New Las Vegas house sale record set

Let's qualify that statement a little bit. A luxury single-family home recently sold for almost $7.9 million which translates into over $1,000 per square foot, as the property measures 7,519 of those feet. That $1,000 a foot is supposedly the new high for the valley. In terms of price alone, plenty of homes have changed hands for more money than that, but then they've been much larger. Some luxury high-rise condominiums have also done better than that, like units in Trump Towers and Park Towers, but this is the first in the single-family category.

So what happened to the soft real estate market here? Please click here to read the entire article.

Elvis returns to Vegas?

He just might do that. Unfortunately for the fans of the great entertainer it's only his name that is thinking about a comeback. Nothing else. Elvis won't be in the building.

A real estate firm out of New York a short time ago acquired total control of 18 acres of land between MGM Grand and Planet Hollywood. It can be said that this is prime territory right on the Strip. The company has aims to develop a mixed-use project on the site that would include residential, in short condominiums, hotel, retail and casino components.

How Elvis fits in the picture is that the firm owns licensing rights to his estate. And since the rock and roll star was such an important fixture in the Vegas scene for so long, they feel that adding an Elvis-theme somewhere in the development would be appropriate. Thus far the company hasn't announced any timeline for the project.

There are also skeptics toward the plan. Mostly they are the tenants who presently operate businesses on the 18-acre parcel. For the past 10 years they've heard all sorts of proposals for it and emphasize that nothing has happened yet. The location is attractive, though, that much we have to agree on.

It's true, Vegas has seen over the years many a developer from out of town wanting to build the world's best casino here and after the initial hoopla dies down, they fade into the sunset. It was the casinos then. Now the new breed developer wants to put up a high-rise condo or a mixed-use project and only the ones with solid track records will manage to pull it off, the Trumps and Turnberry's Soffers, for instance. Could be this developer, too.

Las Vegas suburbs on the march

Las Vegas valley still has a good amount of land available for residential development and eventually it'll be graded for more houses and condos and townhouses. But real estate is getting so expensive here that the future homes will be priced out of reach for many buyers. Another housing solution has to be found. Home builders have their finger on the pulse, of course, and are gradually shifting some operations into the outlying towns like Mesquite, Pahrump and Coyote Springs, each about an hour's drive from the Strip.

Prices over in these communities can be 20 to 50% less than here, incentive enough for many to handle the extra commute time with a smile and a favorite tune. To read the entire article, please click here.

Pinnacle Las Vegas condominiums

A 12-acre site was cleared for construction at West Tropicana and Cameron, near the Orleans Hotel and Casino. It will be the home of Pinnacle Las Vegas, a $850 million condominium-hotel project that will have 1,100 units in two 36-story high-rise buildings. The unique feature is that the two towers are connected by Sky Bridge suites.

Groundbreaking is to occur later this year and completion is expected in 2010. When Pinnacle opens it provides permanent employment for about 500 workers. This will be the first high-rise building for any purpose in that area.

Condominium prices will range from the $400,000s to over $1.4 million. The amenities that the residents can enjoy include a health and fitness center, full-service spa, movie theater, three-acre wet deck, whatever that is, restaurants and business center. Property owners can also sign up for a managed resort program that allows them to rent out their unit when away.

Real estate investor tips

Buyer's market, like today's, is always enticing for real estate investors and those who want to become investors. There are opportunities everywhere and sometimes it's hard to focus on the fundamentals that are key to making profitable acquisitions. It's easy to get caught in the atmosphere of abundant supply and then make hasty decisions that turn out less than satisfactory. Let's look at three major areas that I value the most when selecting an investment property.

The house has to be in a basically sound condition. To read the entire article, please click here.

Mortgage foreclosure law variations

It pays to know what type of mortgage you have. What comes to mind first is the kind of home loan program you opted for. Whether it's a fixed rate product or an ARM of some sort, look up the details. If you happen to have an ARM, it's good to be aware of when it resets, like does it do it annually, every three years or when. Learn the index that's being used, and the margin.

Now that foreclosures are rising across the land, it's equally important to know what kind of a financial instrument secures the loan to your property. Is it a conventional mortgage or a deed of trust? They fulfill the same role in real estate purchases, but are quite different from the legal point of view.

Here's the difference between the two. A mortgage involves only two parties, namely the lender and the borrower, whereas a deed of trust has an extra party to it, a trustee, who holds title to the home until the debt is satisfied.

Let's say a loan goes delinquent and the legal instrument is a mortgage, typically in this case the lender would have to go to court to begin foreclosure proceedings. Doing that always takes time, a lot of it. Everybody knows that. But if the instrument is a deed of trust, the trustee does not need to go to court to get started. This is called a non-judicial foreclosure and now the process can be really fast.

34 states either for the most part or completely employ the deed of trust. Alabama they say is the quick draw champion of all, possibly foreclosing on a delinquent borrower in as little as 30 days. Mississippi and New Hampshire can do it under 60. At the opposite end of the field is New York where it can take over a year. In short, be aware of the legal instrument you are bound by.

Las Vegas home sales soft in June

The pattern is quite familiar. For several months in a row now the stats that the local analyst Home Builders Research puts out show that home sale numbers remain soft. The market is in a funk, that's clear. Besides product oversupply, there also is another factor in the mix at this time of the year. Namely, when the middle of the summer temperatures reach 111 degrees and higher, who wants to go out house shopping. It's called a seasonal trend.

Here's a quick rundown on some of the numbers that matter. To read the entire article, please click here.