Trying to sell your home in Vegas?

If you purchased your home in Las Vegas prior to 2002, your home has probably increased anywhere from 30 to 100 percent in value, even by today’s market prices. If you didn’t refinance for a cash-out or tap your equity with a second mortgage, then you’re in a pretty good position to sell and come out with some decent money in your pocket.

Equity is simply the difference between what you owe and what the market price is on the home. If you owe more than today’s market price, then you’re upside down. If you owe less, you have equity.

So many folks want to list their home for the values perceived or prices seen in 2005. They view it as a loss if they take anything less. For example, assuming no existing loan balance:


January 2001 purchase price: $185,000

2005 “value”: $425,000

Seller’s equity in 2005: $240,000

2008 “value” $360,000

Seller’s equity in 2008: $175,000


The perception is that a seller “lost” money because the home is worth $65,000 less than it was in 2005. But the reality is that the seller “makes” money because the home sells for $175,000 more than the purchase price. It’s an apple to apple comparison if you compare when you bought it to when you sell it.

For those folks that did tap out their equity, they should view it as already receiving their sale proceeds. Say the same parameters exist as above, only the house is mortgaged for $350,000 now. A seller will view this as only making $10,000 gross on the sale of his home. But the seller has already taken $150,000 of his equity when he took out the 2nd mortgage (or refinanced the 1st mortgage).

One example of this is the seller who refinanced and took the money and paid off the loan on the car and purchased a new SUV ($50,000), paid off credit card debt and department store debt ($20,000), purchased a ski boat and trailer ($35,000), made home improvements for new flooring, upgraded kitchen appliances and added granite counters in kitchen and baths ($45,000). There’s the $150,000 that he used.

In this type of scenario, whether to sell your house right now is still subjective because there’s even more factors that should be considered.


There is not a One Size Fits All scenario for sellers in a buyer market, much less in the unique housing market seen in Las Vegas today.

To start the decision making process, ask a Realtor for a free, no obligation, Market Analysis of your home to get a pretty good idea what market price to list at.

Talk to the agent and have that projection re-verified if you feel it is wrong.

Know exactly what you want and/or need to net on the sale.

If you decide that this is a good time for you to get that home on the market, use some free elbow grease and find some free staging advice to make your home appear better than your competition.

Give a buyer a reason to prefer your home over another down the street. But most importantly, stay optimistic and stay true to your goal!