Category Archive : Real Estate

LAS VEGAS, NV – On Tuesday, the end of an era was marked as the Tropicana Las Vegas – one of the oldest remaining vanguards of the iconic Sin City hotel-casinos of the Rat Pack era – closed its doors for business two days prior to its 67^th anniversary, with the structure slated to be imploded later this year to make way for a new stadium for the newly-arriving Oakland Athletics Major League Baseball (MLB) team.

Originally, casino operator Bally’s Corp. had announced that play in the casino would cease at 3 a.m. Tuesday, but in reality, workers had begun breaking down many of the table games at around midnight; the slot machines had already been decommissioned several days prior, and most of the food outlets and restrooms were already closed.

One of the few remaining bars open in the Tropicana, Chill’m, was inundated with customers that evening – including bloggers, YouTubers and influencers – where they celebrated the closing of the iconic hotel-casino with a champagne toast at approximately 1:30 a.m.

In April of 1957, the Tropicana opened with 300 rooms, and had ties to organized crime; today, in its current form, the resort features 1,470-rooms, 50,000 square-feet of gaming floor space, and 72,000 square-feet of convention and exhibit space.

In April 2021, Bally’s entered a deal to acquire the Tropicana from Gaming and Leisure Properties in a deal valued at $308 million. Later, the Athletics’ ownership reached an agreement with Bally’s Corp. and the owner of the resort casino’s underlying land, Vici Properties, to purchase the property for the MLB team’s proposed new $1.5 billion ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip.

The A’s new home is slated to take the form of a 33,000-seat retractable roof stadium, with the team expected to play their first season in 2028.

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 New Frontier Hotel and Casino was an iconic sight on the Las Vegas Strip since it originally opened for business in 1931; over the years it changed hands several times until it’s eventual final sale and closure in May 2007. The structure was finally imploded in November of that same year following a fireworks celebration and countdown chanted by onlookers who gathered to see a remnant of Vegas’ colorful past finally crumble to dust.

Nearly 17 years later, the property continues to sit unused; casino operator Wynn Resorts, which bought the land and four adjacent acres in early 2018, has not announced any plans yet, merely stating in a February securities filing that it “may be used for future development” without any further details being provided.

As a result of the inactivity, a 38-acre tract of land is currently sitting unused between Fashion Show Mall and Resorts World Las Vegas. Over the years, the property was bought and sold following New Frontier’s closure by numerous entities before it was purchased by Wynn Resorts, each of which brought different plans to the table that ultimately never came to fruition.

New Frontier sold the 16-story, 984-room hotel-casino in 2007 for $1.24 billion to Israeli investors who subsequently imploded the tower for a multibillion-dollar project that would have seen the construction of a massive resort with 4,100 hotel rooms, 2,600 resort-condo units, and over one million square feet of casino, restaurant, convention, and retail space. However, the project was never realized, due in part to the mid-2000s recession.

From there, the property was acquired in 2014 by Australian billionaire James Packer in hopes of building a 1,100-room hotel-casino; however, funding issues resulted in the project never getting off the ground, leading to Wynn Resorts purchasing the property – in addition to some adjacent plots – for $336 million in 2007.

But while Wynn Resorts founder Steve Wynn had announced at the time that he wanted to quickly develop the land, he would soon resign as chairman and CEO following a series of sexual misconduct allegations.

Since then, the site of the New Frontier Hotel and Casino has sat vacant and unused.

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 Western Hotel & Casino, an iconic part of the Las Vegas downtown scene steeped in the rich history of the city, is reportedly up for sale for an undisclosed price.

Originally closing down in 2012, the hotel is one of the many properties in Vegas previously owned by the late Tony Hsieh, who passed away in November 2020 at the age of 46 due to injuries suffered in a Connecticut house fire.

Hsieh – who was worth hundreds of millions of dollars at the time of his death – headed up retail shoe selling giant Zappos before selling it to Amazon in 2009 for over $1 billion; he later retired as CEO in August 2020. He is also credited for having pledged $350 million to the renovation and revitalization of Downtown Las Vegas.

A real estate brokerage firm, Logic Commercial Real Estate, was selected by Hsieh’s estate in May 2023 to sell five of his downtown Las Vegas properties, the Western Hotel & Casino being among them.

Boston Omaha Asset Management – an investment firm owned by Logic’s chairman and co-founder Brendan Keating, who was named its co-managing partner four months before the Hsieh listings were announced – recently purchased several downtown properties from Hsieh’s estate for approximately $24.7 million.

The Western Hotel & Casino, as described by the sales pitch, is a “rare, full city block redevelopment opportunity in Downtown Las Vegas.” The establishment, which is two stories tall and has approximately 49 hotel rooms, charged about $37 a night at the time of its closing. Originally built in 1970, the four-parcel property – which sits upon a 1.3-acre plot of land with 300 feet of frontage on Fremont Street – was mainly known for its cheap slot machines, bingo, and table games.

Hsieh’s Downtown Project had previously purchased the property for $14 million in 2013.

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 – As per a new study from online real estate search portal Point2, Nevada has experienced a decrease in the number of housing permits being applied for by developers for the second year in a row.

In 2023, Nevada issued 18,473 new housing permits, made up of single-family homes and apartment units; according to the report, which noted that it acquired its data from the U.S. Census Bureau, this represents an 8 percent decrease year-over-year.

However, once you pick apart the data, some interesting notes surface. While the overall number of housing permits issued last year decreased, the number of single-family home permits increased, whereas permits for apartment complexes and other associated projects took a whopping 32 percent dive.

According to the report, the decrease in apartment project permits in 2023 indicates less emphasis being placed on the multifamily housing market by Nevada developers, which could have the effect of “limiting options for residents seeking affordable housing.”

When specifically looking at development activity in the Las Vegas Valley, the Point2 report stated that 13,073 new permits were issued in 2023, a number that remains approximately on par with the year before. But once again, the particulars in the Valley mirrored those of the state as a whole, with permits for single-family homes increasing but those for apartment projects dropping by 23 percent.

The Point2 study said that this is “suggesting a shift in the region’s housing stock, with implications for the variety of housing in the area.”

While there had been an increase in multifamily units entering the market in the Valley recently – which has served to help stabilize rents – the Point2 report indicates that fewer apartment projects are currently in development than in recent years, with the surge in building brought about by the pandemic now finally slowing down.

Earlier in March, Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo sent a request to President Joe Biden to allow the Bureau of Land Management to release more of the land that it owns in Nevada for housing; currently, the agency owns 48 million acres in Nevada, or approximately 67 percent of the 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.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Major League Baseball (MLB) legend Jose Canseco has listed his lavish Las Vegas, Nevada home for sale on the open market for the reported amount of $1.6 million.

Canseco, 59, originally purchased the 5,100-square-foot, five-bedroom, four-and-a-half bath residence – located in an affluent, guard-gated master-planned community located a short drive from downtown Las Vegas – in 2021 for $1.1 million, after which he carried out more than $200,000 in renovations and upgrades.

He originally listed the home for sale in September 2023 for $1.7 million; one month later he cut the price by $100,000, and that amount is still what he’s asking despite the property still remaining on the market six months later without any takers.

The home is located in a private cul-de-sac and it’s front and back yards are surrounded by electric fences, something that’s sure to appeal to the security-conscious. It features a Spanish-tile roof, a living room with a marble fireplace and large arched window, a huge kitchen boasting top-of-the-line Wolf appliances, and a formal dining room with a glossy tile floor.

3340 MONTECITO DRIVE, LAS VEGAS – $1,600,000.00

The large bedrooms are luxurious, with the primary suite offering a sitting area and a bathroom with a wraparound marble vanity and glass-enclosed shower.

The house also offers many amenities, including a fitness studio and a backyard with an in-ground pool, a koi pond, a barbecue, and low-maintenance artificial grass. There’s also an attached two-bedroom casita with a full kitchen, living and dining area.

This isn’t the first real estate sale the former pro baseballer has attempted to make in Southern Nevada; in August 2023 he put a car wash he had been running in Vegas up for sale – Jose Canseco’s Showtime Car Wash – although it is currently uncertain if he still remains the owner as of press time.

Canseco played 17 seasons in MLB and is best known for his time with the Oakland Athletics. During his career, he won Rookie of the Year (1986) and the Most Valuable Player award (1988), in addition to being a six-time All-Star. He is a two-time World Series champion with the Oakland Athletics (1989) and the New York Yankees (2000), and in 1988 became the first player in MLB history to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a single season.

See full listing details for 3340 Montecito Drive, Las Vegas

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.

CHICAGO, IL – In a historic settlement that will completely change the current homebuying and selling business model, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) on Friday entered into a settlement in a series of antitrust lawsuits brought against the organization by groups of home sellers by agreeing to pay $418 million in damages and eliminating commission rules, effectively doing away with the 6 percent industry standard.

The agreement to abolish the 6 percent commission standard on the part of NAR – which represents over 1 million Realtors – is expected to significantly reduce the costs associated with buying and selling homes, with experts predicting that commissions are expected to fall anywhere from 25 percent to 50 percent.

Up until Friday’s agreement, sellers paid both their broker and their buyer’s broker during a home sale, which some critics have said has artificially driven housing prices higher. Previously, sellers could pay more than $25,000 in brokerage fees upon the sale of the average-priced U.S. home, which is currently $417,000; those costs are then passed on to the buyer, which in turn leads to higher home prices.

A new set of rules will also be put into place, including prohibiting the amount of compensation an agent will receive from being included on listings posted on multiple listing services (MLS), which some have claimed leads to brokers pushing pricier homes on their customers; previously, NAR had required agents to post their fees on MLS listings.

In addition, brokers are no longer required to subscribe to MLS where properties are given a wide viewing in a local markets, and buyer’s brokers will now be required to enter into written agreements with their buyers.

The home sellers who had sued NAR argued that the cost of the buyer’s agent’s commission should be paid by the buyer who received the service, not by the seller, and that buyers should be able to negotiate the fee with their agent and that sellers should not be responsible for paying it.

In November, a Missouri federal jury ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and against NAR and two other brokerages for a total of $1.8 billion in damages for conspiring to keep agent commissions artificially high; because the lawsuit was an antitrust case, NAR would potentially have had to pay triple damages in the amount of $5.4 billion.

While the other two brokerage is settled, NAR initially vowed to appeal the judgment before finally agreeing to the settlement on Friday, which was announced by NAR interim CEO Nykia Wright in a statement.

NAR has worked hard for years to resolve this litigation in a manner that benefits our members and American consumers,” she said. “It has always been our goal to preserve consumer choice and protect our members to the greatest extent possible. This settlement achieves both of those goals.”

News of the settlement caused shares of real estate firms Zillow and Compass to plummet over 13 percent; Zillow issued a statement saying any significant change to the fee structure could have an industry-wide negative impact, including less business for real estate platforms.

If agent commissions are meaningfully impacted, it could reduce the marketing budgets of real estate partners or reduce the number of real estate partners participating in the industry, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations,” the firm said.

However, Robert Braun – a partner in Cohen Milstein’s antitrust practice that represented the homesellers in the lawsuit – claimed that Friday’s settlement will lead to a more competitive and fair real estate market.

For far too long, home sellers have faced a system recognized by many as blatantly unfair,” he said. “This class action and settlement provides justice for our clients and will require important changes that help future home sellers.”

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 national luxury real estate broker has taken the industry one step closer to the future – for better or for worse, depending on how you feel about the implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) – by announcing that it will be beta testing a website across its brokerage operations in Las Vegas featuring a first-of-its-kind “fully conversational” AI avatar that will be able to hold discussions and answer questions of prospective buyers.

Luxury Realty Group LLC, a subsidiary of Luxury Realty Group Holdings Inc, has begun testing the vuHome.ai website, claiming that their new AI avatar was created because text, images, and videos aren’t always sufficient to convey the experience of the luxury properties they are trying to sell. Instead, having an AI avatar who can actually converse with the seller and answer specific questions provides a more efficient, time saving approach to selling homes in the Las Vegas region, or at least, they say.

Pulling on up-to-the-minute MLS data, the AI avatar can be verbally asked to search for exact home criteria, including square footage, the number of stories, bedrooms, and baths, and specific amenities such as kitchen islands, pools, mountain views, guard gated communities, and what size garage they need. Within seconds, listings matching their search criteria are offered, and buyers can continue to converse with the AI to have questions pertaining to the properties they were interested in answered, including ones not readily available on traditional websites and portals.

The point, according to Luxury Realty Group, is to provide a more immersive experience for sellers and to allow them to be able to visualize living in the home more effectively. However, it remains to be seen if speaking to an eerily realistic virtual woman staring back at you from a computer screen is the best means of doing so, or if it simply conjures up the “uncanny valley,” a term that describes the sense of discomfort or unease people experience when they encounter a robot with certain human-like characteristics.

The website is currently password-protected and not for public use during its beta testing phase, but a demo video is available upon request by interested sellers, media, and prospective experienced luxury real estate agents in the Las Vegas area.

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 – One of the Las Vegas Strip’s most historic properties, the Diamond Inn Motel, closed down last year and has sat vacant and unused ever since. However, new reports indicate that it is set to be auctioned off and most likely demolished along with its iconic mascot – a large sculpture of a pink elephant that greeted visitors to the establishment for many years – signifying an erasure of yet another piece of the Strip’s rich history.

Whereas the Strip had previously featured a number of small motels and resorts, these icons of yesteryear have been giving way to massive megaresorts in the here and now, with the Diamond Inn Motel proving to be one of the last holdouts.

The motel – which is set on 1.36 acres of land and boasts 48 rooms – has called the Strip home for decades, and has witnessed the rise of its massive casino and resort industry from the very beginning, according to the business’ website.

“Built in 1940 the Diamond Inn Motel (then it was called the Desert Isle Motel), is one of the oldest buildings still standing on the Strip, which several decades ago the strip was called Arrowhead Highway/Highway 91,” the website reads. “The first hotel/casino built on the strip was called the El Rancho Vegas Hotel & Casino built in 1941. Later in the ’40’s and 50’s, dozens of motels were built next door, the Mirage, Lone Palm, Desert Rose and many others that were the high points of Old Vegas with their glittering neon signs. The Diamond Inn is still standing proud and operating with a profit after all these years, along with its colorful history (especially the landmark, iconic Pink Elephant)!”

One of the most distinctive features of the Diamond Inn Motel was the pink elephant standing at the front of the property next to the establishment’s sign, inviting weary tourists and locals to come in and rest in one of their rooms after a night of gambling and partying.

The pink elephant came from Disney World, probably in the 50’s,” the website says. “He used to trumpet loudly, but the noise caused some accidents. Because of that, the county made the owner take the sound mechanism out. The pink elephant is like the Diamond Inn’s mascot; thousands of tourists have stopped just to take pictures next to it, just like they do in front of the famous Welcome to Las Vegas sign.”

However, it has been pointed out that the website claim may have been in error and that the elephant most likely came from Disneyland, which opened in 1955, as opposed to Disney World, which opened in 1971.

J.P. King, a company that specializes in real estate auctions, is handling the Diamond Inn auction. The auction began on March 7 and a minimum bid of $12.5 million has been set for the property.

And yes, the pink elephant is indeed included in the sale.

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, JEN Partners – a real estate investment firm based out of New York – recently purchased 54 acres of underdeveloped, residential-zoned land in south Las Vegas for $33.5 million, and speculation is running rampant that the property will be used for a massive residential development.

The land in question is located within the township of Enterprise, just west of the Southern Highlands community; the previous owner was Southern Highlands Investment Partners, and neither they nor JEN Partners responded to queries from local media regarding the sale.

JEN Partners, according to the firm’s website, specializes in “residential land and real estate opportunities,” and has previously built single-family residential developments in such places as Florida, Arizona and Texas. Overall, they have over 150 active or fully realized residential real estate transactions across the country, although their new land acquisition in south Las Vegas will represent their first project in the state of Nevada, provided if JEN Partners indeed chooses to develop it.

Enterprise is an unincorporated town founded on December 17, 1996 and is known as an up-and-coming township as well as one of the fastest growing communities in the United States; as of the 2020 U.S. census, the population of Enterprise was 221,831, a significant increase from the 2000 census that put that number at just 14,676.

Given its degree of rapid growth in recent years – mainly attributed to the development of the 215 Beltway, which connects the Summerlin and Henderson communities and provides easy access to the airport and the Las Vegas Strip – experts say that Enterprise would rank only behind Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas in terms of the largest cities in the county if it were to incorporate itself today.

Enterprise has recently seen a large boom in building in terms of single-family residential developments, multifamily and apartment construction, including commercial real estate.

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 – Boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya recently picked up his roots and moved from his longtime home of Los Angeles, California, to Las Vegas, and recently held a media event where he publicly unveiled the new residence he and his wife will be inhabiting- a lavish mansion valued at nearly $15 million that is located in Henderson’s affluent MacDonald Highlands community.

Nicknamed “The Golden Boy of boxing,” De La Hoya, 51, competed in the squared circle from 1992 to 2008, winning 11 world titles in six weight classes and is one of the most popular boxers ever, generating approximately $700 million in pay-per-view income during his career, a record at that time.

De La Hoya originally purchased the MacDonald Highlands mansion in May 2022 in an all-cash transaction for $14.6 million, coming in as the priciest Las Vegas transaction that month. The residence, which is still undergoing construction and updating, is located on a 1-acre plot of land and features 10,460 square-feet of living space, with five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and an eight-car garage.

De La Hoya is reportedly sparing no expense when it comes to decorating his new abode, building a trophy room that serves as a celebration of his boxing career – including displays featuring his championship belts and robes, a miniature boxing ring, and a huge wall-mounted television for watching boxing matches – in addition to a $500,000 man cave.

Not only is De La Hoya moving his family to Las Vegas from LA, but he’s also moving his business there as well; Golden Boy Promotions, his boxing promotions firm, will be taking up residence in new offices located in Henderson, near the Las Vegas Raiders’ training complex. This move continues the trend of numerous fight entities recently setting up their headquarters in Vegas, including Top Rank, PBC, and the UFC.

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 – January 2024 saw the second-highest number of luxury home sales in Las Vegas ever, proving that high-end residence sales in Southern Nevada are still going strong – and picking up steam – despite whatever challenges are encountered by the national real estate market overall in light of high inflation and mortgage rates.

In all, 102 homes and condominiums priced at $1 million and higher exchange hands last month, an amount eclipsed only by the current record-holding year of January 2022, during which 122 abodes in that price range were sold. The next two highest months in Las Vegas history were January 2021, when 86 luxury sales took place, and January 2023, when 76 were sold.

January’s luxury home sales in Vegas were bolstered by a number of expensive purchases, topped by the sale of an estate in Summerlin’s affluent The Summit Club community for a whopping $19 million. This home, acquired by Insight Tech Holdings NV LLC – a buyer from Asia – from Chambord Revocable Trust with Michael L. and M’Lissa M. Gravelle listed as trustees, was an all-cash deal.

The home, located on Stardust Drive, was originally built in 2020 and subsequently renovated in 2021; it features four bedrooms and 4.5 baths in a residence with an “ultra-modern design” that offers 7,908 square-feet of living space. Situated on a 1.37-acre plot of land, the property also boasts a pool and unobstructed views of the famed Las Vegas Strip.

The second highest-priced home that was sold in Vegas in January was a two-story residence in McDonald Highlands in Henderson for $8.45 million. Built in 2022, renovated in 2023, and located on a 0.3-acre plot of land on Tranquil Rim Court, the 7,373 square-foot home has five bedrooms, five full baths, two partial baths, and a six-car garage. Amenities include a movie theater, bar, game room, wine cellar, and elevator.

The third-highest luxury sale in Las Vegas in January was $7.3 million for a Southern Highlands home, followed by a home in The Ridges in Summerlin for $5.76 million.

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

LAS VEGAS, NV – The Canyon at Ascaya is an upcoming exclusive residential development in Las Vegas that is currently under construction in Henderson’s affluent and guard-gated Ascaya community, slated for completion in early 2025.

Located amid the McCullough Mountains, The Canyon at Ascaya will offer 51 residences that have been 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 – and a host of high-end amenities that place an emphasis on wellness.

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. The interiors will reflect a contemporary design aesthetic, with vaulted 12-foot ceilings, motorized glass pocket doors, linear gas fireplaces, and fixtures by a number of designer manufacturers including Brizo, Kohler, and MTI.

Other opulent aspects of The Canyon’s abodes will include chef’s kitchens featuring appliances from Sub-Zero and Wolf; dual primary suites with oversized closets and outdoor showers; backyards with outdoor kitchens and Linx grills; large covered terraces; and garages ranging from two to two-and-a-half cars in size.

There will be a host of communal amenities as well, including five public swimming pools; private wellness parks complete with yoga decks, meditation spaces, and cold plunges; a 23,000 square-foot clubhouse with a cutting-edge fitness center; and a sports pavilion offering tennis and pickle ball courts.

Chris Beucler, president of Blue Heron, noted that The Canyon at Ascaya community will reflect a “modern desert living” look and feel.

Our architectural philosophy is rooted in the belief that a home should be a sanctuary, and at The Canyon, we’ve created sanctuaries that celebrate the distinct canvas of the desert landscape,” he said. “In every detail of The Canyon homes, you’ll find a commitment to excellence, sustainability, and design that enhances the human experience. This is modern desert living reimagined.” 

Residences at The Canyon at Ascaya will go on sale in spring 2024, with a starting price of $2.9 million.

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