LETTER: Las Vegas housing prices and high expectations

I’ve been a realtor in Las Vegas since 1996. I specialize in representing buyers.

Almost every homebuyer, myself included, wants a house bigger, nicer and more expensive than they can afford. This is true regardless of whether they are shopping for a $175,000 condo or a $1.75 million home.

In the summer of 2020, I worked with a young couple who just had their first child. Every home I showed them in their price range just wasn’t good enough. So they passed.

Since then, home prices have risen to historic highs. According to the Case-Shiller Home Price Index report last month, home prices have risen 150.4 percent since our “real estate apocalypse” of 2009.

In hindsight, they should have purchased the lesser home. The appreciation would have given them a big enough down payment to afford a “better” home even with today’s higher price.

You’ve got to get in the game. Start somewhere.