Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas Real Estate: September 2007

In today's Las Vegas real estate market, there are over 1,100 million-dollar homes listed for sale. Buyers can find anything from a 2-bedroom, 1000 square foot home built in 1973 on 1.72 acres (a clear redevelopment play) to a 6-bedroom, 11,381 square foot home on nearly ten acres in Wayne Newton's neighborhood listed for a cool $21,000,000.

Sadly for me, I'm not working with a million-dollar buyer right now, just doing some research on this segment of the market to see what opportunities it has for 2008. The Brenkus Team has 33 listings over $1 million, second only to Florence Shapiro of Prudential Americana Group. The total list price of these homes is over $2.3 billion, so getting even a small portion of this market can be significant.

Some of my initial questions were basic. How many photos are in the MLS? Is there a virtual tour? Others were more business-oriented. What is the average buyer's agent split? What areas of the Las Vegas valley have the most listings? Which agents and brands have the greatest share of listings? Here's what I found:

• How many photos are in the MLS?
  Our MLS allows a maximum of eight photos. Out of 1,111 million-dollar listings, 839 (75.5%) had 8 photos. Just 67 (6.0%) had no photos. (Some of those may be new listings or under construction.) 118 listings (10.6%) had only 1-4 pictures.
  
  
• Is there a virtual tour?
  Virtual tours are available in 657 listings (59.1%).
  
  
• What is the average buyer's agent co-op?
  Co-ops range from a flat fee to 8%. The average co-op is 3.1%. There are 102 listings offering 4% or higher.
  
  
• What areas of the Las Vegas valley have the most million-dollar listings?
  Our MLS divides the valley into six major areas. Henderson has 413 homes listed, followed closely by southwest Las Vegas with 408. Northwest Las Vegas is a distant third with 178.
  
  
• Which agents have the greatest number of listings?
  A total of six agents have 20 or more listings, with the top agent having 45. 470 agents have a single listing, and another 63 have just two.
  
  
• Which brands have the greatest market share?
  Prudential Americana has 14% of the listings in this market segment. Rounding out the top five are RE/MAX, Coldwell Banker, Century 21, and Keller Williams.

Just from these initial questions, it's clear that there is plenty of opportunity in the Las Vegas luxury market. My next steps will be to look at online and print presence of some of the top listing agents, and then analyze sales transactions for the first nine months to determine top buyer's agents, days on market, and absorption rates. This will be valuable information to help build the luxury homes component of my 2008 business plan.

In today's Las Vegas real estate market, a common lament is that we have so much inventory because investors are trying to sell homes that were purchased during the frenzy of 2004. After a couple of years of rental income, and now in the middle of a market correction, investors are trying to lock in impressive gains (or limit their losses) and move on to their next opportunity. This has resulted in a high number of vacant homes on the market.

While checking the vacancy rate this afternoon, I was surprised to find that the total number of vacant and tenant-occupied properties outnumber those that are owner-occupied. Out of 21,639 single-family listings in the Las Vegas valley (Las Vegas, Henderson, and North Las Vegas), only 9,759 (45.1%) are the personal residence of the owner. Here's how the numbers break down:

How many of the vacant listings belong to out-of-state investors? I looked at a sample of 553 listings in Henderson, and 194 of them (35.1%) belonged to owners whose address was outside of Nevada. If that percentage holds true, then 4,486 of the vacant listings are owned by non-Nevadans.

This glut of vacant and investor-owned homes will continue to put downward pressure on market prices of Las Vegas real estate. Many buyer's agents take the path of least resistance and show vacant homes before scheduling appointments with owner-occupants. Investors, looking at the sale from a financial rather than emotional perspective, are more likely to price their homes realistically. Until inventory returns to normal levels (12-14,000 homes), sellers of owner-occupied homes must have an aggressive pricing and marketing plan to succeed in today's competitive Las Vegas real estate market.

Summerlin Centre Community Park will be the place to be this weekend, September 29 and 30, for the 15th Annual Summerlin Art Festival. Art lovers of all ages will be able to enjoy some terrific southern Nevada weather, see a wide variety of talented artists, grab a bite to eat in the food court, and maybe even create a masterpiece of their own, from 10 AM to 5 PM.

The Summerlin Art Festival is actually two events in one:

• Celebration of the Arts
  View and purchase artwork from southern Nevada and other U.S. artists in a number of different mediums including paintings; sculpture; pottery; glass, metal and wood crafting; mixed media and more.
• La Strada dell' Arte
  The sidewalks of Summerlin Centre Community Park will provide a canvas for chalk artists to create colorful works of art. The public can also participate by 'purchasing' a 2' x 4' area for only $5.00.

Summerlin Centre Community Park is at 1850 Town Center Drive, between Charleston and Sahara. To get there take the 215 Beltway to Charleston and head east to Town Center, then turn right to the park. Or take US-95 to Summerlin Parkway, exit on Town Center and head south to the park.

Classic car enthusiasts of all ages had a chance to share their passion this past weekend at the Super Run in downtown Henderson, NV. From a '32 Roadster to a pink Cadillac to the muscle cars of the 60's and 70's, all of them were gleaming in the sun on a beautiful southern Nevada weekend.

Jan and Dean and Chubby Checker headlined the entertainment for the three-day event in Henderson's Water Street District. The event was sponsored by the City of Henderson's Department of Cultural Arts and Tourism. Enjoy the photos!

	The Water Street District in Henderson NV is going through some exciting redevelopment. In the background you can see two new mixed-use buildings: Meridian (L) and Pinnacle (R).
	A couple of '32 Roadsters get great parking spaces at the entrance to Meridian, a mixed-use building in downtown Henderson's Water Street District.

In Part 2 of this series, we looked at the Las Vegas foreclosure market and found that over 80% were priced under $400,000. (The median sale price for a single-family home in August was $296,338.) Today we will look at short sales in Las Vegas to see which price ranges have the greatest activity.

Before looking at the numbers, it is important to understand exactly what a short sale is. When a seller nets less than the balance of their mortgage and the lender agrees to take a loss, that is a short sale. The key issue is not whether the seller needs to come out of pocket at closing, but that the lender agrees to accept less than the balance of the mortgage.

Currently in the Las Vegas valley resale market, nearly 12 out of 100 homes listed (11.78%) are in short sale status. Today we'll examine this more closely to determine if certain price points are affected more than others. Here are the details:

Just as we found with foreclosures, over 80% of the short sales are with homes listed under $400,000. Because of less stringent lending criteria that allowed so many 97-100% loans, homeowner equity in this sector is particularly vulnerable to market corrections.

How will the volume of foreclosures and short sales affect values in the Las Vegas real estate market? What steps can homeowners facing potential foreclosures or short sales take to resolve their situation and minimize their losses?

In Part 4, we'll start to answer those questions. To be sure that you don't miss a part to this series, subscribe to this blog.

Read more:
   Part 1 - Overview of Las Vegas Foreclosures and Short Sales
   Part 2 - Las Vegas Foreclosures by Price Range