Las Vegas, Nevada Homes
The housing market continues to make headlines, especially for Las Vegas, NV homes.
According to RealtyTrac, a leader in the foreclosure tracking industry “Las Vegas posted the nation’s highest metro foreclosure rate for the year, with more than 12 percent of its housing units receiving a foreclosure notice in 2009 — more than five times the national average.”
So what does this mean to you if you are thinking of buying Las Vegas, Nevada homes?
Buying homes in Las Vegas, NV
For those of you interested in buying homes, Las Vegas, NV represents a unique challenge. The vast majority of homes for sale will fall in to one of two categories – foreclosure or short sale.
In both of these categories you can find great deals to be had. For many neighborhoods the price of housing is below levels seen at the turn of the century.
For you as a buyer, these two types of home sales require some degree of understanding of the Las Vegas marketplace dynamics.
In a traditional sale of a home a homeowner lists their house for sale, a potential buyer makes an offer, negotiations ensue and a final agreement is reached. Approximately 30-45 days later the home has a new owner.
In this scenario both buyer and seller are motivated to complete the transaction as both have a vested interest in the sale closing. If a problem comes up, both will do their best to take care of it.
In a foreclosure or short sale, you are dealing with a lending institution who has many similar homes they are dealing with at the same time. And the person at the lender you will be dealing with is typically under paid, over worked, and has become numb to the business. What may seem to be a unique situation to you has been seen by the lender countless times before.
Short Sale vs. Foreclosure
You may be wondering why a foreclosure and short sale are being lumped together here, as one is a bank owned property and one is still owned by a home owner.
Both will require some degree of lender approval for the sale to be completed. The foreclosure because the lender is the owner, a short sale because the sale price of the home will be less than what is owed on the mortgage and the lender will have to approve taking a loss.
Is one type of home better for you than the other?
It depends.
Foreclosures are less complicated in that once you have an offer accepted by the seller, you can expect the sale to close in a reasonable time frame, barring any unforeseen issues a home inspector may discover or that turn up on a title report.
Short sales can be very time consuming with no definitive sale date. Just because you and the home owner have reached a deal the lender is not obligated to approve the sale in a specific time period, or at all.
Typically most short sales will be in better physical condition than foreclosures, but you may get a lower price on a foreclosure due to repairs needed.
It also depends on your time frame for moving. If you need to move in a relatively short time period you need to focus on foreclosures because you will have an answer regarding your offer a lot quicker than for a short sale.
Either way, you need to find a real estate agent who is familiar working with foreclosures and short sales.
Find an Agent
Both types of sales have their own peculiarities, but one commonality is both require a buyer to have their own agent.
The lender wants both a buyer’s agent and a seller’s agent to try to avoid any conflict of interest that may arise by having one agent working for both the buyer and the seller.
An easy way to find an agent is to search online at sites such as ziprealty.com, homegain.com, and realtytrac.com.
Zip Realty is a nation wide brokerage who has focused on making it easy for people to find and locate agents online. You can search for agents by zip code or city, a list of agents in the area you are interested will be shown, and you can contact those agents that you wish to get more information from. It’s quick and easy, so go check out ziprealty.com now!
HomeGain lets you anonymously compare Realtors in your neighborhood and find the right Realtor for you. They have an intuitive site that allows you to sign up for free and you will receive email proposals from agents in your area. It’s quick, easy, and free so give homegain.com a try!
RealtyTrac has, in it’s superb collection of search features, made it possible to find a great agent by simply entering in a zip code. What could be easier? Visit realtytrac.com now!
In general, Las Vegas, NV homes once again represent a great bargain, especially for a first time home buyer. Prices are with reach of the average buyer, and first time home buyer loans require little down payments and have low interest rates. Affordability is once again present in the Las Vegas housing market.
For more information on how to research the market, please check out our first time home buyers guide “7 Steps to Buying a House for the First Time Home Buyer.”