Affordable Housing for Seniors in Las Vegas Valley Area Coming Soon

LAS VEGAS, NV – For many people, visiting Las Vegas is a dream vacation full of opportunities to relax and take in the sights of one of the most glamorous cities in the United States. However, for the residents of the town, especially those classified as seniors, it can be challenging to find an affordable place to live. 

While communities like the Ensemble Senior Apartments offer lower rent options for seniors, the number of available units has been slowly dwindling. To help create more affordable housing options for seniors, state officials signed over five acres of federal land to Clarke County. County representatives have plans to utilize the space to build another community with 195 units. 

The new addition of the apartment complex is part of a larger initiative that kicked off in September 2022 aimed at providing more low-cost housing options to Las Vegas Valley residents. Aptly named “The Welcome Home Initiative,” the program is set to allocate over $120M to similar projects around Clark County. 

Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto had the following to say about the affordable housing project:

“An initiative like this one requires everyone to come together. It starts from the ground up by not only developing and getting the land initially but also requires individuals with the patience to put a project like this together.”

Adding new housing communities like the Ensemble and the complex being built within the coming years are significant steps to fighting homelessness in the community. However, Clark County still estimates a shortage of over 85,000 homes for low-income people.

With the help of city officials and groups around Clark County, the goal of providing low-cost homes for the community’s residents is one that many hope will be reached over the next decade. 

For more information on Ensemble Senior Apartments call (702) 990-2737.

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 – Construction crews recently reached a major milestone on the development of the F1 Paddock Facility site located off of the Las Vegas Strip in anticipation of the organization’s first race in the city in decades, slated to take place in just seven months.

The 400 workers at the site held a topping out ceremony to celebrate the final barrier being installed on the structure’s roof, a major achievement that signifies the Paddock Facility is now 60 percent complete.

Governor Joe Lombardo and F1 President Stefano Domenicali were at the ceremony, and symbolically signed the final barrier before workers lifted and installed it on the facility’s roof.

“We want to create a legacy for Las Vegas and Formula 1 for the future,” said Domenicali.

A paddock is where the race teams park their transporters; these transporters become temporary garages where the race mechanics prepare the race cars.

Previously, Formula 1 announced they will be putting $240 million into the street-based night race as part of a multi-year deal with the city of Las Vegas, making the event their third annual Grand Prix in the United States following the Grand Prix at Austin, Texas and the Miami, Florida Grand Prix.

The $240 million that Formula 1 is investing went into the acquisition of a 39-acre site in Las Vegas – located northeast of East Harmon Avenue and Koval Lane – in order to build a permanent pits and the aforementioned paddock facility.

Formula 1 cars are the fastest regulated road-course racing cars in the world, and the Grand Prix races take place worldwide on both purpose-built circuits and closed public roads.

The upcoming Las Vegas-based Grand Prix is slated to take place in the center of the city – with the track situated partly on the Las Vegas Strip – starting in November 2023.

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 boarded-up, abandoned motel on the famed Las Vegas Strip that has been home to vagrants, feral cats, and vandalism for a number of years has been purchased by a Native American tribe with plans to demolish the structure and subsequently repurpose the property.

According to property records, the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota – also known as Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation – purchased the former White Sands Motel site last week for $10.25 million.

The long-time zombie property is located on a narrow 1.1-acre parcel of land adjacent to the former Route 91 Harvest festival site and represents the latest investment on the part of the MHA Nation, which to date has purchased a total of 23 acres along the southern portion of the Strip for a total combined price of $115 million.

The motel building – originally constructed in the 1950s – is currently in a substantial state of disrepair, having been the target of vandalism and squatting by homeless people and cats for years, and according to MHA Nation Chairman Mark Fox, the plan is to completely raze the property and redevelop it.

“It definitely cannot be salvaged,” Fox said, adding that the MHA Nation will “tear it down and clean it up,” a process that he estimates will cost at least $1 million. There is currently no timeline in place for the site’s demolition.

The MHA Nation is still formulating a strategy or their real estate holdings in Las Vegas; Fox noted that they either might be used to develop a casino-resort, or just flipped to new owners for a profit.

“We’re really going to the drawing board,” Fox said.

The White Sands Motel site has been unsuccessfully put on the open market several times over the years for various asking prices. It was initially offered for $25 million in 2016, then for $18 million in 2021, and finally $12 million in spring 2022, with no takers each 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 – A new report indicates that Millennials – individuals born between 1981 and 1996 – have experienced a huge increase in homeownership – as opposed to renting – showing a large spike in 2022 and a 64 percent jump overall within the past five years. Las Vegas in particular is considered one of the epicenters of this phenomena, with the city currently showing the second largest increase in Millennial home ownership nationwide. 

According to a study that examined the top 50 metropolitan areas in the United States, over the past five years Las Vegas has shown a 158 percent increase in the number of Millennials who own homes, which is second to only Richmond, Virginia, which registered a 234 percent increase. 

However, despite the huge boost, the study showed that older generations still account for the lion’s share of homeownership in Las Vegas when compared to Millennials. Overall, Millennials and Generation Xers – individuals in their mid 40s to late 50s – account for approximately 28 percent of all homeowners in Las Vegas, trailing behind Baby Boomers – those in their late 50s to mid 70s – by 12 percentage points. 

Generation Z – ranging from preteens to those in their mid 20s – makes up approximately 5 percent of all homeowners in Las Vegas. 

Reports indicate the explanation for this recent explosion in Millennial home ownership can be attributed to several factors; for example, the median income for this particular generation has increased 44 percent since 2017, the largest jump amongst all generations in that period of time.  

In addition, many Millennials moved back in with parents during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing them to save money at a much greater rate than when they were renting; many also received financial assistance from family members for down payments on homes, the report says. 

These factors helped to counter the many roadblocks Millennials had experienced which had previously been preventing them from purchasing homes, such as heavy student loan debt and high housing prices. 

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 – Members of the Nevada state legislature are currently mulling over legislation that, if passed, would institute a ceiling on the amount that landlords could increase the rent of their tenants, with the cap tied to the local cost of living index for the rental unit’s surrounding area, a number that would be determined by the Nevada State Housing Authority.

In addition, the legislation in its current form would also mandate that landlords would be prohibited from imposing any rent increases upon a tenant during the first year they inhabit the unit in question. 

The bill – authored by Nevada State Senator Pat Spearman – also includes language that would officially declare a housing crisis in the state if it were passed.

“A minimum-wage earner would need to work 62 hours to afford a studio apartment,” Senator Spearman said to the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee last week, adding that women and people of color are disproportionately affected by the affordability gap when it comes to housing options.

Senator Spearman also noted that approximately 30 percent of single-family homes in Nevada are currently owned by investors.

While several groups have come out in support of Spearman’s legislation, there is also a fair amount of opposition to it as well; State Senator Jeff Stone – who rents out properties himself – expressed concern over a clause in the bill that pertains to the degree of profit a landlord can gain from their rental units.

“How do you define reasonable return on investment, when there are so many variables that different landlords have to contend with?” Stone asked, who said that simple mom and pop landlords – among whose number he counts himself – to be disproportionately affected if this bill is passed in its current form.

“To create all these bureaucratic pathways that I have to go through to justify what I can charge a tenant, not to charge 5 percent when inflation is 8.5 percent, you’re already requiring landlords to take a 3.5 percent hit,” Stone said.

Stone said another clause in the bill governing new construction does not do enough to incentivize new housing developments and only offers an advantage to large-scale investors.

“You are going to hinder investment,” he said. “And if you hinder investment, it’s going to exacerbate the supply and demand issues that we have here in Nevada.”

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 – Officials in Clark County Nevada unanimously voted Tuesday to amend their ordinances governing short-term rentals within its jurisdiction in order to update regulations that a judge had previously ruled to be unconstitutional.

Previously, a lawsuit filed by the Greater Las Vegas Short-Term Rental Association (GLVSTRA) had resulted in a preliminary injunction being imposed by District Court Judge Jessica Peterson, who had ruled that certain aspects of Clark County’s short term rental ordinances regulating the local industry were “vague” and “unconstitutional.” 

County attorney Lisa Logsdon said this week the commissioners agreed to clean up the language in their guidelines, noting that the county “took many of the court’s suggestions in drafting these amendments to ensure that the amendments address the court’s concerns with the ordinance.”

The changes to the ordinance are as follows:

• Renters are no longer required to sign applications under penalty of perjury.
• Inspectors must now provide 48 hours’ notice before showing up to inspect a property; previously, no advance notice was required.
• Large parties are still forbidden at short term rental properties, but the previously “vague” definition of what constitutes a large party has been stricken from the regulations.
• The county will now rely on existing code that regulates noise, lighting and air-quality standards.

However, GLVSTRA President and Director Jacqueline Flores issued a statement reacting to the news of Clark County’s revisions to their ordinance, saying that she did not believe they would be sufficient to alleviate the concerns of the over 700 homeowners that her organization represents.

“Many of those amendments do very little to fix the infirmities the Court has serious issues with and in other cases the County just didn’t fix some of the Sections at all,” she said. “The County is doing very little or nothing at all to satisfy the unconstitutionality of those provisions.” 

Logsdon noted that Clark County officials are eager to arrive at an agreement that would satisfy GLVSTRA’s lawsuit, saying that the district attorney’s office had requested that the association draft a “written settlement offer” and submit it for their consideration. 

Flores responded that there was a lack of interest on the part of Clark County commissioners last month to discuss a potential settlement, but noted that if their attitude is now different, she would be willing to discuss it with them.

“If the County Commissioners have now changed their mind, then we welcome that conversation,” she said.

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 – In contrast to its recent history as a housing market that experiences numerous highs and lows in terms of pricing, a new report by Las Vegas Realtors indicates that Las Vegas’ marketplace has remained relatively stable so far in 2023. 

According to their report, Las Vegas Realtors noted that the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada during March was $425,000, which represents virtually no change from the month before and a decrease of 7.6 percent year-over-year, when that price was $460,000. 

That price is also lower than Southern Nevada’s all-time record price of $482,000, which was set in May 2022. 

In addition, the marketplace for condominiums and townhomes sold in March was relatively stable as well, with the median price coming in at $260,000, a 2 percent increase from February but a 3.7 percent decrease year-over-year, when that amount was $270,000. The all-time record for condos and townhomes was also set in May 2022, when that price was $285,000. 

Las Vegas Realtors President Lee Barrett noted that the growing stability of the local real estate market shows that there is a “strong underlying interest and demand for owning a home here in Southern Nevada.” 

“Southern Nevada was one of the first places to experience this recent shift in the housing market,” he said. “It seems logical to me that we may also be among the first to come out of this recent slowdown. Our median home price hasn’t changed since December. Local home prices had previously been declining by 1 percent or 2 percent per month. This may be a sign that we’re near the bottom of this cycle.” 

Las Vegas Realtors reports that at the end of March, there were 4,196 single family homes listed for sale without any offers, which represents a 109.3 percent increase year-over-year. In addition, there were 1,103 condos and townhomes listed without offers in that same month, which is a 179.9 percent increase from March 2022. 

2,962 existing homes, condos, and townhomes were sold in Southern Nevada in March, which was a 27.8 percent decrease year-over-year for homes and a 35.6 percent decrease for condos and townhomes. There was approximately a two-month supply of inventory of homes on the market by the end of March, which shows an improvement over the same period of time last year, when there was less than a one month supply available. 

Typically, a six-month supply represents a balanced market between buyers and sellers. 

LAS VEGAS, NV – The Nevada Legislature last week introduced Assembly Bill 340, which, if passed, will change how landlords in Nevada can evict tenants from their properties by forcing them to first file an affidavit in court before they are allowed to start the eviction process. 

AB 340 was presented to the Nevada Legislature Assembly Judiciary Committee last Wednesday, with the sponsors of the legislation saying that its intent is to protect tenants in the state who are struggling to keep up with increases in their rent.

A local organization backing the bill, Battle Born Progress, said that it would give tenants more time to respond to an eviction request by mandating landlords to file a court order before they can serve an eviction notice.

“If a landlord needs to evict a tenant that can still happen,” said Battle Born Progress representative Will Pregman. “But there needs to be an ability for the tenant to reasonably respond to it.”

But while some groups are supporting the bill, many others are criticizing it; Derek Moellinger of Vice Realty Group, which manages apartment complexes, issued a statement condemning AB 340 while also referencing a previous piece of pandemic-era legislation – AB 486, set to expire in June – which stays an eviction proceeding if a tenant has an application for rental assistance pending.

“Landlords have been destroyed in the state because of AB 486. Now the state seeks to further damage landlords with this new bill. I am an investor and I manage almost 1000 properties and I will not put one dollar of my own money into Nevada,” he said. “I counsel every one of my investors to move out of this state and move to a state that actually has fair eviction laws. Right now, in Nevada a tenant can claim to have applied for rental assistance and with that claim, whether true or not, the eviction process will take a minimum of six months and can go as long as a year. During that entire time, the landlord receives no money; and when the tenant finally moves out, the landlord has no recourse to regain any of that lost money. The tenant can then break back into the unit and it is not considered a crime. It’s a civil matter, and the landlord must go back to court and try to remove this person again.”

“These are the kinds of laws that landlords have to deal with in Nevada right now and it’s insane to me that the state wants to further punitively damage landlords when housing is the scarcest resource Nevada has,” Moellinger continued. “You have Investors like me and my friends who have millions of dollars at their disposal and refuse to spend a dollar of it in Nevada anymore. We used to be the reasons blocks were repaired and we were the reason tenants were placed. We were the reason things improved for low-income people. Now it’s a disaster in this state and it’s only going to get worse because the state is chasing away the only people who are willing to actually make a difference, which are owners.”

AB 340 would have to be approved by the state assembly and senate before it could be signed into law by Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo.

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 – Last week, Clark County held a lottery to rank applicants for potential licenses to operate short term rentals via services such as Airbnb and Vrbo, although a group representing rental operators criticized the drawing, calling it unnecessary and confusing.

Greater Las Vegas Short-Term Rental Association (GLVSTRA) President Jacqueline Flores complained about the lottery, essentially calling it a waste of time.

“It is important to highlight that the Clark County Short Term Rental Lottery today will serve no purpose other than to merely establish the order in which applications will be reviewed by the County staff,” she said. “This is not what will ultimately determine who will get a license.”

The lottery, which was held on March 29 in a closed-door meeting that was streamed online and broadcast on local public television stations, placed the 1,306 forms that the county had received over the course of a six-month application process into a “random number selector.” However, while officials have yet to reveal how many licenses they will ultimately grant to applicants, they have clarified that they will not exceed 1 percent of the county’s existing “housing stock.”

The lottery – carried out by Smartplay International Inc., with the results tallied by consulting firm Baker Tilly U.S. LLP – took place despite a preliminary injunction having been imposed by District Court Judge Jessica Peterson, who had ruled that certain aspects of Clark County’s short term rental ordinances regulating the local industry where “vague” and “unconstitutional.”

That injunction came as a result of a lawsuit filed against the county by GLVSTRA, which has petitioned the Nevada Supreme Court to rule on the case. Currently, Clark County officials are attempting to make changes to the short-term rental ordinances that were struck down by the District Court judge last month.

Before Clark County began the process of establishing legal short-term rentals within its boundaries, officials estimated that there had been previously as many as 10,000 homes without permits being rented out illegally.

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 it comes to selling your home, owners are naturally looking to get the very best price they can in return for their pricey investment. And while spring is considered by many the best time of the year to list your property, real estate experts are noting that one specific week in April – especially in Las Vegas – is typically the best time to put your house on the market. 

Many experts have shown that sellers can get significantly more in return for their homes when they list them in springtime; according to reports a home that would normally fetch $187,000 in January can sell for as much as $208,273 in May. 

But in 2023 real estate gurus are noting that April is looking more and more like the best time of the year to sell a home for numerous reasons, with the week of April 16 to 22 – particularly in Las Vegas –being ideal due to the fact that the rapidly changing real estate market is anticipated to reach its zenith during that specific one-week span of time, according to Sam Saltzwedel from Realtor.com. 

“That’s largely because families want to move when school is out. Interest rates aren’t significantly going down yet. [They] are basically the only factor that stopped houses from continuing to skyrocket,” he said. “While it does not have the highest price or the lowest time on market, this week offers higher than average prices and lower than average time on markets while also offering a higher-than-average number of buyers.” 

That ideal week, however, can change depending on which city across the country you may be examining; while April 16 to 22 is considered the target in Las Vegas and numerous other cities this year, experts say the last week of March was the time to list in Los Angeles or Chicago, whereas in Seattle the ideal listing week would be April 2 to 9. 

The exact formula for determining the ideal listing week comes down to listing prices, the average number of days on the market, and online views per property; in addition, the number of other sellers in a given region that will provide competition for your listing is also a factor, with too much inventory being available in a particular market often driving down demand or prices. 

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 – Elon Musk’s The Boring Company has announced their proposed plan to increase the size of their Las Vegas Loop – the underground transport system they constructed underneath the city – by approximately 50 percent, representing a grand total of 65 miles. This is provided that local officials approve the plan, which seems likely given the project’s initial success so far.

The Loop is comprised of a series of underground tunnels, dug by The Boring Company, that currently ferries people back and forth to the Las Vegas Convention Center in a series of Tesla automated electric cars in approximately two minutes each way. Normally, the route would take an average of 30 minutes for a person to walk on their own.

The Boring Company had previously stated they plan on expanding the tunnel system, with plans for new people mover routes to various area resorts and the airport having already been submitted to city officials.

The proposed additions would be comprised of a series of crisscrossing tunnels underneath the streets of the city that would enable passengers to travel to casinos, retail areas, the University of Nevada Las Vegas campus, and even residential areas. If approved by city officials, the Loop network would expand to 69 stations and a total of 65 miles of tunnels, as well as an additional undetermined number of Tesla vehicles to navigate them.

If the plan comes to fruition, a Loop station would conceivably be located within a few blocks of almost anywhere in central Las Vegas, Including stations adjacent to the University of Nevada, Allegiant Stadium – home of the Las Vegas Raiders NFL team – as well as Harry Reid International Airport.

There would also be an additional tunnel added that would run parallel to the Las Vegas Strip with several stations throughout its length, which could conceivably offer a high-speed express route joining the North and South sections of the city; currently, a similar tunnel connects the east and West sections.

he city of Las Vegas has not yet commented on the proposed additions to the Las Vegas Loop.

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 fact that Clark County officials have recently stated they plan to make changes to some of the rules governing the short-term rental industry within their jurisdiction, that doesn’t appear to be enough for the Greater Las Vegas Short-Term Rental Association (GLVSTRA), which has announced they want the Nevada Supreme Court to rule on whether or not the short-term regulations county officials have laid in place are constitutional or not.

GLVSTRA has been engaging in a legal battle with Clark County regarding what they refer to as overly strict and intrusive ordinances put in place regarding homes rented through services such as Airbnb and Vrbo. In February, District Court Judge Jessica Peterson ruled that aspects of the ordinances are unconstitutional and issued a preliminary injunction to temporarily block them.

Sections of Clark County’s ordinances that Peterson declared unconstitutional included a clause that mandated that those seeking to establish a short-term rental must sign their application under penalty of perjury; in addition, random inspections of rental properties with no notice, vague definitions over what is considered a “party” or a “disturbance,” and the ability of the county to issue “discretionary fines and penalties” were also temporarily struck down by last month’s ruling.

Despite clearing that legal hurdle, GLVSTRA appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court this week because they say their full array of claims against Clark County were not addressed by the District Court Judge’s ruling, according to GLVSTRA President Jacqueline Flores.

Flores said that her organization takes particular exception to Clark County’s use of a lottery system to determine which short-term rental applicants will be granted licenses, in addition to requirements mandating specific minimum distances between rental properties and hotels.

Despite attempts to sit down and hash things out with Clark County officials, Flores said the two sides were unable to come to a fair and equitable arrangement, thus necessitating the organization’s move to appeal the case to the state’s highest court.

“We have been trying to work with the county commissioners in good faith and they have refused to do that so far,” Flores said. “We need a Nevada Supreme Court ruling. That way we’re able to address all those municipalities at the same time, and ultimately the entire state.”

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.