Preview Las Vegas Event Suggests Long Term Positive Outlook for Las Vegas and High Rise Condos

Yesterday morning, I attended the Preview Las Vegas 2008 event, which at this point, is a yearly "must attend" in order to get an idea of what's in store for the Las Vegas economy and the real estate industry. Did your real estate agent attend? If not, ask them why as surely anyone who takes the market here seriously should know it's the number one informational and networking opportunity Las Vegas has to offer.

Yesterday's event featured speakers Rossi Ralenkotter (President/CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority), Jeremy Aguero (a principal of Applied Analysis), Guy Kawasaki (Managing Director of Garage Technologies Ventures), and finally keynote speaker Richard Lee (Vice President and Director of Public Relations from First American Title).

I thought Mr. Kawasaki's presentation on marketing innovation alone was worth the $80 price of admission, but there were a number of takeaway points that were also quite interesting from the event as a whole:

1. For almost 100 years now, the mainstream media have declared Las Vegas a "dud investment". Yet the city continues to consistently grow and prosper.
2. 2007 obviously was a pretty bad year real estate wise, but there are signs that the end of the downturn may be near. We need to stick it out a little while longer as the high foreclosure rate is still a major concern.
3. Employment growth is the number one indicator to watch for year 2008. As more and more high rise condo projects come online, the more jobs will be created, fueling more people moving to the area, which inturn will help stabilize the housing market.
4. Record amounts of foreign investments continue to funnel into Las Vegas real estate and although many high rise projects have been canceled, many more will become reality in the upcoming years, both on the Strip, south of the Strip, off the strip, and downtown Las Vegas.
5. Create meaning in your business. There's so much noise and distractions in today's media and advertising. Do something remarkable or you'll just be invisible.

We try to approach real estate in that remarkable way via blogs, videos, special events, and reporting stories in an unbiased fashion. Once again, I'd like to thank all my readers for your support of this blog and for the many kind words I receive in bringing it to you. The Preview Las Vegas event really just echoed a mantra of mine that I've mentioned time and time again: Las Vegas is a great long-term play. We will certainly face more real estate challenges in 2008, just as we did in 2007, but for those who can weather out the storm, the real facts and numbers show good things in the future.