Big House Deals in Sin city

Luxury apartment in Las Vegas's suburban neighborhoods happen to be selling quickly but prices are still at 2008 levels. Ken Wolt spent $1 million on his home, while the Alfonsos home cost $two million. In Vegas these days, the high-rollers could be the ones saving by far the most cash.

Chris Shelton, a real-estate investor representing an investment company, recently paid $2.8 million at auction for the 5-acre gated estate with seven bedrooms, a lagoon-style pool plus a car museum in Tomiyasu Estates, about ten minutes through the Strip. The estate last sold for $4 million this year. "The timing was right," says Mr. Shelton, who also snapped up another investment, a 17,000-square-foot equestrian estate on 11 acres from the Paradise Enterprise neighborhood for $1.25 million. The seller paid $3.75 million to the property in 2009.

Californians are classified as the biggest out-of-state buyers. This home's buyers sold their house in Palm Springs, where they say space such as this might have cost 3 times just as much. Lisa Corson for The Wall Street Journal

At the high-end of the Vegas housing marketplace, homes 're going fast. Sales of homes priced over $one million almost doubled to 342 in 2013, compared with a year earlier, according to the Greater Nevada Association of Realtors. But while overall home values in Nevada have risen within the last year, prices within the luxury slice of the market have struggled. The median price for homes over $2million was virtually unchanged this past year from your same level it's hovered at for the past 5yrs—around $1.4 million. The end result: Buyers from pricier metro areas, like La, are discovering some steep discounts on luxury homes.

In November, Steve Aoki, a Grammy-nominated record producer plus the founder of Dim Mak Records, obtained a four-bedroom zero in Summerlin, a gated golf-course community northwest on the city. At 15,600 feet square, the home is adequate enough for just a music studio as well as a gym containing pits filled with giant foam cubes. The purchase price: $2.8 million, $200,000 over listing price. "The additional value was just insane," says Mr. Aoki, who's going to be moving from the 3,000-square-foot home in Are generally.

The relative discounts on the top quality really are a contrast towards the overall Sin city housing market, that's been bouncing back from steep decline. Not too long ago, Vegas home values were up 35.5% over the previous year—greater than most of the other 20 cities tracked through the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller price index. High of the gain occurred because many foreclosures finally started selling. In 2013 some 62% of home sales were "traditional sales"—not foreclosures or short sales—compared to just 37% in 2012.
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In the darkest days of the Sin city housing bust, most luxury homeowners sat for their homes, expecting this market to further improve. Now, real-auctions say, they're time for the market en bloc, sensing a strategic window. And several need to sell quickly, previously being spooked from the last downturn—so this means they are happy to negotiate on price.

"The higher-end homes have lagged in appreciation and people have the timing may certainly be to sell," says Dale Thornburgh of Synergy Sotheby's International Realty, who organized the auction where Mr. Shelton selected his homes. At that same auction, a 3,905-square-foot, three-bedroom penthouse inside Palms Place Resort alongside the Strip sold for $1.8 million to Texas banker Robert Marling. It had been listed for $2.2 million. The vendor was an angel investor named Lacy Harber, a Texas businessman.

Many of the biggest deals have been in fairly new, upscale gated communities within the city's suburbs. These developments, which feature amenities like golf courses, country clubs, parks and shops, were largely built during Las Vegas's superheated run-up from the mid-2000s. Some homeowners who bought of these developments—which became emblems with the market's boom and subsequent bust—have become desperate to sell.

Cecilia and Lawrence Ventimiglia, luxury-home builders, bought their lot for $800,000 in 2006 and built an 8,000-square-foot, four-bedroom, 5½-bath custom house on almost half an acre from the Ridges in Summerlin, a gated country-club development. In the event the market tanked, and other alike lots inside same neighborhood were selling for half the things they paid, they thought we would remain in your house simply because they had excessively from it.

Regardless if they got plenty of lowball offers, they did not sell. In the event the market did start to improve last year, they made a decision to list it for $3.4 million—and sold it for $3 million to Michael Mossholder, head of Global Marketing Partnerships at Ultimate Fighting Championship, a mixed-martial-arts promotion company. Though the trainer told us it meant a loss for the children—they won't say just how much—the couple said they thought we would sell to Mr. Mossholder since they liked him and in addition they were concerned that homes built more cheaply inside their neighborhood throughout the downturn might erode the worth of these home further whenever they waited.

“ 'The significance only agreed to be insane,' says Steve Aoki, who obtained a four-bedroom range in a gated golf-course community northwest with the city. ”

Mr. Mossholder, who had previously been renting, ended up being buying a new house for four years. "I needed to be in this development, but people weren't selling" he says.

New luxury buyers in town hail through the same place: California. "Half my buyers this past year originated from California," says Zar Zanganeh, with LUXE Estates Collection. Recently 13.8% of most homes sold for $1 million or maybe more from the Las Vegas area went along to buyers from California. Ny, in second area for out-of-state buyers, included 1.4% of most $1-million-plus sales, as outlined by North park-based DataQuick.

These buyers are consumed by Vegas's the best prices—and Nevada's low taxes. Many Californians have found its way to the wake of Proposition 30. Passed at the end of 2012, the measure hiked personal income and purchasers taxes.

Last spring, Joann and Vic Alfonso sold your house they'd owned in Palm Springs, Calif., for over 2 decades and gone after Vegas, purchasing an 8,500-square-foot, almost-new Mediterranean-style zero in a guarded, gated country club community for $2 million. The "state of California is taxed towards limits as well as economy isn't current," says Ms. Alfonso.

The pair, who also later sold their property in Portland, Ore., "couldn't believe the amount house" we were holding getting, adds Ms. Alfonso, who estimates an identical range in much the same neighborhood in Palm Springs would've cost 3 x as much.

For Ken Wolt, the go on to Nevada was more about lifestyle than tax relief. The former head of an radiobroadcast group who acts in commercials and theater and does voice-overs, he was tired with the stress of Los Angeles (traffic, bad roads) and wanted a house big enough to get a recording studio. He got such a partially finished, 6,500-square-foot house and also a guesthouse really for $2million in a gated community and about $200,000 into renovations. In the beginning he was worried he'd miss the culture in Are generally, but he says he's got found plenty of entertainment in Vegas.

During the last five-years, Las Vegas initiated a policy of to more bear resemblance to Southern California. These day there are more suburban gated communities with upscale shops. The once-grungy downtown is being revitalized. "10 years ago people looked into Vegas as being the Strip. Now a lot of people don't see a Strip anymore," says Florence Shapiro, of real-estate firm Shapiro & Sher Group.

Even celebrities are trading up: Last May, musician Carlos Santana purchased a house for $6 000 0000 in Summerlin. Last month, he sold his 7,200-square-foot contemporary down the street for $2.9 million. He got it in 2011 for $3.5 million. His new pad is 7,800 sq . ft . and, using the listing, incorporates a $400,000 state-of-the-art movie house, a game title room, a gym, a putting green and an infinity pool.