After selling 11,000 homes in 2004 totaling $3.4 billion, he expects to reach $5 billion in sales this year. Stark attributes the sales figures to his company's organization and sales model.

"It's attracting the top sales professionals in the marketplace because we give them the tools to support the training to really build a business," Stark said. "In our industry, one of the frustrations is it's easy to get into it, but you might not have all the skills to build a business long term."

That is where Prudential Americana Group comes in, supporting its 1,200 agents to build up a career in real estate.

Stark talked with In Business Las Vegas about the changing real estate market, challenges real estate agents face and the health of the market.

We reported last week that Las Vegas has dropped off the federal government's list of fastest appreciating (Metropolitan Statistical Areas). Is that a good or a bad thing?

Anytime you have a market that is appreciating at a very rapid rate, eventually that's not a great thing. It certainly depends on which hat that you're wearing. If you're the investor who's buying properties, and you're looking to do quick flip, of course you want as much dramatic appreciation as you can get as quickly as you can. However, for the health of the market long term, you really do not want dramatic appreciation. You want consistent growth and consistent gradual appreciation and that keeps the market really healthy. So if appreciation has slowed down a bit, that's a good thing. The market is very strong and very healthy.

Would people read the study and point to it as proof that there is a housing bubble in Las Vegas?

The problem with the concept of a housing bubble is it's not about one issue. You really have to look at numerous issues from job growth, population growth, and of course you want to look at home prices. But if you look around the country, we are very reasonable. People look at that individual spike in the last two, three years and say "OK, this is the challenge." But if you look back years prior to that, we really should have grown at a higher pace back then, but we did it all at one time.

So it doesn't sound like you believe that Las Vegas is at risk for falling housing prices.

Not at all. First of all, with everything going on in the country, you always want to look at every aspect and look at all these situations that are looking at the economy nationally. Las Vegas is an amazing place and it has a lot of aspects that protect the marketplace. One of them again, is job growth, the other is population growth, those types of issues that are very powerful for any marketplace. When you have that, you're going to have infrastructure needs; you're going to have housing needs.

As the market heated up in the last couple years, did you have to be more careful about who you hired as agents and even people you took as clients?

I think from sales executives' standpoint, it's very easy to get into the real estate business; what the key is, it's very difficult to stay in the real estate business. It's really not being careful of whom, it's making sure the people you do hire are properly trained and have the proper commitment to the business to grow long term. From the client side what you have to be careful of is realistic expectations. We're definitely in a marketplace that you have to be more careful, you have to be more prudent in what you purchase.

What role do real estate agents have in discouraging people who are looking just to make a quick buck or who have unrealistic expectations?

They're here to help in any way possible -- any client based on what those client's goals are. There's nothing wrong with being an investor in the marketplace -- it's the way the market works. The sales executive needs to explain to the client the risks and the rewards of doing something like that. No one can guarantee any return in any way, shape or form. However, they can share some good-quality information and give some feedback that maybe the client had some unrealistic expectations that could cause a challenge down the road. If they make money on it and flip it, more power to them.

According to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR), homes in the Las Vegas Valley are taking longer to sell. Are your agents seeing this and what types of homes are selling faster than others?

The average days on the market have definitely increased. However, it's a very healthy timeframe. You're looking at anywhere from 60 to 90 days in the market; that is a generalization based on price ranges. I think part of the reason some product is taking longer is some people are still trying to push the edge of the envelope and earn as much as they can possibly earn on their property, which is what they should try; they've just got to make sure they're not pricing themselves out of the market. What you'll end up doing is you'll help your competition sell their property while your property sits there. Lower price ranges seem to sell very quickly. It really depends on the product, the location, the price range, the availability of that product, the age.

Last year we reported that commissions for Realtors were getting cut because of the housing market. Have builders gone back to paying commissions and are sellers willing to pay as well?

Builders, yes, most all builders have gone back to cooperating in some fashion. Commissions are a product of value. Depending on what you offer, are you able to meet the goals of the seller and or buyer, whatever the case may be. That's how you're gauged. Commissions will do what they do, and the consumer is the boss. We only get compensated about a task being successful. We can work with a client for a year, for two years -- if the task isn't successful there is zero compensation. Our whole job is about results. As long as you accomplish those results, and you do it in a professional productive manner that the client is happy with, you'll make great money and you'll have a long-term relationship with that client.

Several agencies have opened up in Las Vegas in the past year to help buyers sell their houses virtually on their own. Is using a real estate agent necessary in today's world of the Internet?

The Internet has been extremely powerful, but it has only enhanced the position of the Realtor. Purchasing real estate is a very emotional, very important decision. There's only so much technology is going to do. I see the Internet being a huge proponent for the real estate business. I think it will also bring other aspects to the business that you'll see more in the future. Our business is a people business, and that's why the real estate industry since the Internet has flourished. The Internet gives you information, but people work together to make sure the transaction comes to pass the way the client needs it to come to pass.

Are you finding that buyers are coming to real estate agents with more knowledge of what they're looking for because they've done research on the Internet first?

Absolutely. About 78 percent of people start the process on the Internet. They pick sales executives on the Internet. They definitely look at the market overall prior to making that decision. The Internet and technology overall has been a great help to our industry, to deliver that information quicker and more accurately to the consumer.

Do you think the Nevada Real Estate Division should wait to receive background checks before issuing licenses? By waiting, as it now does, it causes the wait for a real estate license in some cases to take up to four months.

They need to do the background check. Any system can be done more quickly and efficiently if invested in different avenues. With as many sales executives that we have in our market, which just through the GLVAR is over 13,000, I believe that's part of the reason. Maybe the division isn't looking into speeding up the process. As well as, there's only so much money to go around to have the staff to do those types of things. I believe wholeheartedly the division has their challenges with that scenario as well, as many other entities do.

What do you think needs to be done to make housing more affordable for those that live or want to live in the Las Vegas Valley?

I think that's going to come from developers and the support of the city. There's projects that are going to be underway that have some opportunity for affordable housing and with the support of the city, working together with very innovative developers, you're going to see some affordable product hit the market. I know from personal knowledge the city of Las Vegas is very excited about it. It's very hard to expect someone to pay X dollars for a piece of land and then not be able to build what they need to build on it to make a profit. These companies who are building these projects and homes are in it to make a profit as well as deliver a quality product to the marketplace.

As far as the high-rise condo projects, there have been a couple projects that have fallen out. What is your take on what is happening in the high-rise market and are we going to see all the projects happen that were talked about?

That goes without saying, absolutely not. Just because something is talked about, doesn't mean it's going to happen. A lot of developers came to the marketplace and truly did not do all their homework prior to moving forward. When you don't do your homework, you open yourself up to challenges. The players that are doing their homework, know what they're doing, completing their due diligence will move forward; and I will tell you specifically this market needs the product.

If everyone only builds in the luxury high-rise market, will that part of the market get saturated? Well, sure. It goes without saying. So you have to look at the different product that need to be built and what consumers are looking for.

One mistake that is made, you don't start with a piece of land and build on the land what the density issues and the zoning tell you, you have to build without doing your homework first on what the market is looking for. You want to find a piece of land to support what the market is demanding.

The ones that are not, they find out they have a very valuable piece of land and they can maybe flip that piece of land to another player who can maybe do something different with the land or maybe has some more expertise or can get more value out of that land. The land is only worth what you can put on it.

Jennifer Shubinski covers real estate and development for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-8832 or by e-mail at js@lasvegassun.com.