While many U.S. housing markets are seeing an increase in home sales, Las Vegas is still struggling. That's especially true for new home construction which has stiff competition from the flood of foreclosed homes for sale.

One local builder says the key to selling is adapting to buyer's changing needs.

There appears to be a shift in the consumer culture. Homebuyers concerned about both the economy and the environment are choosing smaller, less expensive and more energy efficient homes.

It's a trend that long-time Las Vegas homebuilder American West also noticed and it says it's Lexington community in Highlands Ranch represents the idea that less can be more.

The Lexington community in the far southwest caters to a new breed of new homebuyer. According to the latest census data, new home sizes are shrinking considerably.

Consumers are becoming more practical in these tough economic times. They want smaller, more affordable, more energy efficient home but with many of the designer features offered in large custom homes.

“They just don't want to deal with all the maintenance and utility costs that go along with a larger home, especially one that was built before all the energy efficient systems were around,” said Jimmy Jones with American West.

Three out of the four models at Lexington are 1,600 square feet or less, but prospective homebuyers say you wouldn't know it walking through them.

“They may not think 1,400 square feet is very big, but after they walk it they say, ‘Wow. Look at all you can get in 1,400 square feet,'” said Jones.

Even in a recession and a market still flooded with foreclosures, American West says 40 to 60 prospective buyers a week tour its Lexington community. With prices starting at $188,000, phase one sold out in less than two months.

“We're paying just as much or more for our rent in our condo right now than we would be for a brand new home,” said one prospective buyer.

“People are out there comparing, and they learn that for $188,000 they can buy a brand new home and have the security of that new home warranty,” said Jones.

And American West isn't the only homebuilder adapting. According to the National Association of Homebuyers, nine out of 10 homebuilders are now planning or building smaller, less expensive homes to meet this new consumer demand.

Right now, it costs most new homebuilders more money to construct a house than they can sell it for. But American West's long track record in Las Vegas is allowing the company to subsidize its own home sale prices, giving it the pricing muscle it needs to go head to head in the foreclosure ridden market.

Foreclosed homes bring down the average value of homes in every neighborhood. So many homeowners who'd like to sell are left wondering just how much their homes are really worth.

Take a look around your neighborhood and you'll likely find a foreclosed home. That has many homeowners wondering just how much their property is worth.

“If you have a lot of foreclosures and short sales going on in your particular market, then your value goes down,” said Mike Brunson with Ascent Appraisal.

Right now, it's a buyers market. But what if you are trying to sell your home? Even if you've always been on time with your payments and have never defaulted on your mortgage, foreclosures are affecting you, “The best advice, if you don't have to sell, don't sell.”

Brunson has been an appraiser since the mid 90's. He's seen more and more homeowners watch their home values drop because of foreclosures in their neighborhood, “People don't have control over the value of their homes, the market does. It's supply and demand. A lot of what I hear people talking about is my house is worth more than what the current market reflects.”

Brunson says now is not the time to add extras to your home for the sake of trying to sell, “That pool can be more of a marketing factor instead of a value factor and pools are worthless in this market.”

The same goes for remodeling. UNLV Professor Dr. Alan Schlottmann has studied housing trends for more than 20 years. He says appraisers are not the bearer of bad news, they're just doing their jobs, “Appraisers have to follow rules and the levels in the details. It's the rules which we have to value the homes.”

Experts say since the majority of the sales market is being run by foreclosed homes, if you can wait to sell your house, that's your best option right now. If you can't, be prepared to get less for your home, and don't bother with any upgrades.

New unemployment numbers for Nevada are going to be released later this week and they aren't expected to be good. Because of the rising unemployment, thousands of people showed up to a job fair at Texas Station.

The event, sponsored by Las Vegas Jobs, hoped to match employers with potential employees. They expected over 5,000 people to turn out.

One of the job seekers lost her job in December. “It was disheartening at first, but then I have to stop and think when God closes a door, he always opens a window. So there is something out there and I have to have patience and wait,” said Shirley Iodence.

Ken Gregg is in luck because there are a lot of sales jobs available with the 38 companies at the fair, “I dress to impress. I'm like a little pitbull, if you let me out of the cage, I'm going to get a sale.”

Other open positions include attorneys, vice presidents, chefs, models, IT managers, and massage therapists just to name a few. The companies range from MGM Mirage to Clark County and Sierra Nevada College and Tahiti Village.

Ted Becker, a manager at Yellow Pages, had a few words of wisdom for job seekers, “Somebody that's got a ton of energy — that's really positive. Somebody that has a lot of focus and ideas of where they want to go in their career, because we're not looking for people who are looking for a job, we're looking for someone who wants a career — who's driven.”

The largest company with the most opportunities is MGM Mirage. But they say half of the 12,000 CityCenter jobs will be filled with existing MGM Mirage employees, so that leaves 6,000 open positions at current properties.

Parents packed Tuesday night's school board meeting, angry about the district's rezoning plans. They were hoping to change the board members' minds, but after hours of debate, it didn't happen.

Parents stormed out of the board room late Tuesday evening. In all, nearly 13,000 students district-wide will be forced to attend different schools next year, despite passionate pleas from parents.

Parents lined up and sounded off. They want their kids to stay at the school they're already zoned for.

“I've spent many hours trying to understand how something so illogical to me makes sense to anybody else,” said Mary Saladino.

Students don't want to move either, “Out of my entire circle of friends, inside the band and out, I am the only one being forced to leave Coronado.”

The district says reworking school boundaries is necessary because some campuses are overcrowded and others are under capacity. At the center of the controversy is whether to move 200 students from Coronado High School in Henderson across Saint Rose Parkway to Liberty High School in Las Vegas.

“If my kid was handed a problem, we have you to solve this problem, and this was the answer he gave and come up with this zoning change, I would hope he'd get an F,” said Gib Dawson.

The board debated, even discussing giving current Coronado students options to stay. In the end, trustees voted not to give those students the choice to continue their education at Coronado.

“It's difficult to do it for one community and not do it for the other communities, so that's really the trap that the trustees were caught in,” said Superintendent Walt Rulffes.

“You're taking a varsity football player, that's been a star player, and having him to go to another team — his competition,” said parent Annette Westerfield.

It's an adjustment for parents, their kid's education, and extracurricular activities, “You're messing with children's careers and that's the part that is very frustrating.”

The changes at all affected school will begin next school year.

An 8-month-old baby is without a mother after a domestic dispute turned deadly on Saturday morning.

Police spokesman Jacinto Rivera says officers were called to the scene by a woman in Long Beach, Calif. who told police that her sister was being battered by a suspected murderer.

After officers arrived, a woman and the man carried the baby out of the home. The woman did not have a chance to escape because the man was holding a gun on her. As an officer retrieved the child, he was shot in the arm.

 Rivera says police believe the suspect then shot the woman before turning the gun on himself. The identities of those involved were not released.