Las Vegas Real Estate Blog

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Should I buy a house in Las Vegas right now?

I spend a few minutes each day answering real estate related questions online by email or on websites set up for the public to ask questions and receive responses.  I've noticed similar questions tend to come up and sometimes I know I've answered it before, but can't recall where. There have also been times where I put a good deal of effort into preparing an answer and later found the question had been deleted.  Well, I thought, why not post my answers to my own blog? 

btw, Spelling and grammar in the questions have been left "as asked".

The Question: 

Should I buy a house in Las Vegas right now?

My husband has a job making $80,000 and I'm a house wife.... we're relocating there for that... what would be a good amount to spend on a house?

 

My Answer:


Experts recommend 28% to a third of your income towards housing (although some loan programs will allow you to borrow much more) which would put you in the $300k-$350k range.

 

A few factors to think about are how much are you comfortable spending monthly on a house payment, what size home will fit your needs, then make a list of "must have" and "would like" for your ideal home.

 

Location will make a big difference in pricing too. You may find a home in Summerlin costing 30 or more percent compared with other Las Vegas neighborhoods.

 

If you'd like to get an idea of homes that match your price range and criteria you can follow this link: http://www.VegasProperty4u.com/property_request.shtml

0 comments • Damon Botticelli - Las Vegas Real Estate (Realtor) • August 11 2008 03:00AM

Is it better to rent or buy a home in Las Vegas?

I spend a few minutes each day answering real estate related questions online by email or on websites set up for the public to ask questions and receive responses.  I've noticed similar questions tend to come up and sometimes I know I've answered it before, but can't recall where. There have also been times where I put a good deal of effort into preparing an answer and later found the question had been deleted.  Well, I thought, why not post my answers to my own blog? 

btw, Spelling and grammar in the questions have been left "as asked".

The Question: 

Is it better to rent or buy a home in Las Vegas?

With the housing market, is it better to rent or buy in Las Vegas?

 

 

My Answer:

 

That depends on your needs, goals, and plans...How long do you plan to stay in Las Vegas? How much are you willing to spend each month for housing? Would you benefit from the tax advantages of owning? If there was no difference financially, which would you prefer?

 

Buying a home priced under $200,000 can be very competitive with the cost of renting a similar home.

 

Rough numbers, but you can purchase a home for about $110 per square foot and rent the same for about $.75 per square foot. Take a 1600 square foot home for $176,000 or rent it for $1200. Take those numbers and plug it into the yahoo rent vs. own calculator and figure a 6% interest rate (get a seller contribution to buy down the rate if needed) and see what you get.

 

If you'd like to run some numbers, yahoo has a great rent vs. own calculator at http://realestate.yahoo.com/calculators/rent_vs_own.html

 

according to the calculator: You would save approximately $95,049 (in today's dollars) by buying a home, rather than renting, over the 15 year timeframe you have entered.

0 comments • Damon Botticelli - Las Vegas Real Estate (Realtor) • August 11 2008 02:14AM

Can i really find good Foreclosure deals at the County Clerks office?

I spend a few minutes each day answering real estate related questions online by email or on websites set up for the public to ask questions and receive responses.  I've noticed similar questions tend to come up and sometimes I know I've answered it before, but can't recall where. There have also been times where I put a good deal of effort into preparing an answer and later found the question had been deleted.  Well, I thought, why not post my answers to my own blog? 

btw, Spelling and grammar in the questions have been left "as asked".

The Question:

Can i really find good Foreclosure deals at the County Clerks office?

I am currently look to buy a foreclosed home or home that is going through preforeclosure. I just wanted to know if my local county clerks office shows me houses that are being auctioned or are they showing homes that in the process of being forclosed.

 

My Answer:

 

The answer may vary by location, but in Las Vegas, Clark County Nevada, the information you'll get from the county recorder's office would be "notice of default" which investors would consider "pre-foreclosure". Getting the default list gives investors time (about 5 months before repossession) to contact the owner and attempt to work out a win-win-win solution. In the current market, because of fallen home values, it's rare to find a situation with enough equity to be profitable for the investor.

 

You'll also find the "notice of trustee sale" at the county recorder's office. This is the notice that the property will be sold at auction in about 30 days. Here you'll need to show up with cashier's checks for the full purchase amount on the day of the auction. No inspections, btw. Lately, because of fallen home prices, there are no bidders at these auctions, and the bank (note holder) becomes the high bidder by default at the amount that was owed on the note.

 

If you're researching a specific address, the county office should do just fine, but if you're looking for well organized lists, you'll find them much more accessible and user friendly when you get them directly from a title company or real estate agent.

 

I offer Las Vegas area foreclosure lists at http://www.foreclosures.investinvegas.us

 

0 comments • Damon Botticelli - Las Vegas Real Estate (Realtor) • August 11 2008 12:57AM

Why are "bank owned" homes being priced so low?

I spend a few minutes each day answering real estate related questions online by email or on websites set up for the public to ask questions and receive responses.  I've noticed similar questions tend to come up and sometimes I know I've answered it before, but can't recall where.  There have also been times where I put a good deal of effort into preparing an answer and later found the question had been deleted.  Well, I thought, why not post my answers to my own blog?

The Question:

Why are "bank owned" homes being priced so low?

If it is to generate multiple bids and a bidding war, is that ethical? Why not price the home closer to what the owner would really like to get for the home or price it closer to the true appraised price? (Especially since NV law indicates that agents cannot appraise a home; although they can provide a suggested price for sale.)

 

My Answer:

It is to attract the highest number of buyers and sell the home at the highest possible price in the shortest amount of time. There is nothing wrong with that in itself. There are certainly other problems such as listing agents not being able to keep up with the number of listings they've taken on or the banks not set up to handle the number of properties they're trying to sell. I think our MLS should add a data field for "offers in review" so it's clear if they're sitting on 15 offers but have not accepted anything yet. 

If you're looking at bank owned property, think ebay, except you do have the advantage of being able to make bids on more than 1 property at a time. Don't fall in love with the property. Make your highest and best offer and move on to the next, or don't look at bank owned homes or homes that you know are severely under priced. 

This market has got to be one of the most confusing and frustrating for buyers. Everything they hear has been telling them it's a buyers market. Then they start looking...make an offer or two and say "WHAT'S GOING ON! my full price offer sat around for 3 weeks and the home was sold to someone else for $40k over list. That's not a buyers market." So all of the sudden someone who might be a first time home buyer in a buyers market finds themselves in situations once reserved only for experienced and thick skinned investors.

Sat Aug 2 2008, 12:50

 

0 comments • Damon Botticelli - Las Vegas Real Estate (Realtor) • August 11 2008 12:11AM

Brand New 3 Bedroom for $168,000 - Northwest Las Vegas - Builder Incentives from Pulte

fall out opportunities in two of our closed-out communities. Incentives in these homes go as high as $200,000 along with special Buyer Rewards when using Pulte Mortgage.

 

For the "Green Means Go" sales event running through August 24th in addition to our offered incentives we will paying One Year HOA, giving an additional $5,000 in options, and a $7,500 "Jump-Start" tax match incentive -Pulte

Sky Pointe Condos - Final 2 Homes 

6868 Sky Pointe Drive, Las Vegas, 89131
                                                       
 
Sky Pointe is a gated condominium community of 310 homes located in the Centennial Hills Master plan with convenient access to both the US-95 and I-215 freeways. The HOA $156 per month and includes hazard insurance, trash, water, sewer and community maintenance. Amenities include an oversized swimming pool, bath house, sand volleyball, park, and gazebo with BBQ areas.
 
Beautiful 1236 sq. ft. 3 bedroom home
Unit 2037, Building 10 
$168,000 plus special Buyer Rewards
Second floor unit, 3 bed / 2 bath / 1 car garage. Toffee maple cabinets, Giallo Veneziano granite countertops, Black GE appliance package including refrigerator, washer and dryer, 2" faux wood blinds, pre-wired for security system and ceiling fans, upgraded flooring including 18 x 18 tile and plush carpet throughout, covered balcony off dining room. private location at back of community with lots of nearby parking.
Immediate move-in
 
Former Model Home! 1236 sq. ft.
Unit 2005, Building 2 
$165,000 plus special Buyer Rewards
Second floor unit, 2 bed plus den / 2 bath / 1 car garage. Light oak cabinets, Corian counters, GE appliance package including refrigerator, washer and dryer, 2" faux wood blinds, upgraded tile and carpet flooring, custom wall paint and wallpaper, window treatments and ceiling fans, covered balcony off dining room.
September move-in
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0 comments • Damon Botticelli - Las Vegas Real Estate (Realtor) • August 09 2008 10:16PM

Positive Article About The Las Vegas Housing Market - Home sales begin to rebound in Las Vegas

 

It's nice to get some positive news from the media every once in a while, so I thought I'd help spread it around!  I'm sure, like myself, other local agents have seen and experienced this rebound since about February-March of this year, especially if their clients have been one of ten with offers on the same bank owned property.  Homes are definately moving again.

 

Home sales begin to rebound in Las Vegas

By Christine Dugas, USA TODAY

August 5, 2008

 

There's a glimmer of hope in the neon city of Nevada, where home sales are starting to heat up after two dismal years. In fact, sales in Las Vegas have risen over the past six months...

view the rest of this story here:  http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Story?id=5515992&page=1

0 comments • Damon Botticelli - Las Vegas Real Estate (Realtor) • August 09 2008 05:41PM