Phone: 702-493-8033 Email: info [ at ] lvrealty.net
Description:
Looking for a home or condo in the Las Vegas valley? Contact Prudential realtor Jacqulyn Richey for listings of the exact properties you are looking for. Free buyer representation and hundreds of pages of free information available online about Las Vegas and the surrounding communities.
Specialties:
Buyer agent, High rise specialist, Luxury home specialist
Areas Serviced:
Las Vegas
Henderson
Summerlin
Green Valley
Boulder City
If you haven't been keeping up on real estate news in the Las Vegas valley, there have been several developers that have filed bankruptcy. Most of the projects involved were nothing more than a plot of land or the shell of a building, but not all. Lake Las Vegas resort filed some time ago and is auctioning off some property.
Bargains at Lake Las Vegas
The auction will take place on Saturday, September 13th, 4 p.m. The properties to be auctioned include 11 fully furnished condominiums with five selling absolute (studios to two bedroom units), 12 luxury homes (three to five bedroom, some fully furnished) and four homes sites.
Lake Las Vegas real estate offers some of the most luxurious residences available in the Las Vegas valley. There are luxury condominium communities and several neighborhoods of semi-custom and custom luxury homes. The community has several events throughout the year, not to mention various water sports and great golfing.
For listings of Lake Las Vegas homes or information about the upcoming auction, call me at 702-493-8033.
With energy prices continuing to rise, many homeowners are looking for more ways to cut their expenses and make their home more 'green'. For Las Vegas residents, one of the biggest bills in the summer time is your electric bill. With temperatures still over 100 degrees, your air conditioner is running almost non-stop, especially if you live in an older home. That combined with your water bill can be substantial about five months every year. There are lots of things you can do to cut your utility bills and save money. Some are low or no cost, others will require a substantial investment. You’ve probably read articles or saw something on television listing things you can do to save on your utilities. Here are some things that you may not have heard about yet:
Solar screens: This is one of the cheapest ways to reduce your electric bills during the summer, especially if you own an older home. The sun’s rays not only heat up your home, but fade fabrics and carpet as well. The screens will block out about 85% of the sun’s rays, helping to cool your house down by several degrees, which translates into lower a/c bills. These screens still let in plenty of natural light, but block the UV rays. If you are handy with tools, you can make and install these screens yourself for a few hundred dollars or so, depending on how many windows you have to cover. There are also several companies in Las Vegas that will install these screens or you. Feel free to contact me for a referral at 702-493-8033.
Window Tinting: Basically the same concept as solar screens, tinting your windows can reduce the amount of UV rays that enter your home, causing heat and wear and tear on your furnishing.
Reflecting Roof Coating: Do you have a concrete roof like Spanish Tile or even a galvanized roof, you can apply this thin reflective coating over your current roof to reduce your power bills. Sound a little too good to be true? The roof at the Nevada Power service center in Henderson saved an average of 18% in their power usage in a 24 hour period and 37% in their peak usage time after having their roof done. The same principle applies to the walls of your home. There is a wall coating product that creates a radiant heat barrier all year round, helping to keep the heat out in the summer and in during the winter. You can apply it like paint over your home. The coating is also a fire retardent and will make your outside paint last longer. A study conducted by the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) in conjunction with Nevada Power, established that the Cerama-Tech coating reduced energy bills by upwards of 30% for cooling.
There are plenty of low cost things you can do. Proper maintenance on your air conditioner, including replacing your filters on a monthly basis, can trim your electric bill. Here are some other blog posts and articles from the web about reducing your utility bills.
The Las Vegas valley has been going vertical for the last several years. Las Vegas high rise condos aren't just confined to the strip area or downtown, although most of the projects are located in the city core. I've put together my top five picks for the high rise condo market listing only completed communities (at least one tower fully built). My choices were based on location, community amenities, and price plus consumer feedback. If you are a high rise resident, I'd love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to comment even if your building isn't on the list. Here are the top five:
Sky Las Vegas - This was the first (and only so far) fully residential high rise located on the famed Las Vegas strip. Sky Las Vegas offers breath taking views of the strip and the surrounding mountains. The community offers a wide range of luxury amenities and is pet friendly.
One Queensridge Place - Located in the master planned community of Peccole Ranch next Summerlin, this community redefines luxury condo living. The community overlooks the Badlands golf course and is minutes away from two other courses. Penthouses start in the millions.
Palms Place - This is quite possibly the hippest address in Las Vegas. Palms Place offers more than just a place to live, it offers a lifestyle. Home to several celebrities and located on the Palms property, life at Palms Place is never dull. This is not just another high rise!
Park Towers - This community was built during the early stages of the high rise boom and sold out very quickly. Built in the Hughes center, the community is close to the strip and the airport but far enough away to escape the hustle and bustle of both. The community offers high end amenities, great security and privacy for its residents.
Trump Towers - Rounding out the list is the Trump International Hotel and Tower. Originally slated for a single tower, the Don added plans for a second tower to be built. Like other Trump luxury projects, no expense was spared. Italian marble flooring, Sub-Zero, Wolfe and Bosch appliances, plasma flat panel TVs and more in each fully furnished room. This is only condo hotel to make the list.
There are several other great projects around the valley that I didn't get list. If you have questions about the high rise market or are thinking about purchasing a condo in Las Vegas, feel free to contact me at 702-493-8033 or by email. I'd be happy to answer your questions or send you listings of current condos for sale. Thanks for visiting my blog.
Just a few years ago the thought of seeing gas prices hitting over $4 per gallon was unthinkable. Today, its a reality and the odds are prices will continue to climb and hit over $5 per gallon before the end of the year. Fuel prices affect everything, since the majority of goods in the U.S. are moved by truck.
Real Estate Industry
The effect rising gas prices have had on the real estate industry is two fold. Consumers are more concerned with commute time than they were a few years ago, making communities on the outskirts of the city less desirable (its still about location!). In response, developers have switched to mixed use developments, marketing them as live/work areas. Business owners can live right above their place of work, virtually eliminating the need to commute. The monetary savings in fuel costs is a large incentive. Other communities take it a step further by providing free transportation to other areas of town, like the airport and the strip (two of the largest employment areas in the city). As fuel prices continue to go up, I'm sure we'll see more communities offer these type of amenities. Redevelopment of older neighborhoods closer to the city core will also increase.
Energy Star
Almost all of the new homes built in the Las Vegas valley meet the minimum requirements for the Energy Star rating. Currently, a few builders exceed those requirements and build homes that are very energy efficient. To stay competitive with an increased consumer demand, developers are going to have to build even more energy efficient homes. Green buildings may become the standard in the next five years due to energy costs. But its likely that location will still play a huge part in the buying decision. It may effect resales of older, less energy efficient homes in the coming years. Those home sellers will be competing against more energy efficient homes for buyers. A rise in the number of "green" remodelers is a definite possibility and such remodeling may become a necessity to get top dollar for a resale home in the future, since it is doubful that energy costs will be going down any time soon.
Another high rise condo project has stalled, this time its the green project Sullivan Square. As with other projects, lack of funding is behind the project's collapse. However, unlike other projects, interest in owning a piece of it were high and the developer had enough funds contractually to complete the mixed use project.
Locally based Glen, Smith & Glen Development is now suing its equity partner in the deal, Harcourt Developments, a private company from Dublin, Ireland, which had agreed to finance up to $800 million for the Sullivan Square project. The lawsuit alleges breach of contract and breach of fiduciary responsibility by Harcourt Nevada for failure and refusal to fulfill its funding responsibilities according to the contract.
According to the contract filed with the lawsuit, Harcourt Nevada and its principal, Patrick Doherty, received a 60% interest in Sullivan Square in return for providing all funds for the development and construction. Oversight of the development and construction was the responsibility of Glen, Smith Glen, who also owned the land and had obtained the entitlements.
Glen, Smith Glen has charged in the suit that Harcourt never provided the necessary funds despite repeated attempts to collect them. It also alleges that Harcourt was trying to force out the Plaintffs so that they could assume control of the project. Harcourt repeatedly stated that funding was imminent and their principal personally met with them in February of this year.
This isn't Europe
Unlike European countries, punitive damages can be assessed should the lawsuit be won. In Irish courts the worst that happens is you pay what you owe (seems like there is no consequences for bad behavior). It makes you wonder if Harcourt is just gambling a little to see if they could bankrupt Glen, Smith & Glen and take over the project, thinking that there is minimal risk. They might be in for a big shock after the trial.
So Sullivan Square is now officially in limbo. I'm pretty sure the project will go forward, but as to who will be officially developing it is anyone's guess at this time. One thing is for certain, because of the amount of money involved it is going to be at least a year or two before anything is settled. As to the impact this will have on the Las Vegas high rise condos market, it will probably be minimal.
UPDATE:
A Clark County District court dismissed five of the seven claims against Harcourt by Glen, Smith & Glen. Judge Mark Denton dismissed the bulk of the claims due the lack of protections under the law to members of limited liability corporations, which is how the Sullivan Square development partnership was structured.
If you haven't heard about it yet, a blogger is being sued by a company because of what he posted on his blog. The blogger, Vlad Zablotskyy runs several blogs out of his home in New Jersey including a blog aimed at the real estate community, go-beyond-mls.com. You can read the latest post about his fight with ePerks here.
Getting Personal over Business
The battle has turned personal. Someone posted a very nasty story on Yahoo answers about Vlad that was totally false. Yahoo has since pulled the post, although another site on wordpress has popped up, alluding to the Yahoo post. I'm not going to post what was said on Yahoo, because it was not only false but pretty upseting to Vlad. Probably the same person who posted it also placed a very asinine comment on one of our other blogs about him which I declined to publish.
Online reputation management is very important, as ePerks is learning very quickly. Had this been handled more professionally, I doubt there would be this many posts floating around the internet about their business practices. However it's not surprising.
Reputation
A quick Google search for ePerks turned up this little gem:
Via the Yahoo search engine I just found at least a dozen different forums (they were mostly real estate related forums though some were auto forums) where a user posted the exact same subject line ("eperks?") and then went on to copy/paste the exact same question asked by rks6 above (usually different moniker). All posts were similar time frame - May/June 2007.
Funny thing is, each post was always from new member who just happened to register that same day!
Fortunately, the world has grown wise to spam. The regular users on most of the forums quickly realized that it was an attempt to drum up business for eperks and called them out.
So ePerks was savvy enough to hit up (SPAM) different forums with posts about their company before the main launch. So why not do the same thing again with positive posts? Well, according to Vlad they did that on his blog. There were several positive comments about the service as well as some personal attacks against him. Once information hits the web, it's impossible to get it back. Why would any company seeking business in a specific industry think that this type of behavior would result in a positive outcome for them? They have jumped the shark.
Today I took a short drive out to Inspirada in Henderson. The community is a comprised of several individual builders adhering to an overall master plan.
I took a tour of some of the Meritage Homes neighborhoods. Meritage has neighborhoods of garden, estate, city and village homes with several models available to tour. Construction is ongoing in most of the neighborhoods as well as the commercial district. The main park and community center has already been built and residents are already taking advantage of its amenities.
If you are thinking about buying a home or townhome in Inspirada, Meritage Homes has discontinued a few of its original floorplans and are selling the current models at a reduced price. Feel free to call me at 702-493-8033 for details.
CNN Money launched its 2008 list of the top 100 best places to live and start a business in the US. This year, the city of Henderson managed to make the list, squeaking in at number 98 (Henderson was in the top 20 in 2006). Several reasons were cited, among these were the accessibility of parks (per capita more parks than any other city in Nevada), good urban planning and city funded business coaching.
With tourism increasing every year, Las Vegas has become a mecca for golfers. Las Vegas boasts some of the most gorgeous and rewarding courses in the world, designed by some of the top legends of the game. Las Vegas saw a boom in golf course communities, starting off with the Las Vegas country club. Here are my choices for the best country club communities in Las Vegas:
Spanish Trail - an older community in Las Vegas, Spanish Trail set the standard for country club living in Las Vegas. The community is guard gated with a gorgeous golf course, clubhouse and other amenities. There are several neighborhoods of custom and semi-custom homes along with four neighborhoods of townhomes.
Southern Highlands - this new community revolves around the award-winning, members-only golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and Robert Trent Jones, Jr. The community has all of the amenities you would expect and housing choices include custom and semi-custom homes from 2,100 to more than 3,300 square feet.
Queensridge - this European styled community is home to the Badland golf course designed by 1973 U.S. Open Champion Johnny Miller. The community is unique because it offers luxury homes, luxury condos in the Village and high rise condos at One Queensridge Place.
Los Prados - another older community with a unique twist. Approximately half of the neighborhoods in Los Prados are age restricted. Those neighborhoods also have their own amenities like an adult only swimming pool. The community is located just 12 miles from the center strip and is guard gated.
Rhodes Ranch - This is probably the most family oriented country club community in the valley. The community boasts a huge water park for residents plus a 35,000 square foot recreation center, tennis courts, basketball courts and a championship links-style golf course.
There are several more gorgeous golf course communities in Las Vegas to choose from. If you are thinking about moving to a country club community in the Las Vegas, there are several communities to choose from all over the valley. Feel free to contact me with your thoughts of what a top community entails and I'll send you listings of the current homes for sale that match your criteria.
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