Las Vegas in 2009 - Good Deal or Not?

I read lots of blogs, twitters, and all kinds of bulletin boards and articles on real estate. I can't help it, its become an obsession. I not only follow real estate in Las Vegas, but I also follow real estate across the country, how other markets are doing, and what is considered a good deal.

Everyone is now speculating again about Las Vegas. For a while, Las Vegas was the darling of the real estate world. We were experiencing record appreciation, so much so, that many people who shouldn't have been investing in advertently drove up the prices in our market, setting us up to fail. There was no way we could continue at 15-25% appreciation a year -- it just was bound to end. And boy did it end.

In 2008, Las Vegas homes dropped up to 31% in value - WOW!!! We're now back to 2002/2003 prices. Homes are selling for about $100 a square foot. You can't build a nice house for that today. Of course, there are some hold-outs who want to believe their homes are worth so much more, and if you've built a really high end home with tons of custom touches or its on a substantial amount of acreage, it may be worth a little more. However, you must realize that until the remaining homes get absorbed and we get caught up with the homes still to come on the market, $100 per square foot give or take is the reality.

Many buyers and investors are taking notice. The thing that just came out and shocked me the most, we are still in the top 10 of states with the highest growth! We're still growing at the rate of almost 2% per month in population. What does that mean exactly?

It means that even though our real estate is at low, low, undervalued prices, Las Vegas still represents a great opportunity to be here as things smooth out. Interest rates are at all time lows! I'm working with lots of investors and buyers who are able to take advantage of this. In fact, some investors are coming in with a new business plan - buy the property with the future tenant in mind. In other words, if buying property and lease optioning it makes sense to you (it certainly does to me), then let your tenant pick the property. Of course, check out your tenant before you rent to them, but realize this is a great opportunity to pick up tenants who make good income but lost their home to foreclosure because they bought with an adjustable mortgage that was going to reset to 2 times their payment and couldn't go from paying $2500 a month to $5,000 a month.

This is the time when you can get great properties that will cash flow for you, buying bank owned properties at a steal, putting less than $5000 into it with paint, carpet and maybe some appliances and having it provide you great income. As the market gets better, and it will in the next 2-3 years, your tenants can buy or, if they move on, the property will cash flow even better for the next tenant/buyer.

This is your chance to do what everyone else was doing to make money in real estate 20 years ago. Don't let this opportunity pass you by. I'm not.

Heather Peck
Rosen & Company West
702-595-7380
LasVegasExpert@yahoo.com
www.LuxuryShortSalesandREOs.com