LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The extremely competitive housing market in Southern Nevada has led to homeowner bombardment of unsolicited offers for properties usually by phone or text message and it will not be ending any time soon.
You have likely received phone calls, text messages, even emails and mail.
"Hey this is Casey, looks like I got your voicemail, I know this is kind of out of the blue, I was just reaching out if you would be open to hearing a cash offer on your house," said one recent caller.
The white-hot housing market means desperate times call for desperate measures to try and drum up any kind of inventory to sell.
"We're all getting lots of phone calls, text messages, even snail mail, saying that somebody is interested in buying our home and making an offer sight unseen, and it's definitely a symptom of the limited inventory we are seeing," said Zar Zanganeh, owner and broker of Luxe Estates & Lifestyles.
Zanganeh is used to making million-dollar deals but he too has been burned by the hot housing market.
Recently, he had to resort to writing letters to people to see if they were willing to sell in a highly sought-after neighborhood in Las Vegas.
"It definitely works, in the past, most recently, one of our luxury clients buying a multi-million dollar home made an offer, over the asking price, and we lost the property, even though we made a very clean, cash offer, so out of desperation myself, I sent handwritten letters to all of the other neighbors in that community asking if anybody is interested in possibly selling their home," explained Zanganeh.
Zanganeh admits he has been hit by the unsolicited phone calls and text messages as well, adding he likely receives twice the amount than the ordinary homeowner.
RELATED: Home buying frenzy happening in Las Vegas, real estate broker says
The issue remains there are too few homes for sale for many anxious buyers.
"You've got a couple of things that are going in to play with this, one is, you have 16,500 real estate professionals in the Las Vegas Valley in a market that has a very short supply of inventory," explained Aldo Martinez, president of the Las Vegas Realtor Association.
Martinez says the practice is usually done by real estate professionals, brokers and investors looking to drum up any business they can.
"If you've never worked on commission, they are unemployed every single morning when they wake up, so every morning when they wake up, what they're actually doing is trying to go out to the 660,000 homeowners throughout the valley to find out who is going to hire them to buy or sell real estate," added Martinez.
13 Investigates has learned the offers by the real estate individuals are usually generated through searching public records available through the county assessor website which includes names, addresses, and other information.
RELATED: Realtors get creative selling homes during coronavirus pandemic
Those details can be cross-referenced with third-party services that charge money to render phone numbers and even email addresses.
Experts say the cold call trend should continue or even increase until the housing market normalizes.
If you do not what, or want to crack down on the number of calls or offers, you can make sure you register your number with the National Do Not Call Registry.
If you receive a text message and you want to report it you can do so by contacting the Federal Trade Commission.
