Small businesses account for most of the new job creation in America. What do small businesses need to expand and hire? Credit and access to capital. Yet most lenders today are not lending to small business. This means small business owners must tap their own personal funds or equity in their luxury home to expand their business. We all know what has happened to housing equity – it has greatly shrunk over the past 4-5 years. Aggregate value of real estate equity went from $13 trillion in 2006 to $6.1 trillion today. The good news is that most of these declines are over. However, to give small business owners needed funds to expand and grow their business we are going to need some home price recovery. Luxury homes and million dollar homes that rise in price can give small business owners the capital to expand their business and hire new employees. This makes a housing recovery more critical than ever.
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The Las Vegas luxury home buyer can have discriminating tastes and high standards in their luxury home search. What are they really searching for? I find it interesting to note what terms they search for on the internet. This, of course, can be valuable information as we constantly optimize our website, luxuryhomesoflasvegas.com for buyer luxury home searches. The number one search term is Las Vegas Luxury Homes. Naturally, we have the number one Google ranking for this term and many of it’s variations. Next up is The Ridges Las Vegas. This is the most popular and affluent high-end luxury home neighborhood in Las Vegas today. It is fairly well known and therefore a starting place in searches. Again, we are ranked number one in a Google search for this term and many of it’s variations. I often find that a luxury home buyer will start their search in The Ridges, knowing how popular The Ridges is, but they will end up purchasing in another comparable million dollar neighborhood. The third most popular search term is Million Dollar Homes Las Vegas. This was a surprise at first, but after realizing that many out of state buyers do not know Las Vegas neighborhoods, what else would they start their search with? We are number one in a Google search for this term as well. Analysis of and reaction to data like this keeps us at the forefront of finding Las Vegas luxury home buyers for our luxury listings and clients!
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Americans still view home ownership as the American Dream. With nearly 25% of home owners at the present time owing more on their homes than they are worth, 9 of 10 Americans polled still see the value in home ownership and see it as part of the American dream. The majority of those polled also felt the government should be doing more to improve housing markets. Most blamed the financial institutions for the sluggish housing market. 66% of those polled say strategic default is NOT justified. This poll seems to be a nice vote of confidence for housing in one of the most historically troubling times we have witnessed.
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The headlines and stories are all doom and gloom. Despite all this, luxury home sales in Las Vegas are still happening every day! In May, there were 8 closed sales on homes over one million dollars. Of those 8 sales, Luxury Homes of Las Vegas made 2 of them for an outstanding 25% market share. A common theme in these sales is that they are usually luxury homes in great condition, priced properly for million dollar homes and marketing aggressively by a luxury home expert. Some of the communities these homes sold in included Promontory at The Ridges, Mountain Trails in Summerlin, Red Rock Country Club, Canyon Gate Country Club, Southern Highlands, Willow Creek and The Estates at Green Valley. Just one of these sales was NOT in a guard gated, planned community. In the $500,000 to $1,000,000 price range there were 44 homes closed in May. We’ll keep on working and we’ll keep on selling luxury homes in Las Vegas!
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Have you noticed the square bars in magazine advertisements lately? They look like square bar scanner codes. These are QR codes or Quick Response codes. They are free to create through various websites (try www.qrstuff.com or http://qrcode.kaywa.com). When scanned by a smart phone camera (and with one of many free QR code apps) the user is directed to a destination URL on the web. Real estate practitioners are finding this a useful tool to direct consumers to their website and to specific luxury home properties on their websites. I have begun to use QR codes in magazine advertisements featuring Luxury Homes of Las Vegas and on real estate for sale signs on luxury estate homes. QR codes can be an intriguing leave behind on the back of a business card, a great directional tool on yard signs, an excellent appeal to the GenY crowd and can impress luxury home sellers! Look for more QR codes in the future by Luxury Homes of Las Vegas.
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I was just interviewed by Swiss TV, who traveled to Las Vegas to find me. They broadcast in three languages in the country of Switzerland. A few months ago, BBC Radio also came to Las Vegas to spend time with me in one of my luxury home listings. This type of international exposure should go a long ways in attracting buyers from all over the world. It seems that many foreign countries are interested in our real estate market and they are realizing that the United States is on sale!
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A recent survey of wealthy Americans with assets over $1 million found that the majority were unhappy with their financial situation and did not feel wealthy. The survey found that it would take $7.5 million to make these people feel wealthy. It seems the wealthy just can’t be satisfied. Part of this might be the constant effort to improve and earn more; however, some of this might be our culture of never being satisfied. $7.5 million would certainly be enough to live in a luxury home and have the freedom to do as you please with your time. What number makes you feel wealthy?
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Spring is upon us in Las Vegas! 75 degrees, how very nice. In January we had nine luxury home sales close for over $1,000,000. In February, we had 11 luxury home sales close for over $1,000,000. Buyer activitiy in the luxury market has been increasing the past few weeks and we are heading into our spring selling season. We are looking forward to many more luxury home sales here in Las Vegas!
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Beginning January 1, 2011, the seller of residential property is required to provide the buyer with an energy consumption evaluation form published by the Nevada Energy Commissioner. The evaluation form must be provided prior to closing. A copy of the form is available here. The buyer and seller may choose to waive the evaluation form requirement. The waiver form is found on the last page of the evaluation form. The form is designed to give the buyer basic information about the home, its mechanical and lighting systems, the seller’s consumption of power and gas, and any energy-efficient features in the home such as Energy Star labeled appliances. The seller must use a good faith effort to obtain “reasonably available” information to complete the form. For example, the seller must check for any visual labeling on a device to answer questions about that device. Nevada Energy and Southwest Gas have each agreed to assist a homeowner in completing the form by making the consumption and cost easily available by phone or online. Contact NV Energy in southern Nevada at (702) 402-5555, or online at NVEnergy.com; contact Southwest Gas toll free at (877) 860-6020. An energy audit/inspection is not required, although a buyer may choose to have such an audit completed by a certified inspector. This is similar to the buyer’s option to have a home inspection done on the home. Additionally, buyers should understand that many factors affect a seller’s energy consumption, including the number of persons occupying the home and the seller’s lifestyle, which may be more or less energy-conscious than the buyer’s. The adoption of this form may add value to recently constructed green homes in Las Vegas.
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I recently returned from a Vail, CO ski trip and the local media reported that the sale of luxury real estate there was up over last year. Luxury sales were nowhere near there 2007 or 2008 high, but markedly improved from 2009. In the Vail area there were 38 sales over $5 million. This compares to just 20 sales over $3 million in the entire Las Vegas luxury home market. It was amazing to see the high concentration of luxury homes in a small area like the Vail valley. Stronger luxury home sales throughout the country will help Las Vegas as many of those luxury home sellers will decide to purchase in our much more affordable luxury home environment. Las Vegas is well positioned for a luxury home real estate recovery!
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