Highs and lows of Southern Nevada real estate deals in 2019
Last summer, a mystery buyer picked up a Las Vegas megamansion in the priciest home sale of the year.
A few months earlier, a charred, boarded-up mobile home traded for the price of a used car in the cheapest deal of the year.
Here’s a look at the two extreme ends of Southern Nevada’s housing market in 2019, as reported by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.
5212 Spanish Heights Drive
Developer Jim Rhodes built this 2-acre compound in the southwest valley and sold it in July for $16 million. It was one of the most expensive home sales ever in Las Vegas.
Rhodes, original developer of the Rhodes Ranch golf course community and founder of Harmony Homes, put in an infinity-edge pool, copper-accented rooflines, stone flooring and marble and onyx countertops.
He also threw in a movie theater, a game room, a wine cellar, a dog shower in the laundry room, a rooftop deck with panoramic views of the valley and a two-level closet that, according to Rhodes, spans about 1,100 square feet.
The buyer was an entity called Dacia LLC, but public records gave no indication who was behind the deal, rare for Las Vegas.
After the sale closed, listing broker Michael Zelina declined to comment on the buyer’s identity, citing a confidentiality agreement, but acknowledged he didn’t know who it was anyway.
“This was a little unique,” he said.
Even Rhodes said he was in the dark on who bought his house.
“I’ve been asked that question a million times, but I do not know,” he said.
6261 Great Smoky Ave.
This now-demolished mobile home in the northeast valley sold for just $12,000 in May, property records show. Its detached garage is still standing.
It’s unclear when the home was torn down, but listings show it was a scary sight when it went up for sale. The boarded-up dwelling had been gutted by fire, and the garage was filled with junk and slathered with graffiti inside.
Firefighters responded to a midnight blaze at the vacant home in March, according to a news report. It was listed the next month for $20,000.
“SEVERE FIRE DAMAGE!!” the listing on Redfin said. “Looking for a Fixer Upper, then this is the home for you!!”
The home’s owner was killed in a motorcycle crash in 2012, court records show. Clark County received squatter complaints and boarded the home four times between 2015 and 2018, county spokesman Dan Kulin said.
It was sold last year through a probate case.
Compass Realty &Management agent Fruzan Akhlaghnejat, who represented the buyer, said the home “was horrible. Nobody could move in.”
Her client bought it for the lot, knowing he would have to “demolish everything and start all over again,” she said.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.