Hello again everyone,

David Brownell here to clue you in on one of the lesser known Friday night activities here in Las Vegas called “FIRST FRIDAY.” Every first Friday of the month there is a large event held that hosts a wide variety of artists, collections, performers and vendors that blanket the city’s streets just north of the strip.

If you enjoy an eclectic mix of artistic styles, sights and sounds… then this is the perfect place for you to be!

Here’s what the folks @ www.firstfriday-lasvegas.org have to say about this 5 year old monthly event:

The Celebration Continues in June!

June 6, 2008

6:00 pm -10:00 pm

The air is light, the spirit festive and the drinks cold in Downtown, where, once a month the pedestrian-friendly streets transform into a huge block party during FIRST FRIDAY. Each celebration, the entertainment shifts and multiplies as ice sculptors, fire breathers and fortune tellers serve as a back-drop for this ongoing festival of art perusal and appreciation. Local bands perform throughout the evening, and the streets turn into canvasses for children (young and old) to decorate with chalk. FIRST FRIDAY is a stage for local galleries and Las Vegas’ vital Downtown cultural scene. It’s a place to meet friends new and old, and rejoice in the preservation and innovation of an historical neighborhood. In this land of suburbs and strip malls, visitors come from near and far to people-watch, sample new restaurants and revel at area bars.

Since it began in October of 2002, FIRST FRIDAY has only continued to grow. It is now considered the premier arts event in Las Vegas. From the shops and galleries on Charleston (the Arts Factory, S2, Modify and more) to the new galleries on Main Street (Dust and Godt-Cleary Projects) to the recently opened spaces on Commerce (Commerce Street Studios), down to the whimsical offerings of the Funk House antique store, and the innovative artists’ cottages at Colorado and Casino Center. While many people love to walk the neighborhood and work is underway to make the area even more foot-traffic friendly, the City of Las Vegas also kindly provides arts tour busses that make rounds throughout the area and make pick ups every 15 minutes throughout the evening.

And no matter how you decide to get around, you can always expect a diverse crowd, cool local art, live music, street performances and plenty of surprises!

MAYOR OSCAR GOODMAN SUPPORTS First Friday:

Downtown’s Arts District’s event turned to the community and asked for support. Beginning in February, volunteers started asking for a $2 donation from First Friday attendees. And the community responded!

In April responding to First Friday’s call for support was our own Mayor Oscar Goodman. Whirlygig, the non-profit that produces First Friday, thanks him for donating money to keep Las Vegas’ Favorite Community Arts Event the best in the greater Las Vegas area!

As of June 6, 2008 First Friday we will all be participating by paying a minimal $2 entry fee at the gates to the outdoor festival. Because of these recent changes and community contributions Whirlygig is able to once again expand the event to a larger area and add even more artist tents. Look for more stages in coming months. It is our commitment to continually improve the programming for the event. This change also allows us to continue to pay for all of the necessary infrastructure for an event that has grown as First Friday has. Each month we pay for barricading, tents, porta-potties, stages, tables and chairs, sound and lighting equipment and technicians, power and technicians for the event, security, police, safety (ambulance, EMT’s etc.), set up and clean up crews and more! All of these things are done to enhance the experience for our visitors and to continue to give artists the opportunity to show their work to a large and diverse audience.

Live Entertainment:

The LAND ROVER STAGE features

6-6:30pm Stevenson Brooks and Son (Ballads)

7-7:30pm Tranquility Base (Classic Rock)

7:30-8:30pm Lips like Morphine (Indy Rock)

9-10pm The Billy Martini Show (Rock N Roll)

Break dancers provide more entertainment on Casino Center next to the Box Office.

A special thanks to www.firstfriday-lasvegas.org for making this information available!

The David Brownell Team remains dedicated to bringing all sorts of information to the public about life and living in LasVegas and it’s surrounding communities.

Stop back by our Blog or visit our website again soon to find out “What’s Happening” in the city that is ever evolving!

See you around town,

David

Hi everybody,

I read this article on Tuesday and knew right away that I would be sharing it with you. I will be continually providing information and services to assist you in realizing the value that our current market has to offer.

Apr. 22, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Going, going … not gone

Home buyers find banks holding tight on prices at foreclosure auctions

By HUBBLE SMITH
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Like many Las Vegas residents in search of a sweet deal on a foreclosed home, Mike Simpson walked away disheartened and discouraged after wasting his time at a recent foreclosure auction at Cashman Center.

He’d been looking at a house two blocks from his children’s school that had been sitting empty for two years and was being auctioned by REDC, one of several auctioneers that have blown through Las Vegas with increasing frequency, unloading hundreds of bank-owned homes at a time.

The starting bid for the six-bedroom house on half an acre near Alta Drive and Valley View Boulevard was $219,000. Simpson was prepared to offer $375,000.

To his surprise and without prior notice, the home was pulled off the auction block.

“Come to find out somebody made a deal with the bank and the deal fell through,” Simpson said. “I spent 21/2 hours there on a Saturday. Why didn’t they put it on the deletion list when I first walked in?”

He’s not the first to feel frustrated by home auctions.

“I have yet to actually meet anyone who was successful in closing escrow on an auction home,” Robin Camacho of American Realty & Property Management said. “Agents are sending REOs (real estate-owned homes) that didn’t sell to these auctions. With all the great REOs on the market, why stand around at an auction hoping that the deal will close when you are the high bidder? When the closing ratio of these auctions improve, I’ll seriously consider taking my clients.”

Dave Webb, chief executive officer of Dallas-based Hudson & Marshall, said he had a “full house” for Sunday’s auction of 160 foreclosed homes at JW Marriott. The banks approved 60 percent of the sales on the spot and Webb expects another 20 percent to be approved.

“The banks are ready to rock and roll,” he said. “If it’s a reasonable offer, they’re ready to take it. Now, they’re not idiots. They’re not going to take 40 cents on the dollar. If they’ve got a property on the market for 200 days, it’s costing the bank money to hold it every day for taxes and upkeep. So the longer these properties stay on the market, the more motivated they are.”

Webb said Las Vegas has plenty of foreclosure inventory and it’s going to last a while. The latest foreclosure statistics from Sacramento, Calif.-based Foreclosures.com showed 6,152 preforeclosure filings for Clark County in March, more than double the 2,813 filings in the same month a year ago.

One buyer who requested anonymity said real estate agents are biased in their assessment of auctions because buyers don’t need their services. She was able to buy a Pulte home in Southern Highlands at a Hudson & Marshall auction last year for $278,000, or about $102 a square foot. The bank was cooperative and did not try to “jack up the price,” she said.

Her second-choice home also closed escrow at the auction price of $283,500. It had sold a year earlier for about $500,000.

“This house was a gorgeous, huge single-story house on a cul-de-sac with big rooms, pristine high-end cabinets and carpets, a fully landscaped backyard with spa and big covered patio,” she said. “It was our second choice only because it was a farther walk to the plaza than the one we bought.”

There’s more going on at foreclosure auctions than what’s seen on the surface, said Ron Clark, chief executive officer of Rainbow Equity Investments in Oceanside, Calif. Banks that have properties for sale sometimes place “shills” in the audience to bid the price up, he said.

“Auctions can be a very treacherous place for a novice with a full-time job,” Clark said. “You walk into an arena where you’ve got some slick, sharp operators. There’s all kinds of ways to fleece the guy who’s a novice and thinks all those banks are in trouble.”

With foreclosures mounting and the housing market reeling, banks should be “humbled” and welcoming people with open doors, Clark said.

“They’re not there yet. They will be in six months or a year,” he said.

Susan Byerley of Durango Mortgage said she likes that banks are holding tight on prices and not having any “fire sales.” It’s going to be a slow movement to bring home prices down to where they need to be, she said.

“I don’t want something goofy like we had in 2004 and 2005. I just want consistency,” she said. “For many years, Las Vegas was the golden child. Everything we touch turns to gold. Now we’re seen as the stepchild.”

reporter Hubble Smith @ LVRJ

Thanks everybody,
I’m glad that you took the time to read this over. It’s crucial to remain as informed as possible during a time when there are so many remarkable deals on these bank owned properties.
With as many REO and short sales that we’ve closed over these past months, some would suppose that we had the winning formula. What we all need to understand that there is no constant… things are constantly changing. We are still seeking out new information every day to get everyone the best valued homes available.
My research team will send you all the information you need, including statistics, maps, and links to many other great articles too. Call 800-321-2065 today or email us at David@LasVeasMove.com.

Have a great weekend,
David