Las Vegas Inventory Sets Another Record In May
The Las Vegas realtors have the May numbers out. “The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors recently released housing statistics for May 2006. The total number of local homes sold in May (was) down 17 percent from 2005. For condos and townhomes, 605 units were sold, which is down 19 percent from one year ago.”
“The number of available homes listed in the Las Vegas area increased 7.6 percent from April to May to a record total of 19,132. The number of available condos and townhomes reached 4,253, an 11.9 percent increase from April to May and a 67.4 percent increase from last year at this time.”
“Association leaders expect the local housing inventory to peak as summer approaches.”
And the Times Online looks at one Nevada flipper. “In a city built on defying the odds, Mark Barclay believes he has discovered a sure bet. The Dorset-based pilot is blowing half a million dollars on a flat in a Las Vegas tower block.”
“The two-bedroom flat is not actually built yet: like much else in Vegas, it exists only on paper. Barclay isn’t worried: he says he hopes never to set eyes on it anyway. Truth be told, he is not impressed by modern Vegas. He finds it far too crowded.”
“This week Barclay is poised to put down more money on a second property in an obscure desert town that few outside Nevada have ever heard of. ‘There is nothing more attractive right now than Nevada,’ he said.”
“Barclay is a pioneer. For about $500,000 (£271,000), he has bought into SilverCrest, a future condo high-rise managed by Savills International. At present, SilverCrest is a dusty, empty corner of a housing estate about 15 minutes from the casino-dominated Strip. His plan is to let the apartment via Savills, ‘who will do the hard work,’ to workers at nearby casinos.”
“‘There is a massive shortage of rental accommodation in Las Vegas,’ Barclay says. ‘Most casino staff cannot afford to buy there anymore.’”
“Perhaps riskier is his $280,000 (£150,000) bet on Desert Oasis, a condo complex in West Wendover, a tiny town near Nevada’s border with Utah. The hook is the city’s five expanding casinos, patronised by renegade Utah Mormons, which have produced a sharp increase in demand for staff housing. The ground won’t be broken until later this summer. ‘If it doesn’t work out in four years’ time, I will sell it on,’ says Barclay.”
“Linda Rheinberger, president of the local realtor (estate agent) association, says it will reach 3m within a decade. By that time, Vegas will be running out of land. ‘The Strip is our beach front, where all the pricey, blue-chip condos are and will be,’ she says.”
“However promising the long-term prospects, anyone buying now runs the risk that they are coming in at the top of the market. Property prices in Las Vegas, as in the rest of America, are ‘resting’ after five years of double-digit growth. Rheinberger, who some believe may become Nevada’s governor one day, gives some conservative advice: ‘Get a good realtor, read the detail, stick in here for five years at least and hold on.’ As with everything else in Vegas, it could be a hell of a ride.”
‘For about $500,000 (£271,000), he has bought into SilverCrest..His plan is to let the apartment via Savills, ‘who will do the hard work,’ to workers at nearby casinos. ‘There is a massive shortage of rental accommodation in Las Vegas,’ Barclay says’
With 19,000 houses for sale he thinks there is a shortage? And what kind of rent does he think the local bartender can afford? ‘Renegade mormon’ should be enough to make one think twice.
Here are some folks needing to sell ‘quik’ in LV.
And here is a blast from the past:
‘Home prices in Las Vegas continued their downward slide in February, dropping to a median of $309,000 based on 1,787 sales. Prices peaked at $312,500 in December and retreated to $310,000 in January. ‘We’re definitely softening, definitely slowing down,’ said Linda Rheinberger, president of the Realtors’ association. ‘We’re catching our breath and getting ready for the next boom.’
‘One thing that I have noticed that is slowing the prices down on housing in the valley is appraisals,’ Las Vegas Realtor Curt Liquin said. ‘Appraisers were liberal in the past and now they say the lenders are clamping down, which is making it harder for them to come in at the purchase price.’
‘Liquin said he talked to several appraisers in the past few weeks who told him they’re being pushed by underwriters to tighten their criteria. They’re not allowed to take into consideration builder upgrades that can add $10,000 to $50,000 to the original sales price of a home.’
“They’re not allowed to take into consideration builder upgrades that can add $10,000 to $50,000 to the original sales price of a home .”
This is a point that has not been talked about very much . On new home tracts many people would upgrade the carpets,counter, tiles ,etc.,and the builder would up the sales price for all these additional upgrade purchases . Of course the builder was making a nice profit on those upgrades . Apparently the lenders are wanting the buyers to bring in extra money on the down payments for those upgrades .
In addition the incentives that builders have tossed in to the deal to get a sale are apparently not being allowed to increase the appraisal value .
A smart lender would minus incentives from the sales price and only loan on the value after incentives .In other words , if it takes 50K in incentives to get a buyer to buy your product ,the value of your product is 50k less .Lenders use to allow closing costs payed for , loan buydowns ,minor repairs paid for ,and maybe minor stuff like carpet allowance to replace a worn out carpet etc. It reaches a point where incentives are kickbacks that reflect a actual lowering of the market value of the house .
If you do not lower the value of the house by the incentives you are giving the borrower a possible over 100% loan and not reflecting the true market value of the house .
I think it would be outragous that the builders would think that the lenders would finance the incentives .
That being said, I know many lenders are still engaging in faulty underwriting where they would raise the value of the property by the incentives .
This is so surreal. I like the phrase “renegade mormon” though.
I’d like to start a band called the Renegade Mormons.
Barclay is NOT a pioneer in any dang thing! Millions of people have lost their shirts throughout history. He is NOT the first one to have that happen.
I LOVE it when people with lots of money lost their shirts, as a lot of these people are nouveau riche (please go here to understand the proper definition - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouveau_riche), people with money who don’t know how to spend it with taste and did NOT earn this money with hard work.
Stephanie Ellison
http://www.deafdrummer.org
yep… it could be one hell of a ride ….down to BK
In five to six years, I believe we will see the cycle’s bottom. If they take this bullish advice of waiting that long, they will finally be convinced it will never come back up and we will let them go.
After the final speculations are dismissed, the market will slowly recover afterwards. It seems as though all the bricks are being laid down for the perfect trap.
“By that time, Vegas will be running out of land”
WTF is she talkin’ about, Willis?!?!
I thought the exact same thing. You live in a f’in desert, surrounded by more f’in desert. As far as the eye can see; desert.
The strip is their beach though.
Get a clue woman.
I almost peed my pants laughing when I read that.
And running out water too.
‘There is nothing more attractive right now than Nevada,’ he said.”
Really? Well, if he’s speaking for NNV, I don’t know what I’m looking at. If we’re so hot , why ain’t anything moving.
“This week Barclay is poised to put down more money on a second property in an obscure desert town that few outside Nevada have ever heard of.”
Talked to a friend of mine this weekend who has a friend who dropped 6K on some real-estate-get-rich-class. I guess last weekend this clever dude was hopping around the towns of Winnemucca and Ely on a mission to get rich. Ever been to Winnemucca or Ely?! Let’s just say when I heard this I knew the wooden stake was driven into the heart of the real estate bubble.
In the 1950s, well before Interstates, Winnemucca was just a couple of humongous gas stations — the “Last Gas for 150 Miles” or something like that. It had a nice view east of flat, barren nothing, as I recall.
I grew up in Nevada. Winnemucca is particularly appalling unless hookers and truckers are your fancy. Anyone investing there should be looking real long term. Like say, 75 years…
Oh, it’s a real beauty! Winnemucca should’ve been named “Why”, as in why the hell would anyone want to live here! Although, Battle Mountain and Lovelock probably take the I-50 “prize”. At least Winnemucca has a Wal-Mart you can take yourself and your 10 babies to escape the summer heat.
Battle Mountain — BM for short, as my kids love to point out during the drive through town (”There’s BM on the mountain,” snigger…)
Hey nnvmtgbrkr,
I’m thinking about building a new casino and condos for the workers in Rachel, right down the road from the Little A Le Inn. Want to help me finance this? It’s a sure thing
Holy Sh*t, that would have to be the red flag for this bubble. The guy thinks a bunch of miners are going to pony up for some overpriced housing?
Ben,
Have seen this?
Consumer Agency Files Suit Against RE Industry
http://tinyurl.com/qlj7o
Oops, I meant have you seen this, and I guess it isn’t actually a suit but a report…still interesting though.
That is a very interesting article.
I would like to see google jump into this information war, as they have in the past on other information sectors, by providing a tool for people interested in buying, selling, or researching real estate and what is for sale, it’s history, maps, and other info, which can help buyers and sellers have more power to make more informed decisions, and perhaps allow them negotiate deals to buy and sell real estate, and perhaps further make “realtors(tm)” irrelevent.
Our local banks could probably step in by offering a department to handle drafting contracts for their customers and the other person could have their bank review the contract, if necesary.
It may be that the “pre paid legal services” could provide the needed legal and tax advice to draw up contracts.
The local bank, if a loan is needed, could also be involved in protecting their customers interest by reviewing the sales contract, and providing consultation on the other things of importance in making a real estate purchase.
Perhaps high schools will begin offering classes on real estate purchasing, selling, and owning to help the students become more informed about the ins and outs of the process.
Any entrepreneurial types who read here ought to be thinking about the best way to use the internet to break the cartel. It is going to happen for sure — no way a gazillion Realtors (TM) can all claim to be so good that they deserve a 6% commission ($60K) for selling one single $1m San Diego home…
The only thing they are good at is not showing properties that are FSBO. They turn their nose up and blackball you. They actually steer people away from your property. It is the ONLY reason why I used an agent to sell my house. And I made her work for it too. She made the mistake early on of entering my phone number in the mls for other realtors to see, a big no no as far as im concerned. That necessitated a poignant conversation in which I reminded her that all the commission she was making off the sale would need to be “earned” and that I was a “silent participant” and would remain “invisible” to the buyers. She got the hint real quick like. No easy money from me…
Even with 20% down, the Englishman has to be looking at about $5,000/month including condo fees and taxes. How many bartenders is he willing to have stay in his one condo, sharing the rent? And did he check state and local law and the condo docs to see how many unrelated adults are allowed to reside continuously in a condo? If he even pulled in the $5k for neutral cash flow, how long will it take him to turn a profit on selling the place? And the bit about not wanting to see the place — makes you wonder if the story was hoked up.
Sounds like this pip is about to be fleeced!
limey lemon
“Barclay is a pioneer”
“Perhaps riskier is his $280,000 (£150,000) bet on Desert Oasis, a condo complex in West Wendover, a tiny town near Nevada’s border with Utah.”
This chaps been knockin’ back a few too many pints! Boy is he dillusional. WENDOVER?! OMG. He is bending over bigtime. Think he’s smart enough to ask for a reach-around??
“la vie anglais”
“Perhaps riskier is his $280,000 (£150,000) bet on Desert Oasis, a condo complex in West Wendover, a tiny town near Nevada’s border with Utah.”
Perhaps? Put your money in a slot machine; at least the agony of losing it won’t be prolonged. A condo complex in the middle of a vast desert, not even in the city? Say goodbye to your money.
That one would be fun to follow for a few years — high-stakes poker, to be sure, and playing an apparently weak hand. Wonder if there will be spies from across the state line, noting license plate numbers. In a way, its location and intent reminds me of strip clubs in rural West Virginia.
That is exactly it, when the people of Salt Lake want to avoid the oppressive public “morality” they go to Wendover.
It would be interesting to note if the Mormon church has spies to catch the Jack-Mormons patronizing Wendover.
Warren Jeffs is looking into Wendover. He sees a lot of possibilites…
To use hold ‘em parlance, this guy is playing heads-up and going all-in with a 2-9 unsuited against a pair of pocket rockets. Mathematically, he has a 2% chance of winning. Some folks apparently will take those odds.
It’s one thing to bet a buck on the Lotto knowing full well your odds of winning are millions to one. After all, it’s just a buck. But going “all-in” on a longshot is the height of either arrogance or stupidity, likely both.
Pilots are even dumber than doctors when it comes to investing money. Hope he didn’t need it for anything important.
Fly the bankrupt skies!
he could be laudering money for all we know.
Funny how the realtors conveniently left out the most interesting eyepopping number, sfr inventory increase yoy. LOL
I’m glad you caught that.
I am originally from Salt Lake. Wendover is about 130 miles west of SLC and there is NOTHING, NOTHING between the two. In Wendover, there is MILES of empty every direction you look. There is no other industry, except the casinos. I really doubt that the minimum wage workers in the casinos/gas stations on Interstate 80 are going to be ponying those kind of big bucks for some trashy piece of shit condo thrown up by drunk undocumented workers in the middle of a hot hell-hole of a desert. But, WTF, would I know. This dude is much more brilliant for his insight to what will become the Whitewater of Nevada. Hope we see his picture in BK court. Many of Wendover’s casino workers live in small trailer parks, where the trailers aren’t much for cost.
This Dude lives in the UK. You probably won’t see him in any U.S. BK court.
Oh yea, and there are NO strip clubs in Wendover. At least there wasn’t about 18 yrs ago when I went there. Maybe things have changed. But I doubt it. One could go to Wells (about 40 miles west) and meet up with a hooker.
The absolutely only thing that ‘found’ these eastern Nevada towns was a need to have I-80 run through something that could pass for civilization. That’s the reason for the dog-leg left out of Reno up to Winnemucca - after 120 miles of freeway you will need a gas station. Other than that, it’s sage and desert.
Need to leave Ca. …..Wendover was the one place I thought you might not know about, but sure enough you know about it . Boy do you get around,( must have a traveling job ). LOL
No strip clubs?? Where will the future real estate agents come from?
What will real estate agents do for future employment?
“His plan is to let the apartment via Savills, ‘who will do the hard work,’ ”
And he’ll pay through the nose for Savills to do it too.. (but I guess he doesn’t realize RE management fees yet)
“on a second property in an obscure desert town that few outside Nevada have ever heard of.”
Everybody wants to live in places that nobody has ever heard of!!!! (how stupid is this statement?)
“By that time, Vegas will be running out of land”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAH
OOOOH LORD, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
‘The Strip is our beach front, where all the pricey, blue-chip condos are and will be,’
And we all know “they’re not making any more Strip” (except for all that they’re building around the strip!)
Oh I forgot something:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA
People sure are stupid.
Clouseau
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…I’m laughing with you .
Don’t forget:
“Rheinberger, who some believe may become Nevada’s governor one day”
This is sad — and funny at the same time. LOL…
Yeah, this gave me a mighty chuckle, too. Anyone who believes anywhere in NEVADA (or Texas or Montana or Alaska or …) is going to “run out of land” has never spent countless hours driving through the absolute void that is the Silver State.
Maybe they think they mean they will run out of building permits because there is not enough water to support the LV population. However, I’m sure they’ll over come that by piping water from elsewhere a la SoCal.
if this is happening right now at still historically low rates(hey, lereah told us so), imagine what a genuine dollar crisis and the resulting higher interest rates will do to the US housing bubble?
Foreclosures may jump as ARMs reset
There is a massive shortage of rental accommodation in Las Vegas,’ Barclay says. ‘Most casino staff cannot afford to buy there anymore.’”
Wow, just when you think you have seen it all! This guy is whacked!
If any thing there is a glut of rental apartments and houses in Vegas. Take it from some one who is moving there in a few months and has been looking for a place to rent. I am constantly amazed how abundant and cheap rental housing is in Vegas compared to So.Cal. where I am living now. There is not 1 apartment complex that does not have vacancies and the prices are low. This just shows how rediulous this whole thing has gotten.
And then “Wendover”? That is one of the most desolate spots in America. What is this world coming to?
“Perhaps riskier is his $280,000 (£150,000) bet on Desert Oasis, a condo complex in West Wendover, a tiny town near Nevada’s border with “
You got it wrong, its “Bendover”
I remember now that the Highway that Wendover is on or near was “Americas lonliest road” 10 years ago. I doubt much has changed since. And this guy flies a plane, haha!
The “lonliest road” is Highway 50. Wendover is on Interstate 80 which is parallel to 50 but farther north. The main difference is that cities along Interstate 80 have jobs — like filling the fuel tanks of travellers, cooking food for travellers, and providing lodging for travellers. They’re both the same in that there is infinite room to build, so land is free and will stay that way forever.
“Association leaders expect the local housing inventory to peak as summer approaches.”
And I expect it to keep growing, and growing, and growing… A quick look around last summer to the left and right side of the freeway as we drove through town revealed a vast ocean of residential real estate with little evidence of an industrial base to support it. But maybe the rich snowbird-retirees from the NE are still on the way to rescue LV from an even worse inventory crash?
OT ALERT
Does anybody out there subscribe to Inman News? There’s this story “Sellers are liars” written by our old flipper friend Alison Rogers.
http://www.inman.com/hstory.aspx?ID=53273
Sellers are liars by Alison Rogers free
Market analysis question for those who are more knowledgable.. In my local market, inventory has been ticking up nicely since the beginning of the year. However, monthly sales for May were still 20% above last year. I honestly don’t know who is still buying. Most signs point to impending price drops, but sales sure are far beyond what I was expecting. Any thoughts about what is going on here? YTD sales are 13% above the same time last year. If houses weren’t so dang unaffordable I’d almost feel silly with any bubble talk.
Oh, yeah.. total SFR inventory is at 870, May sales totaled 342. That might include lots/land/farms though.
Peeper - I’d like to see answers to these too.
What’s your local market?
“Linda Rheinberger, president of the local realtor (estate agent) association, says it will reach 3m within a decade.”
She must know something the census bureau doesn’t! She may even be better than Suzanne?!? Not only researching but prognosticating!
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/2005/apr/21/518641174.html
Too lazy to click? 4.3 million by 2030 from 2ish today.
There is a massive shortage of rental accommodation in Las Vegas,’ Barclay says. ‘Most casino staff cannot afford to buy there anymore.’”
Wow, just when you think you have seen it all! This guy is whacked!
If any thing there is a glut of rental apartments and houses in Vegas. Take it from some one who is moving there in a few months and has been looking for a place to rent. I am constantly amazed how abundant and cheap rental housing is in Vegas compared to So.Cal. where I am living now. There is not 1 apartment complex that does not have vacancies and the prices are low. This just shows how rediulous this whole thing has gotten.
From today’s Las Vegas Review Journal:
APARTMENT SURVEY: The vacancy rate for more than 65,000 apartment units surveyed by CB Richard Ellis brokerage in April was 5.3 percent in April, up from 3.8 percent the previous month.
BeachBubble,
Consumer Agency Files Suit Against RE Industry
http://tinyurl.com/qlj7o
great find.
I have been calling for some law enforcement to look into this distortion practice by the RE industry. It’s about time someone seriously takes up the task. RE industry should be, at the minimum, under jurisdiction of the SEC. It has become a speculative trading market just like stocks, bonds, or commodity. There has to be some abiding rules for fair play.
There are a half dozen homes for sale within a few seconds walk in my “desirable” area of Henderson. Some have been on the market for ages. At one, the For Sale sign has been there so long, it looks as if it is part of the property. They were asking $515,000 for it. My next door neighbor just listed their place in the mid $340k area. I’ve got the same model as the neighbor, good street appeal, and am thinking of listing mine at $309k maximum, less if I need to and below the assessor’s appraised value of my place. The poor health of a family member is preventing me from listing until I can be sure they can survive a move. I want out of this area and, since I have no mortgage, can and will undercut any comparable in order to sell. But this market is slow from what my eyes see, not by what I read from local realtors. I don’t know who can afford the prices for new and used homes, this is not a high pay town.
The latest concept seems to be these urban village arrangements, with shops, homes, parks, etc. clustered in enclaves. I see new homes going up all the time, they’re clearing land beneath a mountain down the road for something. I can’t see the appeal of Las Vegas after having lived here 5 years. I’d sure like to know why people keep coming here, especially at current prices.
I wager the draw has been business opportunity (read casino/construction jobs) and cheap housing. The latter is gone. How much longer will the former hold on?
I’d always wondered why everybody called it “Bendover” Nevada.
I think I understand now…
Housing Wizard. I have had a great interest in studying geography and learn things by looking at maps. Even on many places I have never been. But I have known about Wendover (Bendover is the joke name) since Salt Lake City is where I grew up and parents still there. Went through there at Christmas, driving between SF and SLC. I have pretty much been through most of CA, NV, UT, AZ, and NM. Rest of the country not as much coverage. To think someone is picturing a land/housing shortage in Wendover is so laughable, that they deserve to lose everything, and then some.
If you like geography, check out “Basin and Range” by John McPhee — a beautifully written description of the geography between Reno and SLC…
Hey Need to leave Ca….Yea , I get a kick out of your knowledge of a variety of cities and towns .
I will do that GetStucco. I have made that drive several times. I have always wanted to take 50, but always gone 80. Some mighty desolate, but beautiful territory.
Northern Nevada is a beautiful place.
I wager the draw has been business opportunity (read casino/construction jobs) and cheap housing. The latter is gone. How much longer will the former hold on?
Construction wise, I don’t expect the new construction people to be hanging on much longer with housing demand down. Now home repair people (that can communicate in understandable English), they might still do okay, as they will be needed to piece these hastily thrown up quickly deteriorating McCrapboxes that have been build all over Vegas.
The appeal out here has always been the appeal of casino jobs and the previously cheap housing, plus the low tax business friendly climate for business owners in Nevada…and hell, you even see these business owners getting out of town as often as possible in the summer months if they can manage it.
I’m far from an expert on the casino business, but I think the greater percentage of those jobs are not paying great wages. Sure, some dealers, waitresses, and the like amy do well on tips, but you can never predict what your wages will be when depending on tips. Those casinos want every cent they can to go to profit. I remember how quickly after 9/11 the casinos were laying off thousands of people, so fast that they couldn’t have even begun to see much of a decrease in their take. It took a long time for those people laid off to get back to work. And, if you notice in the casinos now, they are becoming more and more automated needing fewer workers. As for construction, I think that’s where money can be made by some, but the pace of construction can’t be maintained at the levels it has been. I look around and wonder who is going to fill the houses and developments they’ve already got going. The wealthy retired can’t be depended upon either, one good illness and they may not have the expendable incomes they have, plus that’s a demographic group that needs constant replenishment as they pass on to that great casino in the sky. I just can’t see as I look around this town a really good reason to be in this town. There’s virtually no industry, we import 93% of everything we use and eat, it’s a place subject to the whims of those wanting to come up here and throw their money away. What happens in a situation where perhaps people can’t spend freely like that in the numbers needed to support two billion dollar hotels?
And, I agree with the construction method reference above. I was putting up some solar screens and wanted to tap into the stucco near the windows to set an anchor and screws. There wasn’t enough stucco to even hold an anchor. I called the builder and was told, and I still am astounded by this, that the stucco was really just “decorative”. Underneath the stucco is a frame made up of studs that are not even 2×4s anymore. Over that is set some particle board, a thick layer of styrofoam, black paper, and chicken wire, the stucco laid over the paper and wire. People are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for styrofoam houses where the stucco is decorative. I was lucky, had few problems and even 4 years after purchase, the builder without complaint fixed any issues I had. I often wish I could see 50 years into the future to see what these new houses will look like, as I can’t imagine they’ve got a long life to them with the extremes of heat and cold and wind here in the desert.
Want to see what these communities will look like in 50 years?
http://tinyurl.com/g7ymj
Man it will be weird to see places like Wendover up there with the last boom communities like Good Springs.
What a joke, 1/2 million dollar homes that wont last more than 20 years.
Housing Wizard, I also love your posts. You have many great insights.
Oh thanks need 2 leave Ca.
“Linda Rheinberger, president of the local realtor (estate agent) association, says it will reach 3m within a decade. By that time, Vegas will be running out of land. ‘The Strip is our beach front, where all the pricey, blue-chip condos are and will be,’ she says.”
Abandon deck, abandon deck!
Doesn’t this seem like investment advice one could be sued for? (For which one could be sued for all you grammarians.) I mean she’s saying by spending this money you’ll increase it six fold in 10 years. Sounds like pretty specific promises to me.
A realtor is not going to stop you from making a transaction as it is their bread and butter. This advice will just get people hurt.
Not true have done it many times
I was in Vegas over Easter visiting the folks. Could not believe the high prices homes are commanding. Witnessed several homes in my folks development in NW listed at 750K. Toured my sisters home in progress being built by Toll, 800-900K. Is any home worth that in the desert? Thought I was in San Diego looking at these prices.
My husband is a craps dealer at the Luxor. He earns roughly the median Las Vegas income ($48,000.) We can’t come close to being able to buy the median house in Las Vegas. In fact, we can’t buy any house in Las Vegas. It’s frustrating and very sad. We live in SE Las Vegas, in an older neighborhood (houses built in the 60s) with large (2000+ square foot) houses on large lots. We’ve rented our house since 2003. In 2003, our house was worth about $185,000. Our landlady told us that if she sold, she’d list at $325,000 today. (She’s holding out for age 55, two more years…who knows? Maybe we’ll be able to afford it then.) Our rent is $1200. If we bought, our mortgage on the same exact house would be about $2500. Insane.
Nevada has a lot of land, but most of it is owned by the government and not available to be built on. And there is a water issue here. Also, if you go to the outskirts of Las Vegas, you’ll notice that there is nothing but houses. You have to drive long distances for even basic shopping. People who live out there have to drive back into town to work. They aren’t going to be able to go much further with urban sprawl and still find people willing to live way the hell out there.
Las Vegas schools are already over burdened. I can’t imagine what they’ll be like if the population doubles in thirty years. Yikes.
There is a house on my street that’s been for sale since I was pregnant with my 18-month-old daughter. Two years ago they were asking $400,000. I called a month ago and was quoted $299,000.
You were pregnant with an 18-month old? How, you must be an elephant, since humans only carry for nine months.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA…I kill me.
Vegas RE prices have created a hiring problem for many entities.
I was at a meeting last month key noted by the Clark Co. sheriff. He said the high RE prices are now “a big problem”, at a time (now) when he needs to recruit more officers.
Other agencies also, i e, school district.
FWIW
This is a BIG problem in virtually every market these days. I keep going back to the fact that WAGES ARE NOT UP!!! Those who thought these drastic rises in property values were sustainable simply ignored the basics. Bainbridge Island in Washington has no affordable housing for the average person. They now call police officers, teacher, etc. “guest workers” as they have to commute. Slowly but surely they are finding new jobs closer to home, a real problem for the rich “elitists” in the area who want their privacy but also some “protection” in case their McMegaMansion is heaven forbid “burglurized” or something. I think the nation is in for a cold dose of reality from this spike in prices. We have not even begun to experience the ramifications of this.
Wife & I were team drivers (trucking). We stop in Wendover for a 12″ Tuna Subway sandwich.
Wife asks to have the sandwich cut 1/3 - 2/3.
The 20-yr old (?) white girl/clerk with rotten teeth could not understand what we wanted. Wife had to draw a picture.
West Wendover…LMAO
I smell fear — is that you, LV Landlord?