Elon Musk-Helmed Boring Co. Begins Construction on Las Vegas “People Mover” Tunnel

LAS VEGAS, NV – According to reports, The Boring Co. – the tunneling company owned by Elon Musk – officially began construction on Nov. 15 on a tunnel that will house an elaborate “people mover” train system at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

A people mover is a type of small scale automated guide-way transit system. While many people movers transport passengers from airports, downtown districts or theme parks to other destinations, the one that the Boring Co. is developing for the Convention Center – a dual-tunnel people mover – would be more limited in scope, solely dedicated to servicing event attendees only.

The people mover is being constructed in partnership with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) and is slated to be completed in January 2021, which would coincide with the Consumer Electronics Show, held annually at the Convention Center. The Boring Co. won a $52.5 million contract bid for the project in May, which is the company’s first major underground tunneling project.

In addition to the tunnel, additional work located above-ground – including stations and stops – began in October.

Previous work at the site of the people-mover has consisted of delivering and assembling parts that make it ready in time for the project’s start date. As the Boring Co. will be doing exactly what their name implies – boring into the earth – the timeline of the project may experience adjustments on the fly based on what types of potential deposits and/or obstructions they encounter as they make their way through their designated boring path.

The Las Vegas Convention Center has been expanding recently, with the final result encompassing two miles from end to end. The addition of the people mover is expected to make negotiating the vast complex far more manageable for the estimated million people who visit the site on an annual basis, once work is completed of course.

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, construction on a new upscale apartment complex is currently underway adjacent to the Wyndham Desert Blue timeshare tower located west of the famed Las Vegas Strip.

The project, currently without an official name and headed up by developer Fore Property Co., is taking the form of building 287 luxury apartments, with the first grouping of units being made available for rent by December 2020; the project as a whole is expected to be completed in April 2021, reports say.

The project – the first apartment complex being constructed in close proximity to the La Vegas Strip in 25 years – is slated to offer a number of posh amenities for tenants, including a dog park, sky lounge, and a yoga studio, among others. The facility closeness to the Strip will offer tenants easy access to local attractions, entertainment, and employment, which will most likely make the complex very attractive to prospective tenants.

However, such accommodations may put a dent in your wallet; according to Fore Property Co., rents are expected to range from $1,400 to approximately $3,000 per month. However, similarly-priced units at other apartment complexes built in the Las Vegas region by Fore have been snapped up by tenants in the past, illustrating the desire for high-class accommodations by select members of the public.

In recent years, in order to meet demand for housing options in light of the rapidly-expanding population of Las Vegas due to the economic upturn – developers have been constructing apartment complexes in areas previously having few. Examples include Fremont9 in Vegas’ downtown and the currently in development shareDOWNTOWN in the Arts District. In addition, Fore has noted their interest in another potential apartment complex in Chinatown.

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 recent reports, officials representing Bleutech Park, a $7.5 billion mini-city project that has been proposed for Las Vegas, has acquired a 210-acre plot of land at Las Vegas Boulevard and Cactus Avenue that the group originally hoped to break ground upon come December 2019, although that date has been pushed back.

As per the original July 2019 release announcing the project, Bleutech Park representatives noted that the project would usher in an unprecedented renaissance of the global digital infrastructure industry into Southern Nevada.

“The net-zero buildings within their own insular mini-city will feature automated multi-functional designs, renewable energies from solar / wind / water / kinetic, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality, Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, super-trees, and self-healing concrete structures,” the release says. “Our goal is to provide creative, attractive and functional workforce housing that will meet the needs of the Las Vegas community as a whole, by providing a harmonious ecosystem, thereby improving the health of our community.”

The property was purchased by Bleutech Park representatives for more than $1.5 million per acre from Las Vegas real estate developer Larry Canarelli.

However, some are expressing skepticism regarding the validity of the Bleutech project; for instance, despite the proposed December 2019 groundbreaking date, Clark County has confirmed that no paperwork has been filed with either the county’s planning or zoning departments (as of November 6) – a process which must take place before a project can move forward in any real, physical manner. A Bleutech Park spokesperson has stated that they are working to submit the necessary applications to Clark County in December.

Also, some have expressed doubt that Bleutech Park would be able to deliver on some of the impressive technological marvels that they have boasted of in their original release. That said, the deal for the Las Vegas Boulevard property purchase is expected to close in January 2020 which will push back the original projected December 2019 groundbreaking date.

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 a recent opinion piece published by Edward Kania, the Southern Nevada Eviction Services president argued that recent new laws governing the Nevada eviction process are ultimately unfair to landlords, placing undue stress and hardship upon them in the event that a tenant fails to pay their rent or live up to the responsibilities of their lease. While opinions are very much divided on this issue, Kania made several points that served to illustrate how landlords are set to be affected – in a negative way – by this new law.

The law Kania refers to is Senate Bill 151, which kicked in on July 1, 2019; the law increases protections for those renting properties by granting more time to tenants before they are able to be evicted by landlords for lack of payment on their rent, as well as capping late fees at five percent for delinquent rent payments. In addition, more time is granted to tenants to pay their overdue rent – seven business days, as opposed to the previous five – to avoid eviction. Evicted tenants are also allowed to re-enter their former dwelling for up to five days to retrieve “essential” belongings they may have left behind.

Kania notes that the new law essentially portrays landlords as “villains” simply for expecting to have their lease agreements complied with and their rent paid in a timely manner – something the tenant agreed to do upon moving into the unit, he said.

The new – and some would argue, excessive – leeway that tenants receive under the Bill essentially forces landlords into an unfair position, Kania said.

Landlords are not tenants’ parents,” he said. “They are not their means of support nor spouse nor friend nor charity. Neither Target nor supermarkets are required to provide free services. Why, then, are landlords?”

Kania also argues that tenants are automatically guaranteed a hearing after they receive a notice regarding delinquent rent, even if they have no defense whatsoever for not paying. With all of the tenant safeguards now available, often an individual can delay eviction for weeks or even months; all the while, the landlord – who is only trying to pay their bills – is the one experiencing the financial strain of that situation in the form of unpaid rent, not the tenant.

“New eviction laws…make the eviction process harder for landlords and easier for tenants,” Kania concluded. “These new laws help renters who don’t comply with their leases, but will likely lead to higher rents and security deposits, shorter rent due dates and higher mandatory credit score levels for everyone else.”

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, Las Vegas new home construction and sales have displayed its strongest quarter of activity since 2007, with developers currently on-track this year to equal their 2018 performance.

2,500 net sales of newly-built homes in the Las Vegas region were reported from the start of July throughout the end of September, which represents an increase of 8.5 percent over the same period one year ago. The previous high-water mark for sales was 2,760 in 2007, which was just prior to the burst of the housing bubble.

Factors that have been figuring into this continuing upward trend have been an influx of affordable homes into the marketplace – something which had been addressing home shortages and/or had been driving prices up until recently – not to mention assistance from lenders, who have lowered interest rates on loans to below four percent, down from five percent or more just one year ago. 

With more people still moving to the Southern Nevada region due to the skyrocketing economy and the influx of new businesses – and with them, jobs – it’s not at all surprising that new homes have been selling like they have. Moreover, reports say, the lowered interest rates, combined with increasing inventory, are helping to create a more stable, sustainable marketplace; until recently, dwindling supply had been driving home prices continuously upward, raising concerns about affordability. 

Sales of existing homes have also been healthy recently, with their prices approaching – but remaining well under – the prices of new homes; currently, the median sales price of an existing home has been about $299,000, as opposed to newly-built homes, which are fetching closer to $390,000 on the open market. Both of those numbers, respectively, are still well under the national average when compared to many other major marketplaces, such as New York or California.

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 – After an extended period of intense real estate growth, Las Vegas home prices have begun to drop after hitting their highest peak in over ten years, according to reports; experts say that this could benefit the market in the long-term, as the decrease could spur increased home sales, which had been slowing recently due to affordability concerns.

While experts consider the Las Vegas real estate market to be on solid ground overall, it did experience a drop after a considerable amount of time where prices increased and available inventory dwindled. But after a swell of new homes and apartment buildings were put on the market – thanks to the work of numerous developers – the increased inventory and rising prices have resulted in a small decrease in closings. 

The market is on much stronger footing today but has slowed considerably this year, after a heated run in 2018 sparked affordability concerns (some of which caused worry that the local cost of living was spiraling out of control). There’s no way to predict whether we’re in the early stages of a crash, but the cooling, at least in theory, could help jump-start home sales — and there are signs that buyer activity has picked up lately. As a result, the growth rate of Las Vegas dropped from its typical first or second place nationally to eighth among 20 cities ranked by S&P Dow Jones Indices.

However, experts are seeing this drop in sales – and a resulting drop in prices, coupled with a late-2018 drop in interest rates – as a good thing; it could be a means to an end in terms of sparking new sales as buyers who may have been holding out due to affordability concerns will be willing to finally take the plunge.

That hesitation, on the part of buyers, can be understandable; in August of 2018, Las Vegas house prices had jumped 14 percent from the same period of time one year prior, whereas the year-to-year increase from August 2018 to August 2019 was a more manageable 3.3 percent, reports say.

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 – Town houses have reached their highest level of construction in the Las Vegas area since the burst of the Mid-2000’s housing bubble, and that trend looks to continue into the foreseeable future, according to reports.

By the end of August of 2019, there were 974 town home closings in the Southern Nevada region, which accounts for 14 percent of all home closings so far in 2019. This represents a whopping 16 percent jump over the same period one year prior, when that number of closings came in at 840; that time town homes made up 12 percent of closings. 

Despite that upward trend, town homes have yet to reach their pre-recession marketplace peak of 16 percent. However, their continued growth is encouraging, as they have bounced back from a drastic and record low of 1 percent in 2012. Growth since then has been encouraged by legislation passed in 2015 by Nevada State that served to make the legal processes surrounding repairs and litigation involving town home construction more streamlined.

Town homes are attractive to many buyers due to affordability concerns, as increases in land prices from the recent real estate boom in Las Vegas making single-family home ownership more and more expensive (although still far less so in comparison than in many other regions of the United States). The ability to fit more homes – town houses typically consist of attached homes, often one with a small footprint on multiple floors – within the confines of a smaller plot of land enabling developers to keep prices lower per unit than many comparable single-family homes.

Town houses also represent an attractive stop-gap measure to those currently renting who are looking for an alternative means of home ownership – such as young people or the elderly – that combines affordability and cost stability.

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 – Cherry Developments, owned by developer Sam Cherry, announced this week that a new apartment complex – dubbed ‘shareDOWNTOWN’ – will soon be constructed in downtown Las Vegas, located at Casino Center Drive and Colorado, according to reports.

The idea of shareDOWNTOWN – small, affordable apartments conveniently located within a busy employment area – is to give workers a local place to live within easy walking distance of their jobs, according to Cherry.

“This area has a diverse group of restaurants and bars, and this will be the first larger project — the largest project in the area,” he said in a statement. “It will be a place where people who work in the bar, work in the restaurants, the hair salon, the galleries can actually live. They can walk to work. It will help move the needle significantly in the neighborhood.”

The apartment complex, which will be three-four stories in height, will feature over 60-one bedroom units aimed at people who work at the many bars, clubs, restaurants and retail establishments that are in the area. The apartments are slated to be small, just 480 square-feet in size, with a projected rent ranging from $1,100 to $1,300 per month, reports note.

Cherry Developments noted that shareDOWNTOWN is slated to be the first in a series of apartment complexes located in the Las Vegas downtown region that target the people who work locally in an attempt to provide quality housing and promote job growth.

Overall plans for the shareDOWNTOWN project, including the approximate start date for construction and proposed amenities, are due to be revealed soon; once started, the development is expected to be finished by in May of 2020.

Developer Sam Cherry was previously known for construction of high-rise complexes prior to the mid-2000’s burst of the housing bubble in Las Vegas;  shareDOWNTOWN represents the first development project he has worked on since that period.

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 – American Homes 4 Rent®, a California-based company that renovates and leases single-family homes (it already owns over such 1,000 homes in Las Vegas alone) has made the move to up its game in Southern Nevada, announcing recently that they would be constructing rental homes from Vegas, a move they have already pulled off in 14 other markets, according to reports.

American Homes 4 Rent was established in 2012, and is one of the first large public companies to begin investing heavily in single-family homes, following the entry of The Blackstone Group into the field; as of 2018, it owned over 51,200 single-family homes in 21 states, many of which were acquired through the Multiple Listing Service and foreclosure homes via auction. 

According to Clark County records, American Homes 4 Rent recently applied for 14 new home permits, the first time they have done so in the Las Vegas area, located in multiple plots of land that the company purchased in 2018. These permits are intended to make up a community the company is designing that will be named Serene Park in the southwest valley, according to reports. Once completed, the community will consist of a total of 21 single-family homes, all of which will be designed for long-term rentals and will range from 2,000 to 2,200 square feet in size.

The current slate of homes that American Homes 4 Rent already has on the rental market in Vegas range in price from $1,200 to $2,600 per month. The company has stated to media that the expansion into home construction – as opposed to just purchasing existing homes – came about due to an opportunity to build for approximately the same cost as acquiring structures that are already made, resulting in higher-quality rentals.

Once completed, the rent is expected be approximately $1,795 a month for a three-bedroom house and $1,950 a month for a four-bedroom house.

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, the short-term vacation rental market is booming in Las Vegas, with Nevada becoming the fourth-highest such market in the country. Vegas has always been a destination city for a variety of reasons, but after the recovery of the city’s economy, the recent influx of money, jobs, businesses and the arrival of the recently-transplanted Raiders NFL team – tourism has reached a fever pitch in Southern Nevada. Enter the rental market. Tourists have been turning increasingly to short-term home rentals when visiting Las Vegas, and investors have sat up and taken notice. Within the span of the last ten years, the vacation home rental industry in Vegas has gone up a whopping 50 percent, reports say.

Some of the most popular areas to rent vacation homes locally include Henderson, due in part to it’s proximity to the famed Las Vegas Strip; after such rentals were made legal there, reports indicate that anywhere from a 200-300 percent increase in the number of investors who have purchased homes in order to rent them out to tourists. Home rentals for tourists are often more popular then hotels and other accommodations; this holds especially true for families with children, according to reports.

Home prices in Vegas, while still climbing at record rates due to the law of supply and demand, are still nonetheless much cheaper than the national average, especially when compared to neighboring states such as California. Some investors report seeing quick returns on their investment dollars, with some Airbnb users noting that it’s possible to make as much as $8,000 a week if your play your cards right.

However, the short-term vacation rental market comes with its caveats, among them the fact that it may see an increase in rent and traditional home-buyers being pushed out. Due to this, the rental business could end up making things more difficult for both type renters and buyers alike.

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 Las Vegas rental market – just like any other aspect of the real estate market in Southern Nevada these days – is still experiencing record degrees of growth, with prices that are rising at levels not seen in well over a decade. Rental prices, while showing signs of slowing down and stabilizing in recent months, are nonetheless approaching amounts that rival the boom period of Las Vegas real estate seen just prior to the mid-2000’s burst of the housing bubble.

But obviously – as all things are not created equal – some areas of Las Vegas are commanding higher rental fees than others. But while rental fees continue to rise, a new study reveals that not all things are created equal, as obviously there are some areas of Las Vegas that are just plain more expensive to rent in than others. The study broke things down by individual zip codes, noting which ones were pricier than their neighboring peers. 

The study analyzed 4,400 zip codes in over 130 markets, and based on that established national, regional, and state rankings for rental costs. In Nevada, the Las Vegas Valley – zip code 89123 – is the most expensive area in the state to rent, with the 2019 average price coming in at $1,789 per month; this amount represents an increase of 6.6 percent from 2018.

In second and third most expensive the study indicated a tie; zip codes 89521 (Northern Nevada) and 89436 (Reno) average about $1,685 a month. In fourth place comes Henderson – zip code 89012 – with the average rent amounting to $1,541; a jump of 7.7 percent from last year, the study notes. And finally, in fifth place, Clark County zip code 89141 has an average rental cost of approximately $1,523 a month.

However, it should be pointed out that overall, the cost of living in Las Vegas is still well below the national average, especially when compared to neighboring states such as California, where the rent in zip code 90024 – Los Angeles – will set you back a cool $4,944 a month (up 4.1 percent from 2018).  However, the most expensive zip code in the United States to rent in currently is Manhattan, NY (10282), where the average rent comes in at a whopping $6,211, a 12.4 percent year-over-year increase.

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 the mid-2000’s Las Vegas housing market, prices reached their peak; in June of 2006, the median sales price of a single-family home hit an all-time high of $315,000, right before the recession hit and rendered the Southern Nevada market nearly inert for almost a decade.

Fast-forward to 2019, and real estate in Las Vegas has finally experienced something of a boom period once again. With the recovery of the economy and the influx of money and jobs into the region, experts began to notice the skyrocketing growth in the housing market. Inventory was scarce and prices were rising, but did they stand a chance of hitting the highs seen before the housing bubble burst? Some were skeptical, but none denied the record-setting growth.

But it appears to be happening, experts say; in September 2019, the median sales price of a single-family home hit $310,000. Closing the gap significantly between what is and what once was. Clearly, home prices – while their growth has finally started to slow recently – are on the cusp of reaching, and perhaps even surpassing, their previous mid-2000 levels.
However, experts say not to read too much into that milestone, as when taking inflation into consideration, the gap is not quite what it once was thought. Inflation means that, in 2019 currency, that peak 2006 home price of $315,000 would actually equate to 398,300. Also, while things have improved overall, they have yet to reach the point where lenders were practically giving loans away; from banks to developers, everyone touched by the real estate industry is playing it a little more safely these days, based on how badly they were burned last time around.

So while the symbolism of the new 2019 peak is a great way to bid farewell to the hardships that the recession forced upon Las Vegas – and indeed, the rest of the nation – it still indicates that there’s room for improvement, and illustrates just how bad things got when they were at their worst. But it also shows how far Vegas has come, and how far it’s still more than capable of going in the future.

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.