LAS VEGAS, NV – Area 15, a new 126,000-square-foot science-fiction themed retail and entertainment complex slated to offer an “immersive” environment for attendees, officially broke ground on construction on last week with a scheduled opening date of spring of 2019, according to reports.

The complex, located on a 40 acre lot in the vicinity of the Las Vegas Strip on the corner of Sirius Avenue and Rancho Drive, is a joint venture between real estate development firm Fisher Brothers and creative agency Beneville Studios, both based out of New York. Area 15 – the name obviously being a playful take on the infamous Area 51, a secret U.S. Air Force base located in the Nevada desert – is expected to attract a variety of visitors by means of a unique mix of conventions and expos focusing on sci-fi, fantasy, and comic books; in addition, music performances, corporate events, large-scale art exhibits, bars, nightclubs, and restaurants are expected to round out the package. Retail will also have a footprint at the new facility, although details on that aspect has yet to be made public by Fisher and Beneville, aside from announcing it as being a “radical re-imagining” of the concept of both retail and entertainment.

A major anchor tenant in the form of Meow Wolf – a multimedia production company that specializes in creating interactive experiences combining real-world sets and architecture with virtual reality and specialized sound – announced their signing and involvement in the Area 15 project, and it’s likely going to be the first of many, given the facility’s 68,000 square feet of leasable ground floor space, 58,000 square feet of mezzanines and a 40,000-square-foot indoor-outdoor event area that can accommodate up to 3,000 attendees for a variety of event types, including music performances and festivals, corporate shin-digs, and international video game tournaments, among more. Plans are to host over 100 events a year, with parking in the form of over 800 complimentary spots available for attendees.

The Area 15 project is slated to be an “evolution” of the concept of the American shopping mall; with the average attendance at malls down by shoppers in favor of buying items online, Michael Beneville of Beneville Studios noted that in order to keep the concept alive, it needs to evolve with the times and offer cutting-edge experiences that online options can’t compete with.

“The mall of America isn’t dead,” he said. “It just needs to be reinvented. People don’t want to be spoon-fed their entertainment. They want to interact with it.”

Details on Area 15 beyond those in this article are still scarce, however, with promotional material claiming that the complex will offer an “immersive and unique experience” that would “appeal to a variety of clientele, including gamers, comic-con and sci-fi enthusiasts, artists, music and festival lovers.” But with a large amount of construction already slated to and currently taking take place in Las Vegas – with hotels, casinos, convention centers, and more slated to open soon – it remains to be see how and if Area 15’s somewhat mysterious concept will compete.

LAS VEGAS, NV – According to recent reports, the real estate market in Las Vegas is still on an upwards trajectory with little sign of slowing down; substantial year-to-year gains in terms of the value of properties in Southern Nevada are eclipsing almost every other region in the United States, speaking volumes to the fact that Vegas is a hotbed of housing activity in 2018.

Overall, real estate in the United States is skyrocketing, and even in such an environment Las Vegas is standing out; currently, it is ranked number two nationally in property value appreciation, up 6.3 percent in February 2018 from the same period of time one year prior. This is equal to a previous jump in December, which represented the biggest gain in home appreciation in Vegas in almost three years, making it second only to Seattle, Washington. Coming in third is San Francisco, California.

The gains in home values in Las Vegas can be attributed to a number of factors, with experts mainly citing the improving economy resulting in steadily-increasing jobs – which, in turn, is attracting new transplants to the area – as well as an increased amount of young millennials leaving home and getting their own places. And, of course, there is that old adage that supply and demand sets the price; March 2018 saw an increase in home sales over February, although that overall number was lower than a year ago simply due to the fact that there currently aren’t enough properties on the market to satisfy the growing need.

As far as the prices of homes overall, April recorded a whopping 2017-2018 year-to-year increase in April of 16.1 percent, with the median sales price of a single-family home coming in at $289,000; this represents a 3.2 percent jump from March. As for actual sales, 2,878 homes were sold in April, which was a decrease of 8/7 percent from the month prior but still an uptick of approximately 0.4 percent from last year. As for inventory, 3,816 single-family homes in Las Vegas were up for sale but were without offers in April, representing a drop of 0.5 percent from March, and 24,9 percent from the same time one year ago.

But while this is all good news for dabblers and investors in the real estate market, it spells potential issues for actual home buyers, as the gains to home values reported for February signify that they are rising at a level that is currently greater than respective gains in terms of both inflation and the average pay level for the region. While this obviously doesn’t make buying property for the average family impossible, if appreciation continues at this level for the foreseeable future buyers may have to make more frugal choices in terms of lodging. For example, due to increasing mortgage rates, more and more people in the United States are opting to renovate their homes as opposed to selling them, and less families are selling their properties because – especially in areas like Las Vegas – the supply currently hasn’t caught up to demand, yet, although many developers are doing their best to try.

If you are considering relocating in or around the Las Vegas area, which clearly is experiencing huge growth and a booming job market,  give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any real estate and home relocation questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – With the imminent arrival of the soon-to-be former Oakland Raiders National Football League team in Las Vegas causing quite a stir in both the tourism and business industries, and their new home stadium – with construction already having broken ground – expected to draw even more visitors and companies to Southern Nevada, a noted bond credit rating business, Moody’s Investor Service recently announced that the already skyrocketing local economy will continue to improve once Las Vegas Stadium, to be located at Interstate 15 and Russell Road, finally opens its doors for business in 2020.

In a recently released report, Moody’s Patrick Liberatore noted that the new stadium, in addition to a future Las Vegas Convention Center expansion would serve as a hub for a revitalised event scene, allowing the city to host a wide variety of different sporting events, concerts, and business and entertainment-based conventions sure to attract numerous tourists to the region.

Clark County expects the new NFL stadium will be a notable new draw for consumers and visitors,” he said. “In addition to professional football, the approximately 65,000-seat stadium will compete to attract other large-scale sporting events and also provide the Las Vegas area with its first major facility that can accommodate other large-scale events, like major music tours.”

The report released by Moody’s, which encompasses 10 pages, confirmed that tourism in the Las Vegas region is up to levels that manage to exceed numbers obtained before the mid-2000’s recession that rocked the region – and especially the real estate market – with the number of visitors to the city’s hotels being considered “consistently strong,” according to the report. This fact is especially telling in light of the recent October 1 mass shooting during an outdoor concert having a temporary yet detrimental effect on tourism in Las Vegas.

However, that tragedy does not appear to be having an effect upon the progress of the construction of the Las Vegas Raiders’ Stadium, with reports indicating a recent sale of $650 million in bonds to help pay for the nearly $2 billion, 65,000-seat project was a rousing success, all of the bonds on offer by Clark County being purchased within only an hour-and-a-half by 43 investors. The bonds constitute a major portion of the $750 million in public funds that are being contributed to the cost of the stadium, and are set to mature over a period of 30 years at an average interest rate of 3.94 percent. The reminder of the funding for the stadium project is being provided by Raiders management.

As is plainly apparent, the resurrection of the Las Vegas economy and its tourism industry are going hand-in-hand, with financial growth leading to a booming job and real estate market, and the arrival of new businesses, residents, entertainment options and professional sporting teams are only serving to attract more visitors – and their dollars – to Southern Nevada.

If you are considering relocating in or around the Las Vegas area, which clearly is experiencing huge growth and a booming job market,  give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any real estate and home relocation questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – If you’re at all familiar with the real estate scene in Las Vegas, you’ve probably well aware of the fact that demand is currently well outstripping the number of properties available on the open market, with prospective buyers clawing like a drowning man at a straw in the ocean to get in a bid whenever a new home or condo becomes available. It’s becoming a very real problem in Southern Nevada, and sellers and buyers alike are finding new ways to even the odds as much as possible- the increased use of social media in real estate to communicate and inform on all aspects of housing sales, giving web-savvy individuals a leg up whenever a new abode is for sale in their neck of the woods.

Oftentimes, in a fast-packed market such as Las Vegas, once an ad for a property sees print it may already have been snatched up, depending on when the publication it’s appearing in has been purchased or delivered to you. But when you go digital, those same listings are available universally at the same time; while this doesn’t give you a leg up on the competition, it certainly levels the playing field and gives you a better chance of getting in on the action before the listing is inundated with offers, as the situation in Vegas is getting so bad that some buyers are actually submitting offers without ever having actually seen the properties in question, believe it or not.

Following Las Vegas real estate on social media is beneficial for all parties involved; it enables sellers to immediately inform prospective buyers about any new dwellings that may be available, and for buyers, it is especially vital to be following real estate brokers if they have a social media presence as, according to statistics, more and more buyers – nearly 50 percent, by last count – are doing their house searching via the internet alone, forgoing print altogether. After all, social media has permeated the lives of the majority of the people in the world today, so it only makes sense for both sellers and buyers alike to take advantage of this widespread aspect of daily life when it comes to real estate…especially in a cutthroat town like Vegas when the pickings are slim and the demand is rabid.

While looking for a home can be a difficult process, social media can help a potential homeowner cut to the chase and find a property that fits their exact needs. By utilising search methods including hashtags and keywords, social media users can find a region-specific broker or agency that fits with their vision and – once following them – they will be informed of any new developments in terms of inventory or offerings as soon as they are made available; to that end, we recommend that you have the latest, most up-to-date versions of whatever social media apps you utilise and make sure you have your notifications set to inform you of any new posts by whatever real estate accounts you’re following…you never know when that buzzing in your pocket may turn out to be the precursor  to a brand-new home.

Las Vegas is becoming a tough town to find a new property in, and buyers need every advantage they can get- social media can be the key to finally finding the home of your dreams. If you are considering relocating in or around the Las Vegas area give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.