[ScoopLV]

[orphaned] It's the same with FSBO houses. There are houses out there that I wouldn't mind buying. But the owners aren't realistic. They think that because they have decent flooring that their house is worth $50/sqft more than their neighbor's house. Either that, or they've set a price and they aren't going to budge. "We paid $500K in 2006, and by God we ain't selling for any less than $500K." Many sellers operate this way.

Either:

1) Break out the big checkbook and buy the house even though it isn't a deal, hoping that some day it will be.

2) Wait until the sellers die and perhaps their heirs will sell for something more in line with reality.

3) Be patient and wait for a better deal. Keep in mind prices are still moving up. It's better to be patient and wait when the market is falling.

4) Buy what you can afford today.


From the sound of your posts, you want what you want right now. And if only the sellers would get their heads out of the clouds, maybe that might happen. You can't force people to lower their prices. And logic and all the Adam Smith quotes in the world aren't going to change some sellers' minds.

If I were sitting on acreage, I'd wait until I was ready to move out of Las Vegas -- property taxes are super cheap on undeveloped land. It's really no big deal to hold until I need a big payday to do something else with the money. I would do EXACTLY what the sellers who are driving you nuts are doing -- Put it out there for a ridiculous price and see if there's anyone who buys with his heart, not his head. I'm not in sell mode. And anyone who wants to buy from me is going to have to break out the big checkbook to do so.

[NoMoreRent]

[quote of deleted post]

You're wrong about my intent. I'm in no hurry, I've spent the last year looking around, I'll spend another if I have to. Nowhere did I say I was in a hurry or impatient in the slightest form.

[personal]

[observer53]

Originally Posted by NoMoreRent

You're wrong about my intent. I'm in no hurry, I've spent the last year looking around, I'll spend another if I have to. Nowhere did I say I was in a hurry or impatient in the slightest form.

Being "frustrated!" was interpreted as impatience. Not unreasonable, but the OP is not impatient, so let's move on, with that clarification. If anyone else has any suggestions for the OP, post away.

[BBMW]

I think because you see lots of open desert around Vegas, you think the land should be cheap. But why should it be? It's in the middle of a two million person metropolitan area. There are plenty of developers, big and small, who want to build on that land. Why should they sell it to you cheap?

Also, the vast amounts of open land is a bit of an illusion. The open land around metropolitan Vegas is largely owned by the federal government, who's not selling it particularly quickly. In the middle of the real estate boom, there was a big shortage of developable land, and land prices were skyrocketing. Now that Vegas real estate is showing signs of live, the landowners see know reason to sell cheap.

[NoMoreRent]

So back to the subject at-hand, my biggest obstacle seems to be cable access. I found a great piece off Kyle Canyon Road yesterday, but cable is nowhere near this property. Totally sucks, because it's been mentioned how expensive that is to pull.

I have to have 100/30 (down/up) Internet speeds for work. I can't get by on DSL. I guess worst case is to lease some tiny office in town and no longer work from home, but that sure takes some of the fun and efficiency out of building our own home.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by NoMoreRent

So back to the subject at-hand, my biggest obstacle seems to be cable access. I found a great piece off Kyle Canyon Road yesterday, but cable is nowhere near this property. Totally sucks, because it's been mentioned how expensive that is to pull.

I have to have 100/30 (down/up) Internet speeds for work. I can't get by on DSL. I guess worst case is to lease some tiny office in town and no longer work from home, but that sure takes some of the fun and efficiency out of building our own home.

Any possibility of finding something, as suggested upthread, with an older fixer upper house on it that already has the cable (as well as other utilities) ? Even if you have to tear down and start over on the house, the cable issue would be taken care of.

[NoMoreRent]

Originally Posted by BBMW

I think because you see lots of open desert around Vegas, you think the land should be cheap. But why should it be? It's in the middle of a two million person metropolitan area. There are plenty of developers, big and small, who want to build on that land. Why should they sell it to you cheap?

It's funny, because I'm normally lauded by folks who know me as a good writer, yet somehow my "frustrations" have been completely misinterpreted here.

I never suggested people should sell their land cheaply. I'm not out hunting for a garage sale type deal on land. I never said I wanted an unreasonable bargain, or some special deal just for me.

Because this conversation matters to me, I'll try to articulate this differently and see if I can get my point across better:

It was explained to me that right now (Summer 2014) developers are not buying lots smaller than 10-15 acres. As such, land owners know that they can get $110k+ per acre. They call these "developer rates" because the only way to justify that much money per acre is the fact that they can cram 40+ homes in that kind of space. Normally, I'm told, one acre by itself is generically worth between $50-70k "non developer" rate for lack of a better term.

But, land inventory is shrinking. Blank spots are filling in, and others have already been snatched up by developers as future inventory. Therefore some developers are also beginning to look at, and on a limited basis, pickup 5-10 acre lots at the same developer rates. So, this leaves some 1-5 acre lots still available in the $50-70k per acre range because the developer types aren't looking for pieces this small, yet.

My gripe, then, is the folks selling the smaller than 5 acre lots at the higher price points, or the "developer rates" as some call it. Essentially the market isn't quite there yet to justify that. There's plenty of folks NOT doing that yet, it just so happens a few I've really liked happened to be at those rates, thus my frustrations.

Having said all that, I don't begrudge anyone for selling their land at whatever price they want. I'm a capitalist. And frankly, one or two of them WILL get their higher-than-normal payout, so good for them.

My broader point was simply that I'd like to find a reasonably priced lot that also happens to be near cable access. :-)

[NoMoreRent]

Originally Posted by observer53

Any possibility of finding something, as suggested upthread, with an older fixer upper house on it that already has the cable (as well as other utilities) ? Even if you have to tear down and start over on the house, the cable issue would be taken care of.

That may be where the search turns. Oddly, though, some of the older areas in town with some acreage also happen to have been passed over by cable.

One such spot is east of El Capitan in the NW area. Very new construction west of El Capitan all has cable, but the older horse properties the east do not. Odd that Cox didn't run out there at some point.

[ScoopLV]

We most certainly have cable on the East side. Both my mother in law and I abut Frenchman's mountain on the very east edge of town. She uses Cox, I have Centurylink. Cox is out here all the time installing systems.

[NoMoreRent]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

We most certainly have cable on the East side. Both my mother in law and I abut Frenchman's mountain on the very east edge of town. She uses Cox, I have Centurylink. Cox is out here all the time installing systems.

I don't understand what your deal is, or why you feel the need to be this way... but once again, I never said that the east side of the the entire CITY does not have cable... I said on the east side of El Capitan. I was talking about ONE road... and how one side has new construction and cable and the other side of the road has older construction and does NOT have cable.

I would prefer if you just avoid my threads. You're not contributing anything to what I'm saying, and now it appears you're just being this way on purpose. It's embarrassing, and petty. Please stop.