Nevada Real Estate >> Las Vegas Real Estate Specialist: Nevada: Las Vegas: Sierra Madre

When the HEAT IS ON!  And it WILL be this weekend with temps rising in the upper 90s very suddenly!

Here is a list of area parks that have *FREE* SW Las Vegas splash water parks!  Stay cool this weekend and do not forget to load up on sunscreen and lots of water!

Southwest Las Vegas Water Splash Parks:  A FREE Way to Beat the Heat!

Red Ridge Community Park at Rhodes Ranch

View Red Ridge Park Near Rhodes Ranch in a larger map

Exploration Peak Park at Mountain’s Edge

View Mountain’s Edge Exploration Peak Park in a larger map

Spring Valley Community Park

View Spring Valley Park in a larger map

New Las Vegas Waterpark:  Postponed Until 2013!

In early February 2012, Splash Canyon announced via press release that the opening will be delayed until 2013.  

I wasn’t very surprised as construction halted shortly after my December 2011 “New Las Vegas waterpark” update.

Since this release, the county has widened Fort Apache Road.  So cheers to building infrastructure to handle traffic prior to getting this thing up and running!  I will post regular updates in the future when construction on the waterpark resumes!

Here are my previous posts on this project:

August 2011 New Las Vegas Water Park Update

September 2011 New Las Vegas Water Park Update

October 2011 New Las Vegas Water Park Update

November 2011 New Las Vegas Water Park Update

December 2011 New Las Vegas Water Park Update

Rhodes Ranch Area Resale Market Report (homes for sale, pending and sold):

• Active Listings (9/15/2011): 286
• Under Contract (9/15/2011): 361
• Sold August 2011: 110
• Low: $42500 (Vistana Condo)
• Median: $112250 (Sierra Madre at Rhodes Ranch)
• High: $370000 (Rhodes Ranch)

 

Rhodes Ranch Area Rental Market Report (homes for rent, contingent, leased)

• Active Listings (9/15/2011): 192
• Under Contract (9/15/2011): 32
• Leased August 2011: 105
• Low: $675/month (Vistana)
• Median: $1200/month (Wineridge)
• High: $3000/month (Rhodes Ranch)

Last Month's Market Report

Includes: Apache Hills, Apache Springs (The Falls), Astoria Homes at Rhodes Ranch
(Independence), Canyon Trail, Huntington, Liberty @ Warm Springs, Maplewood, Rhodes
Ranch, Richmond@ Rhodes Ranch, Sierra Madre, Venezia, Vistana.

Rhodes Ranch Area Community Information, Listings & Homes for Sale

Rhodes Ranch Area Most Recent Real Estate Market Report

More Las Vegas Communities Here

This is the view from my backyard yesterday morning as I woke up!  Hot air balloons are quite prolific this time of year in the outer reaches of SW Las Vegas near the mountains and in the open desert.

This is located near the Rhodes Ranch area.  We moved to this area in 2002 when it was mostly desert and LOVE IT!  We used to have to "go to town" to the grocery store and the 215 freeway did not even exist!  Amazing how this is a thriving community in 9 years AND we still get to see the hot air balloons!

Rhodes Ranch Area Resale Market Report (homes for sale, pending and sold):

• Active Listings (1/15/2011):  365
  
• Under Contract (1/15/2011): 297
• Sold December 2010:  121
  
• Low:  $50000 (Vistana Condo)
• Median:  $125000 (Sierra Madre at Rhodes Ranch)
  
• High:  $820000 (Area Custom Home)

Rhodes Ranch Area Rental Market Report (homes for rent, contingent, leased)

• Active Listings (1/15/2011):  116
  
• Under Contract (1/15/2011):  29
  
• Leased December 2010:  58
  
• Low:  $699/month (Vistana Condo)
• Median:  $1175/month (Wineridge)
• High:  $2700/month (Rhodes Ranch)

Last Month's Market Report

Includes: Apache Hills, Apache Springs (The Falls), Astoria Homes at Rhodes Ranch
(Independence), Canyon Trail, Huntington, Liberty @ Warm Springs, Maplewood, Rhodes
Ranch, Richmond@ Rhodes Ranch, Sierra Madre, Venezia, Vistana.

Rhodes Ranch Area Community Information, Listings & Homes for Sale

Rhodes Ranch Area Most Recent Real Estate Market Report

More Las Vegas Communities Here

It started at 7 AM and is ending now (approx 8:30 AM).  Views from my balcony and backyard:

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

If you are in Las Vegas from now through New Year's Day here are two holiday guides if you are looking for something to do:

Las Vegas Holiday & Christmas Light Displays 2010

Las Vegas New Year's Eve Event Guide 2010:  Concerts, Night Club Parties, Hotels

The Associated Press is reporting that Freddie Mac reported a $4.1B 3rd quarter loss and is asking the government for an additional $100 Million.

Wait one moment here!  This is the same horribly inefficient Freddie that takes forever to make decisions on their assets for sale and once they do make that decision, they like to take up to a week just to get signatures when a cash buyer is more than capable of closing the property in that amount of time.  This is just to execute a contract – the nightmares usually begin during the escrow period.

I would actually love to pin this one on the listing agents HOWEVER this is a pattern with ANY Freddie Mac property I have ever been involved with a buyer.

So it is painfully obvious that Freddie is not in any hurry to get their REO properties off the books.  They also appear to be in a position of losing large amounts of money with those assets.

Let me tell you a story about ONE Freddie Mac REO property in Las Vegas that could have saved them a good $40K – let me assure you that I am pretty positive that this isn’t an isolated incident either!

The REO property was listed and had a good $250K offer on it.  During the inspection phase, leaks were found in two toilet bases upstairs and this black substance (that resembled mold – but I am not a mold expert.)  They went on to the appraisal phase and the appraiser saw that black substance and suggested the lender request more inspections – from a mold expert.  It was determined that the black substance was, in fact, mold.   The lender required the mold to be repaired if they were to lend money on this house.  The buyers attempted to obtain financing from all sources (including VA but I am not sure if they tried the 203K route since these weren’t my buyers.)

Freddie Mac refused to facilitate repairs (estimated $10-15K) and the buyers lost their dream house.  The house was placed back on the market and sold for $200K to an all cash buyer EIGHT MONTHS  later.  Obviously holding costs for a Las Vegas pool home for 8 months will run into the thousands.  In conclusion, for whatever reason, their lame decision to refuse repairs cost them$35-45K – on just one house.

NOW, the ramifications of that house closing (in good condition mind you) a year and a half ago:  sinking values in the entire neighborhood where we have watched approximately 10 other Freddie properties come and go since this one closed.  Every appraiser and BPO agent who is not aware of what lurked in that property will base their futureREO pricing of Freddie & Fannie and all other distressed assets with that one comparable for 3-6 months after close!

Freddie Mac shot themselves in the foot.  Can we just let them die now?  Every taxpayer should be furious on how much money we have sank in to Freddie and Fannie.  Every taxpayer should cry for accountability & reform.  It goes well beyond the whole “it’s the toxic loans stupid” (as outlined in the article) to asset management and maybe even seeking deficiency judgments.

But who am I?  Just a lone agent playing around in foreclosure ground zero.

Want a perfect landing for your Las Vegas Real Estate transaction?  Call or email today to schedule your free Las Vegas buyer or Las Vegas seller consultation!

 

Unfortunately I *AM* tech support working in a home office.

My internet went down at approximately 8:30 AM on Wednesday morning and didn't get back up and running until sometime after 6 PM on Thursday. 

Yesterday I spent an abundance of time playing "catch up" on emails, blogging, pulling comps for a seller, finishing BPOs, etc.

I wake up this AM and we are DOWN again and we won't be up until Monday PM.  I am running tethered to my PC via my iPhone.  I was kind of looking forward to using this day to finish up my blog posts for the week while man pal is out golfing for the entire day.  With the iPhone tethered it feels like I am running on dial up so the neighborhood videos won't get uploaded to youtube (I have to be careful with the amount of data I use also, did I mention that?)

Do any of my AR pals run Clear for their internet service?  If you do, how reliable is it and how fast is it?  I left cox communications years ago for sprint which turned into embarq which is now centurylink for the same issues (lack of reliability.

On Wednesday I was sent on a wild goose chase as they suggested a new modem (that would cost me 4.95 a month) would be helpful.  Went and got that shortly after they opened at 9.  Was still in control of my day and when I got back and plugged the sucker in (hoping to finish the BPOs that I just got photos for) it's still not working. 

The problem turns out to be my phone line when I call again.  Phone line goes up at noon-thirty ish and internet is still down.

I have been on the web since the mid nineties (remember AOL dial-up when you had to watch your minutes?) so I would THINK I know how to attach a modem.

Finally I lose my patience at 5, call Centurylink and after 20 minutes on hold and another 40 minutes of chatting Houston realizes there is a problem and it is promised to be fixed in 24-48 hours.

NOW I am pretty annoyed after spending a total of three hours on the issue AND working tethered to the internet via 3G all day I take Ben Kinney's Raincamp suggestion over to Twitter and griped about the service and asked if anyone had any experience with Clear (a new alternative since I don't care for the other alternatives).

AND IT WORKED.  Someone from CL contacted me on Twitter.  I knew this outage would happen and I know it won't be up till Monday PM.  I am not happy about it but the heads up made me a little more focused yesterday on getting some more internet related stuff done.  I did not know when it would happen (would hope I could ride out another day so I didn't have to "machine gun" my subscribers.)

Back to the main question:  I have been getting mixed reviews on Clear Wireless Home Internet and would love to hear from people who may have it.

(FYI, to some of my competition who doesn't like me posting this stuff to AR Communities (formerly Localism), I am because many people in my subdivision read my outside blog and are affected by this outage.  Sorry for the inconvenience.  I want this classified my my subdivision on my outside blog and I know no other way around this - I can assure you I am IN NO WAY attempting to "game" the system here.)

 

Oh I am so cool and I rhyme too ;)

Woke my happy @$$ up at 4 AM and logged on to AR and worked a bit on my wordpress blog and answered emails.

Left for BNI at 6:30 am and did three drive bys for BPOs after.

Got back into my home office around 9:15 and started entering the BPOs.  Fielded a few buyer phone calls during the bpo data entry and finished around 11.

Went back and worked a little on my wordpress blog (and DANG that thing isn't as user friendly as AR!)  I guess I just have to get used to it.  Took a 10 minute break on Facebook otherwise my sister who accuses me of being a stalker will whine about me not logging on.

Sent Lisa Udy a shout out and got a call from her son almost immediately.  Answered some more emails (some rainers like Jane Grant, Michael Thornton (BTW bounced back, don't know if the file I sent was too large,) Deborah Garvin and Wendy McSteen.)

Went to an appointment at 2:30, bought a flip camera on the way home (totally inspired by Lisa Heindel's post).

DURING THE WHOLE DAY I PINED....

For those little special moments in the evening with the boyz and the man pal.

Got home with my new toy but had to pull comps for BPOs for tomorrow, answer emails and return phone calls.  Had a few minutes waiting for man pal to get home, went on AR and worked on Wordpress (did I mention how much I hate doing that, for at least now?)

The dogs (aka Boyz) haven't been to the park much - maybe once in the last 10 days.  Mostly due to the heat.  They were all piss and vinegar today (DO NOT LET THAT INNOCENT FACE FOOL YOU - HE IS THE WORST OF ALL THREE, LOL!)  I just couldn't imagine how great my life would be if I got any sort of glee out of finding a tissue or two and shredding it to smitherines and spreading it all over the house.  They were running around like toddlers without supervision today.

So man pal gets home around 5:30.  We are planning dinner.  He gets a series of phone calls from work and off he goes to work again around 6:30 to help the techs figure it out because they didn't seem to get his verbal instructions.  Pork chops back in the fridge till tomorrow.

I am off to the park with the boyz and no man pal.  Otherwise little Mr Bobchow will miss his BFF's arrival at 7:45.

Now tell me how much more fun a market report is than my job?

Can't wait for the season finale to the only TV show I watch EVER tonight - Deadliest Catch.  I am sure I will watch the two hours in about 5 nights.  Thank SOMEONE ABOVE for technology and DVR!

The Heat Is ON!

YES!  Finally after the cool cool winter and spring and even part of the summer ~ this weekend is going to prove to be HOT HOT HOT!  Here is a list of area parks that have *FREE* water splash parks!  Stay cool this weekend and do not forget to load up on sunscreen and lots of water!

Southwest Las Vegas Splash Parks - A Free Way to "Beat the Heat":

(links include maps)

Red Ridge Park (Near Rhodes Ranch)

View Red Ridge Park Near Rhodes Ranch in a larger map

Exploration Park (in Mountain's Edge)

View Mountain's Edge Exploration Peak Park in a larger map

Spring Valley Park (in the heart of Spring Valley)

View Spring Valley Park in a larger map

 

 

 

Welcome Home To Gated Southwest Las Vegas Community:  Sierra Madre at Mountain Pass!

• 151 Single Family Detached Homes
• Ranging from 1741-2010 Square Feet
• Built from 2006-2008 by Kimball Hill Builders 
• Community Amenities Include:  Gated w/ Lush Landscaped Tranquil Common Area. 

Located in the Master Planned Community of Mountain's Edge!  The area is still growing and amenities are a little bit far.  Opportunity knocks to buy low before those amenities are built!!  Close to the Mountain's Edge Master Planned Park!

View Larger Map

Welcome Home To Southwest Las Vegas Community:  Sierra Madre @ Rhodes Ranch! 

Sierra Madre @ Rhodes Ranch is a community developed by US Home and Lennar Builder.  There is NO HOA in Sierra Madre which is rare for newer built homes!

There are currently 300 Homes in the Sierra Madre Community. 

Sierra Madre was built between 2001-2003 and the homes range in size:  1182-2607 square feet.

On the east of Sierra Madre is Tenaka Elementary School and to the west is Faiss Middle School.  Red Ridge Park (formerly named Rhodes Familiy Park prior to construction) is just to the South of Tenaka.

Other amenities just minutes away:  215/Sunset or Durango Freeway Ramp which provides great proximity to the south strip and airport, schools, 2 major hospitals (St Rose San Martin & Southern Hills), retail, restaurants, professional offices and a medical corridor.

View Larger Map

This Rhodes Ranch Area resale market report:

• Active Listings (3/25/2009): 385
• Under Contract (3/25/2009): 217
• Sold February 2009:  61
• Months Inventory: 5.9

Rental Market Report:

• Active Listings (3/25/2009): 116
  Under Contract (3/25/2009): 19
• Leased February 2009:  45
• Months Inventory:  2.6

How to read my market reports (definitions and terms!)

Last Month's Market Report

 

Includes: Apache Hills, Apache Springs (The Falls), Astoria Homes at Rhodes Ranch
(Independence), Canyon Trail, Huntington, Liberty @ Warm Springs, Maplewood, Rhodes
Ranch, Richmond@ Rhodes Ranch, Sierra Madre, Venezia, Vistana.

For More information & most current market report on the Rhodes Ranch Area:  http://www.livingatrhodesranch.com/

If you would like to buy, rent or sell a home in the Rhodes Ranch Area, please call 702-966-2494. 

702-966-2494 menu:

• Option 1:  Buyers wanting to purchase a Rhodes Ranch Area Home
• Option 2:  Renters wanting to rent a Rhodes Ranch Area Home
• Option 3:  Financing Questions for Rhodes Ranch Area Buyers - Ask about 100% loans for first time buyers!
• Option 0:  Sellers wanting to sell their home in the Rhodes Ranch Area:  We do have a short sale specialist (with a proven track record) and a full time licensed, permitted property manager if you need to rent out your Rhodes Ranch area home!
• Option 4:  Para español presione el cuatro.

As the snow was rolling in...........Normally you can see the mountains in the background!

Big White Fluffy Snowflakes makes the pool look so uninviting :)

You will have to excuse my excitement!  It has been snowing for two hours now and please don't watch the video if you live in a snow prone area because it will be B O R I N G!  We only see big fluffy white ones with the potential to accumulate every several years.  FYI, I live on the western foothills and that is Faiss middle school behind us!