The City Of Las Vegas's "Citizen Leadership Academy"

Last night was the meet and greet opening reception. I am very honored to have been accepted into the Academy this year. There's only 25 who were chosen from about 100 applicants.

The Academy is an 8 week course in how government works. We'll get behind the scene tours of City Hall, the jail, the fire department, the sewer plant, the municipal courts, animal shelter, parks and recreation facilities and many more. We alsoWe were also allowed to sign up for extra credit trips, and I'll finally get to do ride alongs with a metro officer, and a code enforcement officer.

Each week, I'll be reporting on who we meet, what we saw and what we learned. One of the cities goals for conducting the academy in the first place is to develop civic leaders who can help spread the knowledge. I'm looking forward to being able to share what I learn with you.

Watch for it every Wednesday.

Central Heat and Air Conditioning Became Affordable In The 1960's

Many of the oldest homes in Very Vintage Vegas were built with either NO HEAT OR AIR at all, or at best they were built with Swamp Coolers on the roof, and Wall Heaters in the living room and sometimes in the bedrooms and bathrooms.

We've been encouraging people to keep them for nostalgic reasons and they make good conversation pieces also. I've collected some photos of the most common ones I run into in VVV.

Downloading The Camera Is Akin To Backing Up The Hard Drive

One never knows what's going to happen. I may have lost my camera. The last place I remember having it was at the Rainbow's End Health food store and cafe on Sahara. I'm heading over there as soon as it opens to see if it's there.

There's over a 500 photos on the 2 gig card. I tend to just upload the ones I'm about to write about. There's pictures for dozens of posts worth of material. Wish me luck.

From now on, I'm downloading the card to the hard drive every day.

worst MLS photo of the day

Today's picture comes from the "What is this" folder. It's obviously a table and chairs, so I might have put it into the "furniture" folder, but I can't figure out the back drop thing, or the whatever it's covering up in the wall behind it. A window? an air conditioner? a medicine cabinet? A circuit breaker panel? I give up.

The only thing worse than a bad picture is NO PICTURE AT ALL!

Speaking of "Bargain Priced Homes" in The Urban Core Of Las Vegas

We met a "Group 2" seller at our open house yesterday He's owned the house for many years. He's already moved out. He wants it sold yesterday.

It's a 1400 sf, 3 bedroom, 1 bath with a very nice pool. No, it's not my listing, but HE'S REAL MOTIVATED. He's not happy AT ALL with his current agent.

List price is only 212,000 and he's even willing to pay closing costs. Mostly it needs some serious landscape help, but the interior's not bad at all.

We Have A "List" Of People Who Are Looking For Bargains, Fixers, Bank Owned REO Property And Pre-Foreclosures

I'm calling and emailing that list of investors and bargain hunters today. If you're not on the "I'm calling you first" list, all you have to do is tell me you want to be on it, get your financing lined up, and find out first about the great deals I uncover.

Revisiting One Of The "Dumps The Week"

We discussed this "dump of the week" back in May

I had 2 buyers who bid on this property at right about the same price that the new owners paid for it. The bank turned them both down flat, without even a counter offer in both cases. I guess we should have tried again after a few weeks.

It was listed for 199,900, and the new buyers paid 186,000 with 6000 back for closing costs. $180,000 net for a 1500 foot 3 bedroom 2 bath on a 10000 foot corner lot. Of course, it needed complete gutting, as some previous owner had tried to make a mexican hacienda out of a very cool mid-mod, but none the less, There are BARGAINS GALORE out there right now!

worst MLS photo of the day

This one is wrong is so many ways.

After yesterdays "grand prize winner" I decided that fluffy on the bed isn't so bad after all. But if your stuffed dog dribbles from old age, then I guess a plastic cover on the bed is a good idea. Of course, you could just put fluffy in a closet, or chain him up in the back yard.

The only thing worse than a bad picture is NO PICTURE AT ALL!

(this one really needs to be seen full screen...just click on the picture)

The Organ Pipe Cactus Bloomed This Morning

We'd been keeping an eye on all the fuzzy bumps. In wetter years we've had 3 or 4 flowers at the same time. This year, I think we're going to get them one at a time. They'll close up in a few minutes, and each will open about 3 or 4 days before withering.

Click almost any photo at VVV and you can see a full sized image.

We're holding an Open House today at our new listing in Marycrest

1720 15th street. From 11 till 3 for sure, but maybe till 4pm.

It's the latest Frantz and Stephanie Redeux! If you liked 801 Bonita, (and everyone did) then you'll LOVE this one. $480,000 on THE premier street of downtown.

Here's a teaser shot, and Steve will get the rest of it posted tomorrow in the left column where our listings are posted.

First Friday in Downtown Las Vegas' Arts District - part 3

We started our First Friday adventure this month in the street party outside the The Funk House. Huge crowds, some nice art, 2 terrific photographers I talked with made me so jealous. A troupe of break dancers, a reggae band. We found an artist , Brent Haug that we've admired for years in a new space called SinCity Art.

Next we made our way to the Arts Factory to see Daniel Bennett and his friends, and to see Danny Roberts in his new gallery upstairs. Steve managed to time it perfectly and snagged the very last of the prints of "scatterbrained" for his new digs at L'octaine.

S2 on the corner of Main and Charleston is the only working lithography factory in the US. They're using 150 year old french presses. A definite must see, and they give demos on First Friday.

We already reported on the terrific show at dust of the psychiatrist office, and we wrapped up the evening OOOHHHHing and AAAAHHHHing over the vintage furniture and accessories at Modify at Main and Charleston.

First Friday in the Las Vegas Arts District - part 2

Marty Walsh at Trifecta in the Arts Factory scored a big hit showing Tom Pfannerstill's "from the street" collection of hand carved and hand painted replicas of actual litter collected from the streets. They're simply a beautiful tribute to our careless, selfish, throw it out the window society, as well as to the colorful "pop-art" packaging that so attracts us to buy it in the first place.

The Paint Brush series are so realistic and believable, yet they're hand carved and hand painted also.

worst MLS photo of the day -- And Maybe The Worst MLS Photo of All Time

nothing I have can top what our connecticut friend, Athol Kaye published the other day.

Credit was given to Erik DeMiranda, a fellow Keller Williams Realty Agent from SE Mass.

First Friday In The Downtown Las Vegas Arts District

"The Loneliness Clinic" at Dust is a superb show that should not be missed. I was amused throughout as there are so many hidden little jokes, commentaries, and innuendos. It's a brilliant piece, and if you missed it, then you definitely need to go during normal business hours.

Who knew a psychiatrist's office could be so insightful? Make sure to study the book and magazine covers, the wall hangings, and read all the "patient notes" on legal pads.

All of it is hand painted on paper mache, including the mid-century modernist furniture. It's a real treat!

Bonnie Springs is a Piece of Las Vegas History

While touring Chaleston Blvd. on my way to Modify Vintage Furniture yesterday, I saw this license plate that made me jealous. Incidentally it happened to be on a van from Bonnie Springs, which Jack tells me is the perfect place to go for a four hour vacation when you need to escape the hustle of our speedy city.

This Article Explains "Who's to Blame For The Sub Prime Mortgage Mess

"Who's to Blame For The Sub Prime Mortgage Mess?"

It pretty well sums it up. There's plenty of blame to go around.

I'm still working on the "who's buying, who's not buying and why" and plan to publish it by Sunday. Part one "who are the seller?" is HERE.

worst MLS photo of the day

We've pretty much identified the various categories of "Worst MLS Photos". They include, clutter, carelessness, laziness, bad photography, furniture only, highlighting bad features, dark pictures etc. But I've never shown you the single most annoying thing. Here it is


NO PHOTO AVAILABLE



The only thing worse than a bad picture is no picture at all!

Worst MLS Photo Of The Day -- Cute Borders Don't Help To Sell A Home in Las Vegas

I put some frames around a holiday card picture that I sent out once, but I don't think the "scrapbook" feature in the picture editor adds anything to promoting the house. The same amount of time could have been spent clearing some stuff off the counter, or the table. Then again, the foil could be pulled off the wall before taking the picture.

The only thing worse than a bad picture is no picture at all.

a similar but not quite the same block pattern

still another one of a kind block pattern

We Rescued A Puppy Today And Are Looking For It's Owner

We've posted signs along Oakey, where we found it, but don't know how far it wandered before we rescued it.

Call me if you have a clue, or know who's dog it is.