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Brand new Las Vegas homes for sale from $99 per square foot at Newcastle by American West Homes in Highlands Ranch, part one

Brand new Las Vegas homes for sale from $99 per square foot at Newcastle by American West Homes in Highlands Ranch, part two

We always advise those customers that contact us about buying new homes in Las Vegas to consider resale homes also. The reason is that it is imperative to do a comparison between a new home and those near new homes in the area that has been foreclosed on to find the best possible deal. The new home builders in Las Vegas know this and have done their best to compete with foreclosures in pricing, and to beat them with upgrades and amenities.

Only the largest model home in Newcastle, the 3,176 square foot Daniel is priced starting at $99 per square foot and the starting price per square foot for other models is higher. This is due to the fact that a 3000 square foot three story new home is cheaper to build than a two story 3000 square foot home which is in turn much cheaper to build than a one story house.

The prices per square foot for other new home models at Newcastle are as follows:

As you can see the price per square foot for these new homes are inversely proportional to number of stories and larger square footage. That is the bigger the house or higher number of floors the cheaper the price per square foot would be. So if you have the knees or the back to go up or down the stairs, you defiantly get more home for your money than if you wanted it all on one floor.

The new homes in Newcastle are Energy Star Plus, which means that these homes had to meet strict conditions to be certified as Energy Star Plus. What this means to the buyers is that their utility bills will be much lower than non Energy Star homes. I know that the most important number to home buyers, beside the price of the home is how much HOA (home owner association) fees and monthly mortgage payments would be. But Las Vegas is hot in the summer and cold in the winter and heating and cooling bills can reach more than $300 per month and buyers should take that into account.

Although there are exceptions to a rule of thumb, the older the home, the less energy efficient it is. One of Karen’s friends lives in an older 1500sf home and is paying the same utilities that we do and our home is twice as big as hers, but although we ordered the highest grade insulation when we bought it new, it is not an Energy Star home.

Case Study

We have two very similar homes that a buyer is considering to buy.

A: Las Vegas new home A is 2000 square feet and it costs 100 per month for utilities. This home is priced at $230,000.

B: Las Vegas foreclosed home is 2000 square feet and it costs 300 per month for utilities. This home is for sale for $200,000. How much is the new home worth?

Well, paying $200 per month extra for utilities is no different than paying $200 extra a month for the mortgage. So how much money can a home buyer borrow to pay $200 in monthly payments? If a person borrows $33,360 at 6% interest rate for thirty years then his payment would be $200 per month. Following this logic, the price for the new home should be $33,360 higher.

So if I was the buyer, I would choose the new home in our example because the new home comes with the builder’s 10 years structural warranty and I could pick the carpet and any other options I wanted.

People pick their homes for personal reasons; no two buyer’s taste is the same and not all care about price per square foot. But the recent economic debacle that has distressed Las Vegas real estate prices, resulted from people using their heart and not their head in the most important business transaction of their life. Successful home buyers in Las Vegas hire competent Realtors like us to guide them through the home buying process for FREE.