Home4Sale

Let me Re-introduce myself

It's been a fun few years here at the Frost Residence. That's been my title for the last 3 years and 9 months. The Frosts were the first family to occupy my many rooms, I love them and they have loved me, but now they are moving away. So I am back on the market after a brief hiatus with a new MLS listing, but that listing is only so long and you miss out on many of the things I think are great about myself. So I’ve decided to log on to that internet thing everyone is talking about and start one of those new-fangled blogs that are all the craze these days. Who knows? I might meet my new family this way. Maybe it’s you!

(you can look me up at GreatLasVegashomes.com or Realtor.com in zip code 89052 with MLS #469000 (link)).

Final Open House of the Year

A quick announcement to let you know we're having the final open house of the year. Come by tour the property, see the neighborhood, stay awhile. Who knows you might want to move in.

Comeby Today, Sunday the 19th from Noon to 4pm or next Saturday and Sunday, the 28th and 29th from Noon to 4pm.

Here's a flyer crafted for the occaision.

Open House

Well, it looks to be an exciting week. The whole Las Vegas Housing Market has undergone a market correction. So prices are falling, buyers are getting back into the market, and mortgage rates are still very low. Sounds like a recipe for success. I've had the price lowered by over 15% since I went on the market and am now a respectable $697,500. A real bargain when you consider the size of my landlot and the prices of similar homes.

If this intrigues you I invite you to stop by anytime. Or if you want to visit during an open house, come by this weekend. I'll be open from 11AM-4PM Saturday and Sunday. See you then.

An Update from me!

It's been an interesting couple of weeks here. I made the front cover of the local Home Buyer's Guide October Edition which should bring me some more foot traffic. And that's a good thing (sorry Martha). We've had a half dozen or so interested buyers, but half of them are still waiting for their homes to receive an offer before they can consider making an offer on another property (that's what is called a contingent offer, if I recall correctly). The rest we're still expecting to hear from this weekend.

More and more homes in my price range are getting offers, which is also a good thing. I think that means the market is starting to come back to an equalibrium. Finally, the August housing numbers were announced today and new home construction spending increased by something like 20%, that's twice what analysts were predicting.

So all and all I'd say things are looking up and I hope to meet my new owners soon. Maybe they'll come for a tour tomorrow?

What about Mortgage Rates?

The central reserve board just raised the prime lending rate another quarter of a percent. It looks like this trend will continue until that magical 'neutral rate' is acheieved and the economy can bake along at a substainable rate. What does this mean for home buyers and sellers, well it means that mortgage rates will be going up over the long term. Mortgage rates are not tied directly to the prime rate, but they do trend the same when taken over time. Rates are still at historical lows, but no one knows how long this will last. As for my sale, I hope this means more home buyers will be getting into the market hoping to close escrow before mortgage rates go up any more.

Realtor Open House

Announcing my first Realtor Open House. I'm very excited. It's this Wednesday, September 22nd 2004 from 11AM-2PM. For more information please visit our invitation page.

Of course, if you're not a Realtor or can't make it on Wednesday I'm happy to have you stop by earlier.

I'm Back!!!! I really didn't go anywhere...

I'm back. The real estate market has been undergoing a correction the past few months. It was decided that rather than try and guess what the market would do, we would just ride it out and then adjust as needed. Well, we think the market is done correcting. The result is more homes are on the market than ever, but more homes are selling each month than ever. Mortgage Interest rates are stable, if not a little lower than they were a few months ago, which is helping keeping the market strong. The New Home market is still very tight with costs rising monthly and waiting lists as long as ever. Las Vegas itself remains a hot destination for new residents and no one sees any end in sight to that trend.

All those factors and more, were considered last night and a new listing price was decided upon. Yes, it's significantly lower than where I was originally priced. But that was in June and the market was very different. Could I sell my original listing price today? Sure. Homes in that price range in my area sell every week. A property right down the street from me sold for $875,000 and many around me are listed at 800K and above.

If you're in the Las Vegas housing market as a buyer, realtor, or investor, I hope you'll look at my listing and then stop on by to see what makes me unique (as I've been trying to describe in the previous entries).

I look forward to seeing you soon!

The huge backyard

If I may be a little less than humble and state that I think I have a lot of nice features for a home. My owners paid for a lot of upgrades and the Harvard model itself is the largest and nicest of all the Del Webb homes in Anthem Coventry. With a jacuzzi tub and marble tile in the master bath, double ovens in the kitchen, pergo flooring downstairs, a beautiful children's mural in the front bedroom, and more -- there is a lot to choose from for my best feature. But I think what is really going to sell me is my lot size.

Here's a the lot map that was provided by Del Webb when my home owners bought me. The lot itself is .62 acres. It's about 225 feet across the back wall and 280 feet from the back corner to the curb. The side yards in my back are each the size of the typical Las Vegas back yard for any home that was build since 1999. It's impossible to find a new home with a yard approaching this unless you're willing to build a custom home. And I don't know if you've looked at the prices for custom homes in Las Vegas, but they're up there.

There's plenty of room in my backyard to build a pool, a basketball and tennis court, a guest/pool house, a lawn area, and a entertainment patio/barbeque complex. Even after all that you'll still have the side yards to put something in (my current home over was thinking about a chip and putt practice green). You might think about Xeri-scaping (water smart land use) part of the back yard and even consider putting artificial turf in the back yard. No I'm not talking about that old green rug stuff, today's artificial turf is designed to closely resemble the real stuff with different varieties to choose from. You can also lay artificial turf over foam to make a safe, but cool, child's play area.

I hope you'll print out the picture I've provided and play around with your ideas for the lot. I know I've had a lot of fun doing just that.

Open House

I hosted an open house today. Met a lot of nice people and a few that I think are potential buyers. It's tough being the house and having strangers walk through you. They're very critical, look at the landscaping, look at the floor, etc. But I guess they should be expected to be critical. After all they're trying to decide if I'm their next home. I thought I'd take the time and answer some of the questions that I hear being asked around the house. What better forum than here.

1) How far is it to _______? There are a lot of variations of this question. I've included the map link below to help you get a better idea. But here are a few of the major points. Nearest park - 3 blocks or about 2 minutes. Nearest Supermarket - 6 blooks or about 3 minutes (4 if you hit the red light). Nearest school - A middle school is being built in the park that is 3 blocks away. The elementary school is just down the hill from that (about 6 minutes drive time). The high school is about 7 minutes away drive time. Many kids walk to both from this area, but a bus does come buy and pick up the children. We're about 20 minutes away from the strip, but a nice local's casino (Green Valley Ranch) is about 12 minutes away. Green Valley Ranch is also the closest hotel. But a new hotel is supposed to be going up just about 5 minutes away on Eastern. The airport is 20 minutes away to pick up or drop off. The drive to Disneyland is 3 and a half hours if you're lucky enough to miss all the traffic and don't mind going about 75-80 mph most of the way.

2) How are the schools here? There are no school age children in the house, but the cul-de-sac has at least 6 of them. Most attend the elementary school and moved here partially because of that school. The other parents talk highly of the teachers there and parent involvement in the school is very important.

3) Why isn't the backyard landscaped? The short answer is that my owners were hit doubly hard by 9/11 and then a drunk driver. So money was a little tight for a long time. But since they decided to put the house up on the market, everyone told them to just leave it a blank slate for the next home owner to draw on. No sense in planting anything or laying paths and rocks if the next home owner has a different vision for the back yard.

I hope that answers some of your questions about me. If you have any other feel free to drop me an email, just use the link to the left so it cuts down on spam, or leave a comment below.

Why move to Las Vegas?

Why move to Las Vegas? Well for one it's got a growing economy.

"Job creation is also rising, state data showed. Nevada created 8,200 jobs in May, the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation said June 19. In the past year, 47,600 new jobs have been added to the state's work force, which is growing at a 4.4 percent annual rate, compared with 1 percent nationally." ( LVRJ July 6th 2004 )

The rest of this article talks about how Las Vegas is now the number one community for issuing new building permits. But not everbody wants a new home, I hope. Plus, if I may toot my own horn for a moment, you're not going to able to find a new home with a land lot my size unless you plan to buy a custom home.