Well today marks the day that the Real Estate Economy was dreading for well over a year; the day that evictions for non-payment were legal to enforce via a motion to evict. Nevada residents will have a little extra comfort to extend their eviction prevention by utilizing the funds available through the State. Nevada has distributed funds to counties and they all have a process for struggling landlords and tenants to apply for assistance. Clark County’s portal can be found here. They can also be reached at (702) 455-4071 if you need to reach them directly.
I wanted to get all caught up on my research and this morning I found several publications from credible research firms and I wanted to share some of these discoveries along with some of my opinions on what it could mean for our local real estate market.
We have 10% of adults behind on rent. This with out a doubt was surprising to me as the media has been reporting numbers as high as 30% or higher. This number came from Aspen Institute. Nevada has a path to get the funds distributed and allowed the courts until June 5th, 2023 to catch up and get all funds distributed. This of course requires the tenant or the landlord to take action, but nevertheless will prevent the courts from being overwhelmed with eviction trials.
53,121 people fear displacement within 2 months. This was a statistic provided by the Census Pulse Survey Week 33 but sheds light as to how many people in Nevada alone fear eviction. Needless to say, a wave of evictions is coming soon and I believe Nevada will do whatever I can to keep the market as normal as possible to avoid another crash like in 2007-2008. As more and more renters are moving and leaving property behind, many landlords may just throw in the towel and sell for profits rather than deal with an eviction process. Home prices may recess a little backwards from the new inventory but also to be expected since this market is already showing indications of slowing down.
There is $360 million available in funds for Nevada. This is certainly a large number and should be able to save a lot of tenants and landlords from spiraling downhill after many months of non-payment. Currently, CHAP is running about 800 to 1,000 applications per week and that the program has 8,000 applications pending with many more expected to come. Hopefully they can catch up and manage this much better than other supplemental providers did earlier last year when they took months to catch up with applications. At least for now, the good news is that there seems to be enough money to balance the checkbook for most landlords.