Las Vegas On-Course to Become House-Flipping Capital of the Country, Reports Say

LAS VEGAS, NV – The housing market in Las Vegas has been setting records for months, thanks in part to cheap money in the form of low-interest mortgages and a serious increase in buyers from out of state – many from California, who are looking for investment opportunities, and when you put those two factors together, you get a town that is on-course to becoming the house-flipping capital of the country.

Southern Nevada has been described by experts as an “extreme seller’s market” as of late, so when it comes to flipping a home – that is, buying it, renovating it, and then selling it for a profit – competition can be fierce for buyers; however, when it comes to selling, these homes are often going for more than their asking prices.

The demand for housing in Las Vegas –  and indeed, across the United States – is such that it has given birth to a new flipping phenomenon known as “iBuyers,” or “instant buyers,” which are people who will buy a home, make “light repairs,” and then “quickly resell” them for a profit. Oftentimes a buyer will have offers within 24 hours of listing a property, reports say, and often they will be in the form of cash due to the influx of wealthy out-of-state investors.

Investors have been snapping up homes across the country in recent months, but the focus as of late appears to specifically be Southern Nevada. Reports say that residential real estate investors purchased 3,043 homes in the Las Vegas area in the second quarter of 2021, which represents a whopping increase of 279 percent from the second quarter of 2020 – the highest year-over-year increase nationally – when the market was being negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nearly 23 percent of all homes bought in Southern Nevada during the first quarter of 2021 were by investors, reports say, and the region was ranked fifth nationally among 41 metro areas in the number of investor purchases.

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 housing market in Las Vegas has been enjoying a year of success amid skyrocketing home prices that has resulted in all-time records being set while sellers are often offered more than their asking prices by desperate buyers. However, August appeared to buck that trend – albeit only slightly, with prices appearing to stabilize – before the market resumed its hot streak in September as if nothing ever happened.

According to a recently-released report, the median sales price of previously owned single-family homes in Las Vegas appeared to plateau after hitting an all-time record in July with $405,000, as that price – which had been steadily climbing for the past year – remained at that exact level in August as well.

Regardless, it illustrated how far the housing market in Vegas has recovered, as that August $405,000 median sales price still represents a 25 percent increase over the same period of time in 2020.

However, it was soon revealed that the housing market in Southern Nevada had not hit a plateau, but simply experienced more of a momentary lull; according to trade association Las Vegas Realtors, rising prices in the region had taken a “momentary pause” during August while the market prepared for a pre-holiday surge.

Once the holiday season hits, the market can be expected to temporarily flatten once again, as it did from November 2020 to January 2021 when the median sales price of pre-owned homes remained at $345,000; in January, prices began climbing once again.

However, it remains to be seen if the market flattens as much – or for as long – this upcoming holiday season, as one of the reasons for the intense house-buying activity that Vegas has been experiencing as of late is being driven by historically-low mortgage rates, which are driving buyers to snap up every property they can.

What that being the case, there remains the possibility that this holiday season may not slow down as much as in previous years.

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 Blackstone Group, an investment management company based in New York City, is reportedly going to be putting the Cosmopolitan resort of Las Vegas up for sale, and their hefty asking price is said to be at least $5 billion, if not more.

Two years ago, Blackstone had attempted to sell the Cosmopolitan for a $4 billion asking price, but at the time found no takers, yet as time went by and the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the country, prices of casinos have nonetheless continued to rise as investment firms have often bought them and then split the costs with management firms they bring in to run things.

Some real estate experts have speculated that a potential taker for Blackstone’s offer may be Apollo Global Management Inc., which has been purchasing casinos globally; MGM Resorts International is also being talked about as a possible partner and property manager, although there have been no official statements from either organization confirming this.

The Cosmopolitan, which encountered financial difficulty during its $3.9 billion construction phase due to the mid-2000’s recession, finally opened its doors for business in 2010; it was later sold by owner Deutsche Bank AG who would then sell the resort for $1.73 billion to Blackstone in 2014.

The Cosmopolitan is located just south of the Bellagio on the west side of Las Vegas Boulevard, between CityCenter and the Blackstone-owned Bellagio casino. The resort consists of two high-rise towers – the Boulevard Tower and the Chelsea Tower – and features 3,027 rooms, a 110,000 square-foot casino, 300,000 square-feet of retail and restaurant space, a spa and fitness facility, a 3,200-seat theater, and 150,000 square-feet of meeting and convention space.

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 real estate firm from Atlanta, Georgia has gotten into the highly competitive Southern Nevada rental marketplace with the recent announcement they have purchased two large apartment complexes located in the east-side of the Las Vegas Valley.

The firm, known as Carroll, noted that they had acquired the Emerald Springs, a 436-unit complex, in addition to The Meadows, a 383-unit building situated only three miles away and located on the very same road, which is Nellis Boulevard; Emerald Springs is near Bonanza Road, and The Meadows is near Desert Inn Road.

While Carroll did not mention the amount the firm paid for the two apartment complexes, public records from Clark County reveal that the properties sold for a combined total of $163.25 million.

Investors have been buying rental properties in Las Vegas in droves as of late, fueled by low borrowing costs and a demand from consumers moving to the city for its flourishing job market and relatively low cost of living. Records indicate that 10,424 Las Vegas apartments were purchased by investors in 2021 through the month of July, in comparison with the same period of time in 2020, was only 3,065 acquired. 

David Perez, Carroll’s chief operating officer, confirmed in a statement to media that both Emerald Springs and The Meadows are currently 96 percent occupied when the purchases took place, ending a three or four-year quest on the part of the firm to find the right rental space in the Las Vegas area to invest in.

Carroll also has rental holdings in the western region of the U.S. and that Las Vegas has proved an especially attractive city to invest in as its economy is still in the process of recovering from the pandemic and tourists – which are a driving force of Vegas’ financial well-being – are finally starting to coming back.

Also, in contrast to the rising rent rates in Vegas as of late – the average rent jumped 22.7% year over year in July – Perez noted that while maintenance will be improved at the two properties, the firm is not looking to raise rates for tenants in an effort to provide affordable housing.

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 developer has announced plans for a $200 million high-rise apartment complex that is slated to be built in southwest Las Vegas, right on the great big empty hole that was left by a previous developer that had the very same idea – albeit unrealized – over 15 years ago.

Tim Deters, founder of Tru Development Company, recently noted that he is planning to obtain a nearly $200 million loan in October to cover the costs of developing the mammoth project, which is planned to take the form of a huge, 614-unit rental complex.

Current plans for the project involve construction on an underground parking garage, which is slated to be completed first, with work on the apartment units – which will be completed in several phases – then starting immediately upon the garage’s completion.

The complex will feature numerous amenities for tenants when finished, including a 12,000-square-foot clubhouse, a high-end gym, a pool area with cabanas, a beer garden, and an outdoor workout facility.

The property, located south of the 215 Beltway at 8030 West Maule Avenue between Buffalo Drive and Cimarron Road, was originally acquired by developer Rodney Yanke during the mid-2000s, who had planned to build an apartment complex called the Spanish View Tower. However, the project never came to fruition; after the site was excavated and work on a parking garage begun, the project ended up going into bankruptcy and has sat vacant ever since.

In 2012, investor Jack Woodcock partnered with Deters to acquire the property and plans slowly came together that culminated with the recent development announcement. Deters noted that he took on this project because rentals in Las Vegas are still in very high demand, and that developers are not churning out units fast enough to meet it.

Recently skyrocketing construction costs, coupled with demand, have also caused rents in Vegas to steadily climb; the average rent in Southern Nevada jumped 23 percent in July 2021 when compared to the same period of time one year ago, whereas the average year-over-year increase nationally was 9 percent.

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 – Right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and turned everything upside down, health and fitness company Life Time Inc. had purchased a large empty pit in Las Vegas – right next to Ikea – with plans of transforming the holdover from the mid-2000’s recession into a high-end health club.

However, the pandemic – with its subsequent lockdowns and other health-related restrictions – effectively put a wrench into the works, but Life Time has recently announced that plans for the health club are still going forward.

A Life Time spokeswoman has confirmed – but also noted that plans could still change – that construction on the oft-delayed project is slated to finally begin in the spring of 2022, with hopes of a late 2023 opening for the health club.

The 15-acre plot, located at the southeast corner of Sunset Road and Durango Drive, would take the form of a 60 foot-tall, three-story “athletic resort destination” coming in at a sizable 125,500 square feet. Amenities for club members would include weightlifting, indoor and outdoor pools, fitness classes, sport courts, spa and salon services, and more, according to documents originally submitted to Clark County in 2020 for Life Time’s Southwest Valley Club.

The site of the project was originally planned to have been utilized by a different developer for a high-rise apartment complex in the mid-2000’s, but the burst of the housing bubble derailed those plans and the property – located in a rapidly-goring section of Vegas between Summerlin and Henderson –  has sat vacant ever since.

Health clubs have been one of the more financially beleaguered industries during the pandemic due to government-mandated lockdown orders issued to curb the spread of COVID-19. Even after gyms were allowed to reopen, mandated mask policies and other health requirements resulted in many club members remaining leery about returning there to work out.

However, a Time Life spokesperson has noted that the company has seen “solid consumer demand for our offerings” and is “very pleased as we’ve emerged from the past 17 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 – 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.

Last week, the United States Supreme Court struck down the Biden Administration’s nationwide eviction moratorium; however, is unlikely to have any impact whatsoever upon tenants facing eviction for nonpayment of rent due to a recently-passed piece of legislation in the state of Nevada which offers ironclad protections for those who have applied for federal rent relief funding.

Kaila Leavitt, president of Leavitt Evictions, noted that Assembly Bill 486, which prohibits eviction if a tenant has applied for federal rent relief funds, potentially offers more protections than the recently-overturned eviction ban put forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“Here in the state of Nevada, we have [Assembly Bill 486] which arguably protects tenants more than the federal moratorium does,” she said.

A previous eviction moratorium issued by Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak ended on May 31; the moratorium enacted by the CDC, which targeted counties with high COVID-19 transmission rates, would have expired on October 3 if it had not been struck down last week by the Supreme Court.

Leavitt noted that AB 486 offers protections for 90 days for renters that have applied for federal relief funds and are awaiting the outcome of their case, allowing them to remain in their homes whether or not they are currently paying any rent to their landlords.

However, according to Leavitt, that may not be the case in terms of constitutional legality, and despite the fact that a renter may have applied for federal funds, it may still be possible to evict them for nonpayment of rent.

“I think many landlords were under the impression that the federal moratorium got extended again, they couldn’t evict. And that was just not the case,” she said. “When the tenant gets the notice, they don’t communicate with their landlord. They don’t respond. They just think they can’t be evicted and they just write it off. That’s just really not the case.”

AB 486 is due to expire on June 5, 2023, or when the $360 million in rental relief funds allotted to Nevada is spent.

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 United States Supreme Court on Thursday issued a ruling that struck down the latest eviction moratorium enacted by the Biden Administration – stating that it can only be extended via Congressional legislation – clearing the way for potentially millions of evictions across the country to begin.

The newly-invalidated eviction moratorium was initially issued on August 3 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); this was done after a previous ban was allowed to lapse on July 31 after the Supreme Court had ruled that it could only continue through an act of Congress, which failed to materialize due to lack of support.

Nonetheless, the Biden Administration issued a more targeted eviction moratorium, aimed at areas with high infection rates; President Job Biden himself told reporters that he doubted it would pass Constitutional muster, but hoped that time eaten up by legal challenges would give states more time to distribute $46.5 billion in federal rental assistance funds. The moratorium had originally been scheduled to expire October 3.

The new moratorium – much like the original – was aimed at preventing homelessness by not allowing evictions due to financial hardship experienced from the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the Supreme Court declared Thursday that it was beyond the CDC’s authority.

“If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it,” the Supreme Court’s ruling stated, effectively ending the eviction ban immediately.

Liberal Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Breyer, dissented from Thursday’s ruling.

The eviction moratoriums have been an especially strong hardship for smaller mom-and-pop landlords; currently, according to reports, as many as 15 million households in the United States owe a combined total of approximately $20 billion in back rent, with about 58 percent of tenants currently behind on rent.

Meanwhile, landlords have been forced to not only allow their tenants to live for free in their properties, but they have also been required to maintain the properties out of their own pockets, driving many to financial ruin.

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 recent study, the eviction moratoriums enacted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help reduce homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic have had the incredibly negative side-effect of proving extremely costly to both Nevada landlords and the state’s overall economy.

The positive benefit to Nevada’s economy that is generated by the state’s residential rental industry is estimated to have decreased by a full 9 percent – or a whopping $511 million – in 2020 when compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019, according to the report released last Thursday.

In addition, lost wages and their subsequent lack of contribution to the state’s economy due to the eviction bans have cost Nevada approximately $12.6 million in lost sales and use tax revenue in 2020 as well.

The report also found that small mom-and-pop landlords – who make up the majority of the rental marketplace in Nevada – have suffered the most financially from the eviction bans, with an average loss of approximately $1,870 per unit. In addition, landlords with over 30 units have been deprived of about $350 per unit, with an average of $422 per unit lost between March 2020 and February 2021.

Nevada Realtors and Nevada State Apartment Association President Brad Spires noted that the report helps put this damage caused by the CDC eviction moratoriums into perspective from an economic point of view.

“It reinforces what we’ve been saying throughout this pandemic about the disproportionate harm these policies have had on individual property owners who depend on rental income to survive,” he said.

The report arrived at these findings by surveying 140 landlords and property management firms, who own a combined 21,000 units among them.

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 U.S. Court of Appeals issued a ruling on Friday that upheld the eviction moratorium enacted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on August 3, after the previous eviction ban was allowed to lapse by Congress. The next stop for the case, filed by a group of Alabama and Georgia landlords, is the Supreme Court, which is slated to hear the case this week.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against the plaintiffs who were seeking to block the new moratorium, but the landlord groups quickly pivoted and filed an emergency motion with the Supreme Court. In turn, Chief Justice John Roberts has ordered the administration of President Joe Biden to respond to the lawsuit by 12pm on Monday.

“As five Members of this Court indicated less than two months ago, Congress never gave the CDC the staggering amount of power it claims,” the motion filed by the landlords read.

This quote in the motion refers to the previous decision rendered by the Supreme Court in June that allowed the CDC’s first eviction moratorium to remain in-place until its original expiration date of July 31. However, Brett Kavanaugh – who voted with the 5-4 majority in that ruling – noted that he would not support any further extensions of the eviction ban without the approval of Congress, which failed to materialize.

After the ban was allowed to expire, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky announced the new eviction ban, citing the rapid spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19. The new ban applies to counties where at least 50 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people have been reported over the past seven days, which currently covers nearly 95 percent of all U.S. counties.

The new ban is set to expire October 3, but can be lengthened or shortened based on changes in the spread of the virus.

President Biden himself has admitted to reporters that the new CDC eviction ban many not be constitutional, but noted that any legal challenges would grant extra time for states to distribute federal rent relief funds.

LAS VEGAS, NV – As the months go by and the economy continues to improve emerging – ever-so-slowly – away from the COVID-19 pandemic, records continue to be broken on a regular basis in Las Vegas’ housing market. But according to experts, while home prices are the highest they’ve ever been in Southern Nevada, there’s at least one way that home values are still underneath their pre-recession levels.

According to local media reports, signs that the Vegas housing market is on fire can be plainly seen in the numbers, with buyers for homes in Spring Valley and Summerlin last week paying a whopping $22,000 and $75,000 over their respective asking prices. And if you don’t think that’s a sign of intense competition, let’s not forget about the Henderson home that recently sold for approximately $160,000 more than its owner had paid for it just a few short years ago.  

But while real estate records are falling by the wayside with increasing regularity as of late in Las Vegas, one way experts note values remain in question is that they are still shy of the levels achieved prior to the burst of the housing bubble in the mid-2000’s, and that’s due to inflation.

In July 2021, the median sales price of previously owned single-family homes in Vegas was an all-time high of $405,000, representing a 22.7 percent jump from the same period of time in 2020. But the previous peak of median house prices in the region was in the middle of 2006, when they reached $315,000… which, in 2021 dollars, would come to $423,834.

Experts say that factor alone illustrates a great many things about Las Vegas real estate, such as the extreme bloat of the pre-recession marketplace and how circumstances today – despite prices rising again to the point of creating affordability concerns – are far more stable overall, leading to less risk of another hosing bubble pop and subsequent financial disaster.

Many analysts predict that the current boom in Vegas will eventually level off as developers continue to construct new homes and rental properties to satisfy demand, although exactly when that will happen is anyone’s guess.

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.