In Business Las Vegas

Real Estate and Development

Las Vegas market seen as 'an investor's dream'

By Brian Wargo / Staff Writer

Although housing sales remain slow and prices continue to drop, real estate investors such as Jeff Adams are continuing to sift through inventory looking for bargains.

Adams, a Los Angeles resident, is among a group of investors whose focus these days is on foreclosure properties. He appeared recently in Las Vegas to speak at the 10th annual Creative Real Estate Online convention on how to buy real estate in today's market.

"The media (are) saying this is a horrible time to buy, but it is an investor's dream," Adams says. "You have all these bank-owned properties that two years ago where selling for $1 million and now can be bought for $520,000, $510,000 or $490,000. There are some good deals out there, but it is just a numbers game."

When banks auction properties, many investors think they can look at a couple of homes and put a bid on them and expect to get them, but it's not that easy, Adams says. There is a lot of competition and he bids on dozens and dozens of properties, only to obtain one or two.

There is a lot of competition in the marketplace with first-time home buyers looking for bargains, Adams says. He's looking for deals in which he can get homes for 50 cents or 60 cents on the dollar and either flip them to other investors or rent them out and wait for the market to recover to sell them. The key is to purchase homes where the rents produce enough income to cover the mortgage, he says.

Some banks are still reluctant to cut prices too much but there are plenty that will, Adams says. In some cases, the homes were trashed or were in poor condition and need rehabilitation, he says.

Adams says he relies on private lenders and hard-money lenders in addition to his own cash.

When the real estate slowdown hit the Las Vegas market, Adams says he could see what was coming and was prepared. He said he had 20 to 30 homes at one time and sold many of them before the market declined. Others weren't so lucky because they counted on the market to continue to appreciate.

"There were a lot of speculators that came in here and didn't know what they were doing," Adams says. "You need to have training."

Despite his foray back into the Las Vegas housing market, Adams says people need to be cautious. He says he thinks prices still have another 20 percent to 25 percent to correct and the correction won't end until 2010.

"We still have another wave of foreclosures," Adams says. "The worst is yet to come."

Adam's Web site is www.freerealestatementoring.com.

In other news:

Jim Letchinger, founder and president of JDL Development, the developer of the Mercer condominium project, will be the guest speaker April 24 the Crystal Ball housing seminar at Texas Station. The program starts at 8:15 a.m. and costs $49 ahead of time and $59 at the door. The other speakers are housing analyst Steve Bottfeld and SalesTraq President Larry Murphy.

The Las Vegas chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties will host its annual panel April 17, when developers will talk about growth in Southern Nevada. The breakfast starts at 7 a.m. and the program at 7:30 a.m. at the Orleans. The program will be moderated by Kevin Higgins of Voit Commercial Brokerage. Speakers are Kirk Boylston, regional director with EJM Development Co.; Jeff LaPour, principal of LaPour; Brad Schnepf, president of Marnell Properties; and Doug Roberts, principal of Panattoni Development Co. The cost without reservations is $30 for members and $45 for nonmembers. For information, call 798-7194.

The Shapiro and Sher Group of Las Vegas is the highest producing Prudential Real Estate team worldwide in 2007, beating out more than 65,000 agents in the Prudential network. Despite the housing slowdown, Florence Shapiro and Ivan Sher say their home sales totaling more than $350 million in 2007 was their best year to date. Shapiro attributes the success to their specialty in the luxury market.

Panattoni Development Co. has announced the completion of the second phase of the Creekside Business Park. The 2.61 acre retail park is on the southeast corner of Losee and Washburn in North Las Vegas.

Territory Inc. has started the second phase of its $92 million mixed-use development, Centennial Parkway. The 350,000-square-foot project is on the northwest corner of U.S. 95 and Ann Road in northwest Las Vegas. The $55.7 million final phase consists of 179,000 square feet of retail. The second phase is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2008. The recently opened first phase consists of more than 142,000 square feet of design centers and several restaurants and a 28,500-square-foot, two-story office building housing Territory's corporate headquarters

A street in North Las Vegas has been named for Irene Porter to honor her 30 years as executive director of the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association. Irene Porter Street is in Desert Wind Home's Centennial Crossing subdivision on Centennial Parkway, just west of Aliante Parkway/Simmons Street in North Las Vegas.

Porter has longtime connections to North Las Vegas. Her father was transferred to Nellis Air Force Base in 1954, and the family lived in one of the original Pardee homes in the College Park neighborhood. Porter is a graduate of Rancho High School and served as director of planning for the city from 1967 to 1976.

Brian Wargo covers real estate and development for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4011 or by e-mail at wargo@lasvegassun.com.

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