Homes

As a successful custom homebuilder, Curtis tells his clients that upscale master suites are what increase the value of their home. For his home in The Ridges, he spent $30,000 on the bathroom. The negative-edge tub alone cost $6,000.

Although the name Touchstone Living might not ring a bell to some longtime Las Vegans, the people behind the company are not new kids on the block.

There are man caves, and then there’s Michael Levy’s man cave. Housed on the second floor of a two-story penthouse in Turnberry Place, the ultimate dude retreat includes a minicasino with craps and blackjack tables, a roulette wheel and rows of slot machines.

Net zero energy homes are a burgeoning trend in the new-home market, and Blue Heron’s award-winning New American Home 2015, unveiled for an award ceremony last week during the National Association of Home Builders’ International Builders Show in Las Vegas, is a dazzling energy-efficient gem.

Goodbye, tile roofs, beige stucco and ornate details. Hello to streamlined shapes, local materials and homes topped with solar panels that seem to blend seamlessly into the land around them. Desert contemporary architecture is on the rise in Las Vegas, and the architects behind a new luxury-home community aim to give the trend some staying power.

Gordon Miles, president of Americana Holdings, which includes Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices franchises in Nevada and Arizona, has been named a director of the nonprofit Golden Rainbow. The nonprofit group provides housing, financial assistance and education to men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS in Southern Nevada.

Horse communities are scattered throughout the Las Vegas Valley. They vary in age, but none is brand new. In a city where lot sizes have shrunk steadily for the past two decades, the way to become a horse property owner is to buy an existing one — if you can.

Most of us are happy if we have enough space in our homes to set aside for a couch, La-Z-Boy recliner, and a 50-inch television. A few lucky Las Vegans have both the space and the budget to build a dedicated, full-blown home theater that provides a better-than-authentic movie theater experience.

When HGTV’s popular series stars Jonathan and Drew Scott decided to build their dream home after three years of doing so for others on “Property Brothers,” they chose Las Vegas for their base.

Southern Nevada’s housing market has shown volatility during the past few years with many highs and lows — in both sales numbers and prices. According to realty executives and statistics, 2014 was a year of continued recovery for this market.