Las Vegas Real Estate Blog

By now, almost everyone should be familiar with the term phising. Yesterday I got a phising email about my paypal account. Thankfully, the thieves aren't that sophisticated at all as you can see:

Dear Pay pal valued member,

Due to concerns, for the safety and integrity of the pay pal account we have issued this warning message.

It has come to our attention that your account information needs to be updated due to inactive members, frauds and spoof reports.

If you could please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and renew your records you will not run into any future problems with the online service.

However, failure to update your records will result in account suspension

This notification expires on 48 hours.

Once you have updated your account records your pay pal account service will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.

Please follow the link below and login to your account and renew your account information
                 www.web66-cmd-rlogin .com


Sincerely,
Pay pal customer department!

So basically they are asking you to give them your paypal login information on a strange website...so they can log into Paypal and wipe out your account. Whenever you get these type of emails to "update" or "verify" your account, disregard them. Your bank or other institutions will never email you to update your account online. They will physically send you something or call you directly...if ever. -cr

Along with this blog, we maintain several other blogs, some concentrating on the condo market as well as other niche markets. If you are looking for the latest Las Vegas Condo News or Las Vegas Homes news, check out either of these new blogs. Read about Ryland homes latest sale or the announcement by CityCenter dropping condos (posted on January 7th).

If you have been following the media coverage of the Las Vegas real estate market, you've may have noticed something strange....positive media coverage. That's right, the media has gotten off the gloom and doom train. For the second straight news cycle, print media as well as some television have been reporting positive news about the market. Two different studies by real estate tracking companies have been released in the last two weeks (one was in the Las Vegas Review Journal earlier this month, other at Forbes.com), stating that sales are up (the local REALTOR association can back that up with hard numbers) and prices are way, way down. Those are definite facts. I can't remember when you could buy a nice new two bedroom townhouse for under $60k. But its not just the entry level of the market seeing huge price drops. One of our clients is closing on a luxury home that listed for just under $1 million last year (and worth every penny). Full of custom features, built-ins, pool, park like landscaping and a huge lot, the property sold for just under $500 and its not a bank owned property. The falling prices are directly tied to the number of bank owned properties on the market. If you're looking for a new home, call us at 702-493-8033. Thanks for stopping by. -cr

If you have visited our website or follow this blog, you know that we are huge animal lovers and are very active in the animal rescue community in Las Vegas. I received an email alert about a contest being held by care2.com. They are giving away 25,000 to the top 29 shelters across the US and Canada with the most votes. So I'm asking for your support for my favorite rescue, Heaven Can Wait Sanctuary. Here is a short list why they deserve to win:

• NO KILL
• All breed rescue
• Free mobile spay/neuter clinic targeting impoverished areas that can't afford vet care
• Free pit bull spay/neuter clinic
• Feral cat clinic - trapping and spay/neuter of the feral cat population
• Pups on Parole program in both women's prisons in Southern Nevada. Inmates learn valuable skills while training foster dogs in basic obedience and house training, so they are more adoptable.
• Many, many more community programs

You can cast your vote here: http://www.care2.com/animalsheltercontest/74514/?refer=7302.12.1231525455.5618

A new year is upon us and things are looking up, especially if you are planning on buying a home in Las Vegas this year and here is the why its a great time to buy in Las Vegas. Last year has been pretty rough on a lot of consumers and businesses as well. Many projects lost funding and were unable to find a new source, resulting in a lot of closures or abandonments of projects around town. One project did beat the odds, the Cosmopolitan. The lender had an affiliate buy up the property and the original contractor is working on its completion. Really its not surprising since the Cosmo is located on the strip next door to the massive CityCenter project.

Speaking of CityCenter, they officially started the hiring process to fill some 12,000 positions when the resort opens. The resort is due to open at the end of this year. -cr

When people think of Nevada, they can't help but think of Las Vegas. If you took a poll of a random group of people, most would probably think Las Vegas is also the state capital (its not, Carson City is). So its no wonder that Laughlin is often overlooked. The community of Laughlin started off as a sleepy little town on the Arizona border by the Colorado river. Over the years the town grew into a prospering city with resorts, gaming and golf.

Unlike the Las Vegas market, the Laughlin real estate market was largely unaffected. A quick look at the MLS (Laughlin is still in Clark County) shows only 21 homes for sale in a city with a population of almost 9,000 residents!

Laughlin has become a destination for many groups and individuals over the years. It is the third most visited resort destination in the state. The popular Laughlin River Run has become a tradition to raise money for charity. Right across the Arizona border is Bullhead City, which shares a communal airport with Laughlin. New Year's celebrations are very popular there, since quite a few revelers will celebrate New Year's next door in Bull Head city and then celebrate it again an hour later in Laughlin.

If you are thinking of getting away for a long weekend or purchasing a retirement home, Laughlin deserves a look. Its only 90 miles away from Las Vegas as well.

Tis the season for yet more new virus, phising scammer and trojan downloaders. You might receive a friendly notice from Microsoft (yeah, right) telling you about new updates to download. DON'T CLICK THE LINK. It takes you to an IP not run by Bill & Friends. Only use the windows update link in Windows or turn on automatic updates. Here is the email:

Install a New Microsoft Update !

	Try Microsoft Update today. New! Regularly update your computer with the latest software from Microsoft to boost the security and reliability of your Windows PC.
	Now you can get updates for Windows, Office and other Microsoft applications all in one place
	Microsoft Update is easy to set up and use. Download and install updates automatically:
	Microsoft Update is a new service that brings you all the features and benefits of Windows Update plus downloads for other Microsoft applications including Office
	Improve your computer_s health and security.Sign Up for our free, monthly e-mail security newsletter that's packed with valuable information to help you protect your home computer.

Updates are ready for your computer. Click here to install these updates:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/update. exe

©2008 Microsoft Corporation and microsoft.com are service marks of Microsoft Corporation.
Copyright © 1997-2008 1001 Media Group.

The live links were Microsoft Corporation and the exe file. Make sure you have all of your anti-virus/malware software up to date. Believe me, a little prevention in this case will save you hours of cure later! -Charles in Las Vegas

Right now its a great time to be a condominium buyer in Las Vegas. Condo prices are at their lowest levels since pre 2000 and there are tons of communities to choose from. With so many choices, it can be hard to settle on just one. Whether you are looking for a brand new community, or an older community in an established neighborhood, odds are you will find units for sale in those projects. But how do you choose? Let's take a look at a condo conversion community, Coronado Palms (not to be confused with another conversion project, Coral Palms).

This gated community offers six beautiful floor plans offering one, two and three bedroom condos. The Sago and Pindo floorplans are the smallest units available. For those individuals that crave a little more space, the Canary and Costal floorplans feature two bedrooms and two baths, ideal for having guests. Or if you need three bedrooms, there is the Palmetto floorplan.

The community is located off of Buffalo in zip 89113. The community has nice amenities including two swimming pools, spa, business center and entertainment areas. If you would like to tour the available condos for sale, call me at 702-493-8033. -cr

By now, most of us are pretty savvy when it comes to spoofed emails or virus generated email. There is a nasty new email going around that contains the worse virus created thus far according to CNN and Microsoft. I got an email from a friend about it.

The virus comes in an attachment called 'POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK'. The return address may come from someone you know, regardless don't open it. Basically the virus destroys the zero sector of your hard drive. So far, there isn't a repair for it yet.

If you receive a mail called 'POSTCARD' even though sent to you by  a friend, do not open it!

PLEASE DELETE IT.

Make sure your anti-virus program is up to date and it is scanning your email. -Charles

I was surfing the 'net today looking for a nice mortgage calculator for my blog. A quick search turned up a lot of results. Most of the sites offered a free calculator, although there were also several that had a paid version with a few more features and without a link back to the site.

I came across mortgagefit.com. They had the usual calculator as well, but they also have a huge section of mortgage and website tools. Everything from rate tables, calculators and maps, plus other widgets for your site. The site also has a community forum, articles and other information. -Charles

It seems auctions are the new 'thing' for trying to sell foreclosed properties. Property auctions are nothing new, they've been around for a long time. The last large auction I attended were auctioning off Valencia condos, a small condo conversion community located just off Maryland Parkway, about a half mile from UNLV. Some of the one bedroom condos sold for $50,000.

There is another auction coming for Lake Las Vegas. You can also read about it in the LA Times. The community is located in Henderson, on your way to Lake Mead. Lake Las Vegas real estate consists mostly of luxury homes, but there are a few condominium and townhome communities there. With so many foreclosures happening in the valley, its surprising there aren't more auctions going on. -cr