Shoppers search for home deals

It's a buyer's market.

We've all heard that, but the numbers are beginning to prove it. In fact, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors has reported increases in resale homes over the last few months.

In April, 1,794 resale single-family homes were sold across the Las Vegas Valley. That's up from March's total of 1,478. Still, down 28 percent from this time last year.

Nearly half of those were foreclosures or short sales, a transaction in which the mortgage lender agrees to forgive part of the debt to help the owner sell the home.

SalesTraq, a local housing research company, reported a record 2,183 foreclosures, or repossessed homes, in April, more than triple the number from the same time last year. So far this year, 6,603 Las Vegas homes have entered foreclosure, compared with 10,324 for all of 2007.

GLVAR reports the median price of a single-family home sold in the Las Vegas area decreased by 3.0 percent from $243,169 in March to $235,875 in April. That's down 22.7 percent from the same time last year.

Home Builders Research Inc., a Las Vegas real estate research company, reported the median price of a new home, which included condos, high-rise units and townhomes, in April at $285,990, a record for the year. Traditional products -- detached, single-family homes -- were at $255,615.

Home Builders Research Dennis Smith said in his report that the record median price in April was due to a large number of high-rise unit closings, 215, that impacted the monthly median.

Overall, prices are down more than 10 percent, or $32,356, from the same time last year, according to the company's monthly newsletter.

The report shows home builders sold 994 homes of all types of homes in April. That brought the year's total to 3,904, a year-to-year decrease of 43 percent.

Falling prices coupled with low interest rates is feeding what is becoming widely perceived as a bargain bonanza.

Many shoppers say they believe bargains can be found in the growing number of foreclosures, short sales and hefty home builder discounts.

"There are so many bargains out there -- it's a great time to buy," said Kimberly Johnston of A.S.A.P. Appraisals. "There are certain areas in the valley that have such a high level of foreclosure activity, that has become the market -- the REO (real estate-owned properties) sales are the market.

"We just appraised a home at a community in the southwest, and the home was bought brand new in March of 2006 for a little over $400,000. Today, it's worth $260,000. That's a drastic decrease in price."

According to Robert Jenson, chief executive officer of the Jenson Group at RE/MAX Las Vegas, 16,481 single-family homes are currently on the market. A total of 4,498 of those are short sale, while 3,360 are bank-owned homes. The valley also has 3,345 condominiums available, with 516 of those in short-sale status and 495 possessed by a bank.

"The good news for buyers is that there's a lot more foreclosures on the way," said Jenson, who estimated that roughly 6,000 new foreclosures might be on the way before year's end.

"I would say that the opportunity is there, but as a buyer you need to start looking today and you need to be diligent. I think it's definitely not a cake walk," Jenson said about getting the ultimate deal. "I'd say it's medium difficulty in finding a housing bargain because if you're looking for something specific as a buyer, if you have some basic search criteria, there's no guarantee of foreclosure or a good deal matches that criteria today, but maybe it will tomorrow. This market just changes really quick."