Las Vegas Real Estate News

HUD providing $18.5 million to help purchase foreclosed homes

Local housing officials say they fear some banks might not want to participate in a federal program to help low- and medium-income buyers purchase foreclosed homes because it mandates a 15 percent discount on already depressed prices. But a regional director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said most big national lenders already have committed to take part.

30 March 2009
By Jeff Pope

Real estate investment trusts report large losses

A pair of Las Vegas real estate investment trusts operated by businessman Michael Shustek are reporting big losses for 2008, as the recession pushed numerous borrowers into default.

30 March 2009
By Steve Green

New law will keep swimmers high, dry

Mike Heiney, owner of Westside pools, compares an old pool drain cover, left, with a new anti-entrapment cover designed to prevent death. Federal law requires that public and community pools and spas have the drain covers installed, which Heiney calls "an expensive process."

Scores of homeowner associations across the Las Vegas Valley have yet to comply with a law requiring that public and community swimming pools and spas be retrofitted with safety devices, and are telling their members not to count on enjoying their pools this summer. Some of the associations say they don’t have the money. With so many foreclosures, their income from homeowners dues has plummeted.

30 March 2009
By Brian Eckhouse

Canadians thinking of Vegas as good place to buy

The drop in home prices has opened the door to more Canadians buying vacation homes and investment property in Las Vegas, and some builders and developers are trying to take advantage of it.

30 March 2009
By Buck Wargo

See something you like? A guide for house hunters

These days, buyers are buoyant over the great deals in the valley, and sellers are wondering what happened to the value of their homes. Here’s what your money will buy you this week.

29 March 2009
By Brian Eckhouse

Repairs not easy for some homeowners with faulty plumbing

Anthem residents Amy Brennan and Sean Schickedanz say the work to replace the Kitec plumbing systems in their home was more disruptive than they expected. The plumbing is being replaced as part of a class-action settlement.

The repairs were supposed to be quick and hassle-free for the homeowners. Once all the work was completed, the plumbers, drywall installers and painters would leave no trace that they had ever been in the homes. In most instances, that’s been the case, said Tim Taylor, President and CEO of Total Class Solutions, the claims administrator responsible for the $10.2 million settlement Richmond American Homes paid to end its part in a plumbing-defect lawsuit. But some Anthem residents said the process was more than they bargained for — dust everywhere, fumes from glue, exposed fiberglass insulation.

28 March 2009
By Jeff Pope

KB Home reports increase in orders for new homes

KB Home, a big homebuilder in the Las Vegas area, today heightened optimism about a potential economic turnaround as it reported an increase in orders for new homes.

27 March 2009
By Las Vegas Sun Staff

Sue Naumann

Sue Naumann, president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, is shown in a classroom at the group's offices.

Sue Naumann, president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, has spent her career in real estate. She got her real estate license in 1979 when she worked full time in the title industry and later worked as a paralegal for a bankruptcy attorney.

27 March 2009
By Buck Wargo

With cash in hand, home investors reemerge in Las Vegas

Cash is king in the Las Vegas housing market. With lending guidelines tightened, especially for investors looking to purchase homes at bargain prices, cash buyers have increased dramatically.

27 March 2009
By Buck Wargo

In tough housing market, NLV hit hardest

Twenty-seven of 57 ZIP codes in the Las Vegas Valley recorded drops in median prices of 30 percent or more in 2008 compared to 2007, according a report by a San Diego tracking firm.

27 March 2009
By Buck Wargo

O Canada: Want to buy a Vegas home, eh?

The drop in home prices has opened the door to more Canadians buying vacation homes and investment property in Las Vegas, and some builders and developers are trying to take advantage of it.

27 March 2009
By Buck Wargo

Union group accuses home builder of poor work conditions

Dressed as a lemon while representing Pulte and Del Webb homeowners and union members, Ben Horowitz, left, stands with Norma Uribe outside the council chambers of the Nevada State Contractors Board waiting to present the National Lemon Award to the board during the Thursday morning meeting.

A long-running feud between unions and one of the nation’s largest home builders spilled into the meeting of the Nevada State Contractors Board in Henderson this morning.

26 March 2009
By Jeff Pope

Bill would give HOAs right to do upkeep on foreclosed homes

Homeowners associations would have the right to maintain the yards of foreclosed homes within their communities under a bill working its way through the state Legislature.

26 March 2009
By Jeremy Twitchell

Government help can’t come too soon for 89131 families

Neal and Michelle Williams, who have owned their Las Vegas home for 13 years, have seen their neighborhood deteriorate as the ZIP code has developed one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation.

Maria Kriegh’s two daughters signed up about 20 neighbors for Girl Scout cookies in late February, but when they returned to deliver the boxes two weeks later, the mother of four was shocked to find that a few of the homes were empty, bare living rooms glimpsed through window panes. The Kriegh family lives on Wandering Street, in ZIP code 89131 — ground zero for the nation’s foreclosure crisis.

26 March 2009
By Timothy Pratt

Assembly panel weighs bill limiting power of HOAs

everal bills relating to homeowners associations, including one dubbed by its sponsor as “the homeowners bill of rights” moved through a Nevada Assembly subcommittee Wednesday afternoon. In all, the Assembly Judiciary Subcommittee heard seven bills that would change the way the state regulates homeowners associations.

25 March 2009
By Jeremy Twitchell
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