Las Vegas Homes, Condos, Land and Commercial Real Estate Blog

Las Vegas Real Estate Market Report 2009-2010, regular sales, short sales and foreclosure sales Part One

I am only discussing the real estate market in the Greater Las Vegas Valley and not all of Clark County which most of the MLS numbers are based on and will only discuss deals that involved the Las Vegas MLS and not for sale by owner or auction numbers.

I am reproducing the table below so we can analyze it a bit further.

Greater Las Vegas (Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Boulder City and Unincorporated Clark County Homes, condominiums and Townhomes sold in 2009 by price range and type

As you can see the bulk of residential real estate deals in Las Vegas have been for properties that have sold for less than $200,000 (79.5%) and homes, condos and townhomes which sold for $100,000-$200,000 (43.5%) dominate other price ranges.

Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas short sales transactions 2009-2010

1932 reo, 4851 short sale and 3793 regular sales residences are currently listed in Las Vegas MLS. Throughout the year, the number of short sale homes, condos and townhomes in Las Vegas fluctuates around 2-4 times the number of the REOS or bank owned homes. The percentage of short sale transactions to foreclosures is almost 16% or 1/6. If one multiplies the two numbers, 1/6×1/2=1/12 or 8.5% is the chance of making an offer and successfully closing on a short sale deal as compared to a foreclosure. This is precisely why we don’t usually show short sales unless they are approved (the bank has already accepted a price to sell the property).

The reason for short sales not closing escrow is that it may take more than 6 months to get a short sale approved and most buyers are not willing to wait so long to get an uncertain answer from the bank. The second reason is that the short sale process starts with an offer and some Las Vegas Realtors put an unreasonably low price on their listings in order to procure an offer to get the negotiations started and lastly doing a short sale transaction is a specialized field which requires a special type of Realtor to see the deal through.

We have referred two listings to a competent short sale agent who is the best at listing Las Vegas short sale homes and condos. One closed after 7 months and she is still working on the other deal and she has been working on it for about 10 months.

The other reason that we don’t do short sales is that I know an agent who is far better at it than we would ever be and we refer short sell home sellers to her, as it is in the best interest of our customers to get their deals done by the best.

The other point is that the percentage of closed short sales in Las Vegas goes up when the prices increase. The percentage of Las Vegas short sales homes and condos which sold for $1,000-$50,000 is 5.75% and for homes and condos and townhomes that sold for $500,000-$750,000 increases to 14.78%.

Las Vegas Foreclosure homes, condominiums and townhomes transactions and Regular sales

 The percentage of foreclosed properties goes down as properties become more expensive. Only 218 bank-owned homes, condos and townhomes have sold for more than $500,000 in 2009, while the number of short sales that sold is 100 and regular sales have been 466. The reason is that those who have previously purchased these homes can’t prove hardship which is a requirement for doing a short sale or foreclosures will seriously affect an owner’s credit.

I believe that the table above is self explanatory and those who plan to buy a home, condominium or townhome should take a look at these numbers in order to gain an understanding about what type of home is available in their price range and their chances of getting an offer accepted.

I will discuss Greater Las Vegas real estate market conditions by type next.

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