Category Archive : Investing

LAS VEGAS, NV – Last week, the United States Supreme Court’s decision to overrule the Biden Administration’s latest eviction moratorium – originally enacted to avoid homelessness in the midst of the COVUD-19 pandemic – is nonetheless a prime example of being far too little in the face of far too much, reports say.

The Supreme Court found that the decision of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to enact a new eviction ban during the COVID-19 pandemic without the express approval of congressional legislation was essentially illegal, despite its well-meaning intentions of avoiding homelessness that could contribute to additional spikes in infections due to the new Delta COVID variant.

However, while eviction cases that have been held in limbo will now be allowed to finally continue, multiple landlords are saying that – due to myriad eviction bans that have allowed some tenants to live rent-free in their homes for over a year – the Supreme Court’s decision may essentially amount to too little, too late.

The majority of landlords in the United States are not large corporate entities, but small mom-and-pop originations that relied on their rental incomes to support their retirements; but after a year of no income and requirements that nonetheless forced them to provide upkeep without any return, many of them are facing financial ruin regardless of the Supreme Court decision.

James Bathgate, a landlord in California, notes that federal rent relief funds have been trickling out ineffectually over the last few months, and will likely never fully cover the immense losses that they have faced due to draconian eviction moratoriums over the past year.

“We had to sell the property because I couldn’t afford it every month, not getting any income from rent and being forced to take $3,000 a month expenses on the property,” Bathgate said. “Is the government going to now pay me $70,000 that they stole from me? I doubt it.”

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 – It seems that that real estate in Las Vegas is getting so in-demand that even the shell of a burnt-out house will sell in near record-setting time. A scorched and gutted one-story home, located off Cheyenne Avenue east of Interstate 15,  features numerous boarded-up windows and no roof, back door, or many walls to speak of, but that didn’t stop a buyer from swooping right on in and picking it up as if it was a brand-new luxury condo.

After the (former) residence was listed on the open market on July 22, six buyers almost immediately submitted offers for it, and while four of them attempted to low-ball the owner – who listed the property as an “investment opportunity” – two agreed to his asking price of $90,000 for the burnt-out wreck of a house. Currently, the owner is under contract to sell to one of the investors.

Thanks to low interest rate home loans, investors have been snapping up homes in the Southern Nevada region for months, with 3,000 having been sold in the second quarter of 2021; this represents a whopping increase of 280 percent from the second quarter of 2020, when sales dropped during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The owner of the burnt-out house, which was constructed in 1963, had originally acquired the property last September several months after it had burnt down due to a fire. Originally, the man planned on using the remains of the home – which are still in usable condition, and building a new home upon them. However, the owner said he found himself with too many other projects at the time, coupled with the fact that contractors are in high demand right now.

Finding himself on a waiting list for rebuilding the home that could have taken months, he instead decided to take his chances on listing it in hopes that individuals who specialize in rebuilding homes would be interested in picking it up, which is exactly what happened.

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, NY – Tower 16 Capital Partners, a real estate investment and management company based out of San Diego, has recently sold a three-property group of apartment buildings located in Las Vegas for the whopping total of $182 million, according to reports.

The three apartment buildings in question include Accent on Rainbow, a 540-unit complex located at 6666 W. Washington Avenue; Accent on Decatur, a 313-unit complex at 2950 S. Decatur Boulevard; and Accent on Sahara, a 312-unit complex at 4801 E. Sahara Avenue.

All three buildings are multifamily communities with each having multiple resident amenities, including pools, a workout gym, a clubhouse and more. In addition, Accent on Sahara also features a children’s play area and a dog park.

Tower 16 originally bought all three properties over two years ago for a total of $112 million, and then invested an additional $10.3 million in renovations across all three buildings, including improvements made to leasing offices, adding amenities, and upgrading approximately 40 percent of the apartment units. The undisclosed buyer will be continuing to invest into the renovation efforts of all three properties, according to reports.

Tyler Pruett, a Tower 16 co-founder, noted that the three properties needed some TLC to get them into proper shape for a sale.

“We are excited to announce the successful sale of our Las Vegas portfolio to a very strong and reputable buyer,” he said. “Upon our acquisition, all three assets needed significant physical and management improvement, which we quickly implemented at all three properties. The result was an extraordinary execution, far surpassing our goals for the properties.”

Mike Farley, another Tower 16 co-founder, said that Las Vegas is an ideal city to invest in multifamily rental properties, and that his company would continue to do so in the future.

“Las Vegas has proven to be a very strong market for multifamily, especially in the workforce housing space,” he said. “We remain enthusiastic about the future of Las Vegas and will continue to look for new acquisition opportunities in the marketplace.”

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.

NORTH LAS VEGAS, NV – Reports indicate that a prominent real estate developer that specializes in warehouses has purchased a huge stretch of land in North Las Vegas with plans to develop a large-scale industrial park for use by e-commerce firms and other companies.

350 acres were bought for $44.75 million by VanTrust Real Estate, which noted in a press release announcing the deal that was the one of the largest in recent years by a private developer in the Southern Nevada region.

The property was sold by Southern Nevada land investor and broker Mason Harvey, and according to property records the sale closed on March 31.

Work on the project’s initial infrastructure phase is slated to commence this fall and will make up approximately 1.5 million square feet; this phase of construction is expected to be completed in 2023, at which point the second phase will begin.

Currently, the final completion date for the industrial park has yet to be announced.

In recent years, the industrial component of Las Vegas’ construction has been expanding and increasing, with many developers concentrating on building warehouses that end up housing businesses such as distribution centers for e-commerce firms. The allure of developing these projects in Southern Nevada is due to the large amounts of land available and the low prices and cost of living when compared to many other regions of the United States.

VanTrust has completed several such warehouse facilities in North Las Vegas in recent years, with big companies such as Amazon, The Honest Company, Sephora, and Fanatics among those that have moved in to establish distribution centers there.

VanTrust’s overall construction in North Las Vegas is comprised of 5.5 million square feet, all of which has been quickly sold, with their most recent sale being the $110 million sale of an 855,000-square-foot Amazon warehouse to an investment firm in Los Angeles.

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 single most significant purchase one may make in their lifetime is a home. With that being the case, it may seem unusual that often times, this purchase will be made without ever setting foot inside the property, but in today’s “new normal” ushered in by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it’s something more and more people are doing.

According to Las Vegas Weekly, in 2020, 63 percent of the homes sold in the United States were sold without the buyers ever having seen them in-person, which represents a unique development in the real estate industry; generally, this is attributed to random instances such as buyers from outside the region. However, more and more Las Vegas real estate agents are giving prospective buyers tours of properties via video; some of them are forced to do so out of heath COVID-related worries, but many are also due to the popularity of Southern Nevada real estate with those looking to take advantage of its affordability.

For example, one real estate agent recently gave a video tour of a Vegas home to a military couple stationed in the Middle East who were hoping to secure a residence in anticipation of returning to the United States.

It continues to be a “seller’s market” in Las Vegas, despite the pandemic and its resultant recession; the reason for this is low interest rates on home loans combined with and affordable cost of living and a small amount of inventory on the open market. The result is a competitive marketplace for properties – with regularly raising prices – that people are willing to circumvent conventional real estate processes for.

That said, buyers should be reminded to not rush into a perceived good deal too quickly; be judgmental of any and all pictures you may be presented with, and always question anything you may be wary of; it’s better to get these potential issue settled in the here and now than saddle yourself with a home you may regret for the next decade.

Always remember – it’s expected to remain a competitive “seller’s market” in Las Vegas in 2021, and with desirable properties getting purchased fast, it still makes sense to learn everything you can about a property – even if it’s virtually, before quickly snapping it up.

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 reports, while Las Vegas has been making waves in the real estate world for its steadily rising home prices despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic – raising concerns over affordability if they continue to go up – prices are nonetheless rising much faster in many other cities, highlighting the current low cost of living in Southern Nevada.

Prices of homes in Las Vegas have gone up 6.8 percent from November 2010 to November 2020, which while an impressive feat, nonetheless falls well below the national year-over-year average of 9.5 percent, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index released by S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Indeed, among the 19 markets examined for the index, Phoenix, Arizona was the region with the fastest-rising home prices, and has steadfastly held that position for the past 18 months; in contrast, Las Vegas’ growth – while still very healthy, especially given the financial impact of the pandemic – was the market with the slowest-rising prices in the index.

Experts say the reason Las Vegas is not higher on that list is due to the fact that the city’s main industry is tourism, which has been devastated by the pandemic; jobs related to that industry have experienced huge losses.

However, despite the economic turmoil that Vegas has experienced, pace of its home price increases have broken several records over the course of the past year due to demand, low mortgage rates, and the overall low cost of living. Reports indicate that numerous home-buyers, many from out of state, have swooped into Southern Nevada to take advantage, and that the intense competition for homes is not expected to slow down any time soon.

The median sales price for homes in Las Vegas was an all-time record high $345,000 for both November and December 2020, which represents a 10.2 percent from the same period of time in 2019.

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 new report released by the Nevada State Apartment Association (NVSAA) with data from CoStar notes that the market for apartments in the Las Vegas region is currently doing far better than anyone had predicted it would given the current COVID-19 pandemic, according to reports.

Apartment rents in Southern Nevada have continued to increase at levels faster than average nationally; by the very end of 2020, rents had increased over the course of the year by 4.8 percent when compared to the same period of time in 2019. Actual rents averaged at $1,138 per month in the fourth quarter of 2020, representing an increase over the third quarter – when average rents were from $1,128 – and a significant jump from the fourth quarter of 2019, when the average asking price for an apartment  was $1,080 per month.

The national average for apartment rent in the fourth quarter of 2020 was $1,373, which only represents an increase of 0.2 percent over the same period of time in 2019.

In addition, the number of apartments for rent on the Las Vegas market during 2020 dropped. During the fourth quarter of 2019 the vacancy rate was 6.5 percent, but fast forward to the fourth quarter of 2020 and that number had dropped to 5.9 percent.

In addition to general demand, another reason that the Las Vegas apartment market is performing at such a level despite the pandemic is due to the fact that, in recent months, a growing number of properties are offering renters concessions, which is when the landlord or property manager agrees to a compromise to the original terms of the lease, often in the form of a rebate, monetary compensation, discount, or something else.

Las Vegas apartments also continue to see competition from single-family home rentals, as well as rampant development of new apartment complexes in the region that will likely stabilize rent increases as more living options become available to residents.

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 reports, Southern California investment firm Sakioka Farms has purchased Crossroads Commons, a large retail plaza located near Las Vegas’ Summerlin community, for the price of $50.75 million.

Crossroads Commons, located on the busy intersection of Charleston Boulevard and Fort Apache Road, is situated on 16.6 acres and is home to numerous major retailers, including Chick-fil-A, Barnes & Noble, and Whole Foods Market. In addition, several other tenants have recently signed on the dotted line for space in the shopping center as well, such as Dick’s Sporting Goods, a Greek restaurant, and Mastroianni Fashions.

While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the overall number of consumers who venture out of their homes to buy things – resulting in a major drop in retail sales in 2020 – many people are still heading out to make purchases, leading to firms and investors to sink their dough into various retail properties in the Southern Nevada region.

Investors have been closely studying the economy of the Las Vegas area throughout the pandemic, and clearly if money of this level is being poured into retail at this point in time then experts are clearly seeing a major retail resurgence in the near future, especially considering the fact that COVID-19 vaccines are currently in the process of being rolled out nationwide.

Again, it helps that Crossroads Commons is located at a very busy intersection, and that there are other retail shopping centers located nearby, making the area a destination for shoppers who are tired of being cooped up in their homes all day long. 

Before the pandemic hit physical retail had taken a significant hit from online retailers such as Amazon, but sales at brick-and-mortar stores – especially sporting goods – have had a resurgence in the past few months as people who have been isolating themselves grow restless and feel the need to shop.

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 one-acre site of the former White Sands Motel has been put on the Las Vegas real estate market for a whopping $18 million, according to recent reports.

Originally built and opened for business in 1959, the once attractive and clean motel – offering free amenities such as TV, air conditioning, and coffee – now stands as a dilapidated, boarded-up shell of its former self, surrounded by weeds, garbage, and chain-link fencing topped off with barbed wire.

One might look at such a property – located on the South of the Las Vegas Strip, across from the Luxor – and wonder why, in its current state, it would potentially command such a high price on the open market. However, the broker has stated that the motel would most likely be torn down and demolished in favor of retail or a restaurant.

But regardless of the usefulness of the land and its ideal placing on the famed Las Vegas Strip, some experts think that the property may have trouble finding a buyer, especially considering the large asking price. After all, the country is still in the grip of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and much of Vegas’ economy – especially tourism, its very lifeblood – is still reeling from the blows. Now might not be the time that a developer wishes to step up and invest $18 million into a fixer-upper catering to out-of-town visitors.

Still, experts note that any land on the Strip is a valuable commodity, especially when the pandemic eventually ends and tourism ramps up again, as it inevitably will and the White Sands Motel is in a prime area, located only one mile from Allegiant Stadium, so foot traffic will be there for whatever business the property will eventually host.

The White Sands Motel, located at 3889 Las Vegas Boulevard. South, originally closed in 2008.

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 reports, a recent $11.25 million Henderson mansion purchase has set a record for the highest luxury home sale in the well-known Southern Nevada community in 13 years, showing that the market still has the ability to set monthly sales records despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The mansion, located at 750 Dragon Ridge Drive in the luxury master-planned community MacDonald Highlands, was purchased on December 4 for a whopping $11,250,001. The buyer exceeded the price of yet another mansion sold in the same community earlier in 2020 by just one dollar; that mansion, sold in August for exactly $11.25 million, and was owned at the time by gaming icon Diana Bennett.

The record-setting mansion – purchased by a business owner from Silicon Valley, according to reports – was built in 2017 by developer Blue Heron and comes in at 12,386 square feet with four floors. It is situated upon a 2.2 acre plot of land and boasts seven bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, and two three-car garages. The mansion has a two-lane bowling alley, a movie theater, a bar, a wine cellar and a game room in the basement.

The home also has a professional-grade indoor basketball court featuring a locker room and electronic scoreboard located in its own separate building on the mansion’s grounds; the building can also be utilized as an extended car garage. Outside is an outdoor tennis court and a garden, in addition to a separate guesthouse with two bedrooms, a living room, and a rooftop deck.

The lot the mansion is located on was originally bought in 2014 for $2.4 million by Mike and Linda Huhn, according to Clark County records. The mansion has been on the market since 2018, at which time the seller was originally asking just under $15 million.

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 – Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Las Vegas continues to turn the real estate industry on its ear as it has set yet another record – for the sixth month in a row – for the median prices of existing homes in the Southern Nevada region, reports say.

In November, the median price of a single-family home in Las Vegas was $345,000, as per the Las Vegas Realtors trade organization. This represents the sixth month in a row where – despite the financial hurdles being presented by the pandemic on the local economy as a whole – home prices have continued to escalate, defying and confusing industry experts, according to a statement issued by Realtor association’s president Tom Blanchard.

“Like other places around the country, we’re seeing multiple offers on properties listed for sale,” he said. “The supply of available homes is very low, and demand is high. I hope the new year will bring some additional inventory as local homeowners start to feel more comfortable moving.”

At the end of November, approximately 8,400 homes were listed for sale on the Las Vegas real estate MLS, representing a decrease in inventory of 19 percent from the same period one year before and an 11 percent drop from October 2020.

As reported previously, the increasing prices on the market are likely in-part fueled by record-low interest rates on home loans brought about by the pandemic, as well as lower-than-average inventory being available.

Experts are also speculating that COVID-19 mortgage forbearance opportunities have played a part, where homeowners who had experienced financial hardship related to the pandemic where able to – for a limited time – avoid foreclosure without having to make home payments. Many of these homeowners would then have no choice but to turn around and sell their homes, albeit while taking advantage of the high prices offered by current market conditions.

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 – Since Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak lifted the state eviction moratorium on October 15 – originally put into place in March due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic – nearly 4,000 eviction cases have been opened in Las Vegas Justice Court, according to reports.

Despite the state eviction moratorium ending October 15, the earliest landlords could start eviction proceedings against tenants for non-payment of rent due to pandemic-related financial reasons was October 29 due to official court timelines.

Since that date, October 29, 3,981 cases have been opened, although the overall number of evictions could actually be higher due to the fact that cases are often filed with the court after the initial serving of the eviction notice by the landlord, not before. Once an eviction notice has been served, a tenant has seven business days to make good on back rent owed or vacate the property; if they do not, then the landlord or property manager can open a case in court and start formal eviction proceedings.

Governor Sisolak originally put the eviction moratorium in place after the pandemic wreaked havoc with the economy, costing thousands their jobs and creating wide-scale financial hardship. However, after several extensions of the moratorium – and complaints from landlords who were suffering financially themselves – Sisolak finally lifted the moratorium approximately one month ago. Despite the moratorium, landlords were still able to evict tenants for some safety-related issues.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eviction order remains in place throughout the end of the year, although to be eligible tenants were required to opt-in to it; if a tenant has not done so, the federal order would not apply to them, and eviction proceedings would be allowed to begin if they did not make good on back rent or arrived at a repayment plan with their landlord.

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.