Most people have never heard of Ivanpah. No, not the “ghost town“. The proposed solar power farm? Well, that’s closer.

I am referring to Ivanpah International Airport — currently a hunk of desert near Jean, Nevada — a facility well supported in Nevada and almost unanimously supported by Congress. It is supposed to take some of the passengers that currently fly to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, a facility projected to reach its capacity within a few years. Eventually, Ivanpah is supposed to be able to handle 35 million yearly visitors, compared to McCarran’s projected 53 million visitors.

Of course, it doesn’t take much thought to realize that it is going to take some infrastructure to get those visitors from Ivanpah to Las Vegas proper. Proposals include more roads and high-speed rail. Of course, in my mind even better would be high speed rail from Vegas to Los Angeles, perhaps with a stop at Ivanpah. That would sure take a load off McCarran and LAX too, to say nothing of saving fuel as motorists decide to take the train instead of drive.

While most people don’t have a lot to say on the matter, not everyone is happy. Some people worry about the impact it might have on the nearby Mohave Desert, and argue that even if we need an airport it should go elsewhere. Due to military restrictions, such a facility cannot be built north of town, and terrain restricts many other locations. Others argue that between the problems airlines are having and fuel costs, we don’t really need the facility at all, and certainly not in the middle of the desert.

The real strength of Ivanpah is not as a passenger airport. Fares would have to be ludicrously low to get most people to give up flying into McCarran (5 minutes from the Strip) to land in Jean (a half hour away, according to Google). Ivanpah’s real purpose is as a cargo airport. Some experts estimate that bypassing Los Angeles with international cargo could shave days if not a whole week off shipping times.

Of course I would be remiss if I did not mention the jobs that will be created building and subsequently staffing this airport. Jean is close enough that it is commutable from Henderson and the southern half of Las Vegas, although I would expect more development down the I-15 corridor between the two.

Today, tech news community Slashdot brought us a story from the British news site The Register: a company called Switch Communications — which calls itself “The #1 Rated Disaster Avoidance Colocation and Bandwidth Interconnect Facilities in North America” — is building one of the largest data centers in the world. It’s called the SuperNAP. Here’s more coverage from C|Net, Techbays, and Broadband Reports.

If that was “All Geek to you,” collocation is nothing more complicated than putting your computer servers on somebody else’s property. Not only does it ensure that somebody with real tech savvy is there should anything go wrong, but it’s great insurance against natural disasters. Las Vegas doesn’t have a lot of hurricanes (this site is from a guy who rode out Katrina in a collocation center), tornadoes, tsunamis, or things like that. Our flash flooding problem — this fire truck was just minutes from my home and office — has been sharply reduced if not eliminated in all but the most serious of storms by a series of drainage canals under the city (these canals were a critical plot point in at least one episode of CSI). Although Nevada does have some earthquake activity, we have a lot less than California, and most of it is nowhere near Vegas. Knock on wood. NAP is an acronym for Network Access Point; a SuperNAP would be a really, really big Network Access Point!

How big would it be? How about 407,000 square feet with 30 cooling towers and over 7000 server cabinets! Here’s more:

The SuperNAP will cost about $350m, and be about the same size as Google and Microsoft’s $500m data centers. Roy, however, thinks Switch can pack about four times as much computing power in the SuperNAP as these rival centers thanks to the cooling systems and energy supplies.

The irony of putting all this cooling power into a desert area where summer temperatures routinely hit triple digits for weeks on end! Perhaps they will use solar power?

Granted, $350 million is a lot less than the $2.7 billion ($2700 million) it cost to build the Wynn Hotel/Casino, but it will doubtless have a positive impact on our local economy, and put a lot of very smart techie-types to work.

Remember some months back that the Tropicana begged workers to put off actually depositing their paychecks? Having lived through The Great DotCom Boom and subsequent bust, I know that this is a great big, glowing “get out now” red flag for any company’s prospects.

The inevitable has happened:  Tropicana Entertainment LLC is declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  This does not mean they will be closing down — Reuters makes sure to tell us that the casino remains open! They will be renegotiating $2.8 billion in debt, and the Atlantic City casino will be sold by the State of New Jersey. For the ultra-short version, try this “just the facts, ma’am” rundown.  For more links, try our friends over at Vegas Happens Here, and don’t forget his great commentary on the bankruptcy filing itself.

This is part of a huge jump in the number of American corporations filing for bankruptcy.

Maybe you saw today’s news that pending home sales are at an all-time low… well, a low since the National Association of Realtors started compiling those figures in 2001. It’s down 1.9% from last month and 21.4% since last year! Of course, not all regions had the same performance. To listen to the market gurus talk on CNBC this morning, you would think that a long, dark road is ahead for our nation as they made fun of the NAR for daring to predict yet again that there would be a recovery real soon now. Alan Greenspan even did an exclusive interview with CNBC where he disavowed any responsibility for the current mortgage mess.

Meanwhile, a small chorus of experts is joining me in saying that “Southern Nevada’s housing slump is on the verge of hitting rock bottom, if it hasn’t already done so.” Of course if you have been looking at the actual data for Las Vegas residential real estate on a regular basis (and many thanks to Tim Kuptz for making this available every week in an easy-to-read format), you have already seen inventory start to fall and pending sales start to rise. It’s going to take some time to get through the excess inventory, and it’s going to take time to get back to “normal” levels of short sales and repossessed property (bank owned or “REO”). There may even be a little more room for prices to fall in the short term. However, our housing market on the right track at last. When all is said and done, Las Vegas is still ranked #9 nationally in population growth, and all those people moving here still need places to live.

As a real estate professional, I just don’t understand why some people hate apartments. Frankly, any argument you can make against apartment life can just as easily be leveled at condominium life. Complaints about “noisy neighbors on the other side of the wall” and “lousy parking” come to mind.

Furthermore,  the management team of a large apartment community has a vested interest in the continued good condition and good reputation of their property even more than the typical small-scale landlord does.   Do you know who owns the rent house on the next block from you?  No?  But I bet if you look carefully at the sign in front of the apartment complex down the street, the management company’s name is on it.

Many of the “problems” associated with apartments are actually caused by zoning too many units in relatively small acreage: notably traffic issues and neighborhood decline. The impact of putting thousands of families in a couple dozen acres on traffic may be obvious.  The impact on the neighborhood at large, less so.  What happens is that no matter how many families actually need rental housing in a major city, the odds of them actually having jobs or another need to be in or near the “zoned apartment ghetto” is actually pretty small.  The obvious result is too much supply and for existing demand.  This drives occupancy and landlord revenues down from what the investors were promised, and nobody wants the investors to be angry. As a result, Jane Manager gets orders from her supervisor at the management company to fill those units at any cost!  And so Jane rents to people she maybe shouldn’t, who in turn run off her “good” residents.  Maybe she reduces rent, which in turn reduces the amount of money she has for repairs (and make-ready of vacant units), eventually meaning her property is skimping on maintenance.  The cycle continues around the neighboring apartment communities, because Mary Manager and Suzie Manager and Joe Manager are all getting the same orders to fill those units.

While cities that do not have “zoned apartment ghettoes” may have a bad complex with bad management somewhere, they don’t have a dozen of them all crammed next to one another, feeding on the toxic feedback loop of their neighborhood.  Apartments spread strategically through a city creates an environment where people who want or need rental housing can find it in a variety of neighborhoods near the places they want or need to be.  In short, cities that zone intelligently have a chance at having good, well-managed apartment complexes filled with decent, hard-working people who for whatever reason choose not to own real estate.  Such complexes can and do co-exist well with quality housing and a vibrant business community.

And that brings me to today’s City Council meeting in the City of North Las Vegas.  Way back in 1988, the city agreed to let Pardee Homes build a mixed development including single family homes and an apartment complex in what was then the middle of nowhere. Now, they are being held to that agreement and forced to sign off on allowing a 340 unit apartment complex to be built on a 15 acre site in the middle of a neighborhood dominated by single family homes.

And the neighbors are spitting mad.

I don’t get it.

Granted, that’s 23 units per acre.  According to the Clark County website, “Maximum densities allowed in most districts range from 18 to 50 dwelling units per acre, though more density is allowed in the district that includes the Strip.”  So by Vegas standards, 23 units per acre isn’t such a big deal.  I know from experience you can have a very nice 200 unit complex of 2 story buildings on roughly 6 acres, so theoretically a clever planner could fit 500 units on 15 acres and never have a third floor unit! We aren’t talking about a “zoned apartment ghetto” here;  we are talking about one complex on more than enough land, in a rapidly growing area minutes away from a retail hub and a brand new hospital.

This area needs rental housing, badly, and somebody realized that back in 1988, even if they can’t see it now.

I am proud to announce that I will be on hand at the United Studios of Self-Defense Desert Shores Dojo for a networking open house on Friday, February 29 from 6-8 PM. The dojo is at 8410 W. Cheyenne, Suite #104, near the intersection of Rampart/Durango and Cheyenne in the Albertsons parking lot.

I will be on hand to answer your questions about the Las Vegas real estate market, real estate in general, local neighborhoods, and of course I will be glad to discuss helping you buy or sell a home. If you have specific issues you want to discuss with me, don’t wait: call me at 702-727-7842 today! If you would like to search listings first, click here!

Other businesses will be on hand to discuss their products and services as well. For more information, a list of businesses that will be there, or to reserve room for your business, be sure to call 702-396-9944 and talk to Miss Teri or Sensei Bryan today!

Last week, there was a fire at the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino.  Needless to say, everyone is thankful there were no deaths, unlike 1980′s MGM fire.  Check out this impressive picture from the Review-Journal.  Truly, we have a great fire department here in the Valley, and I would like to thank them for a job well done.

The Monte Carlo loses $12.68 every second it is closed.  Clean-up and repairs are underway, and employees will be getting their full wages while the facility is closed. Apparently, there are some code issues at play as well, so it may take a while.

Meanwhile, workers at the Tropicana have apparently been told not to cash their paychecks.

To wrap things up, here’s Interesting Las Vegas Facts to Surprise Your Friends.

It is true that Vegas housing prices have been dropping. It is also true that this drop has been accelerating over the last 4 months, and is even quite evident at the lower end of the market. As a case in point, here’s the latest Average Joe Median Price Index. One thing that is not obvious from this summary is that the drop is on declining volume. In short, even though actual closing prices are dropping, fewer homes are selling. Furthermore, this trend is over a long period, and not just a single month “who wants to move at Christmastime anyway” blip.

Now, if this were a stock chart, this data alone would not make me a buyer yet; a move on small volume is not necessarily to be trusted. However, there was still a huge drop in available listings over the last few months. The decline in total available listings was not due to homes being sold, but rather due to “expired” listings: homes that did not sell eventually were taken off the market because the listing agreement was out of date. Other homes were “withdrawn”: taken off market before the expiration date. Some of these unsold homes may re-appear on the market, but the combined number of “closed,” “withdrawn,” and “expired” listings makes for the sizable volume required to make my inner stock-chartist happy.

When you combine this with current mortgage rates — with good credit, a 30-year fixed rate can be had for well under 6%! — it looks like a a good time to buy in my opinion. Sure, prices may continue to decline for several months. Surely you are planning to own a home or condo for more than 6 months, aren’t you? And will interest rates be this low in several months? Even if Mr. Bernanke decides that rising commodity prices are a bigger risk to the economy than the mortgage mess?

This is a good time to contact me about selecting your Vegas house or condominium.

Follow Up: Another sign stock traders use to determine market direction is sentiment. But sentiment is an inverse indicator: When everyone is “bullish” is actually the time that things are about to change for the worse! The majority of people actually anticipating worse times in the market is actually a sign that things will change for the better. That being said, this rather small, not scientific survey from Tim Iocono suggests that only 3% of his readers expect a nationwide bottom in housing prices this year, and many readers think we won’t see a bottom until 2013. If sentiment is an inverse indicator in the housing market as it tends to be in the stock market, this is very good news indeed.

Happy New Year, folks!  Here’s some little tidbits for you:

First we have the story of how a bank became the victim of a huge mortgage fraud scam (which may also have artificially inflated California real estate prices).

Details are surfacing that some sub-prime lenders were actively working to circumvent state-level regulations that would have protected consumers from risky and inappropriate loans.

Next up, a premiere peek at the Palazzo, Las Vegas’s newest casino-resort.   There are 3000 rooms, and the facility itself will employ 4000 workers in 420 job categories.  This of course says nothing of the jobs that will be generated providing goods and services to the 4000 workers and the occupants of those 3000 rooms.

If you are planning on selling a home in the near future, here’s some recommended reading on remodeling and repairs.

And last but not least,  popular Vegas productions for 2008.