Foreclosures in North Las Vegas Still Available for Careful Buyers

Despite the winter’s chilling effect on all sorts of sales, February saw single family homes, condominiums and townhomes selling nationwide at a full 7% increase over a year earlier. The opposite is true of foreclosures—no surprise, since the health of the market means fewer serious borrower delinquencies, hence fewer foreclosures.

Even so, North Las Vegas foreclosures are still available, possibly because some of the fiercest competition may be tailing off. Real estate watcher RealtyTrac finds that the institutional investor buying spree appears to be losing steam—which could be very good news for individuals interested in purchasing foreclosures.

Typically, North Las Vegas foreclosures are listed on an as-is basis -- and that means exactly what it says. Whatever is wrong with the property will remain unfixed. Unlike a traditional home sale where you can negotiate with the seller to fix problems or provide credits to counterbalance the expense to have them fixed, when you buy a foreclosed home as-is, that option isn’t available.

When you are up against time pressure to submit an offer, you do have other strategies. One is to hire a qualified home inspector to go over the property, then make your offer contingent on the results of the report. That allows you to know what you are getting into before you commit. If it turns out that the repairs needed are minor, you can choose to go forward with your purchase. If there are too many costly problems, or if there are an overabundance of unknowns, it might be in your best interest to pass. A contingency like this gives you the freedom to weigh your options carefully before you make your decision.

One other issue to keep in mind is the insurability factor. If you believe your offer represents good value even though the property has significant maintenance issues, remember that in most cases you will need to have a home insurance policy in place before you can close. Ask your insurance agent to check the property to determine whether it can be insured. If the first answer is no, you can still check with other companies—but keep in mind that in the world of foreclosures, this can become an insurmountable obstacle.

Buying foreclosures in North Las Vegas needn’t be overly risky when your approach includes careful evaluation of the target property. North Las Vegas foreclosures are still out there, and with care and patience, you should be able to find one that is right for you. Interested in discussing further? Contact me today!

Andrea Gonzalez, Realtor® "Your Dedicated Realtor for Life"Realty One Group
5550 Painted Mirage Rd, Las Vegas, Nevada 89149Serving: Summerlin, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas
Direct: 702.485.7887Search For A Home: Las Vegas Online Search



It is always an honor to assist Home Buyers and Sellers with their Las Vegas Real Estate needs. If you are searching for Las Vegas Real Estate Listings, then I urge you to utilize the valuable tools on my VERY USER FRIENDLY WEBSITE. Most important, Write, Phone or Text Me with any questions.

Beyond Comfort—Choosing Your North Las Vegas Realty Company

When it comes time to put your home on the market, one key early decision is which Nortth Las Vegas realty company will be your sales partner. Of course, you will choose someone you feel comfortable working with, but there are further hard-nosed criteria that can help guide your choice:

Experience in Our Market

There’s nothing wrong with giving a brand new real estate school graduate a try, but especially if it’s important to sell quickly, you’ll want to work with a professional with demonstrated local experience. For openers, those agents know more about the history and direction of home sales in North Las Vegas—they’ve been participants! That’s first-hand knowledge that will be vital in helping you arrive at a smart asking price. You’ll find that the experienced agents also have a smartphone loaded with the kind of established connections that help accelerate any sale.

But your agent isn’t a one-person show. A lot of hard work goes into selling a property—from creating the listing on MLS directories to maintaining a web experience and promoting your property through the maze of marketing channels. The Las Vegas realty company that’s your agent’s home base will determine the efficiency with which it all gets done.

Membership in the National Association of Realtors

One thing you will notice in your search for a realtycompany in North Las Vegas is that not all real estate agents are NAR members. Choosing an active member means working with a pro who is bound by the strict NAR Code of Ethics, who is also a member of the local Real Estate Board—with the accompanying connections and resources that bestows. 

Proven Track Record

It’s also a good idea to aim for an agent with a history representing properties in your price range. A Realtor whose experience is confined to homes sold at the $150-200K price point may never have dealt with luxury properties. If that’s your market, you will want an agent—and a North Las Vegas realty company—with that kind of track record.

Finding a North Las Vegas real estate agent to represent your home is just one of many steps that will lead to the successful sale of your property. I welcome the opportunity to meet to explore whether we are the right fit to get you top dollar for your home!

Andrea Gonzalez-Realty One Group| www.vipdreamhomes.com|email: vipdreamhomes@gmail.com| call/text 485-7887

Preparing for Multiple Offers on North Las Vegas Properties

Part of the recovery in our North Las Vegas real estate scene is the increasing likelihood of multiple offers on a listed property. This is every seller’s dream— but if you are one of the bidders, it’s important that you don’t allow it to become your nightmare.

There is one way— the only sure way—to keep the specter of competing North Las Vegas multiple offers from upsetting your home buying prospects. Summed up in one word, it’s “preparation.”

Preparation starts with assembling a strong financial package. If your target property attracts multiple offers, you want yours to stand out. By the time you learn that other offers are at hand, it’s probably already too late to begin putting together documents—they should be in hand before you even identify a property. Getting pre-approval for your loan, having a letter that says so, and being able to show you have funds available can be persuasive.

When it comes to making the offer itself, although including “Subject to” clauses will protect you from unforeseen problems with the property, when multiple offers are on the table, the fewer contingencies the better. Again, only preparation will make this reasonable. If you’ve had an advance home inspection, and also made sure that there aren’t any right-of-way or easement issues, your offer can be significantly more attractive.

Personal preparation can be another positive. Visiting the property on several occasions at different times of the day should give you added confidence for what the home is truly worth to you…and when the listing agent and owner can put a face to your offer, it tends to strengthen its validity.

When multiple offers on a North Las Vegas property occur, it’s possible that someone is going to bid more than the home is really worth. If you’ve done thorough research and know precisely what its value is in today’s market, that won’t be you. Having your bottom line number unshakably in mind means that in any bidding war, you’ll be able to sweeten your offer without hesitation. You can be creative, perhaps by offering to reduce the seller’s costs by picking up escrow fees, transfer fees or title policies; perhaps by offering the seller a few additional days to move without seeking financial compensation in return; perhaps by increasing the down payment or earnest money. When you know your bottom line, the arithmetic is uncomplicated (and your less-prepared competitors are more likely to throw up their hands!)

And then…should the bidding go over what you know it’s worth, you’ll be ready to walk away. There will be other properties to bid for – and I’m always here to help keep all your options open!   

Andrea Gonzalez-Buyers Agent Specialist with Realty One Group 702.485.7887|www.vipdreamhomes.com

Want to sell your North Las Vegas Home- Click Here for a Free Home Evaluation

Real Estate Roundup, 2013 Edition, Sizzle and All!

It’s time for this North Las Vegas real estate observer to tackle the New Year’s roundup of the Year in Real Estate (along with the traditional disclaimer that, since the actual statistics won’t be tallied until 2014, this has to be a lot more sizzle than steak!) But this is one time in the year when we North Las Vegas residents get to take pause to relax, perhaps put a bottle of bubbly in the fridge for later on, and take a sweeping view of the general direction of things across the land.

If you’ve been reading here throughout the year, you already know that 2013 North Las Vegas real estate activity might easily justify chilling a superior vintage champagne: it’s been a pretty darn good year! A smattering of last week’s press reports confirms it:

• ·         From the East Coast to Oahu (where there was a “1 in 3 chance” that if you sold a house, it was for more than the asking price), reports were of steadily rising prices.

• ·         The Business Insider reported that the Big Apple “managed to shatter several real estate records in 2013.” One of the records was a tidy listing for a modest little 62,000 sq. ft. private coop residence. Sure, $130 million may sound a little steep to us here in North Las Vegas, but that might be because so few of our digs have 82-foot swimming pools or tennis courts…at least not indoors, inside our five-story apartment atop a skyscraper.

• ·         More down to earth might be NAR’s assessment that “Housing prices rose faster than expected” — with a lot of credit given to the fact that “affordability remained high.”

• ·         Another factor: “More first-time buyers” were entering the market due to “rising rents and pent-up demand.”

• ·         Following suit, the Dallas News was touting a local home market that “came roaring back in 2013;” one that had “builders rushing to keep up with demand for new houses.”

• ·         The Realtor® web awarded credit for the strong real estate year to “Low mortgage rates, all-cash buyers, and tight inventories” that sustained the housing market recovery. Our North las Vegas real estate saw much of the same.  

• ·         There was one notably bleak spot: “ACT real estate hit hard by election” the Times reported. “Uncertainty” about election politics had created “subdued performance during the year” and some “negative house price growth.” The best news: this was the Canberra Times – and the country was Australia!

So let’s wish those Down Under a quick turnaround; then, after a relaxing day watching the Rose Parade and a bowl game or two, let’s get ready to charge into an equally dynamic 2014.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Call or Text Your North Las Vegas Realtor: Andrea Gonzalez- VIP Realty Group

(702) 485-7887

When Should an Inspector’s Report Prevent Buying a Home?

So, you’re nearing your goal of buying a home in North LasVegas! You have zeroed in on a property, submitted your offer, and heeded your agent’s advice and ordered a home inspection.  

Ok, soooo…what if the inspector finds major issues nobody expected? While most home inspections only uncover small problems that can be fixed easily, some do turn up serious issues. In 2013, 16% of Realtors^® reported sales that went off track due to the inspector’s findings. What’s your best course of action if that happens?

Buying a home after major problems have been identified should only proceed after you know how much time and money it will take to solve them. Whether you are dealing with foundation, roofing, electrical, HVAC or plumbing issues, call a few North Las Vegas companies that specialize in dealing with structural home repairs, and gather some free quotes. Depending on what you hear, you can then decide to move to modifying your offer or you can walk away and look for another home.

Your agent will be able to assist you in modifying the original offer to the seller. If the issues are truly major and expensive, you may need to negotiate back and forth with the seller to see what they are willing to do. Be prepared to make some concessions, and don’t get frustrated with the process. It may take some time to come to an agreement that satisfies both parties.

As everywhere, buying a home in North Las Vegas is peculiarly both a heavy-duty financial decision as well as one fraught with emotion. People can find themselves tempted to ignore thorny issues simply because they have fallen in love with the home. But since you could end up spending tens of thousands of dollars on repairs, it’s vital to isolate your emotions from the decision.

If the bids you’ve received are astronomical, it could be time to find a better house. But you needn’t despair. This is all part of the process of buying a North Las Vegas home—and a big part of why I’m here to help my clients.  If you’re buying a home this winter, I’ll look for your call!

 Andrea Gonzalez, VIP Realty Group

Don’t just choose a Real Estate Agent – Choose a Realtor For Life!

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