Kirk Sanford News

Certainly, whether you are shopping for a new house or wondering about the value of your current one, it’s helpful to know what the market will bear. Individuals, and companies such as Sightline Acquisition started by Kirk Sanford, want to know where to invest their money.

One new interesting study points to the walkability of the neighborhood. A company called ceoforcities.org has created a report showing that home values go up as the walk score in a neighborhood ascends. The walk score shows how walkable a neighborhood is.

They found, for instance, that each additional Walk Score point adds somewhere between $500 and $3000 to the value of the home. Walkability helps homeowners because it allows you to reduce your car dependency, cut transportation costs, and help the environment.

Community leaders are hopeful that the depth of the recent economic crisis in Las Vegas and Southern Nevada will motivate politicians and local government to finally take steps to assure that the economy begins the crucial, stabilizing move to diversification.

The Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies, an affiliate of the University of Las Vegas, presented a report based on the opinions of 70 local businessmen, politicians and academics. There was no question, according to the experts, that the road to diversification is the road that is needed to be taken.

It was noted that the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority spends about $90 million each year to promote the resort industry all over the world, but the Nevada Economic Development Commission only spends about $6 million each year attracting businesses to the area.

Kirk Sanford is one of those rooted and invested in the strength of the economy of Las Vegas and its surrounding areas. As an investor in real estate in Southern Nevada, it would benefit Kirk Sanford along with other local businesses for the economy in the region to weather the storms of economic crisis with stability and resilience.

According to the opinion of 70 leaders in the community of Las Vegas and Southern Nevada, economic diversification is an idea whose time has finally come to the area.

In a report entitled “What Happened? What’s Next? Can We Hit the Reset Button?” academics, business leaders and politicians expressed their views, coming on strong on the side of diversification as a stabilizing factor in the health of the economy.

The report was conducted by the Lied Institute of Real Estate Studies, which is part of the University of Las Vegas. The bad news is that in order to get to the goal of a healthily diversified economy, more money must be spent, especially on public education K-12 and higher education, too. Why is improved education so crucial? According to John Restrepo the principal of a consulting group, in order to attract a larger variety of businesses into the area there must be a higher quality workforce available to fill the positions new businesses would create.

As a member of the business community in Las Vegas and Southern Nevada, Kirk Sanford would certainly like to see greater diversification and stability in the local economy as well as a strong recovery nationwide.

According to the Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies, which recently conducted a study based on the opinions and observations of leaders in the community of Las Vegas, diversification is the best way for the economy to cope with economic crisis in the future.

As a result of the recent collapse of the local economy in Las Vegas 70 of Southern Nevada’s business leaders, politicians and academics took another look at an idea that isn’t new, diversification of the economy.

Because the economy of Southern Nevada relies heavily on industries that rely mostly on growth-fueled industries such as construction and real estate, aside from the vulnerable industries of gaming and tourism, when the national economy staggers, Southern Nevada falls.
Relieving the pressure on these industries to provide the engine for the financial well-being of the region would be accomplished by and expansion of industry into less vulnerable areas, therefore diversification is a key goal for the future health of the Southern Nevada and Las Vegas economies.

This would be good news for all segments of the Las Vegas economy, including real estate investors such as Kirk Sanford, whose Sightline Acquisition Corporation invests in distressed properties in the area of Las Vegas and Southern Nevada.

2010 should be a good year for potential home buyers. Obama has recently signed legislation that extends a first time home buyers tax credit. It gives both new and move-up buyers a tax incentive to buy a home until at least April 20, 2010, and even longer for military personnel.

In a depressed economy, companies like Sightline Acquisition Corp, with CEO Kirk Sanford, have been working to pump money into the economy by buying properties. Kirk Sanford chairs this privately held investment fund that specifically looks to acquire distressed properties and other assets.

This new tax law extends the credit for first-time homebuyers which is worth up to $8000. Even existing homeowners can cash in on this legislation. A new credit of up to $6500 is available to existing homeowners who qualify. This is for those who either buy a new primary residence or have one built by April 20, 2010. They have to already have their existing property for five consecutive years of the last eight years.

As part of many people’s New Year’s resolutions, you can add home buying to the list. 18% of Americans, according to a survey on Move.com, say that they are ready to become first-time homebuyers in 2010. With mortgage rates at a record low and prices down a great deal, this is, undoubtedly, a smart move.

Kirk Sanford, the Chairman and CEO of Sightline Acquisition Corp, is certainly looking ahead to the market in 2010. Sanford and Sightline Acquisition Corp specialize in acquiring distressed property in Las Vegas. At the moment, Vegas is the perfect location for their ventures due to its rapid population growth, its mature market statistics, and its present low prices for real estate.

In addition to home buying, many people say that they want to start home improvements in 2010. Nearly 40% of those surveyed said that they home to start home improvements and they hope to use cheap home equity money to do the job.

With the establishment of Sightline Acquisition Corporation Kirk Sanford ventured into the exciting world of Las Vegas real estate. If Las Vegas is nothing else, it is surely exciting.  For instance, despite an increase in the number of home sales, prices have continued to decline in the city known for its casinos and legal gambling. The decline is actually officially the steepest in the nation, just passing Phoenix as the city with the fastest home price decline.

The statistics read like this: Since August 2006 which was the peak in home prices, the cost of a home in Las Vegas fell 54.3%. In June 2006 Phoenix reached its own home-price peak, and has since slid down by 53.9%, just a tad less than in Las Vegas.

In an apparent contradiction, despite the price declines numbers of home sales continue to increase. July marked the eleventh month in a row in which home sales increased, with a total of 29% increase since last year.

The discrepancy is easily explained: Most of the home sales are foreclosures, which sell at discounts. Two thirds of Nevada’s mortgage holders actually owe more on their homes than their homes are worth, leading them to foreclosure. Conclusion: More sales, cheaper prices.

Sightline Acquisition, with Kirk Sanford at the helm, is keeping up with the latest news in the Las Vegas real estate world. And the news is good.

Check out the latest headlines coming from the GLVAR, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. According to their statistics, the month of June, 2009 set a record for number of home sales in the local Las Vegas area. Nevertheless prices appear stable as the number of homes available for sale declines.

The month of June scored a record 4,702 homes, condominiums and townhouses sold. July 2009 registered in as the second highest amount of sales in a single month with just 100 less homes sold, 4,602.

The value of the transactions for just single-family homes, which are the majority of home sales, was lower than last year, but still quite impressive. June’s total value came to $634 million. July posted lower at $611 million worth of home sales, which is 3.6% less than July 2009, and 7.4% less than in June, 2008.