It’s been a Crazy Month for

Las Vegas Real Estate

Thinking is Everything

As you may have noticed, I really have not had the time to do any posting on any of my blogs. April started getting really busy for Las Vegas real estate and May is even busier. Certain Las Vegas neighborhoods I track for my clients are getting offers on the newest listings that come up for sale almost immediately. You have to act really fast and be on top of what is going on in the neighborhood.

In a recent real estate class I attended, a survey taken of the attendees showed that the average was four offers written up on average to get one sale. (Primarily on Las Vegas Bank Owned properties for sale that everybody has been chasing.)

Short Sale Secrets

I have so much to catch up on and share… but today I’m going to write about the newest wave taking place with Las Vegas Short Sales. The tactic of offering 30% below current market may not be in your best interest if you really want to purchase a property due to the enormous amount of increased sales activity and declining inventory.

Offering Far Below then what the current market values are for a Short Sale

It took a little while, but it finally hit the Las Vegas Real Estate Market to where it seems to have become mainstream and it goes something like this. A Las Vegas short sale listed at market value, offer 30% below to take a shot. The reasoning (and a fair one) is that the lenders would prefer to go this route then the increased fees and costs to go through the foreclosure process and sell it through an REO Agent who might will probably sell it for less. It certainly holds a lot of weight since the time /costs involved of the foreclosure process can get quite pricey.

This is a so called “Short Sales Secret” or AKA get rich in Short Sales that I know people are selling all over the internet right now and bombarding one of my junk e-mail accounts. My little secret to you is that it’s a little old right now and works better in real estate markets where sales are really tough to come by. (Maybe that’s why they are selling the tactic instead of practicing it?) If you read my last Las Vegas Real Estate report, you’ll know that sales are not very tough to come by in Las Vegas right now.

Works Fantastic in a Declining Market with a high amount of inventory.

Let’s take a look at the side of the Las Vegas Short Sale Agent and what we need to do for the sellers in order to understand the current thought process that needs to be considered.

Sellers need the best representation to get the highest price possible for their home for the best chance of an approval.

The lenders are going to do their own due diligence of what the current market value is for the home either through an appraisal or a BPO aka Brokers Price Opinion. There’s nothing like a buyer waiting around for two months for a decision just to find out the lender wants tens of thousands of dollars more for an approval then what was offered.

Regardless… six months ago when nothing was selling, it was a little easier to submit offers for 30% below the current market value then it is when there are multiple sales taking place. For the most part, there are plenty of recent sales in Las Vegas to help determine current market values and see where they are going. Inventory is also going down which takes away the tactic of showing the bank a gazillion similar homes also available for sale that buyers can buy elsewhere.

We have a Duty to Represent the Las Vegas Real Estate Short Sale Seller

A lot of time is involved in Addition to everything else that goes on by professionals for Actually Marketing the Las Vegas Home for sale. If we get an offer in 30% below the current market value, is everybody wasting their time with the current market conditions for Las Vegas Real Estate?

More then Likely

I certainly want to get my Las Vegas short sale sellers out of a bad situation so they can move on in life but I don’t want to be wasting everybody’s time in the process. Below are some things that I’m going to take in consideration before talking to the sellers.

The 30% below Market Value offer

When I represent Las Vegas Home buyers.. I certainly want them to get the best deal possible… but I also don’t want them getting false expectations of a get rich quick real estate scheme. Buyers certainly have the final say on taking a shot but I’ll advise them of the process that the lender is going to be looking at to approve the short sale in the first place. Also, I already know the tactic in use so while you might be trying to get a steal that may never happen in the first place… somebody else might swoop right in and submit a solid offer. Which brings me to…

Real Estate Agents Representing Buyers that may not understand the Short Sale Process

You might be drawn in to this “fantastic little get rich in short sales secret” of offering far below market value by an agent looking for your business… but it’s certainly nothing that I would be selling right now.

Something else that stands out to me is failure to include a simple GLVAR short sale addendum with the offer. It’s a simple two page form that just outlines the expectations the buyer should expect from attempting to buy a Las Vegas short sale. When a Las Vegas Realtor® submits this form along with their offer to me, I get a little bit of a warmer, fuzzier feeling that the buyers agent has properly advised the potential buyer of what to expect. Las Vegas short sales can certainly be a long process and we want you to be fully aware of that right up front.

• Not Even Calling before Showing or submitting an offer to purchase. When representing buyers to purchase a Las Vegas Short Sale, there are certain questions I’ll ask the listing agent before wasting my buyers time. When I receive an offer on one of my Las Vegas short sale listings and the agent did not even bother to call me to let me know it is coming over… I wonder if they are embarrassed they are submitting the 20%+ below market value offer or if they have any idea what they are getting into. When no short sale addendum signed by the buyers is attached, it’s generally the latter.

Did Not Even Look at the Las Vegas Home:

We have these really cool little things called electronic lockboxes that tell us who accessed the property at what time.  When receiving a 30%+ below market offer and the property was never even viewed….it’s a pretty good indication of the “short sale secret” of getting rich in real estate. Yep… my little “short sale secret” is I check that report to see if they even looked at the property to begin with. I’m pretty sure that’s around a 100% match right now with the 30%+ below market offer. It could also be a pretty good indication that the buyers are not going to stick around if when the lender comes back and wants a higher price. In a slow market… fine. It starts the dialogue with the lender to see what price they will accept but when actual sales are taking place all around the neighborhood, all we are doing is bogging down loss mitigaters with more paperwork and slowing everything down.

Remember this though… a 30% below Market Value offer is different then 30% below the listing price. I see list prices all over the place. If you need that explained further… please call me. That’s why I track certain neighborhoods and know what the market value ranges are off of the top of my head.

Final Summary

My intention is to educate you with current Las Vegas real estate market conditions that I told you about over a month ago on this very same blog.  Your real estate market across the country might just be getting slow and starting the correction process, but Las Vegas has already been there and done that. You need to be prepared to ignore the drama reports from real estate journalists that live a thousand miles away that only write about what they hear from who knows where. (Or what was happening last year.) Things for the time being have certainly changed for Las Vegas Real Estate as multiple offers are coming in on homes priced at current Market value. (Different then the stories of multiple offers coming in on properties ridiculously under priced.) Yes… Nevada is right in the top 3 for homes in foreclosure, and I’m pretty sure we are right near the top for the most sales Currently taking place.

(What could be going on now is Las Vegas homeowners just giving up when knowing their home values are 40 to 50% below what they owe and just moving on.)

As a short sale Listing agent one of my main responsibilities is helping Las Vegas homeowners in true distress get out of their bad situation. We can’t be wasting their time tied up in situations with buyers that are not serious.

When you understand the process of what it takes to get a short sale approved, your chances of actually getting a great Las Vegas Home are greatly enhanced. It certainly beats running around putting in a bunch of machine gun offers on anything available for sale.

Paul Francis, CRS
Las Vegas Real Estate
702.592.3058