ReviewJournal.com-There's been a lot of talk about the Las Vegas housing market reaching the bottom, backed by statistics showing an increase in February home sales and stabilized inventory.

Median existing-home prices have fallen to $237,000, below the $240,000 threshold that local housing analysts predicted would be the low point. Las Vegas made national headlines again this week with a 19 percent decline in the January Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index, tied with Miami for the biggest drop among 20 cities measured in the index.

New-home sales in Las Vegas are down 49 percent for the first two months of the year, existing-home sales are off 37 percent and home building permits have plunged 70 percent, housing analyst Dennis Smith said Wednesday at Las Vegas Housing Outlook 2008.

"Obviously we've got tight credit and qualifying requirements," the president of Home Builders Research said. "Those are factors, too. I could go on and on. I think we're close to the bottom, but it's going to be an extended bottom."

Any recovery won't be in the shape of a "V" but a flat-bottom "U," Smith told about 700 builders, developers, mortgage brokers and real estate agents at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

For those of you that do not like to hear about statistics, lets look at a real story about housing. Today I met with a very enthusiastic client whom is ready to make a move on a new home. The excited client strolled into my office with a great grin as he was ready to put in an offer on a Bank Owned Foreclosure Home. He had every right to be excited, he was purchasing a home listed at $250K, which as recently as last year was selling for $75K+ more. We were creating a dynamite offer possibly at $225K to see if the bank would accept something in this price range, which quickly turned into a 245K offer. The home was listed 3 days ago and we were certain the property would be available to receive an offer like ours, which appeared to be in line with market conditions. What I'm about to tell you next will definitely explain whether or not we have hit the bottom in our Real Estate market, not based on numbers, but based on reality. (Even if we have not hit the bottom, we are on the right track as statistics show)

An innocent call to the listing agent to confirm our intent ends up turning into a scenario we did not anticipate. As we let the agent know we had an offer prepared, the agent conveyed the fact he already had 4 offers submitted to the bank. You heard correctly, 4 offers submitted to the bank.(Over the past few weeks I over heard "water cooler" talk about banks getting multiple offers) We were taken aback by the abrupt manner in which my clients home seemed out of reach. How can this be? How can a home that has been on the market for 3 days have 4 offers submitted to the bank in such a short amount of time? The answer can be as simple or as complex as you would like to make it. Was this home the perfect home? Yes it was great home and in mint condition.(A.k.a Cream Puff) Could it be a fluke that this home had 4 offers on it? On the surface, it could have been a fluke, however it seemed the agent mentioned he had a client interested in putting in an offer and they could not get to it fast enough.

We went back to the drawing board and pulled up 4 other model match properties (Properties that are fundamentally the same) for our client to view. Our client was familiar with the properties and conceded to write an offer on another home. We realized time was of the essence because there are atleast 3 other buyers looking for the same home in the same area that will be back at it once their offer is not accepted by the bank.

What do multiple offers mean?
Multiple offers are a healthy sign a real estate market has Buyers standing buy to purchase homes. In this case, it seems our market has Buyers standing buy to purchase specific homes at basement prices. We can also conclude our inventory may be shrinking in certain areas. Building permits are on the drop and Buyers cannot just show up on the door steps of builders expecting to be handed keys to their new home.

Buyers today are savvy and ready. They are armed with e-mail updates and have their agents on speed dial. At the risk of catching some heat, I would venture to say Buyers today are modern day 007's of the real estate market. Buyers are looking for the best deals in specific areas. The high rate of foreclosures and short sales in the Las Vegas and Henderson area allows them to pick the cream of the crop.

Consumer Note: Clark County FHA Limit has been raised to 400K. Buy a home ZERO MONEY DOWN** with a credit as low as 580!

**Certain restrictions and qualifications apply. Must qualify with an FHA Approved Lender.