Which Las Vegas real estate brokerage firm has bragging rights to No. 1?

By Buck Wargo

Friday, April 23, 2010 | 3 a.m.

Who’s No. 1?

It’s a refrain often talked about in college football where polls and computers help decide who plays for the mythical national championship.

In the real estate brokerage world, it’s about bragging rights and marketing to potential clients.

In Las Vegas, there is a bit of a dispute about who is No. 1.

Realty One Group has a billboard at the beltway and Jones Boulevard claiming it’s No. 1.

In its most recent reporting to In Business Las Vegas for the Book of Business Lists, Realty One had $1.2 billion in sales for the year ending in June.

That was second to Prudential Americana Group, which claimed $1.6 billion in sales for the same period. Prudential reported closing on 7,892 homes to 6,600 for Realty One Group.

The billboard caught the attention of Prudential Americana Group, which claims the No. 1 mantle for the Las Vegas market, and which asked Realty One Group about its claim.

Kuba Jewgieniew, president and CEO of Realty One Group, said a search of the numbers from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors’ Multiple Listing Service showed that in March and going back six months, his firm had $712 million in sales compared with $674 million for Prudential Americana Group. In addition, his firm had 4,568 transactions compared with 4,320 for Prudential Americana.

His firm even has more agents at 1,600 compared with 1,200 for Prudential Americana, he said.

Mark Stark, Prudential Americana CEO, said that for anyone to have the No. 1 mantle, it has to be for a specific time frame, and the best way to gauge that is during a calendar year.

“That is what holds water,” Stark said. “You need to use the full year. Otherwise, every broker in town could pick something and say he is No. 1. He can look at five ZIP codes or just buyers. That is all meaningless.”

Stark said he realizes his brokerage won’t hold that spot forever and had lost it for a time to a now-defunct brokerage.

“There are brokers in the market who will hire anyone who wants to move their license there even if they only do three deals a year,” Stark said. “That is not our model. We can’t afford to do that.”

The Realtors’ group won’t provide any numbers that give definitive rankings.

Las Vegas foreclosures increase

The number of foreclosure filings on Nevada homes rose 34 percent in March compared with February, and the delinquency rate for homeowners is also on the rise, according to statistics released by research firms.

It’s too soon to say whether foreclosures will swell further in Nevada because of the recession, but analysts said the good news is the filings are below a year ago.

California-based RealtyTrac said foreclosures in Nevada during the first quarter rose 15 percent compared with 2009’s fourth quarter, but fell 16 percent compared with the first quarter of 2009.

Despite the 34 percent increase in March over February, filings fell 26 percent compared with March 2009.

Nevada held its top spot in the nation for foreclosures in March and the first quarter. It has been No. 1 since January 2007.

Nevada had 6,217 notices of default filed in March and 2,601 homes foreclosed upon, RealtyTrac reported.

Nationwide, RealtyTrac reported foreclosures rose 7 percent in the first quarter compared with the fourth quarter of 2009 and were 16 percent higher than the first quarter of 2009. In March, RealtyTrac reported foreclosures rose 19 percent compared with February and 8 percent compared with March 2009.

Arizona was No. 2 in the nation in the first quarter. It reported foreclosures rose 22 percent from the fourth quarter and were up 13 percent from the first quarter of 2009.

In California, which ranked No. 4 after Florida, foreclosure filings rose nearly 5 percent from the fourth quarter and fell 6 percent from the first quarter of 2009.

Foreclosures are jumping dramatically in Utah, rising 75 percent in the first quarter over the first quarter of 2009. The state is now ranked No. 5 in the nation in foreclosure rates.

First American CoreLogic reported that the delinquency rate in Nevada for mortgages 90 days or more past due rose to 19 percent in February, up from 12 percent in February 2009. In Las Vegas, the rate rose to 22 percent in February, up from 14 percent in February 2009. That contrasts to the U.S. rate of 9 percent in February, up from 5.75 percent in February 2009.

Real estate report

Commerce Real Estate Solutions reported an office vacancy rate in Las Vegas of 23.1 percent in the first quarter, up from 20.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009. The firm said leasing activity has picked up compared with 2009, but the economic outlook is a concern because of tighter credit and rising unemployment.

“In the coming months, we expect commercial and real estate prices to decline further and not seeing any true recovery until the end of the year to early next year,” the firm said. “The market will continue to be impacted by cautious activity of consumers and businesses, causing vacancies to remain elevated and likely continue to increase.”