Las Vegas Real Estate Blog

Happy 4th of July!

Our family enjoys the celebration of our independence. We retreat to our family cabin in Montana for the 4th. I wanted to get a note out to everyone to wish them a happy vacation while we remember why we are free to do what we do.

Brave men and women have stepped up to sacrifice on our behalf. We appreciate what they do and wish their safe return. Please keep them in your prayers.

The NAR has recently shown support for veterans and their ability to obtain a loan. According to the Realtor mag 1/3 of all homeless men are veterans. The government and NAR are taking actions to improve this situation.

It will be well for us to consider the sacrifices on our behalf and the freedoms we enjoy in return.

Our Boy Scout troop did its summer camp in Zion National Park. One of the leaders knows someone with a cabin so the boys are staying for the week. I was fortunate enough to get to go on their major hike: the Narrows. What an awesome hike! The whole park is beautiful and draws people from all over the world.

Zion is full of beautiful red and orange plateaus. Slot canyons form from the rivers running through them over millions of years. The Narrows is one of those slot canyon hikes. The sides of the canyon are hundreds of feet high and in some cases two hikers can touch hands and touch the walls on each side. Hikers need to be sure to get permit requests scheduled ahead of time because they limit the number of people who can go down daily. If hikers start at the top it is 16 miles of walking over rocks, through mud and water, and in some places floating in water too deep to touch the bottom.

We met people from Holland, New York, Wisconsin, Utah, Nevada, and many other locations. I was surprised at the number of people who fly into Las Vegas and then drive the 3.5 hours into the park. Seems it is the best way to fly in.

The boys had a blast and we all came out sore and achy but with a huge sense of accomplishment.

North Las Vegas has grown a great deal in recent years. At one point it was ranking in the top growing cities in the US. It continues to add a large number of residents to the overall Las Vegas valley. Real estate agents have found great values to the north and have guided clients to the quickly developing part of town. Even in a market slowdown communities continue to sell homes and home buyers continue to settle in.

There remains a considerable amount of land to the north of the city. The next decade will continue to see a sizable growth rate.

I just got off the phone with a client looking to sell her Las Vegas property and we had the age old discussion: to buy first or sell. She found the new home she wants and plans to list her home and time it right for the completion and close of escrow of her new home. However, she may need the money from the home for sale to put down on the new home. And, she only wants to move once.

Well, in the end she will be selling, renting, and then closing. There are a handful of factors that go into the timing: What is worth more to me? my time, effort, and convenience or my money?

If your answer is time, effort, and convenience then you will likely buy your next house before you move from your current one. You will plan to move only one time. You will need to be sure to have several months of mortgage payments and utility payments on hand for both houses. You will be able to move one time and not worry about finding somewhere to store your belongings temporarily. You will have a place to stay for your family, pets, and things. You may consider speeding up the process of selling your previous house by making the pricing or terms very favorable.

If you answer to the question above was "my money" then you will have a more difficult road ahead but you will potentially save big at your pocketbook. You will have to find temporary storage for your belongings, family, pets, etc. as you rent or stay with family or friends. You will then have to move again once the second house has closed. You will not likely be stuck with multiple mortgage payments and you will only pay utilities of the current house you own. Keep in mind you may have to pay rent and utilities at your temporary location. Be quick to act in getting your second home closed.

Trading up or trading down or relocating is not a simple process. The more resources you have at your aid in the whole process the smoother everything goes.

Let's have a fun, safe, trouble free 4th of July season. Here are a handful of resources for Las Vegas residents and visitors when it comes to fireworks.

Purchasing fireworks in the Las Vegas valley: http://www.fpanevada.org/programs/fw_program/fw_program1.htm

Fire prevention by the Nevada Dept of Safety: http://www.fire.state.nv.us/

News information: http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5098368

Other Las Vega resources: http://lasvegas.about.com/b/a/178105.htm

I was suprised to learn that even the standard sparkler was as dangerous as it is:

"The DPS Fire Marshal Division advises that although sparklers are sometimes
thought of as innocent, they heat to temperatures of 1800ºF or more within
seconds. Before handing sparklers to children, think of the average baking
temperature of an oven, then multiply by 5 or even 6."

Recently some acquaintances ran into some headaches with their Las Vegas home owners association. When it was established it was set up as a full fledged association. However, no one ever really took the bull by the horns and enforced it so it turned into a landscape HOA. Now, the president of the landscape HOA wants to reform the HOA to enforce the original policy. There is quite a dispute over the procedings. Not many people think the president will be successful. Homes are painted the wrong colors and many other costly violations have been in place for years and to require owners to revert will be difficult.

An article in the RJ explained the power of the HOA. The board is the entity that has power to make changes and enforce policy. The president would have to secure a significant amount of the votes in the community to make any changes. At this point not much will happen. HOA's are supposed to be there for the residents. If the HOA does not enforce its bylaws then the residents will act in their own interest and the HOA becomes irrelevant.

Reportedly national interest rates have dropped off for the first time in 8 or so weeks. The RJ explained the drop:

"This week's drop-off followed reports on consumer inflation and housing activity that were interpreted as noninflationary by investors. Like tea leaves or animal entrails, these economic reports could have been interpreted in many ways. They could have been seen as harbingers of rising inflation and a rebounding housing sector. But that's not how bond investors saw them, and the result was falling bond yields and mortgage rates."

It will be interesting over the next couple of weeks to see what happens with these national rates. Many buyers are already on the fense to get into the market. It will be healthy for the market if money becomes easier to come by.

Let me start off that I can't wait until the end of fax machines. I think the time is close at hand where an agent can carry around his tablet computer with contracts included, a client finds a home and right there the agent digitally fills out the contract and gets a signature. A wireless internet connection allows the agent to send the contract on to the listing agent. The listing agent receives the message and clicks a link taking him/her to a secure site where they can find the new offer and respond. The contracts are stored in a secure, backed up environment to reduce risk of loss. Document repositories will handle all of the transactions...


The NAR magazine suggests that perhaps our children may be able to do a transaction in a virtual manner without ever meeting an agent. In fact, Caldwell banker is running experiments with the social network Second Life. The technology we will see will drastically change our line of work.


The next decade will be interesting indeed.

Stagers can be a huge help to selling a home. Sometimes they bump into issues. The 4 biggest challenges they may have are:

1. Owners don't want to change their decor - Sellers can't be forced to change their home around. However, tactful language can help accomplish the goal. A piece of furniture or clutter items can be described a special and moved into storage to protect them.
   
2. The listing has languished on the market for months before the owner of sales person calls a stager - If a home needs staged it should be done early on in the listing so the house doesn't sit without potential buyers.
   
3. A confused layout makes the home seem cramped and unlivable - It helps to stage a room where there are multiple main elements like a fireplace, TV, etc.
   
4. A vacant home seems cold and uninviting - A home can be cozy when the right furnishings are placed in every room. An empty room may seem cold and hollow.

If you plan to hire a stager plan to take their advice and have it done before the home is placed 0n the market.

The top real estate company (self-reported) in the Realtor Magazine's top 100 companies this year was NRT Inc. out of Parsippany, N.J. They closed 392,452 sides, which is twice the next closest company. They have 1000+ companies and around 61,000 salespeople, which is 3 times the amount of the next closest company in both categories.

To make the top 100, a company needed to report 5,135 sides with 300+ salespeople.

Amazing leadership and business philosophies go into creating successful operations like these.