Effect on home sales expected to be small

Jennifer Shubinski

Thursday, Aug. 21, 2003 | 10:55 a.m.

Flash floods this week in northwest Las Vegas shouldn't hurt new or resale home sales in the area in the long-run, experts say.

Las Vegas home builders said home sites and model homes escaped with little or no damage after rain drenched the northwest Tuesday.

But some existing homes that were for sale didn't fare as well.

"We have one listing on hold because a house was affected and the (seller) didn't have flood insurance," Pete Falger, a real estate agent with Century 21 Advantage Gold, said. "Obviously it affected that one and I'm sure there are other cases like that, but other than that, at this particular point, there was not that much effect."

"The problem is many of the people that were flooded were not in flood zones," he said. "The problem was the drainage ditches and ponds couldn't handle the quantity of water that came down so quickly."

Luxury home builder Toll Brothers reported no problems to its homes after Tuesday's storm.

Toll Brothers has several communities in Summerlin and one in northwest Las Vegas.

"There were a few small trees that broke, but we got lucky," Gary Mayo, division vice president for Toll Brothers, said. "The majority of our communities are in Summerlin. One barely had any rain."

Henderson also was hit by a flash flood Tuesday afternoon, but there was little damage in that part of the valley.

"It was pretty minimal," said Allison Copening, spokeswoman for Del Webb Corp., developer of the Anthem master-plan in Henderson. "A couple of smaller trees were broken, some residents had landscaping that washed out and there was some rock and mud that washed into the roads."

Copening said roads and yards were cleaned Wednesday.

Other builders, such as Pulte Homes (owner of Del Webb Corp.), KB Home and Astoria Homes reported no damage.

Falger said while the flash floods kept thousands stuck in their cars and glued to the TV for hours Tuesday, it won't have a long-lasting effect.

"The floods that we have in the Las Vegas area are just that, flash floods that are quick and then there's the aftermath," he said. "Two weeks from now, people will forget about it, expect those that were directly affected."

Falger said home buyers won't stay away from the northwest because in the past, flash floods have happened in all parts of the valley.

"Four years ago it happened in Henderson, so you just don't know," he said. "Next time it will be somewhere else."