Michael Shankman Selling Las Vegas 702-498-3383

NOw is the time to buy here in Las Vegas!!

I read this article in today's Review Journal. The luxury market is holding up. There are some great deals in the $1,000,000 price range. You can get these homes for 30-40% off. There are also wonderful deals in the under $300,000 price range. Buy these now and hold on to them for 3-5 years and you should be okay.

As mentioned in the article, there is a 3 acre plot in the guard gated community of the Ridges which is in Summerlin. The owner is building a 25,000 sq ft home for $27,000,000. It will be spectacular. Please call or email me for details.

Michael Shankman

Liberty Realty 702-498-3383

www.michaelsellsvegasrealestate.com

Here is a copy of the article from the Review Journal wrfitten by Hubble Smith

IN THE LAP OF LUXURY

Prices increase in high-end housing market while sales stay steady

BY HUBBLE SMITH
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Luxury homes in Las Vegas have held their value in a declining housing market in which one in every 44 homes has entered some stage of foreclosure, a local appraiser said.

"I'm not so sure at $1 million, but at $1.5 million and up, it's stronger today than it has ever been in this city," Scott Dugan of R. Scott Dugan Appraisal said.

He rattled off two $17 million sales last year in Shadow Creek and MacDonald Ranch, a $12 million transaction in Queensridge, a $10 million penthouse purchased at Panorama Towers and a $9 million home closing at TPC Summerlin.

Before that, Dugan hadn't seen a sale at $9 million or $10 million since 1998 at Spanish Trail.

The average price for homes that sold at $1 million or more in 2007 was $1.87 million, up from $1.62 million in 2006, data from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors show.

Price per square foot increased from $244 in 2003 to $344 last year. The highest-priced sale went from $4.2 million in 2003 to $17.4 million in 2007 for a 4.6-acre Shadow Creek estate.

"Even last year, when everything else wasn't doing well, the $1 million-plus homes were actually moving," said Christine McNaught, who founded Melia Realty Group in 1996 and merged with Windermere Real Estate this year. She did $30 million in mostly luxury home sales in 2007.

The mortgage credit crisis doesn't affect buyers in the luxury market as much as those in the lower and middle markets, said Ken Lowman, broker and owner of Luxury Homes of Las Vegas.

He sold four homes priced at more than $5 million in the past eight months, each of them for cash.

"These buyers don't seem to care about economic fluctuations," Lowman said. "They are very discriminating in their choice and expect near-perfection."

Lowman brokered the sale of a $5.8 million home in The Ridges subdivision of Summerlin in 51 days.

Sales of $1 million homes in Las Vegas dropped to 413 in 2007, compared with 541 in 2006, the Realtors association reported. The number jumped from 158 in 2003 to 402 in 2004 and has remained above 400 each year.

The "ultraluxury market," or homes priced at more than $3 million, had 13 closings in the first quarter, compared with eight in the same quarter a year ago, Lowman said.

The luxury segment from $1 million to $3 million is not looking quite as good, he said. Sales dropped to 53 in the first quarter from 123 a year ago.

Homes that were valued at or near $1 million, including tract homes in upscale neighborhoods, have dropped back below the seven-figure threshold, resulting in fewer luxury sales, Lowman said.

Steve Hawks of ReMax Platinum said the luxury housing market is about to be butchered in the "million-dollar massacre."

He said so-called "jumbo loans" have all but dried up because of the massive amount of mortgage fraud that found Las Vegas at the center of an FBI investigation. Jumbo rates have increased by a point or two and the borrower has to put down 15 percent to 25 percent, Hawks said.

New research from TowerGroup, a Needham, Mass.-based research and consulting firm, predicts that losses from mortgage fraud will reach $2.5 billion in 2008 and that comparable losses will continue for several years.

Homes with artificially inflated values are now going into foreclosure or short sale, Hawks said.

"We're in the first inning of the million-dollar market plunge," he said. "We see some examples already. Several guard-gated communities that have a high amount of vacant homes, short sales and bank-owned (homes) are starting to pop up slowly."

The hardest-hit sector will be semicustom homes in guard-gated communities, Hawks said. Homes in those areas that were going for $1 million to $1.5 million are now listed for $600,000 to $800,000 and will probably drop to $500,000 or $600,000, he said.

Though not as prevalent as they are in the lower markets, "mortgage walkers" are letting banks take back high-end homes, Hawks said. His partner has a Seven Hills foreclosure home in escrow for $750,000 that was once valued at $1.4 million.

After seeming impervious to the main market's woes of the past two years, homes in the $5 million-plus range have come down an estimated 10 percent to 15 percent in the past two quarters and are likely to shed another 10 percent over the next 12 months, Barron's Online reported, based on data from Housing Predictor of Destin, Fla.

Even with negative headlines in the daily news, truly influential individuals have "staying power" and desire to live in the city's finest homes, said Tom Love, broker and branch manager of Realty Executives in Las Vegas.

"In recessions and real estate slowdowns, the accomplished who have designed a life still have a need to achieve their goals," Love said.

He's found fewer price reductions in the high-end market than he has in the lower to middle markets in Las Vegas.

"Sure, there have been some bubbles that have been overbuilt and overhyped such as Strip high-rise condos," Love said, "but the authentic custom-built homes in the best neighborhoods in Vegas still sell."

Cory Frey, loan officer with Southern Fidelity Mortgage, funded construction loans for four custom homes in The Ridges ranging from $1.3 million to $4 million.

"This is the strongest residential area in the valley," he said of the guard-gated community west of the Las Vegas Beltway, in the upper elevations near Red Rock Canyon. "The major makeup is the city's elite and business captains. I just had a comp (comparable sale) at $750 a square foot and some are over $1,000 a square foot."

Good quality homes in The Ridges will always bring top dollar, said Chris Finlay, president of Palm Canyon Development. The custom builder has nine homes under construction there, including the 10,500-square-foot Dunn home that will be featured in October's Parade of Homes.

A three-acre custom home site in The Ridges recently sold for $9 million, or about $3 million an acre, the highest price ever for a lot in that area, Lowman said. The buyer is reportedly the founder of Oakley sunglasses.

"You can just imagine the home that will be built on that site," Lowman said.

Lowman is marketing the $80 million Canyon Edge development for Alpha Land Development at the top of Green Valley Parkway in Henderson. Forty-four semicustom homes, set on terraces to maximize views of the Strip, range from 4,000 square feet to 6,000 square feet with prices starting at $1.4 million.

He said Canyon Edge will "raise the standard of modern living to a whole new level for those seeking the ultimate in modern sophistication."

Windermere's McNaught said she has 15 listings over $1 million in Anthem Country Club, Southern Highlands, MacDonald Highlands and The Ridges. She recently showed a 6,800-square-foot, five-bedroom home in Anthem with a Tuscan flair, a custom theater, game room and intricate woodwork.

Buyers in the luxury market can expect stability for about two years, not the "rocket ride" to huge returns on investment, Love said. They may be less willing to stretch their budget into an expensive home when appreciation has slowed and even turned negative.

"This does take a small segment of buyers out of the market and it does not create the type of stratospheric trend line and panic-buying that we've seen in the past," Love said.

Appraiser Dugan said he doesn't think Las Vegas will see any real home value appreciation for three to five years while the market works through the for-sale inventory.

Reports about high inventory are misleading because they don't include pending and contingent sales, which have increased from about 3,000 a month last year to 6,600 in May, he said.

The number of resale homes on the market, those listed by Realtors on the Multiple Listing Service, declined by 41 units during the third week of May to 22,508, reported Applied Analysis, a Las Vegas financial consultancy. The latest inventory count reflects the eighth consecutive week of decline, taking 1,361 units off the market since March 24, and is at its lowest level since March 2007.

This story first appeared in the Business Press. Hubble Smith writes for the Business Press' sister publication, the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 383-0491.

By the numbers

MGM Grand Las Vegas

Bank owned studio on 3rd floor with strip view..located in Tower 1

asking only $299,999...

I have 26 other studios under $400,000.

The Ultra Luxurious Studio:
Ultra Luxury Amerinities from insuite I-pod sounds system with
integrated HD Plasma Television and DVD player. Featuring an insuite
kitchenette with refrigerator complete with kitchenware. High thread
count egyptian sheets and private balcony overlooking the Las Vegas
strip and the entire valley. Complimentary wireless and cable
internet is available at your leisure in addition to two fixed
telephone lines. The suite comes complete with a king size bed and a
sofa sleeper in the lounge area allowing sleeping accomidations for up
to 4 people.

The Ultra Luxurious Bath:
Oversized marble bath complete with Jacuzzi Bathtup and seperate
luxusious shower with LCD Flat panel television to provide
entertainment and/or music for your bath experience.

The Ultra Luxurious Building:
A private gated entrance leads to the valet parking porte cochere.
A state of the art fitness center with resort spa and heated pool
complex. 24 hour concierge and gourmet dining/room service and so much more. In case business calls and the amenities inside your suite do
not suffice, there is a 24 hour business center located just
downstairs. All this located down a highly secured short moving
walkway just steps away from the MGM Grand casino.

Use these studios as a vacation home and also put them into the rental program to offset some of the costs.

Michael Shankman

Liberty Realty 702-498-3383

www.lasvegashighriseagent.com

Sky Las Vegas

31st floor...bank owned only $524,900...great views

1100 sq ft....2 bedroom...2 full baths...custom kitchen-stainless steel, granite counters, beautiful bathrooms

This is the only residential high rise on the las vegas strip.

Sky Las Vegas features concierge service, beautiful pool, fitness center, saunas, underground parking, 24 hour guard gate and valet parking.

This is a steal at $524,900-owners paid $659,454 one year ago.

The location of this building among all the future new hotels will namke this unit a great investment.

Michael Shankman

Liberty Realty 702-498-3383

www.lasvegashighriseagent.com

I saw this feature on www.cnbc.com .

I thought you would find it interesting. click here http://www.cnbc.com/id/25006032

Now is the time to start thinking about picking up some of these foreclosres. I have many of these well priced bank repos here in las Vegas. Buy them now, rent them out and then sell them in 3-5 years

For all your Las Vegas real estate needs .

Michael Shankman

Liberty Realty 702-498-3383

www.michaelsellsvegasrealestate.com

This article was in today's paper...thought you would find it interesting...

LAS VEGAS REAL ESTATE: As high-rises grow, sales slow

Buyers spooked by spike in inventory, credit crunch

By JENNIFER ROBISON
REVIEW-JOURNAL

It offered such a tidy solution for a land-constrained city: Go vertical, with luxury high-rises to draw in upscale buyers from around the world.

When it began three to four years ago, the push toward towering condominium skyscrapers quickly became one of the hottest real estate trends in Las Vegas, with high-profile names including Ivana Trump, George Clooney and New York's Related Group jumping into the market to invest in, build or brand major projects.

But the same market realities restraining residential construction in Las Vegas have at least temporarily put a ceiling on the city's reach for the skies. Slow sales in the luxury-condominium segment reveal the affluent aren't necessarily immune to dips in the economy, and some analysts predict the high-end condominium scene will be the last real estate submarket to shake off torpor in the housing sector.

Numbers from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors and research firm SalesTraq show about 820 resale units in high-rise condo towers on the local market the first week in May, with closings in the month between March and April coming in at around 20 units. At that sales rate, it'll take roughly 31/2 years to churn through the high-rise resales on the market. Compare that to the 13 months of supply among all resale homes in the Las Vegas Valley, or the two-month inventory of new single-family and townhome units under construction valleywide.

Realtors and market trackers attribute some of the burgeoning high-rise stockpile to a dwindling buyer base.

Jittery consumers see the number of listings on the market and worry that high-rise condos will lose value, so they hold back on buying, said Bruce Hiatt, co-owner of Luxury Realty Group in Las Vegas.

Other buyers who locked in sales agreements three years ago when the high-rise trend took flight and the broader local market peaked in sales and median prices are walking away at closing today, said Larry Murphy, president of SalesTraq.

"People who bought units on contract in 2005 are aware the market in 2008 is nothing like the market they bought in," Murphy said. "But appraisals are coming in at whatever they agreed to pay on their contract three years ago. People are saying, 'We don't think that appraisal is right, and we don't want to close at that price.' A lot of people have been unwilling or unable to come to the closing table."

Buyers who do close on their units often put them on the market immediately, compounding already-big supplies, said Renee Burrows, a Realtor with Nevada Realty Solutions. Speculators looking to flip condos populate the resale markets.

Plus, the constricted mortgage markets hampering borrowing in suburban residential communities have hurt buyers looking for loans on high-end condos.

Even buyers with excellent credit, cash in the bank and 20 percent down payments aren't having much luck -- banks are quoting them the double-digit interest rates often associated with riskier hard-money loans, Hiatt said. And those kinds of terms, combined with the possibility of sustained falloffs in values, turn off affluent buyers, Murphy said.

Spiking inventory and the credit crunch have generated "the perfect storm" in the high-rise market, Burrows said.

"It's all coming to a pretty sad ending right now," said Murphy of the housing oversupply and the loan shortage.

It's tough to say whether the leap in supply has worked its way into prices, because high-rise closings happen in fits and starts, and that makes for volatile pricing, Murphy said. Median local high-rise prices crested at a high of $4 million in June 2005 and cratered to a low of $410,000 in September 2006. The median in April, the most recent month with available statistics, was $622,000, slightly above the three-year median of $602,000.

It could be years before supplies and prices stabilize, experts said.

That's because homeowners hungry to flip units aren't the only contributors to rising condo supplies.

The 31/2-year stockpile of high-rise resales on the market doesn't include new condos set to come online in the next few months and years.

Las Vegas contains 9,168 completed high-rise units, with an additional 794 condos in presale stages and another 12,497 condos under construction. Yet, the market moved just 4,202 units in the three-plus years between January 2005 and April 2008.

Murphy said he believes the high-rise market will recover last, after primary-home buyers have scooped up the city's relatively smaller stores of single-family resales. The traditional resale sector should begin its resurgence in 2009, followed by the new-homes industry roughly six months later, Murphy predicted. Only then will high-rise sales gain steam, Murphy said.

Hiatt said he expects closings inside pricey new towers on the Strip to push up values and improve buyer interest in high-rises in 2010.

Units at projects such as CityCenter could close for $1,600 to $3,000 per square foot starting next year, when owners begin moving in, he said. That compares with the $400 to $1,000 per square foot today's homes typically cost inside Sky Las Vegas, the only completed residential high-rise with a Strip address.

Plus, rising prices of commodities such as steel, concrete, copper and even land mean bigger replacement values, and those construction costs must figure into future condo prices, Hiatt said. The land under Sky Las Vegas, for example, cost $4 million an acre in 2004. It's worth $34 million an acre today, he said.

"We'll see all future luxury high-rises in that (CityCenter) range because of rising replacement costs," Hiatt said. "There's no way to build these towers for less. You could not build them for today's prices. Everything is going through dramatic price increases. How can we say we need to roll back prices when costs of commodities are skyrocketing?"

Burrows, in the meantime, is counseling her clients -- just one of whom has purchased a resale high-rise unit -- to purchase inside luxury towers only if they plan to hold the property for a while, either as a primary home or a vacation spot.

"Short-term speculative flips have pretty much gotten our market where it is," she said. "To stabilize the market, we need a reversal of everything that's happening now. We need buyers who actually want to live in these products, and we need mortgage-underwriting guidelines to loosen up."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

The market will come back. Now is a great time to buy...prices are low right now...lots of inventory to choose from.

For all your Las Vegas high rise real estate needs,

Michael Shankman

Liberty Realty 702-498-3383

www.lasvegashighriseagent.com