I have two topics that I wanted to include in this blog. The first is a long overdue appreciation map of the Las Vegas and Henderson Real Estate areas in Nevada. This map compares appreciation rates from 2005 to 2006. There are some flat areas, a couple up markets and many slightly negative parts of town. The majority of the up markets are markets that were late to get the rush of investor money back in 2005 and 2004. These are the east side (where you could still find a moderate sized home in the low $200,000's) and the center of town where there were some forgotten neighborhoods, or areas that were rehabbed. So now we're all caught up. All areas of town have gone up and now some have already come down a little.  

So do you want to know what I think is next?? Well, we've been doing this "real estate thing" for seven years now and when we started in this business we worked in a market much like the one we have today. I remember having a heck of a time trying to sell a nice 1500 sq.ft. single story 3 bedroom home for the low $130,000's. There were so many other resales, and Southern Highlands was just coming on the market and the builders were offering crazy incentives (just like today). So the builders stopped pulling permits, slowed the building, and look what happened, BOOM, we didn't have enough homes to go around. Our demand was so strong, rates were unbelievable, buyers and investors couldn't get enough and couldn't be fast enough either. Well guess what's happening as we speak (April 2007)? Rates are still reasonable (although the lenders are scared to death right now**whole other story**), people are still moving to Las Vegas, jobs are still being created, and builders have stopped with new permits. Go figure. What's next? You guessed it, new homes get bought up, buyers who don't have new homes to pick from move into the resale market and our inventory starts to go. Lower inventory with the same number of buyers creates demand, which allows prices to rise. It's called a cycle. It's history. It's happened in the past and it'll happen again real soon. My prediction is 2010 will be better than 2004. I can just see it. How is your position? I promise that any property you think is expensive now will seem cheap 10 years from now.  

Anyway, the other topic is the latest Trustee Sale List. These are properties that are in foreclosure and are being auctioned on the courthouse steps on Main St. 36 pages of properties (this month only). There's a lot of hurting sellers out there. Lots of people got in way over their head and now they're done. I hope you all are doing well and preparing for a wonderful future but also enjoying each day right now. If you'd like either of those files, email me at info@300sold.com and I'll send them.