Category Archive : Rentals

LAS VEGAS, NV – The first half of 2025 will see more than 100,000 Nevada residents hit with increases to their homeowners and renters’ insurance, with some experiencing huge spikes of up to 25 percent over what they’re currently paying now.

The Nevada Division of Insurance (DOI) has approved twelve insurance companies to institute rate changes through the month of May; most of these companies already bumped up their rates in January, but more – and potentially costly – changes are yet to come for some of their customers.

Before a rate change can go into effect, all insurance companies must run the proposal past the DOI for a detailed and in-depth review. The DOI notes that it only approves rate change requests if they are deemed not to be “excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory.” Likewise, the agency also makes sure that insurance companies are afforded a degree of protection as well.

The mission of the Nevada Division of Insurance is to protect the rights of Nevada consumers in their experiences with the insurance industry and to ensure the financial solvency of insurers,” said the DOI.

Root Insurance had originally requested to raise tenant insurance rates by 55.3 percent for several hundred Nevadans; however, only a 25 percent increase was ultimately approved. Other insurers that requested rate increases for sundry policies of varying amounts included Hartford, Trumbull, Mercury Casualty, American Modern Property and Casualty, Foremost, Acuity A Mutual, Nevadans with Travellers Property Casualty, Country Preferred, American Economy, and Privilege Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange.

The reason for this round of homeowner and renter insurance rate changes in Nevada, as per the DOI, is due to multiple reasons, not limited to inflation driving up costs related to real estate – such as building, repairing and maintaining residences, including the materials and the labor associated with doing so – as well as older homes in the state needing more upkeep, and the potential threats of natural disasters.

Real estate and home values have risen. Inflation, construction materials costs, and skilled labor availability are driving up the costs of rebuilding and repairing properties,” a DOI spokesperson said. “Nevada’s housing stock is aging, which means key home components – such as roofing, electrical systems, and plumbing – may require updates or maintenance.”

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 proposal implemented by the former Biden Administration’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that would have banned mandatory bulk billing arrangements for internet services in apartment buildings – allowing tenants to opt-out of their landlord’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) choice in favor of their own – has been withdrawn by the Trump Administration, effective immediately.

Originally in March 2024, former FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel had put forward the proposal that would have mandated tenants not be required to pay for specific internet services by their landlords in an effort to increase consumer choice in the broadband market.

The ban would not have been sweeping or all-encompassing; instead, it was meant to increase competition in the market by simply allowing tenants in apartments, condominiums and public housing to opt-out of arrangements and seek out their own ISP, potentially allowing them to find more affordable internet access plans.

At the time, the proposal encountered a high degree of blowback on the part of the internet service providers and the multifamily community, and to date had not yet come to a vote.

However, new FCC Chairman Brendan Carr – appointed to the position by President Donald Trump – has withdrawn Rosenworcel’s proposal from the FCC’s consideration. When queried about his decision, Carr said that bulk billing arrangements can actually result in making high-speed internet more accessible and affordable to consumers, especially elderly people living in affordable housing or low-income renters.

Experts note that ISP costs when using bulk billing can potentially be up to 50 percent lower for tenants who use it; in addition, barriers such as credit checks and installation fees are often removed from the equation as well.

In contrast, opponents of bulk billing arrangements say they stifle competition in the market; in a previous effort to address this, the FCC in 2022 issued a ban on exclusive revenue-sharing agreements between landlords and ISPs in multi-tenant buildings.

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 the death and devastation brought on by the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires continues unabated in neighboring California – with countless unfortunate residents displaced from thousands of homes at this point – a real estate industry expert is anticipating the tragedy to begin impacting the housing market in the Las Vegas Valley, an area already dealing with a significant housing crisis of its own.

Many Los Angeles residents who have lost their homes due to the out-of-control fires may be considering looking to relocate to Southern Nevada, on either a temporary or permanent basis, according to the Director and Associate Professor of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Lied Center for Real Estate, Shawn McCoy.

McCoy’s contention that Vegas could be expecting a mass migration of displaced Los Angelinos is based on a previous study conducted by UNLV in 2018 on a series of Colorado wildfires that took place between 2000 and 2012 that destroyed a total of approximately 360,000 homes.

Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles data says that Los Angeles residents make up the majority of out-of-state transplants into the Las Vegas Valley – 43 percent, to be exact – with nearly 158,000 of them opting to relocate to Southern Nevada between 2019 and 2024, the largest number of newcomers out of any other state in the country.

The chief reason cited for the constant influx of Californians into Nevada over the years has been affordability – the cost of living in L.A. is infamously expensive – and that trend is expected to grow as displaced Golden State residents flee to Nevada as the wildfires continue, which McCoy said could also seriously impact an already highly-competitive local rental market.

We may certainly see the fires in L.A. place upward pressure on rent locally in Las Vegas, both as a result of displaced L.A. households whose homes were damaged, but also from two other important groups,” he said. “Households near the wildfires but that were not directly affected by the fires may now hold a heightened awareness or concern of potential future fires and act on that heightened awareness by moving out. This may be especially true given research which shows that about 18 percent of the housing stock in the Palisades is multifamily housing.”

In addition, the valley could also see an increase of arrivals from those who had been thinking of moving to Los Angeles from out-of-state, but are now experiencing second thoughts by the abundance of destructive wildfires.

Think, for example, about households currently outside of L.A. or even the state of California who were in the process of considering a move to L.A.,” McCoy said. “These fires may change these households’ perception of L.A. fire risk and instead of moving to L.A. to rent, they may instead turn to other cities including 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.

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 – The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Tuesday that they will be instituting a ban on so-called “junk fees,” which is a term used to describe bait-and-switch pricing and other tactics used to hide total prices and misrepresent fees in the short-term lodging and live-event ticketing industries; often, these are referred to as “resort,” “convenience,” or “service” fees.

As far as the short-term rental industry is concerned, that includes all online booking platforms and websites such as Airbnb and Vrbo.

The Junk Fees Rule will require full up-front disclosure of pricing information “in a timely, transparent, and truthful way” as it pertains to consumers of short-term lodging and live-event tickets; the FTC says that the rule will level the competitive playing field and make it easier for consumers to engage in comparison shopping and ultimately, save money.

People deserve to know up-front what they’re being asked to pay—without worrying that they’ll later be saddled with mysterious fees that they haven’t budgeted for and can’t avoid,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “The FTC’s rule will put an end to junk fees around live event tickets, hotels, and vacation rentals, saving Americans billions of dollars and millions of hours in wasted time. I urge enforcers to continue cracking down on these unlawful fees and encourage state and federal policymakers to build on this success with legislation that bans unfair and deceptive junk fees across the economy.”

The FTC originally began investigating junk fees in 2022, initially conducting two rounds of public input; ultimately, the agency received over 70,000 comments.

The Junk Fees Rule is expected to take effect in 120 days from the date it was announced, which was Tuesday, Dec. 17. The exact methods of FTC enforcement of the rule has not yet been revealed, with the agency merely saying that it “will use its law enforcement authority to continue to rigorously pursue bait-and-switch pricing tactics, such as drip pricing and misleading fees, in other industries through case-by-case enforcement.”

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 – Following housing costs in Southern Nevada reaching extremely high peaks after the lifting of lockdown measures following COVID-19’s wake in 2022, tenants are now finding rents in the region reverting back to pre-pandemic levels.

In fact, according to a report released by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ (UNLV) Lied Center for Real Estate rents in Nevada are now essentially at the same level today that they would have been at if the COVID pandemic had not taken place at all.

The data suggest that asking rents, today, are on par with what they would have been projected to be based on how the market was trending pre-COVID-19,” the UNLV report said.

However, that same report also highlights a troubling trend in Nevada; that before the pandemic, rents in the state had already been increasing on an annual basis by 5 percent or more, leading to affordability concerns for many of the state’s residents.

The UNLV report examined how much “workforce housing” was available throughout the state; that is, housing options that can be afforded by individuals making 60 percent to 120 percent of Nevada’s area median income (AMI) of $87,800.

In Clark County alone, the report notes, for members of the workforce within that income range – comprised of “teachers, firefighters, law enforcement, hospitality staff and health care workers” – only one third of the units on the market were considered affordable to those in that demographic making 60 percent of AMI, or about 52,000 annually.

The cost of housing and utilities to be considered “affordable” is 30 percent of a household’s monthly income; if a greater percentage of income needs to be allocated to housing, it is no longer considered affordable. Currently, as of November 2024, the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Clark County is $1,486.

While rent in Clark County jumped anywhere between 20 and 30 percent since 2020, the UNLV report notes that – when compared to the second quarter of 2022 – rents are currently now down 3.7 percent and running, showing that the market is achieving some degree of stability once again.

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

LAS VEGAS, NV – A new report released by Redfin indicates that during the third quarter of 2024, the Las Vegas Valley saw the largest jump of home purchases by corporate investors in the entire nation, representing over $1 billion in transactions during that time period.

Totaling approximately $1.02 billion worth of homes being bought by investors in Q3 2024 at an average price of $420,000 each; the valley saw a 27.9 percent increase in such purchases from Q2, the largest such jump out of all major metropolitan areas in the United States. Following Las Vegas in that regard was Seattle, Washington with a 21.8 percent increase and San Jose, California with 19.5 percent.

Out-of-state corporate investors have been snapping up homes in Vegas in increasingly large numbers for use as rentals, or to flip them for a profit. As per a 2023 study conducted by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ Lied Center for Real Estate, about 15 percent of all homes in the valley were owned by such entities, with an astonishing 25 percent of all homes in North Las Vegas alone belonging to investors.

And in the ensuing time since that study was released, it is very likely that those percentages have risen even further.

Dana Anderson, a data Journalist for Redfin, noted that there are specific qualities that draw investors to purchasing homes, such as affordability; such qualities are abundant in Las Vegas, explaining the increase in such activity.

Low-priced homes are appealing to investors mainly because they cost less,” she said. “Because of their relatively low price, investors who buy them have a bigger pool of buyers if they’re looking to re-sell, and a bigger pool of renters if they’re looking to become a landlord.”

However, overall investor home-buying has leveled off since reaching an all-time high during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Redfin report noting that it is “harder for investors to buy homes then sell them for a big profit than it was during the pandemic because home prices and loan costs are high.”

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 Clark County, there are some 10,000 short-term rental properties, but only a tiny percentage of them are licensed; the others have incurred large fines that have added up to millions of dollars for the county’s coffers over the years.

During a recent interview, Rachel O’Brien from OpenTheBooks.com spoke on the fines that have been imposed upon these illegal short-term rentals, the slow pace that Clark County has taken in issuing out licenses, and how the county compares to other regions of the country in regards to its regulation of services such as Airbnb that offer rental properties for fewer than 30 days.

Out of the over 10,000 estimated illegal rentals in Clark County, only 1,300 submitted applications last year to get a license,” she said. “The county told us this week that that 549 of those are still in the lengthily application and review process. So far, 146 licenses have been issued, so only one in five applications are getting approved and getting licenses, which means only 1.5 percent of all rentals are currently legal and licensed.”

There’s a lot more work to do in Clark County, and officials keep getting asked when are they going to do another application process, as the original one was a year-and-a-half ago,” O’Brien added. “They haven’t announced another application, but they said that they are working on it.”

O’Brien was then asked how much money Clark County been able to truly collect after fining people who are operating without a license.

Since 2019, Clark County has issued $10.5 million in fines, and sometimes the fines can be up to $10,000 a day,” she said. “So, we’ve seen one property get a $240,000 fine, and another property received a $56,000 fine… these are huge amounts of money, and sometimes they are being fought by the homeowners, as in many cases the fines are high and possibly unconstitutional.”

O’Brian noted that County Commissioner Ross Miller suggested putting a cap on the amount of fines that could be issued; in addition, OpenTheBooks.com inquired if the county would be interested in adjusting the fines that have been doled out to violators, but said they received no response.

When comparing the current rules on the books in Clark County to other major metropolitan areas in the United States, O’Brian said that large fines levied against illegal short-term rentals are commonplace.

Henderson charged people over $200,000 in fines last year and this year combined, and Las Vegas fined one person $180,000, and he’s suing and saying he’s not going to pay that,” she said. “And around the country, you have Dallas, which has banned short-term rentals and people there have sued and a judge pressed pause on the ban and it’s still awaiting a final decision in court. New York City allows short-term rentals only if the owners are staying on site with the renters, and they’re only allowed up to two guests.”

Washington, DC and San Francisco limit rentals to 90 days a year, and in LA you can only rent up to 120 days,” O’Brian continued. “Palm Springs limits their rentals to 20 percent of the housing stock, whereas Clark County limits it to just one percent, which is a very small number, and New Orleans has banned it in certain areas. But in all of these areas, just like in Clark County, they have to register and they have to pay taxes, and there are illegal rentals in a black market everywhere, and there are fines just like there are in Clark County.”

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 new study, Las Vegas currently has one of the highest eviction rates in the nation, owing in part to the Nevada state judicial system leaning in favor of the rights of landlords, particularly when it comes to nonpayment of rent by tenants.

As per Princeton’s Eviction Lab, Las Vegas currently ranks seventh out of the 34 major metro areas throughout the United States that they track in terms of eviction filing rates.

There were 190,133 eviction filings in Clark County between March 2020 and August 2024, which represents a 21 percent increase over the levels experienced prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. In August 2024 alone, there were 4,041 eviction filings, a jump of 25 percent when compared to an average pre-pandemic month.

Clark County has one of the fastest and cheapest eviction processes in the country; landlords are only required to provide seven days’ notice for an eviction and the cost to file the proper documentation with the court system is just $71.

In addition, landlords in Clark County face an easier path to eviction in the courtroom as well, as – unlike most other legal proceedings involving corporations – they are not required to hire a lawyer to represent them. Instead, a landlord can simply have an agent appear to make the case for the eviction, again making the process faster and cheaper.

Evictions in Las Vegas hit their highest point ever in December 2022 – up 82 percent when compared to before the pandemic – following the end of eviction moratoriums at the end of May 2021 that were put into place to protect individuals who claimed they were financially impacted COVID-19.

While the percentage of local evictions has lowered significantly since then, the real estate market in Southern Nevada – like much of the country – is in a state of constant flux as housing options remain scarce and highly-priced.

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 new report released by industry group Construction Coverage, the median apartment rent – that is, the number smack dab in the middle of the average – in the Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas metro area is just over $2,100 per month, making it the 20th-highest in the United States currently. 

The median apartment rent in Vegas is presently $2,107, which illustrates the steady increase in cost-of-living expenses in Southern Nevada recently. However, the region remains far more affordable than many other major metros in the nation.

In particular, the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro area in California came in at the very top of Construction Coverage’s report, with the median apartment rent there hitting an astonishing $3,811.

Construction Coverage pulled the data used in their report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau, and the following is a rundown of the median rental rates for a variety of apartment types in Las Vegas, from the cheapest to the most expensive.

• Median rent among all apartment types: $2,107
• Median rent for a studio apartment: $1,424
• Median rent for a 1-bedroom apartment: $1,598
• Median rent for a 2-bedroom apartment: $1,894
• Median rent for a 3-bedroom apartment: $2,654
• Median rent for a 4-bedroom apartment: $3,075

In addition, the state of Nevada overall placed 11th in the country with a median rent price of $2,031; this is in contrast to the national median rental rate of $1,865. Meanwhile, the top five states with the highest median rental rates are Hawaii at $2,909, followed by California at $2,803, Massachusetts at $2,461, New York at $2,335, and Washington at $2,295.

According to the report, the number of states whose median monthly rent exceeded $2,000 last year was nine; in 2024, that number increase to 12.

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 – Recently, the Chair of Nevada Democrats’ senior caucus, Donna West, along with Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui (D-Las Vegas), jointly announced that they will be drafting a new rent control bill that they will attempt to make into state law, despite the fact that Republican Governor Joe Lombardo vetoed an identical measure after it landed on his desk during last year’s legislative session.

The proposed legislation – titled AB298 – would limit the amount rent can be increased for senior citizens and individuals with disabilities to 10 percent. In addition, it would also require landlords to reimburse prospective tenants for any unused fees they are charged during the housing application process, such as those charged for conducting background checks if said checks are not, in fact, carried out.

The bill would also mandate landlords to list all charges and fees up-front in lease agreements.

The proposed bill is exactly the same as the one Lombardo gave the ax to in 2023 – then titled SB275 – after it had been approved by both the Nevada Senate and Assembly. The governor defended his veto at the time, claiming that rent control could result in housing shortages, less property maintenance, and lowered government property tax revenue.

Jauregui, however, said that the rising rents in Southern Nevada are causing financial hardship for many residents, and that rent control is one way to combat affordability concerns.

Over the past few years, housing costs in Nevada have skyrocketed, pushing too many people to the brink,” she said. “Every Nevadan is being priced out. One of the things that I heard when I was going door to door was, ‘Hey, I’m applying for a place and I’ve applied for 10 places, which is $100 per application, which is $1,000 that just ate into my security deposit.”

According to Rent.com, the current average apartment rent in Las Vegas is $1,288 per month, which represents a 0.6 percent decrease year-over-year; this number is 17 percent lower than the national average of $1,558.

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.