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The Martin is unique as it is still in the hands of the developers. Prices are not rock bottom, the units are made to order, and it is gorgeous.
Amenities: free wifi, direct tv (basic), concierge, electric bicycles (so you don't have to walk across the Harmon flyover to Crystals or Aria), gym, sauna, steam, heated pool, etc. Access to City Center pools.
Prices run about $250/sq feet for the 15th floor, with prices higher exponentially each way up or down the tower. This is for an undeveloped property that has basic carpet and flat paint. The kitchens have high-end steel Electrolux appliances and stacked washer/dryer.
They are absolutely distanced from the Panorama I and II, by ownership, HOA and developer. (Panoramas are in litigation, and investors are primarily into foreclosure, google "10 foot pole" on those.)
We loved it!
It is not available for folks to rent it out part time. Minimum is a 6 month lease. No overnight rentals. Folks buying here are paying cash for a second home, not investment for leasing back out or sitting on it. Its a wonderful lock-n-leave second home in Vegas.
HOA fees are $.42/sq foot, very low compared to others.
We've been looking in Vegas for a second home with a look to retire in 10 years back to Vegas. (Now in Houston.) Our property journey in Vegas hasn't turned up anything decent, so we looked at a lock and leave apartment that we could sell in some years when ready to have a detached, single family home.
Of all we've seen, the Martin was very impressive. The banks that we use (all known suspects) all turned down a mortgage for a vacation home in the high rise developments. Martin is owned by an investment company that does the mortgages, so that is an option.
I'm not posting this to sell there, nor to buy there, but general information as so many folks are talking on here about the various options (Allure, Red Rock CC, etc.) and wanted to point out another decent option that isn't being sold like a fire sale.
The Martin is unique as it is still in the hands of the developers. Prices are not rock bottom, the units are made to order, and it is gorgeous.
Amenities: free wifi, direct tv (basic), concierge, electric bicycles (so you don't have to walk across the Harmon flyover to Crystals or Aria), gym, sauna, steam, heated pool, etc. Access to City Center pools.
Prices run about $250/sq feet for the 15th floor, with prices higher exponentially each way up or down the tower. This is for an undeveloped property that has basic carpet and flat paint. The kitchens have high-end steel Electrolux appliances and stacked washer/dryer.
They are absolutely distanced from the Panorama I and II, by ownership, HOA and developer. (Panoramas are in litigation, and investors are primarily into foreclosure, google "10 foot pole" on those.)
We loved it!
It is not available for folks to rent it out part time. Minimum is a 6 month lease. No overnight rentals. Folks buying here are paying cash for a second home, not investment for leasing back out or sitting on it. Its a wonderful lock-n-leave second home in Vegas.
HOA fees are $.42/sq foot, very low compared to others.
We've been looking in Vegas for a second home with a look to retire in 10 years back to Vegas. (Now in Houston.) Our property journey in Vegas hasn't turned up anything decent, so we looked at a lock and leave apartment that we could sell in some years when ready to have a detached, single family home.
Of all we've seen, the Martin was very impressive. The banks that we use (all known suspects) all turned down a mortgage for a vacation home in the high rise developments. Martin is owned by an investment company that does the mortgages, so that is an option.
I'm not posting this to sell there, nor to buy there, but general information as so many folks are talking on here about the various options (Allure, Red Rock CC, etc.) and wanted to point out another decent option that isn't being sold like a fire sale.
The bad news is that there is no way I can see it as commanding any substantial premium over Panorama. Branding won't do it.
So unless you are willing to take the hit between Martin and Panorama you should think real hard.
I would also forget about any HOA fee differential. Ask them to put it in writing... No more than a cost of living increase in HOA fee for the next ten years. HOA fees are notorious for jumping up as soon as the developer departs. .
From looking at Allure and the Panorama I and II, the building ownership is lacking stability. That is cause for concern for us.
The electric bikes are parked (and recharged) right near the front door canopy.
Each normal sized unit gets one dedicated parking spot and there is space in the open lot if you have two.
The Martin has a higher end feel to it. It has a few B grade celebs, but the view over the North and Northwest are great. The closeness to the strip but not a resort/condo hotel or a transient building (like Panorama I and II) make it worth the extra cost.
We are, however, concerned about future changes that we can't control (management, ownership and HOA.)
While 42 cents per sqft is cheap, its not THAT cheap. Sky, Turnberry Towers are both ~54 cents. Panorama is probably 56 or so.
I've seen Panorama units on the MLS at ~130-150 per sqft. Paying $250 or more at 'The Martin' makes no sense.
I completely agree...
$250 in my opinion is way too much money to pay per square foot in Vegas right now. Especially because everyone basically is paying in cash in these types of buildings, which sets the value lower because, sure, plenty of investors may have $200,000 cash or less, but not that many people have $400,000 cash to just throw into a condo, so that is going to keep the condo values pretty low for the foreseeable future.
They are absolutely distanced from the Panorama I and II, by ownership, HOA and developer. (Panoramas are in litigation, and investors are primarily into foreclosure, google "10 foot pole" on those.)
Ok, I googled "10 foot pole" - what am I supposed to find?
There is no way any type property development would agree to not being able to increase hoa's that would be unreasonable. HOA's have no control over the market or home owners that default on the their hoa's,banks that refuse to pay hoa's during the time that they are holding on to them,thus causing the hoa having to make up the deficiency by raising the hoa to maintain the building.
The Martin hasn't been owned by the developer for a little over two years it is owned by a Hedge fund.( investment bank) Since the Martin only closed on a handful of units when the market crashed the building didn't get hit by foreclosures of each of the unit causing the hoa to go through the roof and the litigation like Panorama 1 and 2.
As long as the current owners maintain the pricing of that building and don't drop their pricing hurting the owners that have purchased in there the building could stay stable. But right now this market is a crap shoot if you purchase anything you should purchase it to enjoy and not to flip but to hang on to for at least 5 yrs.
Keep in mind there isn't going to be any more highrise properties built for at least 10 yrs or maybe at all. They cost to much to build, a highrise property usually cost $800.00 a foot to build and at those costs and what they are selling for a developer couldn't afford to build them. I am a buyers agent, I have been selling highrise properties for 6 yrs and I belong to the highrise association and have met the developers of all the highrise project failed or not one time or another during the yrs. And they all told me that it costs more to build a highrise in Vegas because the building codes are stiffer. They have to built according to the same guide lines as a casino.
So if your thinking of purchasing a highrise property keep in mind that there won't be any built for yrs to come and the location. And as far as the bicycles you can valet them at citycenter. Also they have a great concierge at the Martin like most highrise properties and the Martin residents can use the pools at Aria and Bellgio without charge.
There is no way any type property development would agree to not being able to increase hoa's that would be unreasonable. HOA's have no control over the market or home owners that default on the their hoa's,banks that refuse to pay hoa's during the time that they are holding on to them,thus causing the hoa having to make up the deficiency by raising the hoa to maintain the building.
The Martin hasn't been owned by the developer for a little over two years it is owned by a Hedge fund.( investment bank) Since the Martin only closed on a handful of units when the market crashed the building didn't get hit by foreclosures of each of the unit causing the hoa to go through the roof and the litigation like Panorama 1 and 2.
As long as the current owners maintain the pricing of that building and don't drop their pricing hurting the owners that have purchased in there the building could stay stable. But right now this market is a crap shoot if you purchase anything you should purchase it to enjoy and not to flip but to hang on to for at least 5 yrs.
Keep in mind there isn't going to be any more highrise properties built for at least 10 yrs or maybe at all. They cost to much to build, a highrise property usually cost $800.00 a foot to build and at those costs and what they are selling for a developer couldn't afford to build them. I am a buyers agent, I have been selling highrise properties for 6 yrs and I belong to the highrise association and have met the developers of all the highrise project failed or not one time or another during the yrs. And they all told me that it costs more to build a highrise in Vegas because the building codes are stiffer. They have to built according to the same guide lines as a casino.
So if your thinking of purchasing a highrise property keep in mind that there won't be any built for yrs to come and the location. And as far as the bicycles you can valet them at citycenter. Also they have a great concierge at the Martin like most highrise properties and the Martin residents can use the pools at Aria and Bellgio without charge.
The Martin still appears delusionsal. The owner still has 287 units and is moving less than 4 per month. It takes little skill to tell that is not going to work out. Some of the transactions appear a little strange as well. The high price per SF are dual internal sales to LLCs.
Unfortunately I can't make this answer short since our real-estate market is so complicated.
It is not unusual for buyers of highrise properties and luxury homes to purchase under a LLC.
Purchasers of these types of properties are allot different than a single family home since most purchase these types of properties as second and third home.
As most people know that strip is our ocean front property and anything that is close to the strip will reap the rewards of appreciation sooner than most outlying properties, there will be some outlying area's that will appreciate sooner either because they were the first to be hit and most of the foreclosures are done in those area's or they may be a more affluent area.
Some appreciation is already happening in the area where the Martin is,that area saw a 1% increase in value compared to other area's. Summerlin zip code 89135 saw an increase of 3% as well also but if you look at the appreciation map that I am including you can see what area's seem to seeing appreciation and others that aren't. Note parts of Summerlin are still struggling, and Henderson is still seeing depreciation. Also note that zip code 89169 saw the largest appreciation of 11% which is close to the strip.
I don't have a crystal ball and Vegas if very vulnerable regarding any crisis that could send it down ward, especially since our primary employers are casino's and tourism is what brings in the money and is very volatile right now. As far as pricing for The Martin it is priced the way it is because of it's location if you were to purchase in CityCenter you would pay allot more to get allot less space with a higher hoa.
Panorama one and two are priced the way they are because they are victims of the economy and would be investors that purchased and walked away from their purchases causing a huge foreclosure mess in both those towers. Will The Martin lower their prices who knows I can't read minds, however when purchasing any property right now there is no guarantee the prices will stay the same as when first purchased. So when purchasing a property you have to look at it as a long term investment as a buyer you have to be prepared to have the surrounding units become rentals like every where else including single family home area's.
Click on the link below to see how the different zip codes are doing.
2010 Depreciation per zip code. http://media.lvrj.com/documents/zipcodes.pdf
Source by Las Vegas Review Journal.
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