[RCIS719]

I just thought I would pass along some very sincere advice to anyone relocating to Las Vegas, who is planning on purchasing a home here.

First, if you don't plan on paying cash for a home (I can only speak to moderately priced homes here), plan on not being able to buy a pre owned home, or plan on buying a less than desirable home, and/or one in a less than desirable neighborhood, that no one else wants anyway. This is particularly true for flipped homes. Second, sellers here are exhaustingly unprofessional in their responses, often not even giving you any response to your offer at all, and certainly not obeying any type of deadlines for offers. The only notice we have frequently received from offers, letting us know that our offer was not accepted, was that we noticed the house was removed from the market. If you are a seller, and you only want cash, do us all a favor, and simply say that up front. Don't receive offers, then sit on them, waiting for a cash offer. Just tell us your a greedy SOB, that wants well above market value, and that you really only want cash. It will eliminate a great waste of time and energy from all parties involved. At least do us that courtesy.

Second, plan on revisiting the housing bubble of 2006 here. Sellers here are astoundingly greedy, listing their homes above market value (sometimes well above market value, by 6% or more), and then, instead taking a "first come, first serve" approach to receiving offers, they sit on multiple offers, and wait for an offer that is either A) cash, or B) above their already inflated list price. You won't know this though, as the sellers here do not really communicate their thoughts about your offer. One particular seller took a month to even respond to our offer. If you are Hell bent on buying a home here, come with cash, or make offers that are well above listing price, to even be in the running.

Basically, the sellers here are selfish, greedy, spectacularly unprofessional people. Just know that going in, you cannot have any sort of time table for obtaining a home here, that you are in for an insanely stressful, emotional roller coaster, and you will save yourself a lot of grief. I've never seen anything like it... not even in 2006 when I bought my last house, at the height of the market. Evidently, they have forgotten how the aforementioned bubble was created in the first place. Evidently the pain of losing their shirts the first time has miraculously lost it's sting.

[airics]

Apparently you weren't able to purchase the house that you wanted.

[Danknee]

Originally Posted by RCIS719

. Evidently, they have forgotten how the aforementioned bubble was created in the first place. Evidently the pain of losing their shirts the first time has miraculously lost it's sting.

Sellers didn't have anything to do with creating the bubble, banks held the bag for that. The banks certainly have not adopted any of the pre-bubble practices that unjustly qualified buyers with loans they couldn't afford which sent the market to the moon and back.

Maybe a Realtor can chime in here, is this experience likely due to a low number of properties in the Vegas market? Maybe also tied to the low number of building permits being issued? Demand outpacing inventory? Maybe I'll wade into the old real estate thread and look for stats.

[RCIS719]

More like any of the over 2 dozen houses we were interested in, or the half a dozen we actually had the chance to put offers on. None of the sellers responded in a timely fasion, or at all, in some cases, which may make sense if we were low-balling offers. We offered list price or above, and every single house was listed above comps. It's a nightmare here. I truly do not understand the lack of responding, even if it is to decline the offer. Totally unprofessional and horrifically discourteous.

[Danknee]

Maybe your Realtor sucked. Were you bidding on conventional properties or REOs and short sales?

[RCIS719]

I understand the supply and demand rule, however, this does not excuse the lack of professional courtesy to respond to an offer, or the gluttony of wanting even more money on top of the above market value listing price, and sitting on multiple offers, waiting for it. Why not turn down the offers if they don't satisfy your esurience? Also, why list your house above comps, and what it will likely appraise for? This defies logic. Additionally, why not refuse any offers that are not cash offers if that is your goal? It would save all parties a lot of time.

[RCIS719]

I have an excellent, very experienced and knowledgable realtor/broker. The issue has been on the recieving end of the offers, not the delivery. All the properties have been conventional sales.

[von949]

What areas of towns were you looking in?

[RCIS719]

Mostly all over Henderson, Lone Mountain, and the edge of Loan Mountain closer to Centennial. We've consentrated in Green Valley/Silvarado Ranch as of late.

[WestieJeff]

OP pretty much matches the experiences I am hearing from people in the market at present.

A friend of mine recently offered on a house listed at 400k, appraisal comes in at 390k. Seller refuses to budge on price. Friend walks and home goes back on the market, ends up selling for 410k. The best comp was at 380k.

It's very frothy out there right now. Sellers are doing it because they can get away with it.

Personally, I'm waiting for the ball to drop, but who knows, I've been wrong plenty of times before!