When most people think of the American Red Cross and water safety, they probably think about lifeguards. But the organization has several other water safety programs. And, while they’re offered year-round, the courses take on particular significance in the summer for owners of Las Vegas homes with swimming pools. For children, Red Cross programs are aimed at helping them learn basic water safety skills and develop an awareness about how to stay safe when they’re around the water. Children 6 months to 5 years old will learn such fundamentals as floating and kicking in the initial course, which, like other kids’ courses, uses animated characters to help convey important information in a fun way. In the next course, for ages 5 to 12, safety messages and skills presented in the entry-level course are reinforced and expanded on. For teenagers and adults, a Community Water Safety Course offers information about water-related hazards and water safety. The program also is aimed at owners of Las Vegas homes that have pools or people who live in multihousing units that have pools. Even if you don’t know how to swim, that program teaches you how to save someone who’s in a dire situation in a pool without having to get in the pool yourself. Red Cross programs are offered through valley recreation departments, often at minimal cost. Anyone interested in any of the courses should contact their city or county recreation department or neighborhood pool for schedules and times. MS Las Vegas Real Estate is a proud supporter of the Las Vegas Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Henderson Real Estate is about to offer up another exciting master-planned community that’s sure to make it’s mark! Allow us to introduce Madeira Canyon real estate, the new next-door neighbor to the Anthem homes community in Henderson, Nevada. (more…)

When people think of Summerlin real estate, they think about the mountains, the trails, the golf and all that great outdoor stuff. But the Summerlin community has indoor attractions as well. Foremost among them is the nightlife to be found at Plush. What is Plush? Inside the Rampart Casino in Summerlin you’ll find a lush and exciting ultralounge/nightclub with a sensual ambiance and an intimate feel. Plush is the Summerlin answer to the beautiful clubs and lounges to be found at the better hotels on the strip….but without the drive. Plush has also become a hot venue for business socials and mixers (in addition to the erotic late-night action to be found every weekend). Summerlin homes are attractive for so many reasons, but I bet you never thought that nightlife was one of them! MS Las Vegas Real Estate has been doing business in Summerlin for over a decade. Put our knowledge and experience to work for you. Give us a call at 888-349-2595

According to a Wall Street analyst at Deutsche Bank, no more than 30-40% of the proposed high-rise Las Vegas real estate condo projects that have been announced in Las Vegas will actually get built. Local real estate experts have been saying the same thing for most of the last year. Stan Kates, who has marketed more than 55,000 luxury condo units across the country and in Toronto, said he thinks all of the projects in Las Vegas will get built over the next five to 10 years, though not necessarily by the current owners. The two most important factors driving the urbanization trend in Las Vegas are the dwindling supply of developable land in the valley and escalating land prices. MS Las Vegas Real Estate urges potential buyers to approach the high-rise market with caution. Better yet….take a look at the market for Las Vegas luxury homes, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Summerlin real estate at The Ridges is well on it’s way to becoming one of the premier luxury golf course communities in the entire southwest. Positioned on the western rim of the Las Vegas valley and carved into the sloping base of the Spring Mountain Range, Las Vegas luxury homes at The Ridges offer unparalleled views of the entire Las Vegas valley. Straight out your window is not bad either! The Ridges homes are wrapped around the Bear’s Best golf course. This stunning layout features replica holes from the most acclaimed and challenging Jack Nicklaus designs from the entire western U.S. and Mexico. MS Las Vegas Real Estate has been doing business in Summerlin for over a decade. Put our knowledge and experience to work for you.

Summerlin homes have been some of the most sought-after in the entire Las Vegas Valley for over a decade. A master-planned community of national stature, Summerlin real estate offers a wide range of residential, recreational and cultural choices and amenities. The Summerlin master-planned community is truly a mecca for the game of golf. No less than nine golf courses (both public and private) are spread out across the community. If you enjoy walking, running or biking, you had better be in shape to keep up with Summerlin! Just imagine over 120 miles of beautiful trails that wind through natural desert terrain at every elevation. Combine this with more than 20 schools (both public and private) and state-of-the-art medical facilities, and you can see why Summerlin real estate is so popular. The master-plan calls for the community to be divided into distinct villages (19 and counting) with beautiful and functional parks at the heart of each one. Every Summerlin home is just minutes away from a relaxing picnic or an opportunity to romp and play! MS Las Vegas Real Estate has been representing both buyers and sellers in the Summerlin real estate community for over a decade. Our skills and experience are at your disposal.

Rising out of the southwestern section of the Las Vegas valley is a new and exciting master-planned community. Mountain’s Edge real estate was one of the most popular Las Vegas real estate choices in 2005….and 2006 looks to be strong as well! This is a well-rounded community (3500 acres) that will include everything from schools to shopping to professional office space. Mountain’s Edge homes also benefit from generous use of space for parks and recreation. A total of 22 builders of Las Vegas homes are participating in the Mountain’s Edge master-plan. The Sterling Team at Red Rock Canyon Realty invites you to take a look at a sample listing from Mountain’s Edge as you consider the opportunity presented by this new and exciting community. MLS#566848 Give us a call at 888-349-2595 for additional information about the market for Las Vegas homes.

The Hills Park Amphitheater in Summerlin recently hosted the first annual Children’s Miracle Network Charity Benefit dance performance. The Children’s Miracle Network in Las Vegas does their amazing work in conjunction with the St. Rose Dominican Hospitals right here in Southern Nevada. The mission of the Miracle Network is to provide quality health care to children whose families could not otherwise afford it. All proceeds raised at the Hills Park went straight to this highly valuable Las Vegas charity. Local talent was provided by Pro Dance Centers of Las Vegas. In addition, dance troops from as far away as Texas and Vancouver, Canada joined in to give the show added excitement. Critically acclaimed local band Ashbury was on hand to do a moving acoustical set and Chris Coyne (the star of Jubilee at Bally’s) belted out two Broadway show tunes that the crowd just loved. The dance numbers included tap, jazz, ballet and lyrical pieces. MS Las Vegas Real Estate was proud to be on hand for this important and worthwhile charity event. Everytime we find the perfect Las Vegas home for a new client, we take pride in knowing that they have joined a community rich in culture, diversity and opportunity. Las Vegas is truly the next great American metropolis. Have questions about Summerlin real estate or Las Vegas homes in general? The Sterling Team at Red Rock Canyon Realty is at your service.

Have you got a Panda Express restaurant in your neighborhood? Let me ask you this, have you got 50 in your home town? Panda Express just opened it’s 50th store in Vegas last week. No kidding. In fact, Las Vegas is one of the top three U.S. cities that Panda has slated for maximim growth potential in coming years. They are planning to open a dozen more in just the next two years! I know what you’re thinking, how many of these Panda joints are in casinos? Turns out, quite a few. In our defense, we do have these things inside malls and neighborhood shopping centers like regular America does. You can even find mini Panda places inside certain grocery stores (usually next to the Starbucks!). But yes, Panda Express has invaded the casino turf as well. If you think about it, it’s perfect for hard core gamblers, as if we had any of those. You can get a two item combo “to go” and eat while you play the slots. Who knows, your fortune cookie might bring you luck!

The Las Vegas Philharmonic Orchestra held their eighth annual Star Spangled Spectacular at the Hills Park located in the Summerlin homes community during the evening of the fourth of July. MS Las Vegas Real Estate was thrilled to be in attendance and a number of members of The Sterling Team were on hand for the festivities. This beautiful celebration of America’s Independence was aired live on cable television (Cox Channel 96) throughout Southern Nevada. Included again this year was a special salute to the US Armed Forces with a flyover consisting of A-10 fighter jets dispatched from nearby Nellis Air Force Base especially for the occasion. The show itself was an impressive concert in which the music of the Las Vegas Philharmonic was choreographed to the pyrotechnics of Zambelli Fireworks Internationale. The actual fireworks display lasted around 15 minutes and began about 8:30 in the evening. At about 4:00pm the Hills Park event-staff opened their gates to about two-thousand patrons of the Las Vegas Philharmonic. The Hills Park, located in the middle of ‘The Hills’ village in Summerlin boasts a large outdoor amphitheatre that gets plenty of use all year around. Residents of Summerlin real estate enjoy parks and recreational facilities of this caliber in every one of Summerlin’s 19 neighborhood villages. The Las Vegas Philharmonic spent the evening under the direction of Harold Welle, the philharmonic’s founding musical director. Attendees were treated to patriotic songs in classical style reflecting the various phases of our nation’s history. At dusk, a large American flag was raised by crane to create a backdrop for the spectacle that was about to begin. As the Symphony continued to play, fireworks by Zambelli Internationale began to light up the evening sky. Once the final shower of fireworks was complete and the last note was struck, the audience in the park immediately responded with great applause denoting these artists’ true talent. The “Star Spangled Spectacular” is an annual event held at the Hills Park in Summerlin on every Fourth of July. Next year, the Philharmonic will hold their ninth Star Spangled Spectacular, and with beautiful performances like this one, spectacular attendence is assured.

There is a new development in the market for Las Vegas real estate that will allow more people to be included in the satisfaction and security of home-ownership. All over the Las Vegas valley, apartment complexes are being converted into condominium communities. This is an excellent opportunity for Las Vegas home buyers that need to stay in the $100-$200,000 price range. The market for real estate in Las Vegas has surged tremendously in the past three years. The median price of a brand new Las Vegas home is now about $285,000. These new condo conversions provide a great opportunity for first time buyers, real estate investors and second home purchasers as well. Any questions? Contact MS Las Vegas Real Estate at 888-349-2595.

The Southwestern United States is already having a challenging wildfire season. Blazes around Sedona, AZ have been all over the news and threaten to do serious damage to major residential areas. Here in Southern Nevada, no less than 14 wildfires were ignited by lightning last week. Luckily, no Las Vegas homes were damaged, but you can’t miss the smoke hanging in the air in the distance. Statewide, over 140,000 acres have been set ablaze by lightning over the last 10 days. Residents of Las Vegas real estate are really very lucky, even this time of year. The fires in our part of the State tend to be from 15-50 miles outside of the metropolitan area and burn in essentially uninhabited sections of the raw desert. Triple digit heat combined with gusty winds give a lightning strike all it needs to make trouble. Many people in the scientific community are attributing the increase in southwestern wildfire activity to global warming, but who knows if that’s really the cause. In any event, at The Sterling Team at Red Rock Canyon Realty, our thoughts are with the brave and exhausted men and women that fight these fires both for a living and on a volunteer basis. What would we do without them?

FSBO stands for For Sale By Owner, and there are a number of issues to consider in deciding if this is the right route for you to take when selling your home. Did you ever imagine that personal safety might be among them? The MS Las Vegas Real Estate team would like you to consider some of the points that we think are important when making this crucial decision. Let’s begin with the safety issue because it’s very real and often overlooked. If you simply plant a “For Sale” sign in your front yard and put an ad in the classifieds, you’re going to meet some new people inyour life. Not only that, but you are going to invite them into your home for a very thorough viewing. Who are these people? How do you know that they are who they say they are? Are you really sure that theirinterest in your home is to purchase it? Think about it for two seconds in a realistic way. The question then becomes, how is it any different when MS Las Vegas Real Estate brings someone into your home? Actually, it’s very different. At MS Las Vegas Real Estate, you can’t even begin to think about looking at personal residential property until you’ve been properly qualified to do so. The bedrock of this process involves the prospective buyer providing highly detailed and verifiable information about who they are and why they are financially qualified to purchase such a property. This is a crucial screening step that provides a service that extends well beyond financials and conveniences for the properly represented seller. About 30% of FSBO sellers last year knew their buyers personally, which means that 70% didn’t.A corollary issue to consider is the unsurprising statistic that roughly 70% of FSBO escrows that are opened end up being canceled before completion. This is a direct result of financial pre-qualificationproblems that un-represented sellers face. Understanding the mountain of paperwork and being able to complete it properly also poses a significant problem. It’s important to understand the liability issues involved in making mistakes and especiallyomissions. The list of disclosure forms alone gets longer and longer every year. At MS Las Vegas Real Estate we are totally committed to the continuing education process. Our team is fully versed and up to date on the latest developments in real estate practices. Another inconvenience to consider is the simple fact of your own time. A FSBO seller has to be available to show the property themselves whenever a prospective buyer wants a look. This can get more inconvenient than you might think. Life in Las Vegas runs around the clock. People work all different schedules of days and nights. You would be amazed at how many potential buyers might need access to your home for a viewing at a time that just won’t work for your schedule. In conclusion, a FSBO sale works better for some people than others. Take stock of your own situation and think it over carefully. MS Las Vegas Real Estate would be happy to assist you in making this important decision.

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas! This is especially the case for one of the newest targets for party-marketing in recent Las Vegas history, the wild and crazy bachelorette party scene. Bachelor parties have been a staple of the Las Vegas experience for as long as anyone can remember. Now it’s time for the girls to have their fun as well! There is no shortage of venues available for Las Vegas bachelorette activity. Women have a choice of half a dozen different male review shows to choose from. Party consultants are all over this one, with plenty of ideas about where to go and what to do. Anecdotal evidence suggests that bachelorette parties are now 30-40% of their business. This is a craze that’s here to stay……in fabulous Las Vegas!

“The District” at Green Valley Ranch is more than a new Las Vegas home, it’s a lifestyle choice that makes a bold statement about the value of living in a truly urban environment. You can be forgiven for thinking that you are walking through Greenwich Village or SoHo in lower Manhattan. The District is an enclave of tree lined streets with an emphasis pedestrian access. Retail shops and restaurants populate these unique buildings at street level, with condos built on the floors directly above. There are a total of 88 luxury loft units ranging in size from 875 to 1,749 square feet. The District is an “urban neighborhood” in the truest sense of the term. An intimate sense of community pervades the entire development. Residences are available for viewing by appointment only. MS Las Vegas Real Estate would be happy to provide a private showing at your convenience.