Not In My Real Estate Market

That certainly was the consensus over a year ago when the bad news/fortunes of real estate speculators in markets such as Florida, Las Vegas Real Estate and Arizona made front page news. A recent tour of Las Vegas foreclosures with an out of state buyer brought up the statement of... "Wow.. I guess what I've been seeing in the news is true"..

Yes it is true. What started out as bad fortunes blamed on speculators whose speculations did not pan out and they walked away from their New Home "Investments" has touched every single neighborhood in Las Vegas in a negative way.

BusinessWeeks Recent Article 2009 Real Estate Forecast appears to be forecasting exactly what has happened in Las Vegas. It started out in the newer home neighborhoods where speculators would wait in lines for days to be part of that special VIP Grand Opening by the New Home Builders in Las Vegas and has worked it's way like a nasty cancer throughout all of Las Vegas.

BusinessWeek forecasts that for 2009... even the Healthy Real Estate Markets are going to get hit.

"Until now, the nation's most serious home price declines have been in low-cost markets that were dominated by subprime mortgages, and in overbuilt markets such as Florida, California, and Las Vegas, where residential values are sliding fast toward pre-housing boom levels."

I see and hear many of the same sentiments across the nation of what Las Vegas Real Estate saw in the beginning of 2007. Sales have slowed down, homes are sitting on the market for much longer and buyers are scarce. Much of it brings back memories of when Las Vegas real estate agents were full of frustration as sellers were not yet at the point of reducing their prices... and the few buyers that were out there were not going to even offer anything near the listing price.

The Las Vegas Real Estate Market did not go South overnight.. it was a process that started in 2006 but the catastrophic news that the media loves to cover that makes people read their publications did not start until 2007.

With All the Bad News about Real Estate, there may be some good News for Las Vegas Real Estate accoding to BusinessWeek:

On the other hand, the speculative Las Vegas, Arizona, California, and Florida markets, which have already seen annual home-price declines of up to 30%, could see slightly smaller declines simply because values have already fallen so much.

Is there Light at the End of the Tunnel for Las Vegas? You really have to think there is when you compare prices for what you can buy in Las Vegas with it's low Property Taxes compared to other states but time will tell. We've been coming across potential buyers looking to retire to Las Vegas who have chosen to sell their out of state home first before buying and we hear the same news that we heard in early 2007 when it came to selling.

"Buyers are few and far between and Homes in our Area are sitting on the Market."

Yep... we've seen that and we know all about the frustration.

Interestingly.. the BusinessWeek article does not go into discussion with it's main headline:

 -- "Wealthier neighborhoods that avoided subprime borrowing will be hurt in the new year as the downturn weakens even healthy markets." -

So... We did a Quick Check of How many Million Dollar Luxury Homes in Las Vegas that were owned by the Bank were currently available for sale on the Las Vegas MLS. According to the Las Vegas MLS, there were 17 Foreclosure Homes in Las Vegas Priced at $1,000,000 or more... Here is a brief summary with information on the properties:

Anthem Country Club Home - $3,750,000 for this 7,963 Square foot Home in Henderson.

Lake Las Vegas Home - $2,399,000 for this 7,394 Square Foot Home in Lake Las Vegas Vegas.

Spanish Hills Home - $2,195,000 for this 7,256 Square Foot Home in Spanish Hills purchased for $1,900,000 on 9/01/02

Park Trails Home - $2,099,000 for this Northwest Las Vegas Luxury Home Foreclosure

Green Valley Ranch Home - $1,799,000 for this Green Valley Ranch Luxury Bank Owned Home purchased for $2,000,000 on 4/01/06.

Seven Hills Home - $1,719,000 for this Seven Hills Luxury Home. Last purchased for $2,550,000 on 4/1/07.

MacDonald Ranch Home - $1,567,900 for this MacDonald Ranch Foreclosure.

Southern Highlands Home - $1,449,900 for this Southern Highlands Estate home that was purchased for $1,915,000 on 02/01/07

Seven Hills Home - $1,386,000 for this Seven Hills Luxury Home purchased for $4,300,000 on 01/01/07.

Red Rock Country Club Home - $1,299,900 for this Red Rock Country Club Luxury Home purchased for $1,950,000 on 01/01/06.

Lake Las Vegas Home - $1,199,000 for this Lake Las Vegas Custom Home purchased for $1,165,000 back on 02/01/05.

Newell Estates - $1,100,500 for this 7,643 Square foot Southeast Las Vegas Luxury Home purchased for $2,357,000 on 10/01/06.

The Ridges in Summerlin - $1,100,000 for this 3,421 Square Foot home Bank Owned Home in Topaz Ridge purchased for $1,325,000 on 10/01/05.

Lake Las Vegas Home - $1,100,000 for this Lake Las Vegas Bank Owned Home purchased for $1,900,000 on 10/01/04.

Roma Hills Home - $1,100,000 for this Roma Hills Bank Owned Home purchased for $3,200,000 on 08/01/07.

Foothills at MacDonald Ranch Home - $1,074,900 for this MacDonald Ranch Bank Owned Home purchased for $1,766,410 on 01/01/06.

Red Rock Country Club Home - $1,015,990 for this Red Rock Country Club Bank Owned Home purchased for $1,500,000 on 03/01/06.

As you can see... the foreclosure crisis has now worked it's way into some of the most prized communities of Las Vegas. My forecast for Luxury Las Vegas real estate is that it's going to spread even further as these Luxury Las Vegas Homes eventually sell forcing downward pressure on the values of some of the most prized Las Vegas real estate. If the Banks don't sell them at the current prices... it's only a matter of time before they further reduce the prices so that they will sell. Much like what they did in November/December of 2007 that caused all of the Las Vegas home values decline that made the news for 2008.

Keep in mind... there are plenty of yesteryear's Las Vegas Million Dollar homes now listed for sale for less then $1,000,000. What you see above is some of the most Prime Las Vegas Real Estate there is...

There are currently over 7,800 Las Vegas Foreclosures for Sale on the Las Vegas MLS and you can view them all by clicking on this --> Las Vegas Foreclosures for sale. Which ones are the best deals? Well... that's something that only Las Vegas REALTORS with years of Las Vegas Real Estate experience will be able to share with you....

Paul Francis, CRS
Las Vegas Real Estate
702.592.3058