Foreclosures eat away at upscale enclave

By Marshall Allen

Sunday, July 22, 2007 | 1:16 a.m.

The upscale San Niccolo neighborhood, in one of the Las Vegas Valley's newest master-planned communities, would seem a homeowner's dream, its quiet streets lined with expansive homes starting at a half-million dollars.

But anyone who drives past the broken entry gate will find a neighborhood pocked with "for sale" signs.

They signify homes lost to, or threatened by, foreclosures.

The remaining homeowners and renters say they feel isolated and vulnerable - worried not just about their own investments but for their very safety, living alongside vacant homes or ones rented to people who just don't care that much about the neighborhood.

Across the country, the real estate bust has left homeowners reeling from foreclosures.

No state has been hit harder than Nevada.

There are faces behind the numbers. Some of them have lived in - and moved from - this neighborhood in Southern Highlands, a place that promised the American Dream framed by dazzling city lights and soothing desert darkness.

Karen Lewis and her husband bought a home on Arcata Point Avenue a year ago. She says they paid too much, considering what's happened to the area.

"I love this neighborhood for its potential," Lewis says diplomatically.

Of the 300 homes in San Niccolo, 60 are for sale and a third of those are in some state of foreclosure, according to the Multiple Listing Service. An additional 30 properties were sold in the past year, and many other homes are vacant.

Each listing's history documents the optimism of the recent house-flipping boom - buying and selling for quick profit. Those days are over.

Two summers ago the owner of a 3,100-square-foot home on Rock Cove Way wanted $690,000 for it. Three months later the house sold for $635,000. It's now empty and owned by a bank, which will take $468,000 for it. The neighborhood isn't blighted, but many pricey homes are clearly neglected.

The porch and driveway of a home on Steponia Bay Street, now in the hands of a California bank, are littered with three sets of phone books, delivered at six-month intervals starting in July 2006. A weathered delivery notice has been sitting on the front stoop since October.

The churn of homeowners is evident on nearby Arcata Point Way. On a two-block stretch with 33 homes, eight are listed for sale or were sold in the past year. Five of those, since February, were in a state of foreclosure. Several others on the street are vacant.

The real estate upheaval has opened the door for renters such as Katina Haynes, who pays $1,350 a month to rent a 2,600-square-foot home.

She says the price is great but the neighborhood is strangely lonely.

"I feel like when I moved in here I entered the Twilight Zone," Haynes says. "I keep thinking, 'I know people live in these houses,' but I never see anybody."

Four of the five houses surrounding Haynes are vacant. It concerns her.

"You count on your neighbors for certain things," she says. "I'm at the end of the cul-de-sac, so no one would hear my screams."

She'll soon move into a home she has bought elsewhere, and says she won't miss San Niccolo.

Bart Yeates, who rents farther down the street, points to a vacant home across from his. People in the market to buy in the neighborhood might be put off by all the empty houses, he says. And what about vandalism?

Indeed, crime is a concern. Melyssa Cabrera, who lives a few blocks away, has posted a notice on a bank of mailboxes warning that her purse was stolen from inside her garage and that someone had broken into her husband's car in the driveway.

Cabrera says she and her husband bought their home two years ago for $435,000 and have added $70,000 in upgrades - pool, spa and putting green among them. Now, a job transfer is leading them away. They're asking $420,000 for their half-million-dollar home.

Cabrera says her family has felt isolated in Southern Highlands as families - and her children's playmates - have come and gone. And since the burglaries this month, she feels unsafe.

Lewis, who moved from Oceanside, Calif., is particularly bothered that investors haven't found buyers. As a result, she says, young adults who presumably can't afford to own a home here - and inject pride of ownership into the neighborhood - are moving in as renters. They invite over friends who force their cars through the gate, which now is repeatedly broken.

Another woman who lives on Arcata Point, who asked not to be identified because she's concerned about criticizing her neighbors, is taking security into her own hands. She says the young people renting on the street create a fraternity house atmosphere on weekends. You wouldn't believe what she steps over after their all-night binges, she says.

Her alarm peaked after an incident last Sunday when she encountered one of the neighbor's menacing pit bulls on her front lawn. Scuff marks and muddy paw prints from the attack were still visible on her front porch Thursday. She said she kicked the dog, bashed it on the nose with a water bottle and barely scrambled in the front door unscathed.

The woman moved to San Niccolo a year ago and rented her home with the expectation she would buy it.

She now feels the neighborhood has deceived her.

She's ready now for that pit bull. She keeps two bottles of pepper spray by the front door - and has ordered a Glock .40 -caliber handgun because of its stopping power.

Her anxiety from living in this neighborhood is palpable. There's no place to report that in real estate statistics.