Category Archive : Investing

LAS VEGAS, NV – Over 150 single-family homes were purchased in the Las Vegas Valley throughout 2024 by a real estate investment firm backed by Wall Street, according to property records.

The Greenwich, Connecticut-based firm in question, Starwood Property Trust, bought 151 homes in the valley in October for a combined $58.2 million, spread out over three separate transactions. The homes are located in several different communities across the valley, including North Las Vegas, Henderson and the southwest and northwest valley.

Starwood Property Trust will be turning most of these valley-based properties into rental units, as the mammoth firm – worth an estimated $6.45 billion – currently owns numerous rental homes throughout the United States.

Kristi DesJarlais, Senior Vice President of Communications and PR for Invitation Homes – the largest owner of single-family rental homes in the United States, owning 84,000 in 16 markets as of July 2024 – confirmed that the Dallas, Texas-based firm would be serving as property manager for an as-yet unknown number of the new homes acquired by Starwood Property Trust late last year.

Previously, in 2023, Starwood sold 264 homes that it owned in the valley to Invitation Homes in a deal worth $98 million.

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

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

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

LAS VEGAS, NV – Southern Nevada real estate experts are discussing their opinions on how the industry may potentially shift and evolve over the course of the next four years, and many are predicting a boom in the number of luxury housing purchases in Las Vegas under the incoming administration.

Managing Director of RCLCO Real Estate Consulting, Gregg Logan, noted that Trump’s return to the White House could have serious impacts upon the housing market, due to his ties to real estate and the policies he implemented during his previous tenure as President that were deemed to be friendly to businesses. Trump’s calls for less regulation could prove to be a benefit as well, although other policies he supported in the past show that not all the changes he may implement could be beneficial, Logan said.

Trump’s potential influence on the real estate market is a mixed bag of potential influences. In Trump’s first term, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 temporarily boosted GDP growth, led to a short-term increase in corporate profits and spurred a rise in consumer spending and business investment,” he said. “But this disproportionately benefited the wealthy and corporations, with only modest wage gains for most workers. Meanwhile the tax cuts substantially increased the federal deficit, raising concerns about long-term fiscal sustainability. This time around his policy’s influences on inflation, a growing federal deficit and a tighter immigration policy could similarly lead to mixed results for the economy, overall, and real estate in particular, making adaptability essential for industry stakeholders.”

In addition to commercial real estate tax breaks and easing regulations governing the construction industry – which may very well stimulate the expansion of businesses and investments – Logan said that Trump’s proposed tax cuts favoring the wealthy will most likely result in a sharp increase in the number of luxury properties purchased during his admin, both in Las Vegas and nationwide.

Potential tax breaks for high-income individuals could increase demand for luxury properties, as wealthy investors may pursue high-end real estate assets,” he said. “If Trump’s tax policies favor high-net-worth individuals, luxury markets could experience a surge in activity.”

However, Logan said that Trump’s proposed tariffs on imported goods, along with tighter immigration policies, could potentially result in higher construction costs, a lower pool of workers and, consequently, the need for higher wages to supplement the workforce.

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 – With the advent of technological development, there are a plethora of ways to collect rent online, but experts agree the most reliable way to do so is by using an app specifically developed for such a purpose. The right type of app for this activity combines numerous aspects of the rent collection process in an efficient, streamlined manner that no only offers benefits landlords, but their tenants as well.

The very best rent collection apps should combine a plethora of features in an easy-to-navigate package, including the following:

• A tool that can allow a landlord to schedule automated, reoccurring payments and sent monthly reminders to tenants; this can cut down on late rental payments.
• An app that accepts multiple payment options and types, including ACH transfers, credit cards, and debit cards.
• Transaction fees that are affordable; look for payment fees that are fixed or vary based on the payment type and lower than $3/per payment or 3 percent of the payment amount.
• A platform that can process payments within three-to-five business days or less.
• An option that allows tenants to report their on-time rent payments to credit bureaus in order to help build their credit rating.
• The ability to block partial payments in order to make sure that tenants pay their rent in full each month; in the case of an eviction, this helps to prevent blockages.
• An option to apply automatic late fees in the case that a tenant is tardy with their payment, as stated in the terms of their lease and mandated by local laws governing grace periods.
• A dashboard for tracking and reporting payments that features an intuitive interface; landlords should be able to keep tabs on payments, outstanding balances, and be able to export financial information into reports for tax purposes.
• The app should boast bank-grade encryption to ensure secure transactions and to protect the personal information of both the tenant and the landlord.
• The details of a tenant’s lease should be fully integrated into the app, ensuring that the obligations of the renter are spelled out and fully comprehended.
• A tool to automatically track a landlord’s income and expenses.
• And finally, top-notch customer support services in the event that a landlord encounters any issues while using the app.

Some popular rent collection apps heading into 2025 are as follows: Avail (Part of Realtor.com), Zillow Rental Manager, Rentec Direct, Buildium, and TurboTenant.

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 2000, corporate investors have been on a buying spree in Southern Nevada, snapping up an astonishing 131,710 homes in the Las Vegas Valley to be utilized as short-term rentals, either privately or through online platforms such as Aidbnb and Vrbo, as per a new report.

Las Vegas exhibited the largest year-over-year increase in the number of home purchases on the part of investors in the entire nation – 27.6 percent – for the third quarter of 2024, according to Redfin economic research lead Chen Zhao, who notes that approximately 23 percent of all homes currently being bought in the valley are done so by investors.

Las Vegas is a particularly alluring city for investors because of its booming entertainment industry. We know from our agents that investors often buy and rent out multiple properties that immediately get filled by entertainment and service workers,” she said. “Las Vegas is also an Airbnb hotspot, so a lot of these home purchases turn into short-term rentals for vacationers or seasonal workers.”

Zhao said that in the valley, the activity of investors – defined as buyers backed by a corporation, a limited liability corporation or a family trust – has increased as of late due to recent rate cuts on the part of the Federal Reserve which are helping to lower home mortgage rates, as well as optimism in the real estate market stemming from the outcome of 2024 presidential election.

While it’s hard to pinpoint the exact reasoning behind the ebbs and flows of investor activity in Las Vegas, some folks this last quarter may have wanted to scoop up properties before the election since there was a fair amount of economic uncertainty surrounding the outcome,” Zhao said. “Rates were also lower in Q3, and while consumers didn’t respond because they were waiting for rate cuts, it’s possible that investors were more responsive.”

According to a study carried out by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ Lied Center for Real Estate, investors currently own at least 15 percent of all homes in the valley.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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