Las Vegas real estate appeals to investors

Southern Nevada - including communities like Anthem, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Mountains Edge, Summerlin, Southern Highlands, Green Valley and Rhodes Ranch - housing market has become one of the favorite playing grounds for scores of investors. And for a good reason. Las Vegas property values have nose-dived to roughly the levels seen here about ten years ago, a time when they were deservedly called affordable. Now, as was the case then, a nice single-family, 3-bedroom house in a solid neighborhood can be bought for under $150,000.

This Las Vegas housing drift has definitely drawn the attention of real estate investors from all over.So much so that they purchased a serious 41.2% of homes for sale here in October, as was reported by MDA DataQuick, a San Diego real estate information boutique. They generally use cash to do that, giving them an advantage over those who need mortgage financing for the deal. Who can argue against a quick close? In essence they mostly are deep-pocketed entities with a well-designed plan. They also realize that flipping is a thing of the past, so the properties are usually rented out for the long-term.

And that's where some Southern Nevada homeowners can get a bit emotional. This applies especially to the newer Las Vegas developments where mortgage foreclosures tend to be higher and where prices have been subjected to a thorough flogging. Existing homeowners see houses around them going for half the price they paid for theirs a few years ago. That can make anyone call Alan Greenspan bad names. To make matters worse many of these homes are now being turned into rentals and that can be considered undesirable for a neighborhood. One or two of them here and there isn't a problem, but if 20 or 30% of the area is rentals, yes, it can change the dynamic to a point where the values will further deteriorate.

On the brighter side, real estate investor activity will remove from the inventory countless vacant homes that mortgage lenders tend to let go into disrepair after foreclosing on them. Banks are known by most accounts to be rather lousy property managers. Therefore, it often is better to have someone occupying a home than no one at all.