Las Vegas attorney Farhan Naqvi sells Summerlin home for $7.4M

Las Vegas injury law attorney Farhan Naqvi has sold his two-story home in The Ridges in Summerlin for $7.4 million — the third-highest transaction this year — as the luxury market remains hot by surpassing its 2019 total through the end of October.

Naqvi, whose commercials are prevalent on local television, sold the home to Sacramento, California, civil attorney Eric Schroeder and his wife, Diane, a veterinarian, according to public records. In 2013, Naqvi bought the lot adjacent to the Bear’s Best golf course, and luxury builder Blue Heron constructed the home in 2015. Naqvi is building a home in the The Summit Club resort community in Summerlin.

There were 95 sales of $1 million or more with properties on the Multiple Listing Service in October, one fewer than the record 96 sales in September, according to Realtor Forrest Barbee, corporate broker with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Arizona, California, Nevada Properties.

Through October, there were 597 sales, one more than the 596 sales of $1 million or more on the MLS in the 12 months of 2019, Barbee reported. At the start of November, there were 176 luxury sales pending.

Luxury Realtors have credited the surge of luxury buying in Las Vegas to Californians escaping high taxes and employers who, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, have allowed employees work remotely.

“I have a house listed for $5.5 million (in Falcon Ridge in The Ridges) and had five showings last week, and all five were Californians,” said Ken Lowman, owner of Luxury Homes of Las Vegas. “This is the best I’ve ever seen the luxury market in my 30-year career.”

Naqvi’s home closed Nov. 16, and his Realtor Gavin Ernstone, owner of Simply Vegas, has been involved in the top three sales in 2020. He was the listing agent for a Summerlin home in The Ridges that sold for $10.15 million. Ernstone was the buyer’s agent for a Henderson mansion in MacDonald Highlands owned by gaming icon Diana Bennett that sold for $11.25 million.

“It’s amazing. It’s been an incredible year. I have some really good clients,” Ernstone said.

The Review-Journal Real Estate Millions reported last month on the previous No. 3 sale with the buyer from California.

Naqvi’s former home sits on 0.89 acres with a main house and a guesthouse combining for 8,860 square feet.

“It’s an incredible lot with amazing views of the Strip,” Ernstone said. “It’s a modern style with a cool look to it.”

There are five bedrooms in the main house, which measures about 7,000 square feet, and there are two bedrooms in the guesthouse, which spans 1,800 square feet. The main house has what Ernstone called “a stunning entry courtyard” filled with water features and passing a showcase five-car garage, he said.

The master suite on the second floor has a Jacuzzi on the balcony overlooking the Strip. There are three other bedrooms on the second floor with a loft.

The main floor has one bedroom that was used as an office. It also has a movie theater and great room.

There are multiple pocketing door systems that create an indoor-outdoor feel, Ernstone said. The adjacent patios are covered and have in-ceiling heaters that allow for year-round use.

A formal dining room Ernstone calls a floating dining room opens to the outside. It’s adjacent to water features on two sides and has a wine cellar, a butler’s pantry and bar.

The guesthouse includes an indoor-outdoor game room with a golf simulator, bar and a gym along with two additional guest rooms — one of which is used as a massage room.

The yard features a resort-style pool and spa that Ernstone said is “a great place to relax and take in the sublime views of the Vegas skyline.”

The grounds contain a large lawn, several fire pits, outdoor kitchen, terraces and a sports court for basketball, volleyball or paddle tennis.

Jillian Batchelor, a Realtor from Realty One Group, represented the California buyers.

“There are a lot of Californians moving to Vegas to get away from taxes,” Ernstone said of the continuing rush of luxury sales in Las Vegas.

Other home sales to Californians in fall 2020

■ Hezy Shaked, the owner of Southern California-headquartered Tillys, a retail clothing company that has more than 200 stores nationwide and was known as the World of Jeans and Tops, paid $6.72 million for a home in The Ridges in Summerlin.

The two-story home measures 9,160 square feet with four bedrooms and 5½ bathrooms. It was built in 2016 and has views of the Bear’s Best golf course.

The great room features a rammed-earth wall with a linear fireplace, disappearing doors and bar with wine storage.

“The rammed-earth wall started in the front and continued into the house, has a fireplace in it, and continued on into the back patio as well,” said Lowman, who was the listing agent.

Ivan Sher with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Nevada Properties was the buyer’s agent.

■ In another sale, Southern Californian Dino Crescentini, co-founder of Dynamic Friction, a manufacturer of automotive brakes, paid $6.1 million for a three-story home on a 0.89-acre lot in Azure in The Ridges that was built in 2016.

It measures 13,480 square feet with eight bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and a 19-car air-conditioned garage, 14 spots of which are subterranean.

“It’s a perfect house for a car guy,” said Lowman, the listing agent. “The garage has two entrances, so you can drive in one way and out the other. It can hold a lot more cars than 14 underground.”

The home has walkways with embedded LED lights, a multilevel backyard with two swimming pools, a casita, outdoor kitchen and sports court.

The interior has a tiered theater room with five flat-screen TVs and a projection screen, an office, a family room with built-in entertainment center, wet bar, wine room and stone wall with a fireplace. The gourmet kitchen has two large islands.

Audrey Few of Northcap Residential was the buyer’s agent.

■ In a sale to a couple from Silicon Valley, Rajiv Batra, the co-founder of cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks, paid $4.25 million for a home in MacDonald Highlands in Henderson.

The home, built in 2004 next to DragonRidge Country Club, measures 10,044 square feet with six bedrooms and nine bathrooms. It has a 12-car garage.

Ernstone was the listing agent. Kristen Routh Silberman of Synergy Sotheby’s International Realty was the buyer’s agent.

Routh Silberman said the home was furnished and well-maintained by the previous owner, Jeanne Jackson, according to public records. Jackson has worked as an executive or served on boards at such companies as Walt Disney Co., Nike, Victoria’s Secret, Saks Fifth Avenue, Gap Inc., Wal-Mart.com and Nordstrom.

The home was one of the original showcase homes in what was called the Street of Dreams. It was designed and built by Christopher Homes.

“It is so well-thought out and has an interior courtyard and a lot of amenities with a movie theater, game room and gym and beautiful patio overlooking the 18th hole of DragonRidge Country Club and Strip view,” Routh Silberman said.

If owners of existing homes upgrade, modernize and maintain them, they can compete with newer homes on the market, Routh Silberman said.

“He could have bought any house,” Routh Silberman said. “There were newer, bigger and more expensive houses, but this is a great example of a resale home being treated like an asset. You can’t throw $5 million down a hole and forget about it. You have to care for it. It was able to compete with the finest homes on the market and new homes too because the owners did such a good job. A resale can feel like home if you do it right.”