Las Vegas, Nevada Real Estate Agent’s Las Vegas Homes, Condos, Land, Commercial Real Estate and Personal Blog

   Due to expensive land prices in Las Vegas, builders are moving away from building single family detached houses and have started to build mid and high density housing projects. Thus condo buyers have lots of plans and locations to choose from.

During 2004-2006 investors would buy a parcel of land, up-zone the parcel to high-rise and procure a conceptual architectural plan (conceptual plan shows everything except the interior building like elevation, setbacks, and parking, it is much cheaper than a full plan) and got their parcel entitled by the Clark County Commission or City of Las Vegas Board. Entitling a parcel of land is the best way to get the highest price for the parcel of land. Then they turned around and sold them for a substantial profit to others (W Las Vegas is a good example). If the entire number of purposed high-rise and mid-rise condo projects in Las Vegas would have been built, Las Vegas would have looked like a mini New York and the inventory wouldn’t be absorbed for a decade. More than 85% of these projects never started.

A few of these projects are going to be finished this year and be ready to move in. The majority of the builders obtain a construction loan that becomes due at the conclusion of construction. Having unsold units when condos are released to the buyers diminish the builder’s ability to repay the construction loan and the builder either has to cover the difference themselves or refinance the amount that they are short.

If the builder has more than 25% vacancy at the opening of the project, the chances are that the builder will cut prices or offer incentives to the buyer to get rid of the excess inventory. One of the first questions that I ask in my first visit to these condo projects is the total number of condos being built, how many have sold so far and the date the sales office started selling. Knowing the answer to these three questions from this builder and their competitors’ situation gives me a good idea about whether I should advise my clients to buy now or wait. I visited One Las Vegas which is going to release their condos in March and April and asked the same questions from their very nice sales manager. Here are the answers.

 One Las Vegas began selling about two years ago. There are about 356 units in two towers and all but 70 units are under contract and each tower will be ready to move in March and April.

I advised my customer to wait until the release of the second tower before doing anything and promised her that I will keep track of the project meanwhile. Don’t get me wrong, I truly like One Las Vegas and believe that in three to five years their prices could appreciate significantly. But investment is all about risk and reward.  I believe that my customer risks nothing by waiting a couple months since builders don’t raise prices to get rid of inventory; however she can save tens of thousands of dollars with a good price cut.

I will discuss other important issues involved in buying new mid-rise and high rise condos next time.

Related web-site pages:  Las Vegas commercial properties news, Las Vegas economic News, Las Vegas, Nevada homes, condos and high-rise condo news, Las Vegas homes high-rise condos and commercial real estate, Las Vegas, Nevada vacant land for sale