LVAM Issue 16 - July/August 2016 by Las Vegas Agent Magazine

July/August 2016

TAMRA TRAINER WORK IN PROGRESS ALSO INSIDE: Newsletter Newsletter

Newsletter

CONTENTS Created Exclusively for the Las Vegas Real Estate Agent

PUBLISHER

Melodie C. Miller Publisher@LVAgentMagazine.com

Reticular Activating System: A Leadership Dynamic

The #1 Wherever/Whenever Productivity Tool

JC Melvin

Amber De La Garza

How the Internet Has Changed the Buying Experience

Umbrellas in the Desert?

Jason Clouse

A Throne of Your Own

Sam Peters

Mike Klimek COPY EDITOR

Melanie Cardano

Into the Looking Glass Rick Piette

Ceditor@LVAgentMagazine.com

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Newsletter

COVER STORY

Lisa Gouveia Art@LVAgentMagazine.com

Newsletter PHOTOGRAPHY

David Sukar Photography@SukarLLC.com

Newsletter For more information please email or call 702-530-5033. Housing Statistics

Las Vegas Agent Magazine is distributed bi-monthly, via U.S. Mail to Realtors® in the Las Vegas Valley. We welcome reader correspondence and are always looking for the best possible content to offer our subscribers. Please send all comments, suggestions and inquiries to Publisher@LVAgentMagazine.com Las Vegas Agent Magazine assumes no responsibility for, or endorses the thoughts expressed or advertised. No portion of Las Vegas Agent Magazine may be reproduced without the written permission of the Publisher. All rights reserved.

TAMRA TRAINER Work in Progress Cover photo by: David Sukar of Sukar Photography

LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE: 702-530-5033

RETICULAR ACTIVATING SYSTEM

A Leadership Dynamic By: JC Melvin

What is “RAS” or the “Reticular Activating System” and how do we get it? Answer: We all have it; the question is how we choose to use it? irst, the trick is to understand how this part of our brain works. Most of us never learn, thus, we do not reap many of the incredible benefits from the system. So let’s get clear on RAS and how it works. As you can see in the illustration, the RAS is near the stem of the brain. It absorbs information from the senses (sensory information) and then filters and prioritizes all information and delivers to the brain whatever subject matter it has been taught to deliver.

Most of us, however, have never taught our RAS to deliver anything because we didn’t know this filter system existed or how it can benefit us. The system is stimulated by what we focus on. It’s like having our own, personalized “Google” built into our brains to search, scan, find and access all the information we’d want or need to develop an idea, thought or project. It’s really that simple. Well, maybe it’s a little more complicated! An example of how it works, even when we’ve not programmed it, is as follows: You decide that you’re going to go buy a new car and you do. You buy a black, 3 series, four door BMW. You drive off the lot and over the next several months, you notice an abundance of “black, 3 series, four door BMWs.” The funny thing is, until you personally focused on that car and decided to purchase it, you never realized so many people drove this particular car or that so many of these cars existed. This is RAS at work. When you focus on something, all the data and information on that “something,” regardless what it is, is filtered, prioritized and sent to your brain for use. If we’re not purposeful in utilizing our RAS, it just seems like a bunch of random data coming to us, which is somewhat interesting and coincidental.

6 LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE | July/August 2016

Once understood, we can harness this brilliant part of our brain and put it to good use. A great habit to create, if you don’t already do this, is to take time to think every day. Set aside time each day to focus on your dreams and passions, even if they are so big they seem impossible. Once you focus daily, your passion and/or dream will become clearer. Become a student of how or what would make your dream possible. Be a believer and allow your passion to fester and grow. continued on page 23

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July/August 2016 | LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE

How the Internet has changed the

BUYING EXPERIENCE

By: Jason Clouse

et’s take a look back at the way things were done in the early days of car buying. Manufacturers had multiple ways of getting their cars sold to the public. New models were sold at the factory gates, in the showrooms, by mail order, and through the work of door to door sales people. Imagine, you had a car salesman come to your door just to tell you about the newest safety features on a vehicle. These include seat belts, windshield wipers, or power windows. Sounds more like a nuisance to me.

information available online, customers visit less than two times before making their final decision on a purchase or lease. In many cases, people arrive having already decided what kind of vehicle they want based on their research of prices, reviews, features, and maintenance costs. They usually know what the dealership is asking price wise for the vehicle, as well as what a fair retail price should be, and what type of financing options are available to them upon purchasing.

We credit the ’90s as the time when the internet really exploded in regards to the automotive business. As Internet use and popularity continued to increase, information about new and upcoming car designs and features seemed to be unlimited. The accessibility to this information was so convenient and easy that car buying would never be the same. People were able to research availability, features, colors, and get details that would have only been available if you were to physically go down to the dealership and speak to a salesperson.

Once all of the research is thoroughly conducted and the finances are calculated, the customers head to the dealership for the final steps of getting their new vehicle. The actual process of buying a car and driving it off the lot has remained the same. However, eliminating all of the necessary and rather tedious pre car buying steps make this final step all the more satisfying.

As the internet advanced, more information was provided by both manufacturers as well as customers who wanted to share their personal experiences publicly to anyone looking to purchase the same type of vehicle. Customer reviews have significantly changed the way people purchase things online. Positive customer reviews have been shown to increase sales for the expressed product, but negative reviews have the potential to decrease sales. The internet has made it possible to research multiple vehicles in order to see how people from all over the world are buying and what their experiences were with the vehicle they purchased. A mere ten years ago, people would have to visit roughly five or more dealers before making their purchase. Today, with the

LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE | July/August 2016

The one thing that the internet can’t do is overwhelm your senses the way that new car smell can. The look of a brand new, freshly polished vehicle sitting under the glow of a showroom floor, the feeling of the steering wheel in your hands, and the roaring sound of the engine as you finally step on that gas pedal for the first time are things that will remain priceless to a new car owner. The joy of buying a new car has the ability to take you back to a time when you were a kid and you finally got that shiny new toy. Jason Clouse is the Internet Director with Findlay Cadillac in Henderson, Nevada. With more than 25 years in the automotive industry, he has been with Findlay Cadillac for over 13 of those years. He has received multiple awards from Cadillac, the most recent award being the Crest Club Award for the 5th year in a row. As always, he can be reached at (702) 328-7222, jclouse@findlayauto.com or assisting customer and staff at Findlay Cadillac 993 Auto Show Dr. Henderson Nevada 89014.

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July/August 2016 | LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE

Into the Looking Glass

“ The future depends on what you do today ” - Mahatma Gandhi By: Rick Piette

ur town is exploding with growth once again! The positive signs are everywhere. Our population is growing, unemployment is at its lowest rate in years, and tourism numbers are predicted to hit an “all time high” in 2016. And we certainly can’t overlook the tremendous amount of construction activity which has occurred, is occurring, and that which we hope will occur? I thought it would be good to take a quick look at the construction growth activity in order to give us a glimpse of how our futures in the real estate industry may look over the next few years. Remember that the future belongs to those who prepare for it today! PROJECTS COMPLETED LAST YEAR: The Linq, The High Roller, Rock-N-Rio, The Grand Bazaar Shoppes, Downtown Summerlin PROJECTS RECENTLY COMPLETED OR UNDER CONSTRUCTION: T-Mobile Arena, “The Park”, Union Village, Switch $1-billion enlargement, The Global Business District (aka the expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center), and let’s not forget to mention the recent opening of IKEA and the nearcompletion of the new Ainsworth Gaming building

PROJECTS COMING SOON: Faraday Future, Project Neon (the expansion of the Spaghetti Bowl), Resorts World Las Vegas, Alon Casino, Fountainbleau, the newly announced Music Events Arena to be built by Sands Corp., and how about the possibility of a new football stadium, etc., etc. To me, this is a mind-boggling amount of construction and represents over $5 billion of investment activity. My guess is that if any other city in America with a population of just over 2 million had half of this growth, they would be elated. It’s time for all of us to contemplate what is going on in our town, and to prepare for what’s coming. The most successful business people (and let’s face it, Realtors are business people), look into the future and see their organization not as it is, but as it can become. We will see a major influx of new residents, we will see a multitude of new jobs being created, and we will see consumer confidence return. And the results for us will be “increased home buying activity.” We should all be thinking out our strategies of how we are going to benefit from the business increase which is coming! George Orwell said “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” It’s probably a good time for all of us to evaluate our current business models and prepare to get busy!

Rick, a long time native of Southern Nevada and of the mortgage industry, currently owns and is Broker of Premier Mortgage Lending, with offices in Henderson, NV. In his career in the mortgage business, he has held the positions of Loan Officer, Manager, Vice-President, Sr. Vice-President… and now, is an Owner/Broker. The full-service lender is a member of the Las Vegas and Boulder City Chamber of Commerce, Better Business Bureau, the Southern Nevada Homebuilders Assn., and was recently honored as the “2013 Affiliate of the Year” by the Greater Las Vegas Assn. of Realtors. He enjoys many outdoor activities including mountain climbing, skiing, backpacking, Harley rides, and river running. For more information, please call Rick Piette of Premier Mortgage Lending at 702-485-6600 or visit www.PremierMortgageLending.com. Premier Mortgage Lending, NMLS #393282.

LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE | July/August 2016

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COVER FEATURE

TAMRA TRAINER

WORK IN PROGRESS Photography by: David Sukar

hen it comes to personal development, some people read a self-help book, others hire a trainer. Neither was enough for Tamra Trainer. She’s become her own ongoing transformation. Any woman seeing Tamra Trainer’s before-and-after shots would be sick with envy. We won’t even go into what men think of her six-pack, although one did mention the “before” didn’t look so bad to him either. Hers is the tan, ripped, glistening physique of a bodybuilder. It’s hard to imagine that it belongs to a 40-something top real estate broker and Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), who was also named one of 2015 Readers Choice Las Vegas’ Top 100 Women of Influence and featured in My Vegas Magazine. All this didn’t come easy, though. It took a lot of trial and error to sculpt Tamra Trainer into the person she is today. She speaks candidly and vulnerably about the whole process. Tamra seems amazed by her own journey. “I have more than 50,000 followers on social media because of my transformation. I look at the most trending fitness boards, and I’m on there, with my before-and-after photos. This is what I do, but it’s like, wow, this is me!” Having mastered every aspect of Las Vegas real estate over the last 22 years, you’d think she’d be used to transforming herself and starting over. It’s what she does, after all. Trying on business life Born and raised in Jamaica, Tamra never doubted that she’d follow her father’s footsteps. A serious bodybuilder, he would often take

LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE | July/August 2016

his daughter to the gym to train with him when she was in her teens, and she just took to it. “I remember being on TV, advertising bikinis. I worked hard at having a great physique even back then. I was also a tennis player with dreams of playing at Wimbledon someday. My dad got me a tennis coach four or five hours a day, and I played competitive tennis in high school.” Her dad was in the import-export business, and she soon opened a branch of his company, her own lucrative import-export firm, when she was 19, after moving to Toronto, Canada. She was very successful in her first month of business but, after realizing she didn’t want to be in the import-export business, decided to take a vacation and travel for a while. She ended up in Vegas for a quick girls’ getaway, fell in love with the city, met her husband (now ex), got married, and had the love of her life, son Mark, within a year. “Before real estate I didn’t connect with anything I did and didn’t hold jobs very long. I worked in retail and hated it. I got into one thing after another and mastered each, but things felt stale if I stopped growing.” Paying dues Tamra wanted to become a lawyer in her twenties and, while just getting into real estate, studied psychology at UNLV with a criminal justice minor. Real estate was so lucrative that, in the end, she realized it could be more lucrative than law. She looked around, saw people in real estate doing well, and liked the fact that your success in the industry was directly tied to your performance. “I was always results oriented.” No plateaus that couldn’t be handled, no ceiling in sight.

“I never liked being told what I was going to make. I needed to know that, if I was motivated to bring in more money, I could. So in 1995 I went to work as an agent for a well-known family company in Las Vegas, with Gary Frey and Kenny Sullivan, who introduced me to their friends and got me established in the affluent community of old Las Vegas.” She believed in working hard, paying her dues, using her social charms to make calls, knock on doors, do a little of everything to master the whole skill set of her chosen career. It was a school of hard knocks, literally. “I knew I had to learn every aspect of real estate before working with that affluent community. “There’s nothing in real estate that I haven’t done. Starting out like other agents, I’ve cold-called, gone on hundreds of listing appointments, but I didn’t get a lot of them because I was doing the same thing every other agent was doing, the same way. Following the tried and true steps, trying to speak to potential clients while there were five or six agents ahead of me with the same goal in mind. I remember one of them telling me, ‘Tamra, I’ve been in the business 20-something years. If I go on an appointment before you, I’m getting that listing and you’re not!’ “She did me a favor, helping me to realize early that you’ve got to really sharpen your skills to get ahead. Now, after 22 years, I can tell new agents this tough message, and help them learn that it’s not enough just to go through the motions. “I’ve seen the city grow from almost nothing. Rainbow didn’t go all the way through. In fact, so much of the south and west ends of town were dirt. I sold in every community that was built. If you tell me a street, I’ve been there.” Her second year in the school of hard knocks started after her company decided to focus only on new home communities. She then moved to a different franchise. “I started doing short sales, BPOs, and repos, way back when. I’d go into the ‘hood alone, well dressed, and in my fancy car, doing lockouts with the constables, guns drawn and all. I look back now and I’m afraid of what I did!” She learned every part of the business literally from the ‘hood up. But, always, at a certain point, something begins to itch, something doesn’t feel quite right any more, and Tamra senses it’s time to start over with a new approach. Rising higher “One day it hit me: Selling these low-income properties isn’t a good fit for me. All my friends have money, I grew up around people with a lot of money, private jets, and exotic cars. “At that time, I thought the way to success was to work with buyers. But it wasn’t so easy working with buyers who needed loans. Deals started falling through, and I asked myself, How can I make this never happen again?” Almost as soon as she asked the question, the answer came to her: Cash. Her goal in real estate became dealing with people who have so much money that they can write a check on the spot. The clients drawn to Tamra are professional athletes, celebrities, businessmen and large investment groups. In 2004, the high-rises at Turnberry Place took Las Vegas by storm with four 38-story condos that loomed over the Strip in their own private, gated enclave. In what became her “farm,” they would establish Tamra as the High-Rise Queen. She became a founding member of the $60 million Stirling Club and was even

on its tennis team. She had arrived at a new strategy for success that has worked for her ever since: Specialize in what nobody else is doing. She devised a way to sell 5 or 10 high-rise units to individual clients. “Why limit yourself to one unit?” she asked them. “How many units do you want?” It was brilliant. Investors figured, “She wouldn’t have asked if this weren’t something everybody else is onto, and I sure want to be doing what everybody else is doing!” She’d go out collecting checks every day for her company, the aptly named Vertical Realty. She sold over $31 million and made $1.1 million in commissions in a six-month period. “As soon as I realized high-rise properties were a natural for me, I sold units in Sky, Soho, Platinum, Panorama, and Turnberry. When I had Vertical Realty I landed a billion-dollar project, though it never came to fruition because of the crash.” Autocorrections, economic and personal As it turned out, high-rises mirrored the vertical skyrocketing of the market. Sometime before the well-known real estate crash, Tamra sensed something was up—too far up. “I shut down. I didn’t want to sell real estate to people if I didn’t believe in what I was selling. The prices had gotten outrageous, and I thought, There’s no way the Vegas market can sustain this kind of growth.” Just as the market autocorrected itself by crashing, Tamra’s body had already begun an autocorrection that led her where she is today. Ever since those teenage bodybuilding days, she’d always worked out, reaching a point in 2002 where she was running 5 to 8 miles, 6 days a week, training for a marathon that she never ran. One morning she woke up and couldn’t move. She agreed to surgery that would fuse her spine. Three years later, a second surgery was required to correct the first. Tamra recalls, “Anything that could have gone wrong did. That second doctor lost his license. I spent almost a year, off and on, in the hospital. If I hadn’t been physically fit, I would’ve gone over the edge. I got a staph infection. I had to learn how to walk all over again and spent a month in an assisted living facility. The doctors told me I would probably never run again. But you learn from your struggles, from what they put you through. I thought my life was over so many times, but now I see all those times as a blessing.” After the economic crash, she scaled back and regrouped before taking on the high-rise market again in 2010. She became the broker for Turnberry Towers and, having record sales, decided to open her own residential real estate firm again in “Work, work, 2011, with a commercial work it!” division. But she felt she needed an overhaul in every other sense besides her career. “I met with a good friend, real estate coach and motivational speaker Jon Cheplak, who coaches some of the biggest brokers/owners in the world. I said, ‘Jon, you need to help me.’ I

wasn’t living a healthy lifestyle at that time. I hadn’t worked out in over a decade while dealing with chronic pain, and gained a lot of weight.” Jon Cheplak saved her life. He gave her a simple diet to follow and a pep talk, telling her that, when she was sick and tired of being sick and tired, she would do something about it; if she was serious, she would follow through. She started to follow the diet, felt healthier, and began working out with her old trainer, Paul Rosenberg with Real Results. “At first, when Paul asked me if I would ever consider competing in a bodybuilding competition, I took it as an insult because I was so out of shape and unhealthy. I later found out he felt I needed more accountability and that’s one way that would get me to commit to fitness even more. “If people had told me I’d be following a clean-eating diet, six meals a day, training five or six days a week, and getting on stage in a bikini, I would have told them they were crazy. Now I have a shelf full of bodybuilding trophies. I’m a bodybuilding competitor in the Bikini Division with the National Physique Committee (NPC), consistently placing in the top five for three years in a row and qualifying to compete for my pro card.” The discipline she learned in preparing for competition carried over into her work life as well. “Now, with my real estate, I’m branching out, getting licensed in California, and doing deals with agents in other states. I feel like I’m finally coming into my own, after 22 years!” In 2015, friends for over 15 years, Noah Herrera, Steve Hawks, and Keith Lynam of Platinum Real Estate Professionals, convinced her to jump on board with them. “I moved to Platinum after recently closing my own brokerage, because I liked the model and it’s like family there. Everyone is committed to helping each other and never doing it with money in mind.” There, she’s able to focus on her own luxury business and rebuild it as an agent expert in the Strip corridor and luxury homes. Because of Tamra’s dedication and followthrough, she’s developed a n i mpressive database of cash buyers. Often, when approached about a new luxury listing, she’s got a potential buyer before the property can even be listed. Getting outside herself to give back It seemed that, as soon as Tamra embraced making he r self al l she

could be, it was time to go beyond self-actualization. She muses, “You reach a point in your life where you k n ow s o m e t h i n g has to change again. Everything is cyclical, like my cycle of career runs.” Back in 2011, Tamra had a vision board of goals and images showing what she wanted in her life. On it were not only the very car that she’s stunned to find herself Court Appointed Special Advocate, (CASA) owning today, but also the more altruistic goal “I want to give back by helping abused and neglected kids and women.” “I wanted to become a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) then, but I hadn’t gone through everything that I needed to, to be ready. In 2014, I said, okay this is it, I’m on top of the world, it’s time to pass on what I’ve learned and earned, to help kids. I did the CASA training, got sworn in, and now I’m an officer of the court, fighting in the courtroom for the best interests of kids in foster care and, recently promoted to court monitor, sitting in the courtroom next to the judge, listening to cases to determine the need for a CASA. I’m also acting as an Educational Surrogate parent with Legal Aid of Southern Nevada. Becoming a CASA, I saw something that mattered more than commissions and making money: making a difference in a child’s life.” And this isn’t the only area where the new Tamra Trainer is giving back. She’s helping all sorts of people achieve better lives. Since competing, she studied holistic nutrition and coaching at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition for two years, and has signed up for another certification for fitness nutrition and personal training, which should help both others and her own competing career. “I’ve helped quite a few clients reach their goal weight and make healthier lifestyle choices. I’m a contributing writer and produce a health and fitness column for My Vegas magazine. I don’t want my name on some designer charity; I don’t want to do lunch; I want to help others hands-on. I want to sit with kids and buy them lunch and make them feel loved.” It might even be time for another Tamra transformation. “I don’t know if my career future is restricted to just real estate. It may be time for another chapter. For the first time in my life, I’m doing other things—fitness, coaching, I’ve always wanted to go to law school—just to see where they take me. And I love it!” To reach Tamra, please call 702-858-1777 or email TamraTrainer@gmail.com

Body by O Athlete Coached by Kim Oddo. Greater Gulf States - 3rd place qualifying for a National Show.

July/August 2016 | LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE

LESS CLOSING COSTS = MORE CLOSINGS You just sold your clients a home. Sales price is $250,000. Doing an FHA loan. And your buyers just received the Estimated Fee Sheet from your lender showing $17,500 cash required to close. Next comes the call to you – their Realtor. Does that sound familiar? Cash to close (or the lack thereof) is one of the biggest deterrents to homeownership in Las Vegas. If your buyers can qualify for one of the Grant Programs – then the interest rate is increased nearly 1.00% above market rates. So, in order to obtain the most advantageous interest rate, the buyers opt to qualify for a standard FHA loan. Now let’s break down that $17,500. We’ll start with the required 3.50% down payment and that’s $8,750. And you’ve got your prepaid items for taxes and insurance and that’s another $2,350+-. So doing that math, that leaves your buyer with the ‘closing costs’...and that brings us to ‘the $6,400 question,’

“Does your buyer need to pay $6,400 in costs?” The answer is plain and simple – “No they do not!” If you do your loan business with a Mortgage Broker, like Premier Mortgage Lending, your buyers can get a loan – at market rate – and pay NO FEES. No origination fees, no processing fees, no underwriting fees, NO junk fees. This would save your buyer over $4,000 in cash to close! Since the blow-up of the financial world and the government regulation which followed...it‘s an entirely new mortgage industry. Do yourself, and your buyers a favor and discover the huge savings in cash to close when you use Premier Mortgage Lending. After all:

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The #1 Whenever/Wherever PRODUCTIVITY TOOL

By: Amber De La Garza

Where is your task list right now? If you’re like most of my clients starting out, the answer is a tough one because your task list is scattered across an assortment of sticky notes, random pieces of paper, emails, the backs of worksheets, notebooks, and maybe a digital task management system. If you’ve fallen into the risky habit of writing down notes, tasks, and ideas on anything that resembles paper whenever and wherever you are, your productivity suffers. Task lists that are scattered, disorganized, easily lost, and random can make you feel the same and incapable of being productive. Can you relate? It is hard to focus when your tasks are literally all over the place. You don’t need that chaos in your life. Reduce your stress and tame your last list by utilizing the best productivity tool in use today. It isn’t a fancy gadget or app. And guess what? Surprisingly, you can’t buy it from Apple, Google didn’t invent it, and it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. It was actually invented in the 1800s and your local dollar store might even carry it. Any guesses? The number one best productivity tool to keep you organized, productive, and efficient, whether in 1886 or 2016, is the steno pad. In this modern day era, it is nearly impossible to be productive if you do not work from a task list. There are five strategies to conquer your task list and reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed. The most important is to keep your task list in one, centralized location. The mundane steno pad is that perfect location. A steno pad is the one little tool you can most easily use to keep yourself organized whether on the road traveling, with a client, at a meeting, or in your office. It fits effortlessly in your purse or briefcase, is easily replaceable, and ultimately affordable. Take it with you wherever you go to keep a running list of your ideas, thoughts, and to-do’s all day. Keeping a digital task is important for numerous reasons but opening up your task management system is not always feasible. There will be plenty of times when you’ll be speaking over the phone with a client, in a meeting, or in the middle of a project, and it will be inconvenient to access your digital task list. Use your handy steno pad instead to jot down your notes.

LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE | July/August 2016

Note Capturing Tips 1. Utilize asterisks. If a note is a task that requires action, put an asterisk by it. It will be easier to extract out these action items later.

2. Use shorthand. Abbreviations and symbols are your friends as long as you can remember what they mean. Using shorthand saves a great deal of time. 3. Write legibly. If you’re writing something down, it’s probably important. Make sure you’ll be able to read it later. Completing a weekly review at the end of each week in which you can tie up loose ends, determine what was not completed, and properly schedule the following week is a productivity strategy I highly recommend. Your weekly review is the perfect time to look back through all of the notes on your steno pad. The notes may be ones you took while on the phone with a vendor, client, or prospect, jotted down during a meeting, or wrote during other times in which it would have been inconvenient to open your digital task management system. Process all of the notes in your continued on page 23

UMBRELLAS in the

DESERT?

By: Sam Peters

t’s 7:00 a.m. Thursday. The sun is up, but the desert heat hasn’t quite cranked up yet. It seems like the perfect morning to get a jump on things at work before the early-scheduled showing and open house later today. You wait for your neighborhood gate to open. You’re facing directly into the sun. Where did you put those sunglasses? Finally, the gate opens wide enough to pass through. Twenty yards forward to the stop sign, then a right turn on to Cliff Shadows Road. You look left. All clear. In the context of this column, liability is defined as an act or damage someone is or can be held responsible for. In the insurance world, the most common “liability” discussed is your required auto insurance bodily injury and property damage liability coverage. We often say this coverage protects the other person, or the injured, mostly because the injured is the recipient of the monetary payout when a claim is settled. Many people, myself included, would contend that this coverage more accurately protects you. In the blink of an eye, a typical morning can turn into anything but. When we left off above, your vehicle was inching forward. Your eyes pan from the left back toward the front of the car and further toward the right in the direction you’re headed... and there he is. It’s not only the perfect morning to head to work a little early, it is also a great morning for a run. At the ideal moment in time and space, your car’s brakes work perfectly. There are at least three feet of air between the front bumper and his left knee. In this case, aside from an unwelcoming stare, there was no harm. Except, perhaps, a temporary spike in blood pressure.

LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE | July/August 2016

But what if? What if the brakes had failed? What if, at the previous intersection, the runner’s path wasn’t delayed by a car? Or what if, a few moments earlier, the neighborhood gate had been a little quicker to open? Any of these “ifs” could have changed what occurred in that split second of time and the outcome to a much more harmful one. Who would be responsible? How does insurance cover this? What are the limits? With auto insurance liability, there are minimums driven by state law. In Nevada, those limits are $15,000 for bodily injury of one person in any one accident; $30,000 for bodily injury of multiple people in one accident; and $10,000 for property damaged in one accident. For the homes we purchase or rent, most property policies come standard with $100,000 of bodily injury liability coverage. So, how much liability coverage is appropriate or enough? This can be a very long, drawn out answer, or it can be a simple one. I’ll give you the short version in the form of another question – what is your comfort level? Liability is a funny thing. You may not be released of it simply because an insurance company has paid out the maximum amount covered by your policy. In a bumper vs. runner scenario, it would not be uncommon for very significant injuries or damages to occur. In that event, the minimum coverage amounts noted above may not protect you from continued responsibility to cover the injured person’s potential medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering. Litigation is also not uncommon in these situations, and damages can easily measure into the hundreds of thousands continued on page 23

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July/August 2016 | LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE

A THRONE ALL YOUR OWN By: Mike Klimek

any people move into a resale house and the first thing they absolutely must do is change the toilet seats. Typically, they are not very handy but really don’t want to pay somebody to do this, and so they ask how. I guess it grosses people out to think that somebody else has done their business in their new house. I’m willing to bet these people have a real phobia about using public restrooms. In fact, I’ll bet they won’t even sit down unless they’ve wiped the seat clean and then laid down a tissue-paper protective barrier. If you think sitting on someone else’s toilet seat is gross, just wait until you replace one, particularly if there were males living in the house. There is something about a man and his toilet. So unless the previous occupants were clean freaks, be afraid -- be very afraid. There are two different styles of toilet seats. One is round and the other is elongated. Less expensive toilets have round bowls and the higher end (pun intended) bowls are elongated. Once you figure out which style of seat to buy, you’ll need to decide on the type. They’re made of plastic, wood or other materials by special order, and some even come with warranties — although I’m not sure I want to know what they are warranteed against. You can also buy the kind of seat that has an open front (like you would see in a unisex restroom in a commercial location). These are perfect for guys who haven’t figured out why the seat won’t lift back up after the ladies have used it. Toilet seats are held on with two large plastic bolts. Some

seats have bolts that are attached to them, and some seats snap onto studs that are attached to the bolts after they are secured to the bowl. To remove the old seat, use a standard screwdriver and pop up the cover that conceals the bolt. Now, brace yourself, look under the back of the bowl. There will be a nut encrusted in years of foulness. This plastic nut holds the bolt in place. You will want to hold the nut with pliers while you unscrew the plastic bolt. Remove the nut from each bolt. The new toilet seat will come in a plastic bag. Remove the new seat from the bag and slide the old seat from the front all the way to the back into the bag (that way you don’t have to touch it). Once the old seat is in the bag, just lift it off and throw it out. The new seat goes on just as easily as the old one came off. Push the plastic bolts through the holes in the back of the seat’s hinges and into the holes in the bowl. Place a nut on the end of each bolt and screw it until it is snug. Be careful not to overtighten it as the plastic will easily strip. Now you can relax as you enjoy your morning newspaper on your new throne. Mike Klimek is a licensed contractor and owner of Las Vegas Handyman. He has written hundreds of newspaper columns and magazine articles regarding home repair and remodeling and has been published in Southern Nevada Home & Garden Magazine, Finishing Touches Magazine, Zip Code Magazines, and Real Estate Success Magazine. He has written a weekly column for the Las Vegas ReviewJournal & Sun since November 2000. Watch for Mike’s regular column here and in the Las Vegas RJ.” He can be reached by email at: questions@pro-handyman. com or by phone at (702) 896-0000.

LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE | July/August 2016

continued from page 20

of dollars. If you are deemed liable and your insurance coverage doesn’t fully cover the damages, your personal assets, home equity, and even future earnings may be up for grabs. Future earnings? Yes. Future earnings. Protection from legal action can be as easy as having the right protection. A Personal Umbrella Policy, which provides additional liability coverage over and above other insurance policies (home, auto, boat, etc.), should be understood and considered. Personal Umbrella Policies (“PUPs”) generally provide liability coverage in $1M increments, are generally inexpensive for the amount of coverage provided, and may cover some risks not covered by your standard insurance policy. For instance, Personal Injury (think libel and slander), has become more and more of a reality in our digital age. Whether it’s a perceived, unwarranted “one star” rating on a public website or a misdirected comment by your teenager on social media, an umbrella policy can surely come in handy. Understanding how you are covered when you are liable to a claim can be the difference between peace of mind and potential financial devastation. Your insurance advisor can help you make the right choices for your specific situation. I’m often told, “I don’t have any assets,” “I don’t own a home/property,” or “I don’t have lots of money in the bank.” My reply is always the same — you are the asset. And sometimes, when it rains, it pours. Umbrella? Sam is the Owner/Operator of Peters Family Insurance, LLC in Summerlin, Las Vegas, Nevada. Sam, his family, and their business partners have a collective 40 years’ experience in the industry. Sam has earned his Master’s Degree in Administration from Central Michigan University, a Graduate Certificate in Organizational Finance from the University of Maryland University College, is a Retired Military Officer, and is licensed in Nevada for Property, Casualty, Life, and Health insurance (#1104086) and South Carolina for Life and Health insurance (#781880). His agency supports local youth baseball and The Animal Foundation, a no-kill animal shelter and adoption center. PH: 702-360-8564. Fax: 702-331-1524. 1945 Village Center Circle, Ste 150, Las Vegas, Nevada 89134.

continued from page 18

your steno pad; completing quick tasks and creating digital tasks as you go. Your steno pad should be blank once you’ve processed all of your notes for the week and you should rip out the pages, enabling you to start fresh every single week. Your time is valuable. Stop wasting it rummaging through notebooks in your briefcase, sticky notes scattered across your desk, and random pieces of paper; attempting to find phone numbers or old notes, grab an action item, or locate a random thought or idea. Change your scattered course by utilizing the #1 productivity tool that won’t break your bank.

continued from page 6

What we know is that successful leaders of a cause are super passionate as well as clear and focused on their goals. They tend to be creative and thoughtful. It’s amazing how they seem to attract the right people and circumstances to drive the cause. One of the reasons is because they have programmed their RAS to “Google” their brain and capture all the sensory information that may be relative to the goal. All of this brain power is going on behind the scenes and is, in part, how the “law of attraction” works on both a physical and spiritual level. When we become focused on a new passion, many things change in our lives, including the dreams we have at night. It’s exciting when new thoughts, ideas and answers begin coming our way. In closing, I would recommend that we remain humble, become vulnerable and maintain an open heart. This enables our RAS to process all the possibilities we are focused on. The key successful leaders understand is being deliberate and selective about what they’re focusing on. Remember, RAS works regardless what the focus is on so be clear that if we focus on the negative, then we are filtering and prioritizing negative stuff to come into our brain and lives. If we take time to think every day about living a big, happy, crazy life full of big dreams, our RAS will bring all that positive data to us and help us build the life we choose. The bottom line here is we are responsible for our thoughts, successes and failures in life. It truly is up to us. I thought this simple concept was super cool and wanted to share it. The RAS dynamic is an easy one to implement and returns maximum benefits. JC Melvin is the founding dean of the NVAR and the GLVAR Leadership Programs. JC is an international speaker and Certified Trainer for “The ONE Thing” Workshop. He is the Corporate Broker for KW Realty Southwest in Las Vegas. For more info on “The ONE Thing” or to schedule a program, add him on Facebook or email: jc@jcmelvin.com. 702.595.5024.

Using a steno as the one, centralized location for all of your tasks and ideas will give you the peace of mind you need to be productive and take back control of your life. Download a FREE Time Maximizers Resource at www.TimeMaximizers.com Amber De La Garza, The Productivity Specialist, works with business owners and entrepreneurs who are ready to transform the way they work so they can reduce stress, maximize time, and grow their business. Amber provides her clients with precisely what they need – the best in productivity training and consulting to meet their maximum potential and accomplish their goals. For more information or to reach Amber: 702-527-2307 or Amber@TheProductivitySpcialist.com.

July/August 2016 | LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE

NEWSLET TER

The MILLENNIAL HOME BUYER

By Patricia L. Garcia

After getting married last summer, 29-year-old Sarah Bahner and her husband decided to look for a home. Bahner knew just what she wanted: a bungalow close to downtown Austin, where the couple spends much of their time at their favorite watering holes, restaurants and concert venues. “Being able to live close to downtown and have the ability to walk to that kind of stuff was very appealing to us,” she says. “We thought that if we wanted to go dancing or went to see a concert, then we’d already be downtown.” While Bahner and her husband eventually decided on a home located farther from downtown than they initially planned, she says she’s happy with their purchase. Her favorite part of her new home? “Definitely the space — our house is 2,100 square feet. When I say space, I don’t mean a huge bedroom; I mean a big, open kitchen and a really big yard where we have space to breath. I also have space to entertain and host family and friends.” Bahner is a typical millennial when it comes to home buying. She was tired of renting, values city living and technology, wanted space and wasn’t willing to break the bank for the home of her dreams. The term “millennial” means many things to different folks. Some consider those in the 18-34 age group to be millennials; others say it’s strictly those born after 1980. For our purposes, we’re sticking with the opinion of the Pew Research Center, which defines millennials, or Generation Y, as those “born after 1980 and were the first generation to come of age in the new millennium.” According to the Census, there were more than 80 million millennials in the United States in 2010.

in with their parents. This has shut them out of the realm of homeownership; a recent USA Today article found that 25- to 34-year olds experienced the largest decline in homeownership rates since 2006. Still, they remain optimistic about the future. Many indicate that they would like to purchase a home in the next two to five years. So, as the economy gains strength, this age group will become a driving force in the housing market. “The time has never been better for young people to become home owners, whether it be a new home or existing,” said NAHB chair Rick Judson, a Charlotte, N.C., home builder and developer, said in a news release. Where Do Millennials Want to Live? According to the Urban Land Institute’s “What’s Next? Real Estate in the New Economy” report, millennials are tech savvy, highly mobile and lean toward urban places that foster environments that are socially diverse. “This buyer really has an urban sensibility,” says interior designer Doris Pearlman, president of Possibilities for Design in Denver. “They want a sophisticated, urban look and feel to their communities, but they don’t want the prices that come with it nor do they want the hassles like traffic.” Mixed-used communities in urban areas are attractive to Gen Yers. Communities with an emphasis on walkability also are at the top of the list for them. If being able to walk to shops, restaurants or work is not an option, then Millennials want to live near public transportation hubs, such as rail lines or bus stops. But will these preferences continue to fit Gen Y’s needs as they grow older? Though Bahner was happy with her home purchase, she does admit that this will not be her “forever” home. “My parents still live in the same house I grew up in,” she says. “I can’t imagine that this house is going to fit our lifestyle in 10 years.”

The Mind of a Millennial: Shaken, But Not Stirred The Great Recession did a number on Gen Y — think delayed adulthoods. Stunted by a lack of promising job prospects after college and crippling student loans to pay back, many young adults have put off getting married (75% are single or unmarried) or having children. Others have been forced to move back

LASVEGAS VEGASAGENT AGENTMAGAZINE MAGAZINE| |July/August July/August2016 2016 24 LAS

What They Want in a Home “Millennials don’t like cookie-cutter floor plans — they want their homes to be unique and personalized to their styles and tastes and to really represent who they are,” says Alicia Huey, president of AGH Homes in Birmingham, Ala., and 2013 president of the Greater Birmingham Association of Home Builders. “Because of what they’ve seen from the economy, they are quite conservative in their spending and they want value for their money.” Huey says that rooms such as separate dining and living rooms are seen as a waste of space. An open kitchen and a home theater are preferred since they are multifunctional and because these

SOUTHERN NEVADA HOME BUILDERS ASSOCIATION NEWSLET TER

The MILLENNIAL HOME BUYER , continued

rooms can be places to host family and friends. “They would like to have a TV in the kitchen rather than a double oven,” she says. “Since everybody congregates in the kitchen and the media room, they want spaces to entertain in.” Technology plays an important role in the lives of millennials, who literally grew up with the Internet. Mobile technology, in particular, has allowed them to customize just about everything they do and they expect no less in their daily lives. “They have a greater expectation of technology than previous generations,” says Kristi Knight, vice president of marketing for Vivint, a home automation services provider. “They anticipate having a high level of interaction with their homes.” Millennials, Knight says, like services that allow them to unlock their door, control their thermostat and receive information about when their front door opens — all via their smartphones or tablet device. “They want to use their cellphone to launch apps that allow them to see what’s happening at home when they’re not there,” she says. These customizable mobile technologies also allow millennials to keep their energy costs down. Generation Y was brought up on public service announcements that told them to save the planet. Recycling is nothing new to them. Saving water is a way of life. To put it simply, this is a green generation and energy efficiency is important to them. “This generation is really energy conscious,” Huey says. “One couple I recently worked with wanted to make sure they could automate their home, so they could wirelessly control things, like a smart thermostat.” But, there’s a catch. While nearly 40% of those surveyed by NAHB said they would like an environmentally friendly home, they wouldn’t pay more for it. This is a huge selling point for home automation companies, such as Vivint. Knight says mobile technology allows Gen Yers to have the latest home automation services without a high price Designing for the Y Generation There was a time when the world was smaller. You didn’t know things outside of your realm existed unless, maybe, you traveled or followed little-known publications. Not anymore. “The biggest change I’ve seen, without a doubt, has been all of a sudden with HGTV, shelter magazines and catalogs and websites like Pinterest and Houzz — it has really raised the bar of the sophistication and design level of consumers,” says interior designer Mary DeWalt, owner of the Mary DeWalt Design Group

in Austin, Texas. “Because millennials are so inundated with it, they really have an understanding of good design.” Still, as with energy efficiency, they don’t want to pay a high price for style, says interior designer Kay Green. “They are funny in that they accept disposable furniture. They don’t have the idea that they’re going to have a dining room table throughout their whole lives,” she says. So, millennials appreciate affordable home stores, such as Ikea and Target, but also like higher-end places like West Elm and Z Gallery. It’s important to give millennials stylish choices, such as accent walls that can be personalized with color — they love color, Green says — as well as sophisticated options such as wood flooring and clean lines. Beyond good design, what millennials really want is a home that they can personalize. This is something that even appliance manufacturers have recognized. In September, GE will release a set of appliances targeted to Gen Y. Designed by 27-year-old industrial designer Tomas DeLuna, the suite of appliances was created with a focus on aesthetics as well as affordability for first-time buyers. “We found that the entry-level appliances like stoves and refrigerators were pretty uninspiring — they’re not very pretty and they come in a variety of colors,” says Lou Lenzi, director of GE’s Industrial Design Operation. “When you’re a first-time homeowner or your key purchasing driver is about style, you’re looking for something that says something about you and provides you with a good value.” It’s not the first time a company has sought to court the younger set — last fall, Jonathan Adler and Kohler teamed up Kohler on a colorful cast-iron sink collection, ranging from yellow to navy. The intent was to bring punchy colors back into the kitchen. Builders, designers and marketers understand the emotional attachment that comes with homes. Now, more than ever, it’s important to understand what drives the upcoming home-buying generation. “We can’t underestimate the wants of the buyer,” DeWalt says. “Millennials want the latest and greatest and now they can see things from all across the country and even the world. These home buyers won’t accept the cookie cutter lifestyle of former generations. They want their own footprint, so builders and designers have to work harder to make their product different.” Patricia L. Garcia is content manager for NewHomeSource, the largest real estate site for consumers to research and select a newly built home and builder that meet their needs, lifestyle and budget. Reprinted with permission from NAHB.org

July/August 2016 | LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE

WOMEN'S COUNCIL OF REALTORS LAS VEGAS

26 LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE | July/August 2016

WOMEN'S COUNCIL OF REALTORS LAS VEGAS

July/August 2016 | LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE

ASIAN REAL ESTATE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA LAS VEGAS

Special Local Rate for the 2016 AREAA National Convention The 2016 AREAA National Convention will be held at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino October 21-23, 2016. This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Convention provides you with knowledge, insights, and strategies that you can take home and use in your practice. This is an opportunity to learn about the latest real estate practices, expand your knowledge dealing in complex transactions, energize yourself by taking part in powerful workshops, and connect your business to a network of thousands of like-minded professionals at the premiere real estate event of the year! Top 5 Reasons to Attend 1. Network & Connect with Industry Leaders and Professionals 2. Cutting-Edge Technologies to Meet Your Business Needs and Boost Production 3. Recharge Your Passion for Real Estate 4. Powerful Educational Sessions featuring World Renowned Speakers 5. Largest Marketplace Catering to the AAPI Market AREAA National would like to extend a special local rate to all Las Vegas real estate agents! For a rate of only $298, all local registrants will receive registration for the Convention, PLUS 1 year of AREAA Las Vegas membership! Directions to register at this rate are . Registration will includes access to all breakout sessions, general session, the AREAA Marketplace, Welcome Reception and AREAA Fashion Show. Click here to see the complete program. Don't know about the great AREAA Membership benefits? Click here to find out more!

To Register for this Special $298 Rate Use Registration Code: POTLUCKLSNC01 To Register & Get $50 Off Normal Registration Fee Use Code: 18443470

ASIAN REAL ESTATE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA LAS VEGAS

The Las Vegas Chapters of AREAA and VAREP Invite You To:

All proceeds from the event will go towards purchasing school supplies for 3 Local Las Vegas Elementary Schools! Date:

Location:

The Pond at 4 PM to 7 PM General Admission one drink $25 Includes and appetizers

For 10 people, includes bottle service (2 bottles) and Appetizers

For 6 people, includes 1 bottle and Appetizers

TICKETS: www.eventbrite.com/e/cabanas-for-a-cause-tickets-26727670181 Jade Sponsors:

July/August 2016 | LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE

LOCAL HOUSING STATISTICS Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS® June 2016 Statistics

Single Family Residential Units AVAILABILITY AT END OF PERIOD # of available units listed Median list price of available units Average list price of available units

*AVAILABILITY AT END OF PERIOD # of available units listed w/o offers Median list price of available units w/o offers Average list price of available units w/o offers

Change from Change from May 16 Jun 15 13,149 -7.5% -4.3% 265,000 +1.9% +10.5% 387,592 +1.8% +10.2%

Jun 16 $ $

Change from Change from May 16 Jun 15 7,097 -6.9% -4.5% 314,500 +1.8% +12.3% $ 485,781 +2.7% +10.5% $

Jun 16 $ $

Change from Change from May 16 Jun 15 4,133 +7.1% +5.0% 255,000 -1.9% +6.3% $ 323,447 -3.9% +6.0% $

Jun 16

NEW LISTINGS THIS PERIOD # of new listings Median price of new listings Average price of new listings

$ $

Change from Change from May 16 Jun 15 3,248 +19.9% +6.3% 235,000 +2.7% +6.8% $ 276,560 +0.6% +6.4% $

Jun 16

UNITS SOLD THIS PERIOD # of units sold Median price of units sold Average price of units sold

$ $

TIME ON MARKET FOR UNITS SOLD THIS PERIOD 0-30 days 31-60 days 61-90 days 91-120 days 121+ days

Jun 16 56.4% 17.8% 9.3% 6.2% 10.3%

TOTAL HOME SALES DOLLAR VALUE FOR UNITS SOLD THIS PERIOD

May 16 54.2% 17.0% 10.7% 5.5% 12.6%

Jun 15

Jun 16 2,528 115,000 131,727 Jun 16 1,328 114,650 138,475 Jun 16 747 119,000 131,381 Jun 16 709 115,000 122,758

Change from Change from May 16 Jun 15 -31.2% -27.2% -11.5% -4.1% -44.6% -44.5% Change from Change from May 16 Jun 15 -40.6% -43.0% -18.0% -8.3% -53.0% -51.7% Change from Change from May 16 Jun 15 -25.8% -10.0% -8.5% -4.8% -40.3% -29.4% Change from Change from May 16 Jun 15 +10.6% +11.3% -2.6% +0.0% -20.6% -21.9%

Jun 16

49.8% 18.8% 12.0% 6.4% 12.9%

Change from Change from May 16 Jun 15 898,267,000 +20.7% +13.1% $ Jun 16

Source: Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS®

Condo/Townhouse Units

May 16

54.3% 16.9% 12.8% 4.7% 11.3% Jun 16 87,036,000

Jun 15

51.3% 16.4% 13.1% 7.2% 12.0%

45.7% 20.9% 11.6% 6.9% 14.9%

Change from Change from May 16 Jun 15 -8.3% +8.9%

*This category reflects the existing market availability of listings without pending or contingent offers.

For media inquiries, please call George McCabe, with B&P Public Relations, at (702) 325-7358 DISCLAIMER: This data is based on information from the Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS® (GLVAR) Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed. MLS collects, compiles and distributes information about homes listed for sale by its subscribers who are real estate agents. MLS subscription is available to all real estate agents licensed in Nevada, but is not available to the general public. Not all licensed agents subscribe to the MLS. MLS does not include all new homes available or listings from non-MLS agents, nor does it include properties for sale by owner. The territorial jurisdiction of the GLVAR as a member of the National Association of REALTORS® includes Clark, Nye, Lincoln and White Pine Counties, Nevada, and such other areas as from time to time may be allocated to the GLVAR by the Board of Directors of the National Association of REALTORS®.

Source: Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS® For media inquiries, please call George McCabe, with B&P Public Relations, at (702) 325-7358.

Availability Without Pending Or Contingent Offers DISCLAIMER: This data is based on information from the Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS® (GLVAR) Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed. MLS collects, End compiles Of and distributes information about homes listed for sale by its subscribers who are real estate agents. MLS subscription is available toin all ofPeriod Units Period Greater Las Sold Vegas Association REALTORS® Statistics real estate agents licensed in Nevada, but is not available to the general public. Not all licensed agents subscribe to the MLS. MLS does not include all new homes available or listings Lasproperties Vegas Association of REALTORS® from non-MLS agents, nor does itGreater include for sale by owner.Statistics The territorial jurisdiction of the GLVAR as a member of the National Association of REALTORS® includes Clark, Nye, Lincoln and White Pine Counties, Nevada, and such other areas as from time to time may be allocated to the GLVAR by the Board of Directors of the National Association of Units Sold in Period REALTORS®.

Thousands

Availability Without Pending Or Contingent Offers End Of Period

14 12

Single Family Residential Units

10 8 6 4 2 0

Condo/ Townhouse Units

4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0

Month Source: Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS® For media inquires, please call George McCabe, B&P Public Relations, at (702) 325-7358.

DISCLAIMER: This data is based on information from the Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS® (GLVAR) Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed. MLS collects, compiles and distributes information about homes listed for sale by its subscribers who are real estate agents. MLS subscription is available to all real estate agents licensed in Nevada, but is not available to the general public. Not all licensed agents subscribe to the MLS. MLS does not include all new homes available or listings from non-MLS agents, nor does it include properties for sale by owner. The territorial jurisdiction of the GLVAR as a member of the National Association of REALTORS® includes Clark, Nye, White Pine and Lincoln Counties, Nevada, and such other areas as from time to time may be allocated to the GLVAR by the Board of Directors of the National Association of REALTORS®.

ABOUT THE GLVAR

Single Family Residential Units

Condo/ Townhouse Units

Month Source: Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS® For media inquires, please call George McCabe, B&P Public Relations, at (702) 325-7358.

GLVAR was founded in 1947 and provides its more than 11,000 local members with education, training and political representation. The local representative of the National Association of REALTORS®, GLVAR is the largest professional organization in Southern Nevada. Each GLVAR member receives the highest level of professional training and must abide by a strict code of ethics. For more information, visit www.HomeLasVegas.com or www.lasvegasrealtor.com.

30 LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE | July/August 2016

HOUSING STATISTICS FOR JUNE 2016 Southern Nevada Housing Market Stays Hot

The Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS® (GLVAR) reported Friday that the local housing market seemed to be taking its cue from June’s warmer weather, with local home prices and sales heating up last month compared to the same time last year. GLVAR reported the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada during June through its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) increased to $235,000. That was up 6.8 percent from $220,000 one year ago. Meanwhile, GLVAR said the median price of local condominiums and townhomes, including high-rise condos, sold in June was $115,000, the same as one year ago. “It’s shaping up to be a strong summer for our local housing market, and I think most of our members are optimistic that we can continue this momentum in the coming months,” said 2016 GLVAR President Scott Beaudry, a longtime local REALTOR®. “As we’ve been saying all year, we’re still concerned about our limited housing supply, which is about half of what we’d like it to be. But overall, the housing market seems to be moving in a positive direction and avoiding the volatility we experienced in past years.” According to GLVAR, the total number of existing local homes, condominiums and townhomes sold in June was 3,957, up from 3,693 total sales in June of 2015. Compared to the same month one year ago, 6.3 percent more homes, and 11.3 percent more condos and townhomes sold in June. Beaudry said local home sales for the first half of 2016 have been outpacing 2015, when GLVAR reported 38,578 single-family home, condominium, townhome and high-rise condo sales. That was more than in 2014, but fewer sales than during each of the previous five years. At the current sales pace, Beaudry said Southern Nevada has been dealing with less than a three-month supply of homes available for sale, when a six-month supply is considered to be a balanced market. GLVAR continued to track declines in distressed sales and a corresponding increase in traditional home sales, where lenders are not controlling the transaction. In June, 4.4 percent of all local

sales were short sales – when lenders allow borrowers to sell a home for less than what they owe on the mortgage. That’s down from 6.7 percent of all sales one year ago. Another 5.9 percent of all June sales were bank-owned, down from 7.6 percent one year ago. Though they continue to make up a smaller percentage of all local home sales, Beaudry said short sales may continue to be an attractive option for some homeowners this year since Congress voted in late December to again extend the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, as REALTORS® advocated. If Congress had not voted to again extend this tax break to help distressed homeowners, any amount of money a bank wrote off in agreeing to sell a home as part of a short sale would have been taxable when sellers file their federal income taxes. GLVAR said 27 percent of all local properties sold in June were purchased with cash, down from 28.4 percent one year ago. That cash buyer percentage has stabilized in recent months. It’s still less than half of the February 2013 peak of 59.5 percent, suggesting that cash buyers and investors remain more active in Southern Nevada than in most markets, but that their influence continues to wane. These GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of June 2016. GLVAR distributes such statistics each month based on data collected through its MLS, which does not necessarily account for newly constructed homes sold by local builders or homes for sale by owners. Other highlights include: • T he monthly value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during June was more than $898 million for homes and more than $87 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to one year ago, total sales volumes in June were up for homes, but down for condos and townhomes. • Homes sold faster in June, when 74.2 percent of all existing local homes and 71.2 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 68.6 percent of all existing local homes and 66.6 percent of all existing condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. July/August 2016 | LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE

36 LAS VEGAS AGENT MAGAZINE | July/August 2016