Las Vegas Real Estate Career

Now you can subscribe to Mark Stark’s weekly conference call via a Podcast. You can select from a variety of podcatchers - the most popular is iTunes. Once you subscribe (by adding it to your iTunes, for example), all the new audios will be automatically downloaded when available and loaded on your iPod everytime you connect to iTunes. You can (re)listen to Mark’s conference call at your convenience. Just click on the Subscribe to the Podcast feed and select your favorite podcatcher.

We are pleased to announce the newest member of our Prudential Americana Group, REALTORS® family, Michelle Francis.  Michelle will be heading up our Company training program as the lead Educational Instructor.  She will be conducting our Nevada accredited Post-Licensing classes as well as a variety of continuing education courses.

Michelle became involved in the Las Vegas real estate scene over 10 years ago and was licensed with Century 21 Consolidated and Coldwell Banker Premier Realty.  In addition to Sales, her Las Vegas Real Estate experience includes service in the following capacities:

• The Director of the CENTURY 21 Real Estate Academy
• Director of Career Development for CENTURY 21 Consolidated
• Managing Broker for a Brand New Condominium Developer
• Pre-Licensing, Broker Management, CE and Post Licensing Instructor
• Sales Manager, Mentor and Coach for Coldwell Banker Premier Realty
• Brian Buffini’s 100 Days to Greatness certified Mentor/Trainer

Prudential’s exclusive Online Seller Advantage (OSA) was built to distinguish your listings from competing properties and maximize exposure to qualified buyers. This state-of-the-art art tool equips you with proof that Prudential Real Estate is leading the way for consumers who use the web to find or sell a home.  
 
OSA distinguishes you from competitors in three ways . . .

Wins Listings - Create a Listing Presentation Report that shows the benefits of listing with an OSA subscriber. The report emphasizes our exclusive relationship with Yahoo! Real Estate. It presents current online buyer activity in your listing prospect’s local area.

Maintains Listings and Gains Customer Loyalty - Your sellers receive email alerts on their property - everyday until it sells! Besides this area update, email alerts notify your sellers (1) the number of times their property returned in search results, (2) their home’s property details were viewed, and (3) the times their property was added to a prospective buyer’s portfolio.

Markets Listings and Creates Exciting Selling Opportunities - Display a Yahoo! sign rider with an exclusive Web ID on your seller’s Prudential Real Estate yard sign. When sellers’ enter that number in Yahoo! search, the Web ID sends those prospective buyers the property details for your listings online. 

Find out how you can start using this marketing tool in your real estate business by calling 702-320-4397 to schdule a confidential interview.

Prudential Americana is pleased to announce we now offer an online Nevada Real Estate Exam prep and practice test as a complimentary service.

The online module offers 12 different exam sets to assist you in preparing for your licensing exam. During this program, you will be able to select from a series of study modes along with timed simulations of the examination.

Just give us a call at 702-320-4397 or complete this contact form requesting your login instructions.   

With a national average sales price of $368,019 in 2007, the Prudential Real Estate Network (PREA) continues its streak of having the highest national average sales price for residential property among major competitors. This price is based on an analysis of transaction sides and sales volume data of the largest independently-owned brokers in the U.S. as reported in the 2007 Real Trends 500.

Prudential Real Estate Affiliates (PREA), our franchise network with about 2,100 offices and 64,000 sales professionals, announced a distribution agreement to feed about 140,000 property listings to real estate sites Zillow.com and Propsmart.com.  Earlier this year Prudential announced an alliance with  Trulia.com and HGTV-powered FrontDoor.com.

Laurie Keenan, president of Prudential Real Estate stated: “The sites are easy to use, they offer great information and they save consumers time. Most important, the sites offer consumers a rich search experience and, now, our listings will be a part of that experience.”

Read the press release for additional information.

This editorial opinion by Cyril Moulle-Berteaux, “The Housing Crisis is Over” appeared in the Wall Street Journal on May 6, 2008 and has been getting a lot of attention in the blogosphere.

The author quotes historical real estate cycles and claims the national housing market is approaching the bottom now based on a variety of facts and economic trends:

• Home sales peaked in July 2005
• New Home sales are down 63% from peak levels
• Housing starts have fallen more than 50%
• Affordability - prices have declined while, generally, incomes have grown

Brett Arends asserts in his article “Is Housing Slump at a Bottom” that we may be at the bottom of the housing market because housing starts dropped below the One Million mark in March.  “Every time that has happened in the last 50 years, it proved to be the bottom of a recession.”

Indications in Las Vegas are that prices may continue to fall further, yet NOW is definitely a great time to buy - here’s why:

• Over 60% of sales are REO or Short Sales - there are tremendous bargains out there right now!
• From 4/1/08 to 4/30/08, Las Vegas had 1927 closed resale single family, condos & townhome: Download the Full Report for April 2008 REO stats
  • REO - 1224 (63.5%)
  • Short Sales - 144 (7.5%)
  • Traditional resales were 19% of the market for the month
• Total number of contracts written is increasing dramatically.  GLVAR statistics show that 770 listings went into Pending or Contingent status in a one week period between April 21-28.   Notice the dramatic trend upward on written contracts since January 2008: GLVAR Under Contract Graph
  
•  Banks are pricing their REO listings to sell - sometimes below the market  - thus generating activity and multiple offers.
• Motivated sellers are finally shifting their list prices into the “Showing Zone”.  For more on this trend, check out Forrest Barbee’s Las Vegas Real Estate Market 2008 post.
• Interest rates remain at historically low rates.  Even with the tightening of the mortgage market, there are a variety of loan programs to choose from.  FHA loans are now a realistic option in Las Vegas due to the new loan limit of $400,000.
• Market Condition Report for April 2008 from Equity Title:
  • The report indicates a shift and positive change in closing numbers which, if the pattern continues, will surpass 2007 numbers in about 60 days.
  • Percent Selling and Absorption Rate demonstrated substantial increases after a series of declines and pendings indicate that trend may continue.

The bottom line … the market continues to adjust and there are great opportunities in the market now… what are you doing to adjust and take advantage of this market?

Jerry Pujals of ZhoneCoaching will be presenting a free seminar “The Winning Mindset and Masterful Negotiations” 

Thursday, May 8^th, 2008 12:00 to 1:30 pm
Equity Title Training Facility — 4035 S. Tenaya Way

• Masterful negotiators are masterful communicators.
• Avoid the number one mistake your competition is making and get back to the basics of selling.
• There are three steps to getting your client to say, yes!
• Run your business like a business and challenge yourself like never before.
• Discover effective strategies for promoting your business.
• Overcome the barriers that hold you back, and embrace a limitless future. Your business will be unstoppable!

Seating is limited to the first 50 participants.  RSVP to reserve your seat today - call 702.318.4043 or email ambers@americanagrp.com
 

ATTENTION ALL AGENTS!!  Are Short Sales taking all your time with No Return?

Sort Sale Seminar…Space is Limited
April 24th - 3:00 pm - Red Rock Casino

Educate yourself. We can help!

BRING YOUR CLIENTS Cost: FREE but you must RSVP to attend!
Please RSVP to Candace Dochtermann at 702-796-7777 x5623 or via email @ candaced@americangrp.com

Sponsored by Prudential Americana Group, Countrywide Home Loans and Equity Title of Nevada.

Prudential Americana launched it’s newest division recently to facilitate the smooth handling of Short Sales.  If you are a licensed real estate agent and want to earn a 25% referral fee, let our experienced agents and staff handle your short sale listing. 

Do You:

• Come across properties where the homeowner owes more than the property can be sold for, especially after real estate commissions and closing costs?
• Know homeowner’s that overprice their property simply to attempt to break even on the sale?
• Try to manage short sales to closing, but find them to be too time consuming?
• Walk away from listing opportunities due to them being a short sale?

Let Us:

• Help you earn more commission dollars and Save you valuable time and money!
• Submit the offer, the financial information, and other supporting documents to the homeowner’s mortgage servicer.
• Use our established contacts to negotiate on the clients’ behalf with banks and investors to consummate a sale and closing.
• Coordinate with title companies, mortgage companies, etc. to ensure a smooth transaction.

Just call our Short Sale Division at 702.318.4042 or via email: shortsales@americanagrp.com.