, chalking up decent gains.
In October there were 842 new home closings, a small drop from September, but still the sixth consecutive month when the number is below 1,000, as was reported by Home Builders Research. This represents a considerable decline from the same time last year when 1,324 homes were sold. Through October 2008 the figures are 46% behind last year's, a disturbing fact.
Price disparity … (2 comments)

Las Vegas has more to offer than a snowed-under real estate market - 11/18/08 09:12 PM
Conversations regarding Las Vegas used to be about the rapid growth here, new dazzling resorts going up on the Strip, relentless summer heat and how many Cirque du Soleil shows the town can actually accommodate. That was fun then, a few years ago. Now the talk is largely about home values nose-diving, mortgage foreclosures and empty luxury condominiums unable to find new owners. All anyone can say is; how quickly the mood can change.
Yet, it's not all gloom and doom in Southern Nevada. Consider this. AAA just announced its latest Five Diamond Award winners in restaurants and hotels and a … (11 comments)

Las Vegas foreclosures take a breather in October - 11/15/08 08:29 PM
Overall, it has been a tough year for Clark County, Nevada, home of Las Vegas, when it comes to residential real estate. One of the bright spots has been the availability of mortgage money at affordable rates that has kept matters on some sort of a path toward a distant normalcy. Wherever that might be. The solution to that largely rests on how soon the marketplace can first arrest and then reverse the persistently high foreclosures here.
The statistics just released by Foreclosures.com for October appear to offer a ray of hope for Southern Nevada. Real estate owned, or REO, in … (12 comments)

New mortgage rules from HUD questionable - 11/13/08 10:00 PM
The recent mortgage and real estate troubles have sparked all sorts of efforts by the federal government to update existing rules and regulations governing housing transactions. In all honesty there certainly is some room for that, but there also were many other reasons to this ugly mess. In the spirit of doing something the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, burned the midnight oil for months and now it has released a new set of rules.  
Actually, what it did was to some degree revise RESPA, or Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, that has been the benchmark for home … (6 comments)

Resales in Las Vegas continue strong in October - 11/11/08 05:44 PM
Southern Nevada housing market is trying to shake loose from the grip of a memorable downturn, a word that many here have a hard time recognizing because the town has been topping the national growth charts for so long. The slump ended up being worse than just about anyone who knows anything about it could've imagined.
There are some signs now that it is about to turn the corner for the better. In October sales of existing single-family houses kept up with the recent improving trend as 2,718 of them were successfully closed, reveals a Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, … (12 comments)

Developers already planning future projects in Southern Nevada - 11/08/08 10:36 PM
Las Vegas real estate is in a slump, a description that is widely accepted throughout the community. It started with the residential sector and has now spread over to the commercial and resort sides as well. There are some cautious signs that the housing market is beginning to make some noise as resales, specifically in the lower end of the price scale, are attracting homeowner-candidates and long-term investors. To some it's an early indication that a turnaround is already visible on the horizon and they are busy drafting plans for future developments.
GSG Development is one of them, a valley firm … (2 comments)

Las Vegas land values hit the down slope - 11/06/08 08:02 PM
Now it's the raw land's turn to be in full price retreat. It couldn't be too far behind what is presently happening to single-family house and condominium price points in Southern Nevada. The market grew really soft and all sectors in it have to face the music before any hopes of a sustainable recovery can get off the blocks. This appears to be the last leg of the equation that now has to go through the necessary correction.
In the third quarter this year 427 acres changed hands while at the same time in 2007 484 acres did that, reports Las … (6 comments)

Aviation Nation in Las Vegas this weekend - 11/04/08 04:22 PM
This is one of the occasions air show aficionados world over don't want to miss. Locals and visitors to Sin City this weekend have the opportunity to go to Nellis Air Force Base to take in all that a well-run air event is supposed to be. It's scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, November 8-9, 2008, with gates flung open at 9:00 AM both days. Parking is available at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for free and general admission to the show is free as well, so how can that be beat.
The air portion of the event includes the famous Thunderbirds, … (6 comments)

Nevada heads problematic mortgage ranking - 11/01/08 07:02 PM
Silver State's residential real estate was wounded badly in the bubble that burst so spectacularly some time ago. Of course it's not alone in it but that's scant relief. Sales at least in Las Vegas have slowed to a crawl, although especially resales have picked up lately, prices have headed south and the inventory is still high. Now another statistic is published to inform how deeply the housing mess has affected the state.
Nevada tops the list that ranks states by how many homes each has upside down, meaning the existing mortgage balance is higher than the property is worth. This … (10 comments)