Just a few years ago it was almost impossible to purchase a home in Las Vegas. People were shopping on the Internet from out of state and bidding site unseen. And then, like a casino leftover from the Rat Pack era, no longer drawing in the crowds, it imploded.
The housing bubble burst across the nation, and Nevada was certainly not immune. However, Las Vegas seems to have been one of the hardest hit and slowest recovering cities.
It’s become a buyers’ market, with forclosures ripe for the picking for first-time home buyers or those purchasing in cash. Unfortunately, for many who have had houses before, it’s an uphill battle to credit history recovery.
In talking to people on either end of the spectrum, the message is the same - we’re all hoping and waiting for economic recovery. But although market experts disagree on some points, they concur that Las Vegas’ housing future remains grim.
The culprit, as we’ve all learned, were those adjustable rate mortgages. Homebuyers now are extremely wary, insisting upon fixed mortgage rates. But the damage has already been done.
Driving through neighborhoods in the Las Vegas Valley turns up a for sale sign on practically every corner. Some houses appear intact, but the damage is evident in others. Owners finding themselves between a rock and hard place take their frustration with housing lenders and the defunct system out on the property.
Others choose to move on quietly and start again. Now equipped with market experience and caution, they find a place to call home again in a revised American dream.
The dire circumstances don’t stop in suburbia, as much contstruction of retail shopping centers and even Strip properties has come to a screaching halt.
But the bright lights and slot machine noise hide that away from tourist eyes. Sin City is a place to come to to escape a mundane life. No one wants to see the rickety, collapsing frame underneath their Xanadu.
