Mayor Goodman Speaks at Hugely Successful Meeting
Over 100 people pre-paid to attend the October meeting of the Las Vegas Real Estate Insider Club in the conference room on the top floor of the Newport Lofts in downtown Las Vegas. Club founder Glenn Plantone welcomed Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman as the keynote speaker for this special event. Unfortunately, due to space constraints, event workers had to turn quite a few folks away at the door who had not pre-registered. After indulging several attendees looking for photo opportunities, Mayor Goodman took the floor around 7pm in front of a packed house. The mayor, famous for his career as the high-profile defense attorney for the Las Vegas mob, entertained the crowd with colorful stories of ex-clients and his penchant for the movie business. (If you ever meet Mayor Goodman, be sure to ask him about his requirement that all film producers looking to make a movie in Las Vegas create a part for Oscar in the movie…or they don’t get a permit to make the film.) Mayor Goodman also discussed important developments occurring in the downtown Las Vegas area including the construction of the Lou Ruvo memorial brain center which is now underway. This institute, which will be managed by the Cleveland Clinic, will bring world class academic medicine to Las Vegas. Mayor Goodman stressed the importance of bringing academic medicine and superior health facilities to Las Vegas if the city is to continue its growth. The Mayor also touched on another important pre-requisite for a first rate American city: a professional sports team. According to Mayor Goodman, an arena and sports complex is in the works that will hopefully house an NBA basketball team within the next two to three years. Mayor Goodman expressed continued optimism over the possiblility of a realitively quick recovery for the Las Vegas housing market, stressing the assets that will help strengthen the local economy and encourage continued vitality in the market over the next several months and years.
After Mayor Goodman finished addressing the crowd, Glenn gave a short presentation detailing the current state of the Las Vegas housing market. He gave an in depth look at the number of sales in the preceeding five months vs. the number of foreclosures being added to inventory. Since the vast majority of sales closing in the Las Vegas valley continue to be REO or bank owned properties, Glenn pointed out that the number of SFRs currently available is not nearly so important to consider as the number of foreclosures being added to the market as REO listings on a monthly basis. Glenn’s observation was that with the number of sales remaining consistently high since June, but the number of foreclosures steadily declining, we are actually facing a shortage situation in the market. There are more people looking to purchase low-priced REO homes than there are homes to sell them. Glenn estimates that the actual standing inventory of SFRs in Las Vegas currently represents only a two to three WEEK supply. This explains why investors and Realtors have faced multiple offer, bid-type situations as they attempt to purchase homes in the past several months. As REO inventory continues to decline, Glenn has found that a shift in direction is now required in order to provide his investor clients with the continued ability to purchase quality investment properties without having the price bid up to levels incompatible with strong cash flow. This shift in direction has led him to the Trustee Sales. By attending Trustee Sales on behalf of his clients, he has been able to successfully purchase properties for his clients at prices substantially below fair market value. If you are interested in purchasing properties utilizing the Trustee Sale, please contact Glenn at (702) 938-8888.
Glenn was followed by a presentation from Tamara Bostrom of Spiral Digital Media. Tamara discussed internet marketing for Web 3.0. As the internet has grown and consumers interaction with the web has increased to multiple events daily, it has become increasingly difficult for professionals to stand out on the web. Tamara discussed the need for Realtors, mortgage brokers, insurance agents and all other professionals to find a “niche” for themselves within this broader marketplace. She also discussed the success Spiral has created for their clients using content driven marketing. Content driven marketing is based around the concept of creating educational material within a client’s niche and distributing this content as widely as possible on the web. This helps to establish the client as an expert within his or her field and results in potential customers coming to the client for help, rather than the client having to pursue potential customers. If you are interested in learning how Spiral Digital Marketing can use this unique internet marketing strategy to help generate leads for you, please contact them at (435) 652-9595.
Mike Lathigee closed the meeting by discussing how broader, macro-economic trends can affect local and national real estate markets. Mike’s investment group, Alliance, specializes in identifying and acting on these trends that create buying and selling opportunities. Mike then presented a unique opportunity for all REIC club members to attend Investfest 2010 for only $1. This year, Investfest will host the youngest billionaire in Europe as well as many other speakers discussing how to generate wealth in real estate and other markets. If you are interested in attending Investfest 2010 for $1, please contact Glenn at gsplantone@gmail.com