Las Vegas Homes $1,000,000 Off Sale

Posted by Robin Camacho | Current | Thursday 27 August 2009 3:24 AM

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.

 

 

My Cool New Tool

Posted by Robin Camacho | Current | Friday 21 August 2009 3:44 AM

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.

A Complete List of All Las Vegas REOs is Now Available

Posted by Robin Camacho | Current | Thursday 20 August 2009 3:43 AM

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.

 

 

 

Has Las Vegas Real Estate Hit Bottom?

Posted by Robin Camacho | Current | Monday 3 August 2009 3:27 AM

Do you recall what you were doing on the afternoon of April 24? I generally can barely recall what I was doing yesterday, but I will always remember April 24. That's the day the Las Vegas real estate market appeared to hit bottom.

Unlike most Realtors, I've been extremely busy for the past 2 years. My LasVegasAdvisor.com clients are generally buying second homes or investment homes, and are savvy enough to be buying in this market, especially in the fall and winter when there is less competition for homes. So I'm always busy.

However, April 24 just felt different. Throughout late 2008 and early 2009, I'd been getting almost every offer accepted. But on April 24, I sat back in my seat at the end of the long day, reflecting on the fact that I'd had two offers refused that day. Suddenly, multiple counters on REOs was again the norm, just as in the summer of 2008.

No one has been willing to call this the bottom of the market, but simply for fear of what might happen next in an economy that only Great Depression-aged folks have any experience with. I'm one of those who hasn't been willing to say we've hit bottom. However, I've been quietly telling my buyers since late April that they'd better buy right now, because prices were stabilizing.

Prices were stable in May and June. For July, we actually saw a 1% increase in the median price of single family homes; the first price increase in a long time. The figures you'll read in the newspaper show prices holding steady for July; however, those figures include condos, age-restricted communities and mobile homes. Since these are all a fairly insignificant part of the market, statistically speaking, we don't track these. For single family homes, the price has risen slightly.

Like I've said dozens of times, we won't know it's the bottom of the market until it's in the past. On April 24, I wasn't ready to call it the bottom, but I had a strong hunch it was. Only time will prove me right, but I think we're looking at the bottom in the rearview mirror. We may be slow in rebounding, but I can't envision prices falling further across the board.

I expect to see prices hold firm throughout the slow season coming up, barring a major catastrophic event such as a collapsing economy. Or banks releasing those phantom 30,000 nonexistent REOs we keep hearing about. If you haven't bought, you should find less competition (fewer multiple offers) throughout the winter. But expect this winter to be the last time you'll find Las Vegas foreclosures at these prices.

The pendulum is ever so slowly starting to swing the other way – finally. Come February, expect buyers to rush back to the market and drive prices up somewhat higher.