Bargain Hunters Heat Up Vegas Home Sales

More interesting than national numbers on sales of existing homes, both primary residences and second homes, is the growing appetite among shoppers in snapping up foreclosed properties at fire-sale prices.

"Homebuyers shrugged off economic worries and pounced on sharply discounted foreclosed homes in California, Nevada and Arizona, driving up sales last month across the West, according to two reports," the AP reported yesterday.

But the median price for these homes sold in the 13-state West region was down 11 % to $252,400. The red hot center for sales: Las Vegas, which in March saw its median home price fall "about 42 percent to $135,723."

No surprise here. Investors with cash see rock-bottom prices as a chance to take advantage of the opposite end of the Vegas home-building boom. One broker told Alex Veiga of the AP that his buyers were chiefly Californians. ""The biggest difference between now and the investors from '04 is these investors are buying them in full cash, and in '04 it was everyone buying them with zero-down loans."

Takeaway point: We seem to be entering the vulture phase of real estate enterprise.

One Investor Says Las Vegas Home Prices May Have Hit Bottom

Steve Bottfeld, a real estate analyst with Marketing Solutions has a 3 point theory of how to gauge the bottom of a real estate market. First, he looks at the inventory of homes listed on the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Second, he evaluates the volume of business which is simply the number of homes being sold in the marketplace. Lastly, he considers the average median price of homes. Bottfeld states that once the inventory stops increasing, the volume begins trending upward and the median price stabilizes… you have found the true bottom of the market. Concludes Las Vegas real estate investor Glenn Plantone: "From the data we are now considering for the Las Vegas valley, it appears that the elusive bottom may be right around the corner if not already here." He says the current median price of homes in Las Vegas is near $184,000, and "1in 76 homes is currently in some stage of foreclosure." What can you get for that price? 3 BR home shown above, currently on Las Vegas MLS, built in 2003, is listed at $179,999.

Have Prices Fallen Enough to Buy in Las Vegas?

Now may be the best time ever for investors to buy a home in foreclosure-slammed Las Vegas, says Glenn Plantone, whose National New Builds company based in Vegas specializes in undervalued markets."Since the beginning of 2008 the inventory of homes listed in the multiple listing service (MLS) has been slowly decreasing, while the volume of sales has slowly been picking up," he says, adding. "the average price of these homes has been dropping by about $10,000 a month." Thus, as of September 20008, homes with 20% down payments and fully amortized loans will now once again" make sense. Pantone, who says he is a full-time investor and a licensed realtor, declares that Vegas home prices are "as low as 30 – 50 cents on the dollar," making a purchase now a "great cash flow play." He also cites statistics indicating the migration into Las Vegas by residents continues unabated, providing a ready made buying public.