Summerlin introduces creative real estate marketing

Like so many other housing markets across the country Las Vegas, too, is feeling the adverse effects of tightening mortgage guidelines, slumping home values and skittish buyers. It's a major task to sell a property under these testing circumstances.

Real estate agents, FSBOs, banks, whoever is selling, have burned the midnight oil in a quest to discover marketing tools that work. Wide screen TVs have been offered as enticements, vacation packages, cars etc., they've all been put into action. House auctions became popular a while back, although the results with them have been mixed.

One of the latest innovations in Las Vegas is the Foreclosure Express, simply an airport shuttle bus with appropriate signage that seats 24 passengers. It's run by a local agent team that for now takes buyer candidates out to tour foreclosed homes in Summerlin. The concept has been successful enough that the plan is to expand its reach across town to Green Valley, Henderson and North Las Vegas. Selling a house is all about exposure and this ought to help.

The reaction in Summerlin neighborhoods the bus has so far visited has been lukewarm at best. Homeowners obviously feel that this approach will deflate their property values even more. It certainly might in the short term. But the benefits of moving vacant foreclosed houses as quickly as possible seem to outweigh the price decrease. The distressed homes become eyesores for lack of maintenance, vandalism is always a threat and the area's property taxes are likely to increase because foreclosed homes drop out of the collection roster, to mention a few of the drawbacks.

In addition, Southern Nevada is amidst a painful residential real estate correction and the sooner it runs its course, the faster the eventual recovery can begin. That will benefit in the long run every homeowner in town.