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

This the concluding blog in comparing Las Vegas new homes for sale and resale homes in the same community series

Comparing Las Vegas new homes for sale and resale homes in the same community

A gentleman called me buying a high rise condominium in Las Vegas; while we were talking he told me that he is losing tens of thousands of dollars on a home that he purchased about a year and half ago. I told him that it is impossible to lose that much money unless you try, and it turns out that he ordered a brand new home from scratch and paid for upgrades in the Whitney area of Henderson. As soon as he moved into his home, it became a used home and other resale homes, including foreclosure homes and short sales become COMPS for his home and thus the loss.

I wrote about the two brand new Summerlin model homes for sale and now will discuss two similar one story homes that listed in the Las Vegas MLS. One is a resale which is in very good condition, one is a foreclosed home which has failed to sell through the Las Vegas MLS and is going to be auctioned off, and the last one is a short sale home in very good condition.

I will reproduce the table here

Price per square foot for Las Vegas new homes for sale in Summerlin, traditional sale, bank owned home that will be auctioned off and short sale

Although the resale homes are older than the new homes, homes up to five years old are considered new homes; the difference is upgrades and maybe an Energy Star package.

Custom paint, flooring, cabinets of Las Vegas brand new model homes for sale

Price comparison for new homes, foreclosed auction home, a traditional sale and short sale home

As you can see the new model homes are priced more than $50,000 higher than the resale homes, but the new model home buyer will have one of the most upgraded homes in the community, and pay for it too. The best deals would be the 2002 home which failed to sell through Las Vegas MLS and will NOT bring anything close to the asking price at the Las Vegas foreclosure real estate auction. The auction home has to have some work done; at the minimum the carpets got to go. Replacing carpet with carpet doesn’t add value to the home, but installing laminated wood flooring would and it costs about $10-$15K.

Living room of foreclosed (bank owned) Summerlin, Las Vegas home which is scheduled to run in a Las Vegas real estate auction

Two reasons contributed to the failure of the auction home to sell through the Las Vegas MLS while it was listed:

1: Inappropriate pricing: the auction home was listed at $124 per square foot, while the COMPS are at $110-$118 per square foot and the condition of the home didn’t warrant the discrepancy, this home should have been priced at the lower range.

2: The house was not upgraded enough for the location and price range.

Carpet is the first thing that needs changed in the Las Vegas auction home

Upgrading the resales will not be cheap and those who want to live in a highly upgraded home are better off buying the new model homes.

Even though the short sale home is nice and upgraded, it doesn’t give enough incentive to the buyer to go through the long and uncertain short sale process as this home is not an approved short sale. Even if the short sale is approved at the offer price, the seller may back out and they frequently do over specific performance demand from the lender which allows the lender to go after the borrower’s other assets to satisfy the difference between the net money to the bank and the mortgage amount.

I will not know what will happen to these homes immediately; but when I do, it will make for a cool follow up blog. But I believe that I got the point across and it is: New home buyers should do their due diligence and research their other options before buying a new home or condo in Las Vegas.

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