Mansion Deals in Sin city

Luxury apartment in Las Vegas's suburban neighborhoods have been selling quickly but costs are still at 2008 levels. Ken Wolt spent $one million on his home, while Alfonsos home cost $two million. In Nevada right now, the high-rollers stands out as the ones saving essentially the most cash.

Chris Shelton, a true-estate investor representing a smart investment company, recently paid $2.8 million at auction for just a 5-acre gated estate with seven bedrooms, a lagoon-style pool and a car museum in Tomiyasu Estates, about ten minutes on the Strip. The estate last sold for $4 million this year. "The timing was right," says Mr. Shelton, who also purchased another investment, a 17,000-square-foot equestrian estate on 11 acres from the Paradise Enterprise neighborhood for $1.25 million. The seller paid $3.75 million for that property last year.

Californians are classified as the biggest out-of-state buyers. This home's buyers sold their residence in Palm Springs, where it is said a location in this way would have cost threefold as often. Lisa Corson to the Wall Street Journal

On the high end with the Vegas housing industry, homes are going fast. Sales of homes priced over $one million almost doubled to 342 in 2013, compared to 2009, good Greater Vegas Association of Realtors. But while overall home values in Nevada have risen within the last year, prices inside luxury slice on the market have struggled. The median price for homes over $a million was virtually unchanged last year on the same level they have hovered at for the past five years—around $1.4 million. The effect: Buyers from pricier metro areas, like Chicago, find some steep discounts on luxury homes.

In November, Steve Aoki, a Grammy-nominated record producer as well as the founder of Dim Mak Records, purchased a four-bedroom home in Summerlin, a gated golf-course community northwest of the city. At 15,600 square centimeter, the property is sufficient for just a music studio as well as a gym that's pits filled with giant foam cubes. The value: $2.8 million, $200,000 off of the listing price. "The additional value was just insane," says Mr. Aoki, who's moving from your 3,000-square-foot range in La.

The relative discounts for the high-end can be a contrast for the overall Nevada housing marketplace, containing been bouncing back from steep decline. Last year, Vegas home prices were up 35.5% in the previous year—over in any of the other 20 cities tracked through the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller price index. Most of the gain occurred because many foreclosures finally started selling. In 2013 some 62% of home sales were "traditional sales"—not foreclosures or short sales—in comparison with just 37% in 2012.
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Through the darkest times of the Las Vegas housing bust, most luxury homeowners sat on homes, expecting industry to further improve. Now, real-estate agents say, they may be returning to this market en masse, sensing a time frame. And several would like to sell quickly, previously being spooked by the last downturn—which suggests these are happy to negotiate on price.

"The greater-end homes have lagged in appreciation and the ones have the timing may certainly be right to sell," says Dale Thornburgh of Synergy Sotheby's International Realty, who organized the auction where Mr. Shelton found his homes. During this same auction, a 3,905-square-foot, three-bedroom penthouse within the Palms Place Resort close to the Strip sold for $1.8 million to Texas banker Robert Marling. It was listed for $2.two million. The seller was a venture capital company named Lacy Harber, a Texas businessman.

Lots of the biggest deals come in a novice, upscale gated communities inside the city's suburbs. These developments, which feature amenities including golf courses, country clubs, parks and shops, were largely built during Las Vegas's superheated run-up in the mid-2000s. Some homeowners who bought in these developments—which became emblems on the market's boom and subsequent bust—at the moment are wanting to sell.

Cecilia and Lawrence Ventimiglia, luxury-home builders, bought their lot for $800,000 in 2006 and built an 8,000-square-foot, four-bedroom, 5½-bath custom house on almost half an acre from the Ridges in Summerlin, a gated country-club development. If the market tanked, and other alike lots from the same neighborhood were selling for half what they paid, they decided to relax in your house since they had too much money within it.

Even when they got a great deal of lowball offers, they did not sell. Once the market did start to improve a year ago, they decided to list it for $3.4 million—and sold it for $3 million to Michael Mossholder, head of Global Marketing Partnerships at Ultimate Fighting Championship, a mixed-martial-arts promotion company. Though the trainer told us it meant a loss for the kids—they won't say how much—the happy couple said they decided to target Mr. Mossholder since they liked him and they also were concerned that homes built more cheaply of their neighborhood over the downturn might erode the additional value of the home further if they waited.

“ 'The worth was just insane,' says Steve Aoki, who bought a four-bedroom zero in a gated golf-course community northwest of the city. ”

Mr. Mossholder, who was simply renting, had been looking for a new house for several years. "I need to to stay in this development, but people weren't selling" he says.

New luxury buyers in town hail on the same place: California. "Half my buyers last year originated California," says Zar Zanganeh, with LUXE Estates Collection. This past year 13.8% of most homes sold for $2million and up from the Las Vegas area visited buyers from California. Ny, in second location for out-of-state buyers, landed 1.4% of all $1-million-plus sales, in accordance with Hillcrest-based DataQuick.

These buyers are consumed by Vegas's low prices—and Nevada's low taxes. Many Californians have arrived at the wake of Proposition 30. Passed right at the end of 2012, the measure hiked personal income and sales taxes.

Last spring, Joann and Vic Alfonso sold the house they'd owned in Palm Springs, Calif., for over two decades and moved to Vegas, purchasing an 8,500-square-foot, almost-new Mediterranean-style range in a guarded, gated country club community for $2 million. The "state of California is taxed for the limits and economy isn't up to date," says Ms. Alfonso.

The couple, who also later sold their apartment in Portland, Ore., "couldn't believe the amount of house" they were getting, adds Ms. Alfonso, who estimates the same home in an identical neighborhood in Palm Springs might have cost three times just as much.

For Ken Wolt, the move to Vegas was much more about lifestyle than tax relief. Hmo's head of the radiobroadcast group who acts in commercials and theater and does voice-overs, he was tired of the strain of Chicago (traffic, bad roads) and wanted a home adequate enough for the recording studio. He bought a partially finished, 6,500-square-foot house as well as a guesthouse in 2010 for $one million within a gated community and hang up about $200,000 into renovations. At first he was worried he'd miss the culture in Los Angeles, but he admits that he's got found lots of entertainment in Vegas.

Within the last few five years, Nevada has started to more closely resemble Southern California. There are now more suburban gated communities with upscale shops. The once-grungy downtown has revitalized. "A decade ago people looked into Vegas because Strip. Now lots of people don't proceed to the Strip anymore," says Florence Shapiro, of real-estate firm Shapiro & Sher Group.

Even celebrities are trading up: Last May, musician Carlos Santana got such a house for $6 000 0000 in Summerlin. Last month, he sold his 7,200-square-foot contemporary outside for $2.9 million. He purchased in 2011 for $3.5 million. His new pad is 7,800 feet square and, good listing, has a $400,000 state-of-the-art movie theater, a sport room, a gym, a putting green and an infinity pool.