Posted on November 9th, 2008 by Bret Jenkins
West of the Las Vegas Strip, at the edge of Red Rock Canyon, sits an area that fewer than 20 years ago, was nothing but empty desert. The area is now known as Summerlin, a very popular Las Vegas suburb, and one of fastest growing master-planned communities in the U.S.
Since the first family moved into Summerlin in 1991, the 22,500-acre community has become home to more than 97,500 residents, The original 25,000-acre land mass was purchased by billionaire and aviation mogul Howard Hughes Jr. in 1952 as one of his many ventures in Las Vegas. The area, first known as Husite, encompassed land from the western rim of Las Vegas and extended into Red Rock Canyon.
When Hughes died in 1976, his heirs were left with the empty land but saw the potential for a master-planned community. The name was then changed from Husite to Summerlin after Hughes’ paternal grandmother, Jean Amelia Summerlin.
After deciding it would be inappropriate to build within Red Rock Canyon, the early planners of Summerlin traded the 5,000 acres adjacent to the Canyon for 3,000 acres south, which is now known as Summerlin South. Red Rock Canyon later became a National Conservation Area in 1990. The once considered worthless desert land in the middle of nowhere would become a community of malls, business parks and million dollar homes.
Howard Hughe’s Vision Becomes Reality
To facilitate growth in 1990, The Howard Hughes Corporation began construction on Summerlin Parkway, a road that would connect Summerlin to the rest of Las Vegas. 1993 marked the opening of Summerlin’s first public school, Lummis Elementary.
Along with other projects, construction began on The Tournament Players Club at The Canyons in 1994 - where a young Tiger Woods won his first PGA Tour in 1996. Adding to the Red Rock Canyon experience, the Red Rock Resort opened in Summerlin in 2006.
A lot of people move to Summerlin to be close to Red Rock Canyon who are outdoor enthusiasts; i.e. mountain bikers, hikers, rock climbers and/or people who just love the beautiful desert vistas and wildlife.
Summerlin offers Diverse Communities
Today, Summerlin is broken down by 400-some acre neighborhoods of homes and apartments with names like “The Garden” or “The Mesa.” The Ridges, which opened in 2000, is nestled in the mountainside adjacent to Red Rock Canyon. It is the most expensive neighborhood in Summerlin, with custom homes ranging from $500,000 to over $9 million.
The Ridges was named the third most exclusive gated community in America by Forbes Magazine in 2003. Sun City, Summerlin’s retirement community, was also finished in 2000. The adult village currently has close to 8,000 homes.
Summerlin’s neighborhoods include more than 100 village parks, a trail system throughout town, nine golf courses, over a dozen houses of worship, medical facilities, and 22 public and private schools. The latest development plans include building a downtown Summerlin area in the 4,000 acres surrounding the Red Rock Resort. There are over 9,000 acres that have yet to be developed.
The Howard Hughes Corporation expects that Summerlin will reach its build-out by 2030, with a projected 200,000 residents and 80,000 homes - a far cry from the aircraft manufacturing facility and landing strip that Howard Hughes envisioned back in the mid 1990’s.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Rescue Plan to Help Beleagured Howeowners In Works
Posted on November 3, 2008 by Bret Jenkins
The Federal Government is apparently preparing to announce a rescue plan that would provide some assistance to approximately 3 Million homeowners around the US who may be facing Foreclosure.
No specific plan has been formalized yet but negotiations are underway between a number of Federal Regulatory Agencies. The brief outline announced today maps out a plan that would modifying existing loans by lowering interest rates for a five year period. More details have not been announced.
Approximately $50 Billion would be pulled from the recent Federal Bailout Plan to help homeowners and the “rescue plan” would be administered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, commonly known as the FDIC.
Consumers across the US are becoming increasingly frustrated with the Federal Government’s focus on large corporations, while ignoring the American Homewowner - as are we!
Stay tuned - we believe this would/will be a great thing for the US as a whole and the local Las Vegas Real Estate Market!!
The Federal Government is apparently preparing to announce a rescue plan that would provide some assistance to approximately 3 Million homeowners around the US who may be facing Foreclosure.
No specific plan has been formalized yet but negotiations are underway between a number of Federal Regulatory Agencies. The brief outline announced today maps out a plan that would modifying existing loans by lowering interest rates for a five year period. More details have not been announced.
Approximately $50 Billion would be pulled from the recent Federal Bailout Plan to help homeowners and the “rescue plan” would be administered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, commonly known as the FDIC.
Consumers across the US are becoming increasingly frustrated with the Federal Government’s focus on large corporations, while ignoring the American Homewowner - as are we!
Stay tuned - we believe this would/will be a great thing for the US as a whole and the local Las Vegas Real Estate Market!!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Banker’s Shift Odds In Favor of Las Vegas
Posted on October 25th, 2008 by Bret Jenkins
Like many, we are carefully reading the tea leaves out their on the broad horizons, especially all things relating to the banking industry and foreclosures.
We believe Bank of America’s announcement earlier this month about a settlement with our Attorney General here in Nevada has positive implications for our real estate market.
Offsetting Foreclosure Headwinds
Bank of America made a formal agreement earlier this month with our Attorney General, Catherine Cortez Masto to make things easier for homeowners under a foreclosure cloud.
As a result of this agreement, approximately 11,000 Nevada Homeowners will keep their homes and avoid a foreclosure based on a tentative agreement between state officials and the Bank of America.
Bank of America Foreclosure Relief
The program is designed to specifically help homeowners who have set up sub prime or pay option adjustable rate mortgages from Countrywide Financial Corp., which Bank of America acquired.
Bank of America has agreed to make loan modifications that would save Nevada homeowners up to $219 Million (approx) through reduced interest payments and for some borrowers, reduced principals. The agreement would also reduce late fees up to $2.2 Million and waive prepayment penalties up to $2.15 Million.
Also, a “soft landing” fund of $4.8 million has been established to help people who need it, if they cannot avoid the impact of foreclosure, in spite of the settlement. Bank of America has also set up a special hotline for consumer with Countrywide loans in place who may need help: 1.800.669.6607. It should be pointed out, the actual pool of impacted consumers has not been selected by Bank of America.
The program is tailored strictly for mortgages for owner occupied homes and it is for sub prime and pay-option ARM (”Adjustable Rate Mortgages) for which the first payment was between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2007.
Like many, we are carefully reading the tea leaves out their on the broad horizons, especially all things relating to the banking industry and foreclosures.
We believe Bank of America’s announcement earlier this month about a settlement with our Attorney General here in Nevada has positive implications for our real estate market.
Offsetting Foreclosure Headwinds
Bank of America made a formal agreement earlier this month with our Attorney General, Catherine Cortez Masto to make things easier for homeowners under a foreclosure cloud.
As a result of this agreement, approximately 11,000 Nevada Homeowners will keep their homes and avoid a foreclosure based on a tentative agreement between state officials and the Bank of America.
Bank of America Foreclosure Relief
The program is designed to specifically help homeowners who have set up sub prime or pay option adjustable rate mortgages from Countrywide Financial Corp., which Bank of America acquired.
Bank of America has agreed to make loan modifications that would save Nevada homeowners up to $219 Million (approx) through reduced interest payments and for some borrowers, reduced principals. The agreement would also reduce late fees up to $2.2 Million and waive prepayment penalties up to $2.15 Million.
Also, a “soft landing” fund of $4.8 million has been established to help people who need it, if they cannot avoid the impact of foreclosure, in spite of the settlement. Bank of America has also set up a special hotline for consumer with Countrywide loans in place who may need help: 1.800.669.6607. It should be pointed out, the actual pool of impacted consumers has not been selected by Bank of America.
The program is tailored strictly for mortgages for owner occupied homes and it is for sub prime and pay-option ARM (”Adjustable Rate Mortgages) for which the first payment was between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2007.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Las Vegas Fits Ideal City Profile for Living and Investing
Posted on October 23nd, 2008 by Bret Jenkins
Recent media reports indicated Americans are opting to buy and/or move to cities that are not geographically spread out with large suburban populations around a city hub.
Many homeowners and investors are opting for cities that are fairly dense in terms of structure with other amenities, as mapped out below. Huge cities with lots of suburban sprawl mean commuters are being forced to pay tremendous amounts for gas to just get from home to the office!
Quick Snapshot on Las Vegas & What we Have to Offer
You can get from one end of Las Vegas to the other in about 20-30 minutes, depending on traffic. Yes, we have traffic on our freeways like any major city - but, we typically don’t have gridlock like larger more spread out cities.
We are growing to the tune of 3-5K people per month but much of this growth is going into our existing city/suburban confines. As most of the land around is Las Vegas is owned by the Bureau of Land Management (Federal Government); so, we can’t keep growing further out into the dessert like other cities.
Our high dessert weather has 250 days of sunshine per year and we don’t get a tremendous amount of fluctuation - yes, it’s hot here in the summertime but a small price to pay for living in paradise.
Our foreclosure-driven market has created levels of affordability that put our homes in reach of most of our population - we think this is a good thing for future growth.
We’ve said it before, but worth repeating, we have something for everyone in terms of amenities here in Las Vegas - we draw the recently retired who want a quiet place to live with great weather but we also attract young marrieds or singles who want a great Sushi bar within ten minutes of home.
Did we talk about Jobs? Yes, times are tough all over but we’ve lived through them before and our economy here has been one of the most dynamic in terms of creating jobs of any city in North America.
We’ve always bounced back and our local market was one of the first to experience the foreclosure downdraft and we can already see signs that we are bottoming and will come out of it first!! Call us today, we have some great deals on Las Vegas Homes.
Recent media reports indicated Americans are opting to buy and/or move to cities that are not geographically spread out with large suburban populations around a city hub.
Many homeowners and investors are opting for cities that are fairly dense in terms of structure with other amenities, as mapped out below. Huge cities with lots of suburban sprawl mean commuters are being forced to pay tremendous amounts for gas to just get from home to the office!
Quick Snapshot on Las Vegas & What we Have to Offer
You can get from one end of Las Vegas to the other in about 20-30 minutes, depending on traffic. Yes, we have traffic on our freeways like any major city - but, we typically don’t have gridlock like larger more spread out cities.
We are growing to the tune of 3-5K people per month but much of this growth is going into our existing city/suburban confines. As most of the land around is Las Vegas is owned by the Bureau of Land Management (Federal Government); so, we can’t keep growing further out into the dessert like other cities.
Our high dessert weather has 250 days of sunshine per year and we don’t get a tremendous amount of fluctuation - yes, it’s hot here in the summertime but a small price to pay for living in paradise.
Our foreclosure-driven market has created levels of affordability that put our homes in reach of most of our population - we think this is a good thing for future growth.
We’ve said it before, but worth repeating, we have something for everyone in terms of amenities here in Las Vegas - we draw the recently retired who want a quiet place to live with great weather but we also attract young marrieds or singles who want a great Sushi bar within ten minutes of home.
Did we talk about Jobs? Yes, times are tough all over but we’ve lived through them before and our economy here has been one of the most dynamic in terms of creating jobs of any city in North America.
We’ve always bounced back and our local market was one of the first to experience the foreclosure downdraft and we can already see signs that we are bottoming and will come out of it first!! Call us today, we have some great deals on Las Vegas Homes.
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