The best place to get authoritative and correct answers about zoning, master plan, overlay zoning; setbacks and other land related questions in the State of Nevada are the Nevada government’s current planning departments, such as Clark County, City of Las Vegas, Henderson or North Las Vegas current planning departments. On every visit, the current planner has answered my question fully and graciously.
These departments also serve as a barometer for how the Greater Las Vegas economy is performing. When the Las Vegas real estate was hot, I would have to wait for half an hour or much longer to get to the counter. Now, it takes a very short time to see the current planner, and I am their only customer at times.
This means that commercial real estate as well as residential real estate has slowed down in Las Vegas. This is how people who are in the trenches see what analyst will write about in a few months, the head line will be something like this “Commercial real estate construction has slowed down by whatever percent, this and that commercial real estate companies bit the dust and on and on”.
A side effect to this slow down is that a great number of entitled parcels of Las Vegas land are being offered for sale with big discounts.
What is significant besides the big discounts is the fact that these vacant land parcels are entitled. Entitling a parcel of land means that the seller has done everything that his/her current planner has ordered and has a site plan, elevation, setbacks, traffic studies and environmental impact reports, parking plan, etc. and then, has gotten his plan approved by the current planning department, and Clark County Commission if located in unincorporated Clark County or the City Council if in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas or Henderson.
Entitling a parcel of land is neither an easy process in Greater Las Vegas, nor is it cheap. Depending on the scope of the project, the seller has had to pay an architect, traffic engineer, a real estate attorney who specializes in zoning and master plans, permit fees, environmental impact study fees and much more. The buyer could be the beneficiary of special use permits which where obtained by the seller that allow the new owner to exceed the allowable specs of the property, or to use the property for a higher zoning that is not allowed under the current zoning or master plan. Builders love entitled parcels of land as they know exactly what they can build on it and are able to start construction quickly, as I mentioned, getting a parcel of land, entitled is time consuming.
There is a down side to buying entitled land, the buyer is locked into the seller’s exterior architectural plan, but the interior can be changed. So you say, what if the buyer doesn’t like the seller’s architectural plan? Well, the buyer has to do everything from scratch.
So what does the buyer gain? That depends on the seller having gained a special use permit to up-zone the parcel of land (for example from residential medium density R-3 to Urban Village U-V) or has gained a special use permit to exceed the allowable height of the building, etc.
Following is an example of a listing that is offered for sale in Las Vegas:
“Parcel can be used for almost any type of commercial use. Currently the parcel is zoned U-V (Urban Village) and has a special use permit in place which allows for a structure to be built up to 100′ tall. Conforming zone changes are M-D, M-1, and C-2. Seller is willing to help with zoning changes if required by Buyer. Seller is anxious …”. Source: Property Line.
As I have mentioned before, commercial real estate market trend lags residential real estate market by about one to one and half years, and commercial real estate market in now catching up with the residential sector.
We will have a large number of Las Vegas land for sale listings hit the market in coming months and the prices will go down further. Many sellers had to finance their purchase at a much higher interest rate, and shorter period than those who bought a home or condo in Vegas. In addition to the purchase price, these poor sellers have had to spend a great deal of money to get their parcel of land through the entitlement process. Most of these sellers fully intended to build their properties; however the credit crunch, coupled with lower land valuations in most locations in Greater Las Vegas Valley prevented them from financing their projects.
Needless to say many, including multimillion dollar parcels of land will be foreclosed on in the future. This will provide investors with unprecedented opportunities to buy land at some of the most desirable locations in Las Vegas, Henderson, and North Las Vegas at bargain basement prices.
I am not ashamed to admit my affection for the city I am happy to call home, the Great Las Vegas, but I try very hard to not let feelings affect my judgment. However this doesn’t mean that great deals are not in abundance, one has to know where to find them.
It is my sincere hope that commercial real estate in Las Vegas doesn’t over correct as residential real estate is, home and condo pricing in Las Vegas is starting to approach the levels before the run up in 2003.
It’s my belief that Las Vegas price appreciation happened because Wall Street failed the investors, so they turned to speculating on real estate. The other factor was that Las Vegas real estate was undervalued at that time. Guess what, after 4 consecutive rate cuts by the FED, which is targeted to solely to benefit the Dow Jones and banks, Dow Jones is failing investors again and Las Vegas real estate is undervalued again.
So take a wild guess as to the future of Las Vegas real estate.
Oh, did I forget to mention that 30 billion dollars in investments will come to fruition in 2009-2012 and the whole investment is aimed at bringing super rich visitors (whales) to our town so they can spend their money here.
Related web-site pages: Las Vegas homes and condos market condition report, Las Vegas economic news, Las Vegas Commercial Real Estate News, Las Vegas Vacant land and commercial real estate for sale
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