Yes, Robin’s back. Yes, it’s been awhile.

I’ve opened my own brokerage, Neighborhood Realty, in the southwest area. I’ve hired more agents, more assistants, and yes, you’re probably the last to know. I’ve done you a disservice, and I apologize – you’ll all be invited to the Grand Opening soon!

It’s all good for my Las Vegas Advisor readers and my buyers and sellers, but I just haven’t been able to find the time to stay in touch via my blog. We are already among the busiest brokerages in the Las Vegas area, and I just can’t put aside writing offers and closing deals. But that’s not fair to you, so I forced myself to hire a licensed agent who is also my marketing assistant. Welcome aboard Tracy Castro-Aguilar. Tracy cracked the whip, and House Advantage is back. Our Facebook page is up, and I’m Tweeting market updates much more frequently.

My sincere apologies – I have been a bit overwhelmed. After 3 years in the top 2% of agents in the valley – and in the top handful of buyers agents – it was time to open my own brokerage. Stop by to say “hello” and check out our gorgeous new offices when you get a chance.

Now to my point – and I really do have one. Some exciting news for investors. As of August 20, the 6-month seasoning requirement for cash-out refis will no longer be an impediment for investors looking to buy and then pull their cash out quickly for their next investment home purchase.

There are some guidelines, of course. The purchase must be arms length, and the money for the original cash purchase will need to be documented. There are a few other easy hurdles; call my office, 702.949.0790, if you need a referral to a lender for more details.

This is probably the best news Mack & Wendy could get right now. These clients have $100,000 cash, and wanted to buy their first Las Vegas rental home. I’d already suggested we use leverage to get them into 3 or 4 rental homes (while they’re practically giving these things away!). This gives them the ability to have cash quickly for each purchase, rather than secure one mortgage at a time.

Welcome to the Neighborhood!

Just a few quick statistics on the market before I run to show homes to a client looking for a second home:

     Median price rose to $138,000

     4039 homes were sold in September

     44% of sales were cash

That cash figure is phenomenal. It's the investors. Easy to see where the smart money is being invested right now.

I wrote 3 offers on Thursday and had 2 of these accepted on Friday. I think I'll sell one or two more before the weekend is out. At this pace we may not see our normal holiday slowdown until December 24.

With Reflection Bay Golf Club closed at Lake Las Vegas, homes there are selling unbelievably low. If you're looking for a second home, this is a great time to look. Do your research on this one so you are aware of the bankruptcy issue. It's the uncertainty that's driven the prices so low. I never recommend this to investors (too far out for most renters), but for a second home in a postcard-pretty setting, this might be ideal for you. Plan to hold until they get their issues resolved.

If you've made more than one offer on a Las Vegas foreclosure lately, you'll totally get this.

With banks finally trying to spread their REO listings among more than a small handful of listing agents, we come up against new roadblocks, er I mean navigate new systems, daily.

Prices have climbed, albeit a nearly imperceptible rise. With multiple offers on nearly every home, some buyers are getting very frustrated. With fewer than 1600 REOs on the market today, you need to have the right offer to get it accepted.

Expect a roller coaster ride if you are shopping for a bank-owned home in the Las Vegas area right now. Not one of those smooth new highspeed coasters that glide quietly and seemingly effortlessly through the ride. More like that old mad mouse coaster on the Santa Cruz Boardwalk that jars your spine and frays your last nerve.

Use an experienced Realtor, friends. That's my best advice for today.

I got home from the Bahamas on Saturday planning to spend a few more days in my sun/rum/time continuum, that zone of complete relaxation. I made the mistake of letting my office know I was back in town. So here I've been since Sunday working 15 hour days again. Not that I'm complaining – I LOVE what I do. Being a Realtor is better than being an astronaut or a major league pitcher. I'm just no longer moving like I'm wading through molasses.

The market has barely slowed, with a nominal drop in sales in August. September is usually slow as a new school year begins, but the pace remains brisk.

Dean and Jan just had another offer rejected; this one was more than $70,000 over list price. This time I'm shocked; this was a great offer. There must have been a very strong cash offer.

First-time homebuyer Dustin just made an offer on 3 homes, and was very fortunate to have an offer accepted. It's not easy getting FHA offers accepted right now. When the bank asked for Dustin's "highest-and-best" offer on another, they had 80 offers on the house.

Flying back in to find temperatures in the mid-90's, I had an "aha" moment. People come to Las Vegas for the casinos, the great food, and the shows – but they move here for the weather. My clients who buy their 2nd homes and retirement homes in Las Vegas buy here because they can wear shorts when they come here in November.

FOR SALE: Snowblower, shovel and ice scraper. Never used, still in box. Ahhhh, Las Vegas. It's fall, and it's gorgeous today.

The price of new homes sold in Las Vegas in August rose 1.7%. That's the 3rd consecutive month in which the price of new homes sold has risen, albeit slightly. More evidence suggesting that we hit bottom a few months ago.

Nearly 3900 homes were sold overall in the Las Vegas area in August. That's a very slight decline from July, but a large increase over August of 2008. The percentage of sales attributable to foreclosure was barely over 70%. That's down from 82% in the spring, and reflects the increase in the number of sales of non-bank owned homes, whether resale or new. With a shortage of REOs, more privately-owned homes are selling.

Naturally, with a shortage of bank-owned homes we are seeing flippers in the market again. If you are buying a resale home and are using a mortgage, find out when the home was purchased last. Many lenders won't finance a flip, so if the home you want was sold recently, check with your mortgage agent up front to see if it's going to be a problem.

 I'm still enjoying a little R&R in the Bahamas, where the "no-see-ums" feast on me as I float, half awake, on a mat in the ocean. The diving in the Exuma Islands isn't spectacular, but Gavin and Nick, owners of Turtle Diving, rewarded us with a one-hour layover at Chat N' Chill on Stocking Island after our shallow dives yesterday.

 It will be hard to get back into heels when I return to work…a dilemma I face every year around this time, when I generally return from some down-time in the Caribbean.

Incredibly, the demand for Las Vegas homes is still strong, even in traditionally-slow September. One of my clients just had an offer rejected at $60,000 over list. The winning cash offer trumped our 30%-down offer.

Dean and Jan have been looking for a home for at least a year. I don't know anyone who is better at getting offers accepted than I am, but we have been bested time and again. Initially, their offers were too low, against my advice. There were 2 good offers I was sure would be accepted last week, but weren't. Yet, I just had 5 of 7 cash offers submitted last week for another client accepted!

But Dean and Jan have very good taste, and there are a lot of cash buyers in the market who have the same good taste. Fortunately for this couple, we are entering the slow season. With less competition, we should be able to find something soon. I take it personally when they find a home they love and their offer is rejected. This time was like a punch in the stomach. We had a great offer. Woulda, coulda, shoulda…it's tough to compete with all cash right now.

I've noticed that some banks are pricing houses way too low in the past 2-3 weeks. That doesn't mean they can be had for that price, even for cash. I couldn't convince an investor 2 weeks ago to ignore the list price and go by the comps, so he missed by a long shot. I can't imagine why banks are listing homes at $110,000 when there are good, recent comps in the $165,000 range on the same street! Or why they are listing homes with $400,000 comps for $325,000. But be forewarned – my agents and I are seeing a lot of it this month. And while I actually can imagine why, I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

I'm in the Bahamas, on a very sleepy island, enjoying some sand, sun and rum. Not enough sun, but that's the drawback of visiting Exuma, or any island, in hurricane season.

I usually travel to the Caribbean in the low season because no one else does. What a great time to get to know the owners of local establishments such as Dee, of Santana's Cafe, and her mom, a.k.a. Mom, of Mom's Bakery next door. Dee served up a tender lobster, just pulled from the ocean by her husband. And shared some great photos of the celebrities who manage to find her little corner of the world.

Exuma is a relatively undeveloped island of 6,000 inhabitants. It can't compare to Grand Cayman or even Turks and Caicos – but it's a great place if you're looking for rum punch and a good cigar from you-know-where!

I'd better go chase some sun before the rain returns. Oh, wow, I just saw a fight between the former hotel owners and the guy who is managing it for the new owners. That's probably the most excitement this island has ever seen. Now, back to sun and a rum punch.

I just don't get it some days.

Yesterday my partner Ron Branson and I showed a 9,000+ square foot Spanish Trails home to a nice young woman and her mother. They loved this impeccable home, and arranged to have Ron show the mother's husband a short time later.

This incredible home on the golf course sold for $4 million previously. It was foreclosed on at $3.5 million. It was immaculate. The master bedroom was the size of a small house, and you'd almost need a golf cart to travel between the "his" and "hers" master bedroom closets.

The price is less than $1.9 million. There's a lot of money to be made on this house. These opportunities don't come along every day.

If I had a dollar for every house I could pick up a quick million on… Well, I'd have a dollar.

I'm checking out the incredible new tool Ron just bought for me – a miniature keyboard that is Bluetooth enabled. Unbelievable…I'm typing on a little keyboard hooked up to my cell phone!

Ron apparently doesn't want me to have any excuse to miss my blog writing. And now I don't!

This is incredible.

Cash is King, once again. I know this is Las Vegas, and you were thinking that Elvis is the King. (Elvis is dead. No, really.) Cash is back – it's the new black.

I've never seen so many banks ready to take less money for cash offers. Of course cash is always preferred, but in today's market the discount for cash is greater than it was in the past. Don't get too excited – even cash buyers are most often paying list price or above lately. But buyers using OPM to buy their foreclosure property are finding they can't offer enough. OPM  is SO early 2009.

Before late April and the surge in offers, buyers using FHA or conventional financing were forced to offer quite a bit more than cash buyers to get an offer accepted. But with homes appraising low and banks forced to lower their price or put the REO back on the market, banks are salivating over cash offers which are generally not going to fall out of escrow over appraisal issues.

The big downside for Las Vegas residents is that so many of the homes are being bought up by out-of-state investors who really aren't invested in the community so much as the property. These aren't speculators that will bail out; these are investors who intend to buy and hold for the cash flow as well as future appreciation. But first-time homebuyers are struggling to buy at a time when homes are affordable again. I help my investor clients make money, but every once in awhile I enjoy a warm, fuzzy feeling when I can help a local family buy their first home.

Prices are remaining steady. Intuitively I think I'm seeing that REOs are coming on the market at slightly higher prices, but this is based on anecdotal information at this time. Don't be surprised to see that prices are rising very slightly.

Lots of new changes that I'll share with you soon. You'll have noticed some of these on the website already if you are a regular viewer. The feedback on the changes has been very positive, with many homebuyers raving about the newly automated Top 10 and the list of all Las Vegas bank-owned homes.