[R_J_R]

We are relocating to Las Vegas from overseas next month... We are exhausted looking at real estate listings that say "pending" or "contingent" or are short sales... seems none of these will be an option for us... We need to be in our home within 60 days (end of Oct). Should even we consider the REO/bank owned or forclosure properties?

Henderson area looked most desirable to us because it has some very green areas, however the commute to Nellis and lack of truly "available" properties worried us. We were told to stay away from Aliante due to so many empty homes, foreclosures, etc... however this is the area where one can get a lot of house for the money and have a shorter commute... While looking all over the map, we have seen comparable new (quick move in) homes that look promising, but the undeveloped back yards and neighbors on top of neighbors doesn't look attractive (we have lived overseas in very rural areas the last six years).

With "so" many homes on the market, you'd think there would be an obvious answer to the rent, build, or buy question... but alas, we're perplexed... We will have about a week when we get there to make our big decision... renting is starting to look good to as there is no crystal ball for the market, but I am ready to live in my own house... we are tired of renting...

We have money to spend on a nice home in a nice neighborhood with good schools... but we are not sure which road to take... thoughts? TIA

[airics]

Price plays a factor. What price range?

[R_J_R]

$350K "ish" 4BD/3BA/3 car garage

[ScoopLV]

1) Houses in Las Vegas are selling for less than their replacement price. A couple years ago they were selling for SIGNIFICANTLY less than their replacement price. But it makes no sense at all to build a house here right now.

2) $350K-ish will put you into nearly any nice area Las Vegas has to offer. I would select schools, and then find the nicest houses in your price range that are in that school's area.

3) There's plenty of nice houses to choose from in our area. It's a 10 minute trip to Nellis. But our schools are among the worst in the valley.

I cannot stress this enough -- choose schools first. Then go house hunting. There are high schools in this town that are best described as "drop-out factories."

[R_J_R]

Choosing schools first is an excellent tip... it is the main reason we were spening almost all out time looking in Henderson Inventory is low at the moment though... and isn't the commute a bit much? Some of the neighborhoods to the south can be more than 45 minutes to Nellis according to the map directions...

Good resource I just found for ranking schools... clicking on the school will open up a PDF with excellent stats about students, scholarships, violence, etc... Before seeing this I was using the greatschools.org app.
See how Las Vegas schools compare - Las Vegas Sun News

[NLVgal]

89130. Zoned for Shadow Ridge High and still pretty close to Nellis / NLV. I live just south of Aliante so I am in the NLV zip code by about a block. There is nothing scary about this area, but you don't want your kids zoned for Mojave or Legacy.

[eventusstultorummagister]

Here's a tool that may aid your search, just enter the potential address and it will identify the school zone.

Zoning Search | Clark County School District

[logline]

This question is a no-brainer.

Build? No way, houses are cheaper than it would be to build today. Why pay more and get less? You'll never move in with that timeline anyway.

Rent? No way, Las Vegas is far more expensive to rent than to buy. Las Vegas tops list of best cities to buy a home vs. rent, report says - Monday, Jan. 24, 2011 | 11:55 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun News

Buy? Yes. Even with a recent upturn in prices, you are still WAY ahead of the game if you buy. You can be moved in in under 30 days if you are seriously pounding the pavement and making many offers. But the legwork is up to you. Skip the short sales, they take too long and are not sure things. REO's are okay and can close quickly if you have all your supporting documents ready to go. Be quick. Have everything ready. PREPARE!

Here's a little tip: if you only want to view listings that are available and NOT short sales, NOT pending, and NOT contingent, all you have to do is use the search function at redfin.com and screen out those particular listings. It's very easy.

[eventusstultorummagister]

Originally Posted by logline

Here's a little tip: if you only want to view listings that are available and NOT short sales, NOT pending, and NOT contingent, all you have to do is use the search function at redfin.com and screen out those particular listings. It's very easy.

When I do as you suggest my search returns overpriced flips that will never appraise at asking price.



What about the foreclosure backlog, what happens when all those homes hit the market? Won't renters be in the catbird seat?? Won't there be more inventory from which to select from???



I'm not convinced yet...

[logline]

Originally Posted by eventusstultorummagister

When I do as you suggest my search returns overpriced flips that will never appraise at asking price.



What about the foreclosure backlog, what happens when all those homes hit the market? Won't renters be in the catbird seat?? Won't there be more inventory from which to select from???



I'm not convinced yet...

If you see overpriced flips, compare them to the history of "closed" properties in that building, zip, neighborhood, etc. Make an offer in that range only, accounting for amenities, upgrades, etc. No one should be making offers at asking price if prices are too high and appraisals come in low. I say make a BUNCH of offers in line with the comps. If you get more than 1 acceptance, you can pick one and always back out of the others during the due diligence phase. No penalty.

This foreclosure backlog has been threatened by housing naysayers for many months now (maybe years?) Where is it? Where are the flood of homes on the market? AB284 is already a done deal... so where are they? I think Scoop was on to something when he once mentioned that banks are going to take the "De Beers" tactic and hold on to those homes until they appreciate. Taking the loss now by flooding the market with REOs would only cause more problems for the banks' balance sheet in this fragile economy. As long as they hold them, they are considered assets. It makes perfect sense that banks would try to increase the value of these assets by controlling the pace of their release. In fact, it's already working.