The Moonlight Basin, near the Big Sky, located in Montana, which is also near the Big Sky is facing foreclosure although its lenders, the bankrupted Lehman Bros., are firm to keep it operating as for now.  Even the Yellow Stone Club and Promontory are out of bankruptcy and is now in full operations, the plunge of the resort business in the US is still far from recovery.  According to the reports, Credit Suisse is going against the financing of a group of homeowners in opening a ski resort coming this winter.  The possible result of this would be that the ski hills would now remain closed until its foreclosure trial that is scheduled in February 2010 which will put the ski resort in the hands of the Credit Suisse lender group.

Bankers and economists are now getting ready for the upcoming commercial real estate sector bust.  According to reports, in the Mountain West, the recession is now taking effect in the resort market and urban areas.  Investors are now trying to study the data as they had not predicted the possibility that the values of the real estate could plunge.  Investors are now trying to purchase properties upon the announcement of the high projections on cash flows for apartment complexes, office buildings, shopping malls and resort hotels.  This may be ongoing for a few more years, as the residential market are now steadily stabilizing and the prices are now below the peal level because of the applied home buyer’s tax credit.

According to the reports, the projected cost of the Cosmopolitan Resort in Las Vegas is now around $3.9 billion, which makes the Cosmopolitan the costliest project ever in Las Vegas for a single lender.  The original concept for the Cosmopolitan includes a 75,000 square foot casino, a 1,800 seat theatre and a five-acre Cosmo Beach Club that is overlooking the Strip.  As of now, the Deutsche Banks still wont discuss their recent modifications of the said project.  The Cosmopolitan Resort is now literally under water because of the underground aquifer  that once supplied water to the now defunct Dunes Resort golf course.  As of now, the pumped water is presently supplying a fountain at the Bellagio Hotel which “dances” to music every half-hour and twice as often after dark.

The Deutsche Bank plans to open the Cosmopolitan’s door to its guests by September 2010.  According to the reports, the revenues for gambling in the Las Vegas Strip has fallen to 12 percent this year starting September, which is more than its 11 percent drop last year.  The home values in Las Vegas has also slowly dropped by 55 percent.  Ian Bruce Eichner, the past developer of the Cosmopolitan before the Deutsche Bank took over, stated that the initial project costs around $1.8 billion and was set to open in the mid-2008.  But after more than two years, the Cosmopolitan project is still trying to finish up their constructions and has received numerous lawsuits from its buyers.

The Deutsche Bank had to shell out at least 500 million euros ($748 million) for their recently purchased The Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino.  According to the reports, their total amount could still go up in case the Las Vegas market fails to revive.  The Deutsche Bank is offering their buyers 74 percent of their deposited money to just walk away, according to the copy of the proposal provided by a lawyer for some purchasers.  As of now, the Deutsche Bank has to make a hard choice of selling an unfinished resort or to continue the construction of the Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.  Neighboring resorts such as the MGM Mirage and Dubai World are  now finishing up the City Center that reportedly costs around $8.5 billion after its lender Bank of America Corp., agreed to finance it by $1.8 billion.

According to some reports, New York based Deutsche Bank executives  have already applied for gaming licenses for Nevada casino regulators.  The consultants of the Cosmopolitan Resort have already decided last year that the most proper strategy is to finish up the said project, although they did not comment further on the bank’s long term plan for the Cosmopolitan.  As of now, the Deutsche Bank still remains committed in continuing the construction of the world class resort and casino as this may become an essential part of the Las Vegas economy.

The Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino is a structure that is built on a 8.5 acre lot and is located in between the Bellagio Hotel and the biggest and most expensive hotel resort in Las Vegas, The City Center.  Based on the reports, it was taken over by the Deutsche Bank AG, after having been defaulted for  over $760 million from last year by the resort’s previous owner, Ian Bruce Eichner.  The now new developers of the Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino have now placed a new developer to overlook its construction of two high- rise condominium and hotel towers, resort and casino.  For this, they have assigned the Frankfurt-based Related Cos., which is also the developer of the New York Time’s Warner Center.

The Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino is one of the properties acquired by the Deutsche Bank AG and is reportedly behind its schedule for over two years, it is also said to be over budget by $2 billion and is literally underwater.  This recent venture of the Deutsche Bank AG in Las Vegas is foreseen to be an impending disaster by some real estate experts.  Based on the reports, the developers are now requiring a 24 hour pump and containment walls service after their workers accidentally hit an aquifer below the Nevada Desert.  This recent development caused them another problem for this ongoing project together with the constant delays and redesigns that have caused them numerous lawsuits filed by some of the condominium buyers and sales agents.

This October, analysts may see a clearer picture with regards to revenues in Las Vegas as they will include numbers for a full month by which to compare performance against last year’s sudden collapse of the financial markets.  Two of the slowest business months for this year showed in the third quarter in Las Vegas, even when the prices of the establishments have been set low and the sun is shining high over the town during those months.  Based on the records, a slow decline in the revenue of gaming are also seen, but despite of this, figures show that there is also a 5 percent increase in visitors going to Las Vegas since September.

According to the statistics, there are now more convention groups that are booking rooms in Las Vegas for next year.  This is a positive sign that the rampant gambling revenue declines have now stopped on the Strip.  These reports also come as a positive news for Las Vegas and the Strip since the City Center, largest and most expensive resort complex in history will give additional sparkle to the economy of Las Vegas.  Also, four of the largest Las Vegas Strip operators have filed third quarter profits which are a little lower than what they have filed during the second quarter and were even less than what they have gained from the previous year.  Also included in this was the month when a collapse in the US stock market and several banks was reported.  In spite of this, a growing number of executives and analysts of the industry are expecting a big rebound next year.

Some areas in the US affected by the high foreclosure rates include Detroit, Las Vegas and California where the realtors have placed high discount rates on their asking prices.  The newly extended and expanded tax credit is raising the income limits for eligible buyers, which also includes existing homeowners.  With the said tax credit extension, home owners are now persuaded in selling their houses in the next one or two years to be able to take benefit of the tax credit.  An increase in the supply would mean sellers can now price their home more competitively.

Based on the reports, the US Marshal Service has now placed Bernard Madoff’s former houses in the market.  By the recommendation of the listing agents, the US Marshal has decided to lower the list price of the house for sale in order to encourage more interested home buyers.  But with the recent plunge in US economy, it still remains a hard task to sell Madoff’s 4,000-square-foot extravagant penthouse in Manhattan because of its high starting price.  The penthouse has dropped to $8.9 million (inclusive of the 10% price discount) from its original $9.9 million asking rate.  As of November 1, it is said that one of every four homes presently on the market is getting at least one price cut over the past 12 months.  A continuing average of 10% discount from the original prices of regular homes are also said to be in effect.  As of the luxury homes, those that are listed above $2 million and higher may have bigger discounts that are averaging to almost 14% less from their original prices.

The Panattoni Development Company financed a deal of purchasing a building complex that is built on an 19 acre land and is now offering a competitively prices industrial space for sale, the prices were said to be starting from as low as $100 per square foot.  As stated by the Senior Vice President for Panattoni, Doug Roberts, they are giving low priced deals in order to set a trend that could affect and make the rents go down.  Also, they are not after the high rates of returns, but setting their goal to get as much clients as possible and get the deal done.  The inventory of the for-sale industrial buildings has gone up by 20% to 1.14 million square feet in the third quarter.  As mentioned, one of those properties measuring 98,512-square-foot complex at Buffalo Drive and Post Road in southwest Las Vegas was purchased by the Panattoni Development Company from the Nevada State Bank last July.

The leasing rate partially went up in the third quarter, going up to 500,000 square feet of activity which concentrated mostly on the northern part of Las Vegas.  Based on the real estate consultants, the short-term deals, lease renewals, cheaper rents, and owner incentives help drive the activity.  The industrial realty sales is slowly going up since last year, since its fall from the previous quarter.  Even though the sales prices are slowly falling as the rates of capitalization went up to 10.7 percent, the owner-user sales went up from a year ago, with sale prices at one-third of what they were in 2008.

The recent unemployment level in Clark County has reached to the level of 13.9 percent in September, nearly doubling its amount compared to the previous year.  Based on the reports, the hardest hit was the construction industry, more particularly the residential construction, since it is one of the two main employment sectors in Las Vegas Valley, the other being leisure and hospitality.  According to the data, while both the industries are down, the valley industrial market has reversed nine years of positive absorption.  The levels of the industrial employment are now back where they were in 2004.  Also, a drop to an average of 58 cents per square foot has been recorded, excluding the usual taxes, insurance and maintenance.

According to the real estate experts, a drop of 26 percent in the monthly asking rent compared to last year was the effect of the ongoing market turmoil.  Country Clark, experienced a 14.2 rate in vacancy by the end of September, totaling to nearly three times higher from two years ago.  As the economy is continually struggling, Southern Nevada’s industrial and warehouse market are still slowly worsening in the third quarter.  Also, a reported total of six quarters straight loss was recorded with the 15.1 million square feet of empty space.

If you have an impressive credit record, you may able to get attractive mortgage terms with a reasonable amount of arrears in relation to your income and the ability to fully document your income.  Another requirement can be easy for people who receives a regular wage and is employed with the same employer for more than two years.  There are several websites offering estimate prices of individual home sale values such as Zillow.com, HomeGain.com and Cyberhomes.com.  Based on real estate experts, if a buyer gets a credit score of about 740 (on the scale of 300 to 850) or higher and the ability to at least make a 20% down payment, it may get them an interest rate of about 5% with no origination fees on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.

One who is seeking to buy a real estate property could ask a reputable real estate agent to be able to get the statistics of the homes listed as for sale in your area, also by consulting a real estate agent, you can get the neighborhood health of an area and the amount of time it would take the current sales rate to absorb the supply.  Sometimes, you won’t really know the real market value of your home unless you put it on the market.

Based on the reports, New Jersey has fallen by 12% from a year ago with regards to the median price of its home sales.  Home sales and prices in the US have erratically changed every month therefore making it hard to set statistics to its trend.  While in places like Virginia and Washington, the real estate prices remain low, it is predicted that it could take a few more years before all the unsold condominiums can find buyers especially in parts like Florida.  According to the the Otteau Valuation Group, the indication of home sale prices in some states or metropolitan areas won’t really show much on the neighborhood.  The effect of the real estate dilemma has already affected Atlantic City, New Jersey, by having too much speculative construction of condominiums and having a weak demand of vacation homes.

Even though the supply middle class homes in the market is slowly going down, there are still some unaffected in some places meaning it would probably take a couple more years before the home prices of the high –end homes go down.  Despite of the price drops, some real estate data are now showing signs of improvement this year, but the targeted recovery is still far from being restored as of now.  Also, according to some real estate experts, there has also been a steady increase in home sales since 2008, whereby the inventories of homes that are not sold are now down.