Sales of Existing U.S. Homes Increase to Three-Year High

[enlightenment]

1. Investors are fueling this trend in Las Vegas.

Particularly at the lower end of the price ranges. A friend just recently purchased - after eleven previous offers fell through. Her relator was sympathetic, but could only counsel her to keep making offers - she got lucky with the last one, but it was pure luck. Had the paperwork not gone through, the home would have gone on the auction block the next day.
Investors with cash are apparently doing the scoop and run on people who actually want a home. The investors don't want to live in the homes; they just want to turn them for a profit - but because they are offering cash and bidding the asking price or even slightly higher, they are coming out the winners time and again . . . and the practice is starting to drive the price of these homes up, making it even harder for people who are trying to get their foot on the housing ladder.

This is precisely what fueled a lot of the increase in home values in the last "bubble" - at least in Las Vegas - and it is with a very sad sense of deja vu that I'm watching the same thing happening again.