Category Archive : Investing

LAS VEGAS, NV – The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has stepped-up enforcement of a federal civil rights law known as the Fair Housing Act that prohibits housing discrimination based on race or color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or disability.

In particular, the DOJ is focusing on an aspect of the Fair Housing Act that was added in 2016 by the Obama Admin’s U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that forbade landlords and property owners from utilizing background checks to screen prospective tenants to ensure they do not have criminal records before allowing them to rent their properties.

At the time that the ban on criminal background checks was instituted, the HUD General Counsel at the time, Helen R. Kanovsky, wrote that the new rule was needed – even if no discrimination whatsoever was intended on the part of a property owner – “because of widespread racial and ethnic disparities in the U.S. criminal justice system, criminal history-based restrictions on access to housing are likely disproportionately to burden African Americans and Hispanics.”

Recently, the feds have ramped-up their efforts to aggressively pursue landlords in the instances that this practice has been alleged to have occurred, filing lawsuits against them. One recent example involves legal action taken against Suburban Heights, an apartment complex in Kinloch, Missouri, with the DOJ claiming that management has been actively violating the Fair Housing Act since 2015 by actively and disproportionately discriminating against potential Black renters with criminal histories – including felony convictions – more than their White counterparts.

The DOJ further noted statistical Black-White racial disparities in conviction and incarceration rates in the United States, saying landlord background screenings unfairly hurt Black renters once they have served their time and are looking to re-enter society.

Incarceration data indicates that Black individuals are significantly more likely than White individuals to have the types of convictions covered by Suburban Heights’ Criminal History Ban,” the DOJ said in court documents. “This is true nationwide and, to an even greater extent, in St. Louis City and St. Louis County. Black individuals are at least four times, and often more than five times, more likely than White individuals to be incarcerated in prisons, both at any given point in time and over the course of their lifetimes.”

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Renaissance III, an “underperforming” Las Vegas shopping center that recently went into foreclosure, has been purchased by Aspen Real Estate for $24.7 million, as announced by the New Jersey-based private equity real estate investment firm via a press release on Monday.

The 225,748-square-foot property, located in a heavily-populated area two miles from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas at the corner of East Flamingo and East Pecos Roads, was acquired by Aspen from LNR Property LLC, representing the CMBS bond group.

Las Vegas-based Logic Commercial Real Estate, which represented both parties during the transaction, has also been made Renaissance III’s new leasing agent as well.

On the announcement of the sale, Philip Proetto of Aspen pointed out the firm’s long history of investing in foreclosed retail and commercial properties, and stated that he was looking forward to improving the facility and leasing its units to interested parties as soon as possible.

Our history of purchasing foreclosure property helped us secure the contract. Ren III represents a fantastic Value Add opportunity,” Proetto said. “Various tenants have wanted to lease space at the property, but the bond group could not offer tenants money for improvements. Aspen has allocated $7 million for renovations and tenant improvements.”

This acquisition was especially of interest to Aspen, as Renaissance III is located in a very densely-populated area; within a five-mile radius, there are approximately 182,541 households with a total number of 465,278 residents, each and every one of them a potential customer for the shopping center.

We believe this powerful demographic, combined with a 62,000-per-day car count, will attract numerous retailers,” said Proetto.

Current Renaissance III tenants include multiple national chains, such as Planet Fitness, America First Credit Union, Ichabod’s restaurant and gaming, and Panda Express, as well as the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services and several smaller, locally-owned businesses. In addition, Aspen is currently offering a 60,000-square-foot space in the center to several supermarket owners.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – A homeowner is fighting a $180,000 fine imposed upon him by the city of Las Vegas for operating an unlicensed short-term rental back in 2021, claiming that his tenant was the one that actually listed the property without his knowledge and that the huge fine – which is mostly made up of late fees – violates his right to due process under state law.

Originally, homeowner Xin Tao was hit with an initial fine of $2,132 in August 2021 for violating Las Vegas’ strict laws governing short-terms rentals within city limits. However, Tao said that a tenant that was living at the property at the time was the one that listed it out via Airbnb without telling him, and following multiple complaints by neighbors, Las Vegas authorities conducted over 10 inspections and ultimately issued the fine.

Tao, who does not reside in Nevada, unsuccessfully attempted to evict the tenant when he learned of the situation; since he believed that the tenant should have been the one to pay the fine, he himself refused to do so. Unfortunately for him, Las Vegas’s short-term rental code imposes a $500 per day late fee penalty, causing the fine to eventually swell to $180,000, leading to the very real threat that Tao’s home could be auctioned off to satisfy the debt, although Las Vegas officials have yet to go in that direction.

In response, Tao has filed a lawsuit against the city of Las Vegas, with the lawyer representing him – Andrew Bao – claiming that the city never informed his client that he was accruing $500 per day in late fees for two whole years, denying him of his right to due process under the Nevada Constitution.

To have a $2,132 fine astronomically balloon to $180,000, without notice for more than two years, is a violation of due process and Petitioner’s constitutional rights,” the lawsuit reads. “Further, the $180,000 is an excessive fine and punishment in violation of Petitioner’s constitutional rights.”

The filing of the lawsuit follows a May 13 hearing where a judge denied Tao’s motion to have the fine thrown out due to his failure to appeal the penalty within 25 days following a previous vote by the city council to uphold it.

Tao is demanding $15,000 in damages plus attorney’s fees, the cancellation of the $180,000 fine, and an injunction protecting Tao’s home from being foreclosed on by the city.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – When they open their doors for business later this year, Otonomus Hotel will be offering guests a unique way to ensure a memorable stay each and every time they come: utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to customize and enhance their experience to their exact needs and wants.

Philippe Ziade, CEO and Founder of Growth Holdings – Otonomus Hotel’s developer – said that this new concept of fully powering a hotel with AI in order to personalize guests’ stay is filling a very real void that currently exists in the current hotel model. And he noted that the firm’s status as not just a real estate developer, but as a tech company as well, ensures that the coding goes hand-in-hand with the bricklaying.

“So, it’s really all these layers that the hospitality industry is missing today. That’s what we’re bringing with the concept. It’s really the best value product on the market – that’s how we see it. Where it gives you the best of both worlds,” Ziade said. “We are different to start with, because we are developers as well as technology developers – not just real estate – so that makes us very unique in connecting these minds across these different industries to create that new concept.”

Currently in development, the “Class A” complex – which will be a hybrid comprised of 60 percent hotels rooms and 40 percent apartments – is situated on a 13-acre plot of land in the vicinity of Allegiant Stadium, located at the corner of Russell Road and Decatur Boulevard. The apartment will feature standard 12-month leases as well as short-term rentals that come fully-furnished.

All rooms will boast interconnectivity via a series of doors that can be locked or unlocked by the hotel’s AI algorithm, allowing guests to book the exact number and configuration of rooms they want for their stay, from just one single room all the way up to a six-bedroom penthouse.

The AI – via a downloadable mobile app – will also function as a “personal assistant” that can be used to request cleaning, as well ordering food, extra towels or toiletries to be sent to your room; the requested items will be delivered via a two-way cabinet by the main door of your room, known as an “E-Butler.”

In addition, the AI will keep a permanent record of the guest’s preferences, so if they return even years later, their room will automatically remember the same exact temperature and language preferences, how they take their coffee, food likes/dislikes, and other settings as before, as well as being able to offer personalized entertainment recommendations and even the ability to check in and out through their phone.

So, two years later you come – we have a better service than a five-star hotel,” Ziade said. “Because they’re not going to remember who you are unless you spend millions of dollars. So that’s what we do.”

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Real estate investors have been ramping up their activity nationwide once again, and one of the areas that has seen the largest increase in single-family home purchases on the part of corporate entities as of late is the Las Vegas Valley.

According to a new report by Redfin, the number of homes purchased by investors in Las Vegas was 2.7 percent higher in the first quarter of 2024 when compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, the second highest increase in the entire country. The only other major city that ranked higher in that regard was Oakland, California, which saw a 2.9 percent jump quarter-over-quarter.

Redfin stated that the current average price of an investor-purchased home in the United States is $464,560, and in the first quarter of 2024 these entities have spent $31.3 billion so far snapping up properties left and right.

Meanwhile, according to MLS data, the number of single-family homes up for sale in the Las Vegas Valley is approximately 4,000, and 17 percent of those – amounting to 697 – are priced at less than $400,000, with the median sale price currently being $435,000, as per Redfin.

With the limited amount of inventory in Vegas at the sub-$400,000 price point, investors are increasing their activity in the Valley to take advantage and get the most value for their money.

Also, the majority of investor purchases – 69 percent – are made up of all-cash transactions, so they are far less impacted by the currently high mortgage loan rates that are impacting the real estate industry, Redfin noted.

The amount of investor activity in Southern Nevada has been compounded by the rising number of hedge funds and institutional investment companies backed by Wall Street that have been purchasing large numbers of single-family homes and turning them into rental properties, resulting in increased scarcity in a market with already low inventory.

The problem, both in Vegas and nationwide, has gotten to the point where several bills are being introduced – both on both federal and state levels – that, if passed, would forbid institutional investors from purchasing additional homes, and potentially even force them to sell off the ones they do have over a set period of time.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – According to Clark County property records, Lennar Corporation, one of the largest home construction companies in the United States, has bought 37 acres of land in Henderson for $45 million from California-based Trilogy Land Holdings LLC.

It is expected that Lenar will develop the vacant land – the sale of which closed on March 1 – into a single-family residential community. The property is located in west Henderson, just south of the Henderson Executive Airport and the master-planned community of Inspirada, close to the McCullough Range and Black Mountain.

Based out of Miami-Dade County in Florida, Lennar Corporation is the second-largest homebuilder in the nation based on the number of homes sold as of 2023, with 68,817 recorded closings; in that same year, the company was ranked 119th on the Fortune 500. Lennar Corporation’s share price has soared 235 percent in the last half decade, with a 17 percent gain in just the last three months alone.

Henderson, Nevada is heralded as one of the fastest-growing municipalities in the nation, seeing a large explosion recently in both the residential and commercial real estate industries; in January, the city approved plans submitted by Woodside Homes of Nevada for the development of two residential subdivision projects – dubbed Cadence Acacia and Cadence Meridian – on nearly 17 acres of land, for a total of 160 lots.

Development in Henderson has also commenced on The Canyon at Ascaya, which upon completion will offer 51 multimillion-dollar residences designed and built by Las Vegas luxury developer Blue Heron, and will feature impressive views of the Las Vegas Valley, including the famed Las Vegas Strip. The homes in The Canyon at Ascaya will be comprised of single-floor, three-to-four-bedroom residences ranging in size from 3,391 square-feet to 4,407 square-feet, and owners will be able to enjoy a wide range of high-end amenities.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Multiple variances for a $1.8 billion movie studio and mixed-use project backed by Howard Hughes Holdings, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Hollywood A-list actor Mark Wahlberg were officially approved by the Clark County Zoning Commission on Wednesday, with the next step of the process involving sending the plans to the Nevada legislature and Governor Joe Lombardo for their approval as well.

Wahlberg – acting as a consultant on the project – is a proponent of expanding Nevada’s film tax credit program and bringing major film production to Las Vegas, saying he wants to transform the city into “Hollywood 2.0.”

The proposed movie studio and mixed-use project – if fully approved by the Governor and legislature – will be developed on what is currently a dirt lot located near Flamingo Road and Town Center Drive in Summerlin, and will be dubbed “Summerlin Production Studios.”

The facility is slated to be comprised of ten buildings, including a 500,000 square-foot studio and production facility; 100,000 square-feet of retail, restaurant and office space; an emergency medical facility; and a Clark County government satellite office. A fire station that already exists at the property will remain and will be included in the project as well.

Once completed, Summerlin Production Studios is expected to create as many as 10,000 jobs according to David O’Reilly – CEO of Howard Hughes, the developer of Summerlin as well as the proposed studio – and Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra, who gave a presentation to Clark County commissioners prior to Wednesday’s vote.

Most high-paying union wages that will be working every day inside and out of these movie productions,” O’Reilly said. “Summerlin has been ranked one of the best master-planned communities for decades. That’s not going to change with the building of a movie studio. It’s only going to make it better.”

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Short-term rentals, STRs, are a major money-making business in the United States, and a new report indicates that among all of the cities in the country, the ones located in Las Vegas are among the very most profitable short-term rentals in the entire country.

The housing market in Las Vegas shot to unprecedented heights during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the median price of a single-family home jumping by over 50 percent by May 2022. Nearly 100,000 new residents moved to Southern Nevada during the same period of time, creating a seller’s market the likes of which had not been seen in many a year.

While most of the homes purchased during this span of time were by families and individuals who had relocated to the state, a large number of them were bought by investors seeking to turn them into STRs, a logical occurrence given the fact that Las Vegas is one of the most well-known destinations for tourism on the entire planet.

A new report released by finance experts Wealth of Geeks compared the average nightly rate of STRs in major cities across the United States, and contrasted that data with the average weekly wage in the same city, as provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. When comparing the two sets of information Wealth of Geeks were able to figure out what percentage of their weekly earnings could be comprised of income from Airbnb ownership.

Among major U.S. cities, Las Vegas came in at number five on that list, with the average nightly rate being $312. And with the median weekly wage in Las Vegas being $724, the average profit made from a nightly rental rate would translate to approximately 43.1 percent of the owner’s weekly income, according to Wealth of Geeks’ data.  

Of course, STRs are typically not rented out seven days a week, 365 days a year; however, even a slow short-term rental can still generate a significant degree of revenue for its owner in Las Vegas. An example of a slow month could be comprised of two three-night weekends a month, which would bring in $1,872 in profit alone; during busier months, a fortunate owner could book all four weekends, and if they are using a four-night minimum, that would get them $4,992 a month.

And one thing about Las Vegas, experts say – there aren’t many slow months.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Las Vegas has seen an explosion of development in recent years, and 2024 doesn’t seem to indicate the momentum will be slowing down anytime soon. That being said, there are a number of high-profile hotel and resort projects in the works during this upcoming year, and below you’ll find a breakdown of some of the more significant ones, along with their current status.

First up is Dream Las Vegas, a boutique hotel that has been proposed to be built on Las Vegas Boulevard. Construction on the 531-room project halted in early 2023 after the developer’s financing infamously – and publicly – dried up; however, developer Shopoff Realty investments announced in October that it was attempting to acquire new financing, and that development was tentatively slated to start up once again in the early months of 2024. However, as of now there has been no additional progress made on the project, although Shopoff Realty Investments CEO and President, Bill Shopoff, recently announced that he had reached a loan commitment, with new financing expected to close in February and work on the project to resume by late March.

Next on our list is the Atari Hotel – yes, as in the legendary videogame brand – which is being described by developer GSD Group as a “modern hospitality experience inspired by gaming culture.” Las Vegas was announced as being one of the first locations for the new Atari-branded hotel chain, with renderings of the project originally publicly revealed in 2020. The hotel was slated to take the form of a 400-room facility located adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip, with an anticipated opening date of late 2022, but that date came and went without any progress. However, Atari Hotels recently reached out to the media and announced that GSD Group is currently in talks to find a site for the project, indicating that it is still in the works.

The Mirage Las Vegas transferred operations in December 2022 from MGM Resorts International to new owners Hard Rock, the gaming arm of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, who purchased the rights to operate resort for $1.075 billion; this marks the first time that a Native American tribe has run a Las Vegas Strip-based casino in history. While Hard Rock plans to continue operating The Mirage under its current name for the time being, the plan is to re-brand the resort with the Hard Rock name in 2024 and redevelop the building into the same trademark guitar-style shape as other Hard Rock resorts. The eventual plan for the resort includes a 600-room, 660-foot-tall project along Las Vegas Boulevard – slated to be built exactly where the existing Mirage volcano currently is – with 49,000 square feet of gaming area and 96,000 square feet of retail and restaurants; amenities will include a pool, spa, fitness center, and salon.

And finally, a currently-unnamed 43-story casino-resort project backed by billionaire Tilman Fertitta Is expected to make some serious progress this year. The proposed hotel is slated to be located at the southwest corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon Avenue, and applications for building permits were originally submitted in March 2023. The project is envisioned as a hotel resort with 2,420 hotel rooms, in addition to multiple restaurants, meeting and convention space, a spa, wedding chapel, and a 2,500 seat theater.

Of course, this is just a small sampling of the many high-profile works that are in development right now in Las Vegas; a follow-up article will shed light on more.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Rising home prices in Nevada, coupled with a rapidly increasing number of single-family houses being snatched up by corporate investors to be used as rentals properties, has made the path to home ownership for some state residents wrought with insurmountable obstacles due to affordability concerns and an overall lack of inventory.

Investors have been snapping up a significant number of residences in southern Nevada in recent years, with approximately 15 percent of single-family homes in Clark County being owned by such entities. The scope of this issue was laid bare by a report earlier this month that revealed a Dallas-based corporate landlord – backed by Wall Street – had purchased 264 homes in Clark County in a massive sale that took place on a single day in the summer of 2023.

Nevada lawmakers have previously introduced bills with the intent to limit and track the number of homes purchased by investors within the state. The most recent attempt pushed forth during the 2023 state legislative session, SB 395, was vetoed by Governor Joe Lombardo, who claimed the bill would have had a detrimental effect upon jobs, tax revenue, and the availability of rental properties.

However, action on this matter is now potentially being taken on a federal level. U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen and Congressman Steven Horseford, both Nevada-based Democrats, are co-sponsoring a bill called the Housing Oversight and Mitigating Exploitation (HOME) Act which, if passed, would make it illegal for any entity to rent or sell a unit at a price that was considered unreasonable, in addition to tasking the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with investigating instances of alleged price gouging and manipulation on the part of corporate investors.

Sky-high costs of housing and rent are hurting hardworking Nevadans and putting a strain on their budgets,” Senator Rosen said. “That’s why I’m introducing a bill to crack down on price gouging by corporate investors and lower housing costs for Nevada families. I’m committed to doing everything I can to lower costs and give Nevadans more breathing room.”

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – According to a new report released this week, a Dallas-based corporate landlord backed by Wall Street purchased hundreds of homes in Clark County in a massive sale that took place on a single day in the summer of 2023.

Spread out amongst three separate residential transactions that took place on July 18, a whopping 264 homes in Clark County were purchased by Invitation Homes (NYSE: INVH) from the Miami-based investment firm Starwood Capital Group. The three transactions consisted of $57.5 million for 155 homes, $26.3 million for 70 homes, and $14.1 million for 39 homes, for a grand total of $98 million, as per Clark County property records.

94 of the homes sold were located in the city of Las Vegas, With an additional 77 homes in North Las Vegas. The purchase price for the homes in question ranged from between $292,000 to $694,000, with the average price being $371,514.

While that deal between Starwood Capital and Invitation Homes may seem mind-bogglingly huge, it was merely part of a larger transaction between the two entities that consisted of a $650 million real estate portfolio swap for approximately 1,900 single-family rental homes, most of which are spread out amongst areas in Texas, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, and California.

The deal is part of an ongoing phenomenon where hedge funds and corporate landlords backed by Wall Street – in addition to affluent investors – have been responsible for a rash of purchases of single-family homes across the country in recent years that they then typically utilize as rental properties. However, experts say this has been contributing to a shortage of affordable housing for families, in addition to being responsible for a rise in rental rates as well.

At this rate, according to a study by MetLife Investment Management, by 2030 approximately 40 percent of all houses in the United States could be owned by Wall Street corporations.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – The 299-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott Las Vegas Convention Center has been sold for approximately $75 million to real estate investment trust (REIT) Apple Hospitality, as per a joint announcement issued by the two parties.

Located next to the Las Vegas Convention Center at 2989 Paradise Road, Springhill Suites Las Vegas originally opened in October 2009 and boasts over 10,000 square-feet of flexible indoor and outdoor meeting space, in addition to a pool located on the rooftop, a full fitness center, an onsite market and restaurant that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and a massive carpark that comes in at a full seven stories.

The $75 million paid by Apple Hospitality translates to approximately $251,000 per each of the hotel’s 299 rooms.

Apple Hospitality’s President of Real Estate and Investments, Nelson Knight, said that the acquisition of Springhill Suites was part of his firm’s ongoing plan to further entrench themselves in the ever-evolving and growing tourism trade in Las Vegas, citing recent hot new editions to the city’s entertainment and sporting scenes.

Las Vegas, well known as a premier gaming and entertainment destination, has dynamically expanded in recent years with the arrival of major league sports teams, the Sphere and Formula 1 racing, to capture an even larger segment of leisure travel demand,” he said. “In addition to robust leisure demand, the hotel benefits from its proximity to the newly expanded Las Vegas Convention Center, one of the largest and busiest convention centers in the world, and its own indoor/outdoor function space.”

Knight also noted that the $75 million that Apple Hospitality paid to acquire SpringHill Suites was a bargain considering the significant return on their investment that is expected.

The attractive purchase price is just under a 10.7x multiple on trailing twelve-month hotel EBITDA,” he said. “With a strong recovery in overall demand, positive supply dynamics, the recent development and expansion of large-scale entertainment and convention venues, and the upcoming Super Bowl LVIII, we expect performance for Las Vegas and for this hotel to continue to strengthen.”

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.