Expert Real Estate Advice

Exit Strategy

The importance of having a great strategy to sell your home before you purchase is critical to your long term real estate planning. The key element is location, even if you pay a premium for a great location in term of purchasing strategy the investment far outweighs the downside of owning a home that you can buy at a lower price, as it will take longer to sell.

Macro Location

The macro location is typically the area or community that you would like to live in, these elements would be schools, shopping, transportation, highway access, places of worship, hospitals, parks and recreation. Examples of Macro locations in Las Vegas are:

• Summerlin
• Green Valley
• Lake Las Vegas
• Spring Valley
• Las Vegas Downtown or Strip Urban and High Rise Environment

Micro Location

The micro location is the actual site that the home sits on, some of the important elements of the micro location are.

• View opportunities
• Compass point and exposure
• Is the property overbuilt in comparison to the rest of the community?
• Proximity to community amenities
• Gated or non-gated
• Proximity to Highways and Roads
• Does the home back up to a highway or road?

Functional Obsolescence

An example of built in functional obsolescence would be a 10,000 square foot home with two bedrooms or a badly designed floor plan that is choppy and does not flow logically. Bedrooms that are too small, lack of adequate bathrooms or a garage that has been converted into a living space.

Non-permitted improvements

Non- permitted improvements are more common than most people realize. Experienced Real Estate brokers are able to research and conduct the necessary due diligence on behalf of the buyer. In some cases these non-permitted improvements may have been passed through to a new owner, only to discover that when they are in the process of selling their homes that the issue is discovered. This may be the result of a home inspection or code violations.

Insurance Claims

Insurance claims can result in major issues and litigation. In some cases an unscrupulous seller and/or "for sale by owner" properties are not the bargain that they appear to be when these issues are not fully disclosed and have not been professionally remediated.

Items to look out for are:

• Water or flood damage
• Fire or smoke damage
• Burglary and theft
• Mold damage

Ask your real estate professional to provide you with a CLUE Report when considering purchasing a home; this is a history of any insurance claims.

Construction Defect

Is the property or the homeowners association subject to a construction defect lawsuit or has a claim ever been filed.?  This can effect value, delay closing and in some cases financing may not be available.