Las Vegas is living up to its easy come, easy go reputation. In the home of the eternal optimists (riches after all are just one blackjack hand away) the past week has turned out a mixed bag of news.

On the positive spin, MGM Mirage just released the last of its condominiums at its gargantuan CityCenter project, a development that includes Mandarin Oriental residences and Vdara, a condo hotel. The project has been lauded by local real estate analysts as one of the few in the city that, in the current real estate slump, hasn’t taken a knockout. The development includes some 2,650 residences, half of which have been claimed by buyers for a total of $2.9 billion worth of real estate sales.

Of course, the development still needs to sell the remaining units which range from $500,000 to $12 million. Adding to the mix is the Harmon Hotel, Spa and Residences, a collection of 207 condos that will open in late 2009 at CityCenter. The Harmon, a 47-story building with a curved glass façade, offers one- and two-bedroom condos ranging from 1,000 to 3,700 square feet. Buyers will have access to hotel amenities like a resident’s lounge and a pool deck that sits above the Strip, as well as a Frederic Fekkai salon and the Vegas outpost of Los Angeles celeb-magnet restaurant, Mr. Chow.

But the state of the Las Vegas real estate market isn’t all rosy. Just ask the folks at the Las Vegas real estate agency Re/Max Millennium, which launched the website VegasHighRiseResales.com. The homepage says it all:

“Interested in buying Las Vegas high rise condo preconstruction? Why?!? When all the bargains are in the Las Vegas High Rise Condo RESALE market! There are bargain deals everywhere right now as many investors have gotten in over there heads trying to “flip” their units at closing for a quick profit.”

Behind the hyperbole and overuse of exclamation points, the agency presents a valid point to any potential condo buyer. While developers are still hawking their own inventory, there are a slew of properties, previously scooped up by buyers, that are now on the sales block again. Any diligent second home shopper eyeing Las Vegas should no doubt consider the resale market, stocked with condos that have been barely used or never lived in at all, as part of their search.