[mariaka]

I'm an out of stater looking to possibly buy a vacation home in Las Vegas in the $1M+ range. I don't know much yet about the vegas real estate market, but considering there's been 50%+ price drop, it would seem like now is the time to buy and hold. What part of town is considered most desirable? Would you recommend buying something now, or do you think the high end market will continue to correct downwards? To my surprise, I'm not seeing a lot of bank foreclosures on the market in my price range. Thanks.

[007 license to sell]

Originally Posted by mariaka

I'm an out of stater looking to possibly buy a vacation home in Las Vegas in the $1M+ range. I don't know much yet about the vegas real estate market, but considering there's been 50%+ price drop, it would seem like now is the time to buy and hold. What part of town is considered most desirable? Would you recommend buying something now, or do you think the high end market will continue to correct downwards? To my surprise, I'm not seeing a lot of bank foreclosures on the market in my price range. Thanks.

There hasn't been as many foreclosures in the high-end homes as there were in other properties.

The luxury market went into the downturn last and it hasn’t completed its cycle yet. Prices are still coming down. I still see some sellers who still are hanging on to their home value to two years ago when the luxury market peaked. The sellers who are realizing what the market really is and are adjusting their prices are starting to sell. But the market is coming down.

It is a process that takes time for high-end sellers to realize that the market has changed. In many cases, they will acknowledge the market has changed — “but not in most high-end neighborhoods. Luxury home owners will acknowleges prices are going down, but not their neighborhood. Prices have changed, yet the luxury home owner will still say it's not my house.” From where the market started to into the future, the luxury market will end up dropping about 50 percent.

The reason the luxury home market is taking longer to feel the hit is because a lot of the people who owned luxury homes were business owners,celebrities, and they were the last to be affected by the recession. They can hold out longer. They have more assets. The low end housing market will usually be the first hit. When the low end is hot, then a year later, they are buying mid-priced homes and a year later they are buying luxury homes. It cycles up. The luxury market is the last to go into the upturn, and it’s the last to go into the downturn, too.

To answer your question which area's the most desirable,buyers always seem to always want to gravitate to the latest new community. Because of that, these newest, latest communities are doing the best. An area like the Ridges in Summerlin is probably doing better than Spanish Trail that is almost 20 years old now.

That being said, we have challenges in those newer markets because there is a lot of inventory in those markets as well. There is no neighborhood that is not affected, I tend to see more of the sales in the newer communities.

The other communities that are doing well are: MacDonald Highlands, Southern Highlands and a lot of the Summerlin communities, because Summerlin was such a great planned community. So Red Rock Country Club and Tournament Hills and neighborhoods like that.

It's a great time to buy prices are at a all time low, will the prices go down further? Possibly how much more no one knows. If your purchasing in a great area and are in for the long hall you should be fine no matter where you live. There are great deals out there in these neighborhoods allot of them have been purchased already but more come on all the time.

[aggrofish]

I dont know if they're still there, but a few months ago I saw a couple foreclosures in MacDonald Highlands.

[olecapt]

In general one does not bottom fish high end real estate by the area or tract. It is unlikely that there are more than 10 or 12 candidates at any given time - Review then pick a few and decide...

If it clicks you get a 3.8 million estate for 1.2 million.

If you want a million dollar tract house you can do that too. Don't expect similar savings. Maybe 10% to 35%