September 2022 | Jeff Howard's Las Vegas Area Real Estate blog

Avast Ye! Today is National Talk Like a Pirate Day!

I just earned my sea captain’s license. To be specific, 50-ton Master Near Coastal with a Sailing Endorsement. I also happen to love pirate culture (the fantasy pirates that is… there are still real pirates on the seas and I am not a fan of them). These terms will have you talking like a pirate in no time. From greetings to insults, you’ll be ready for anything, so get a little silly today and pepper these into any conversation you can. It’ll be fun, I promise!

Greetings and Exclamations
Learn to say “hello” the pirate way!

ahoy – hello
Avast ye! – Stop you!; pay attention!
blimey – something said when one is in a state of surprise
heave ho – instruction to put some strength into whatever one is doing
Savvy? – a question that means, “Do you understand?”
Shiver me timbers! – an expression used to show shock or disbelief
Sink me! – an exclamation of great surprise
yo ho ho – possibly from yo-heave-ho, a chant when doing strenuous work, but also can be used to call attention to the speaker

Insults, Threats, and Dark Omens
Need to threaten or insult someone in pirate lingo?

bilge-sucking – an insult indicating someone drank dirty bilge water from the bottom of the ship
black spot – a death threat (found in Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
blow the man down – it possibly means getting knocked to the ground or killed (found in a 19th-century sea shanty)
cleave him to the brisket – cut a man nearly in half with a sword
dance with Jack Ketch – to hang (Jack Ketch was slang for the hangman)
dead men tell no tales – the reason given for leaving no survivors
give no quarter – show no mercy; pirates raised a red flag to threaten no quarter
landlubber – a person who is uncomfortable, or not incredibly skilled, at sea
lily-livered – an insult for someone who displays cowardice
keelhaul – a punishment in which someone was dragged back and forth under the ship
mutiny – a situation in which the crew chooses a new captain, sometimes forcibly removing the old one
scallywag – an inexperienced pirate, considered an insult
scurvy dog – an insulting name
shark bait – If you’re made to walk the plank, chances are you’ll be shark bait. Also, a dying sailor whose body will soon be thrown into the sea
son of a biscuit eater – an insult
walk the plank – A punishment, probably more myth than truth, which entails making someone walk off the side of the ship along a plank. The person’s hands were often tied so he couldn’t swim and drowned (and then fed the fish).

Slang
Understand what pirates have to say with popular pirate slang.

briney deep – the ocean
cackle fruit – hen’s eggs
clap of thunder – a strong alcoholic drink
dance the hempen jig – to be hanged
Davy Jones’ locker – mythological place at the bottom of the sea where drowned sailors were said to go
feed the fish – if you lose a sea fight, your body will feed the fish
fire in the hole – a canon that is loaded and ready to fire
hang the jib – to frown or scowl
hearties – friends and comrades
hempen halter – the noose used to hang people
hornswaggle – to cheat, swindle
no prey, no pay – an agreement meaning the crew wouldn’t get paid but took a share of any loot
peg leg – a wooden leg
run a rig – play a trick
sea legs – when a pirate can walk comfortably on a moving ship
scuttle – to sink a ship
scuttlebutt – a cask of drinking water; slang for gossip
swashbuckler – a daredevil
three sheets to the wind – someone who is quite drunk

Phrases Related to Pirate Ships and Crew
Next time you’re aboard a ship, you’ll be able to speak like a pirate.

all hands hoay – everyone on the deck
batten down the hatches – a signal to prepare the ship for an upcoming storm
bilge – the lowest decks of the ship, often filled with water.
binnacle – where the compass is kept on board the ship
black jack – a pirate flag; a large tankard
buccaneer – name for a pirate mainly found in the Caribbean in the 17th and 18th centuries
coaming – a surface that prevented water on the deck from dripping to lower levels of the ship
coxswain (pronounced cox-en) – the helmsman
crow’s nest – the place on the ship where the lookout stand is built
duffle – a sailor’s belongings and the bag they were carried in
dungbie – rear end of the ship
flibustier – name for the American pirates found around the West Indies during the Golden Age of Piracy
freebooter – a pirate or looter, from the same origin as flibustier, someone who took loot or booty
head – toilet on board the ship
Jacob’s ladder – rope ladder that was used to climb aboard ships
Jolly Roger – the famous pirate flag with a skull and crossbones on it
man-o-war – the name used for a pirate ship that is heavily armed and ready for battle
old salt – a sailor that has a great deal of experience on the seas
orlop – lowest deck in the ship where cables are stored
poop deck – deck that is the highest and farthest back
privateer – a sailor sponsored by the government, paid by what he could plunder from an enemy, technically a step up from a pirate
rigging – the lines and ropes that held the sails
seadog – an old sailor or pirate

Terms About Money and Weapons
Of course, no pirate conversation would be complete without the right words for weapons and treasure.

booty – treasure or loot
bounty – the reward for a deed
cat o’ nine tails – a whip with nine separate strands on the end
chase gun – a cannon at the prow, or front, of a ship
coffer – a chest full of treasure
cutlass – type of sword used by the pirates
doubloons – Spanish gold coins
pieces of eight – Spanish coins

Do you have a need for commercial/industrial/retail buildings or land? Are you ready to buy or sell a home? Do you want a guaranteed cash offer? We can help you with all of that… just call us at 702 SELL NOW or click on this link to my website http://www.702SellNow.com

Choose to have an amazing day….Jeff

Home Sellers’ Tax-Free Profits Aren’t A One-Time Opportunity

Did you know this important detail? The tax code authorizes “exclusions” that allow home sellers to completely avoid federal and state income taxes on sizable portions of their profits when they sell the principal (main) residences. That means tax-free profit on the first $500,000 for married couples who file joint returns and $250,000 for single filers and couples who file separate returns.

Plus contrary to what many sellers believe, the exclusions aren’t one-time opportunities. They can avail themselves of the exclusions as often as every two years. And you no longer need to buy a replacement home to qualify! (many, many years ago, you did)

The law allows a seller we’ll call “Barbara” to qualify for the exclusion, and she only has to satisfies two requirements:

She has owned and lived in the property as her principal residence or main home for at least two years out of the five-year period that ends on the date of sale.
She can’t have excluded the gain on the sale of another principal residence within the two years that precede the sale date.

An accommodating Internal Revenue Service cuts the seller some slack on the two years that they occupy the home. Plus the two years don’t have to be consecutive; they can actually be off and on for a total of two full years. Like maybe you lived there for a while, and you moved out and turned it in to a rental for a couple of years, then you moved back in and then you sold it. As long as it was your main home for 2 of the previous 5 years, you’re good!

What about short temporary absences for vacations or other seasonal absences? No problem, says the IRS. It’s OK for the seller to count them as periods of owner use. This holds true even if the seller rents out the property during the absences.

The IRS doesn’t limit exclusions to sales of conventional single-family homes.

It considers Barbara’s principal residence to be any of the following:

A condominium.
A cooperative apartment.
Her portion of a multi-unit apartment building.
A house trailer.
A mobile home.
A houseboat or yacht that has facilities for cooking, sleeping and sanitation (although boats and mobile homes don’t usually go up in value).
A vacation retreat that she moves into full time after retirement.

Another plus: The location of her principal residence doesn’t matter. It can be outside the U.S.

Partial profit exclusions. Let’s say Barbara sells another home within the previous two years or fails to satisfy the ownership and use requirements; all is not lost. She may be able to claim a partial exclusion.

Primary reasons for sales.The IRS permits sellers to avail themselves of reduced exclusions only when the primary reasons are health problems (for example, if Barbara moves to a new school district for her special-needs child); changes in employment; or certain unforeseen circumstances, broadly defined to include divorces or legal separations, or natural or man-made disasters that cause residential damage — floods, for example.

An example: Barbara is single and has lived in her dwelling for just 12 months before she moves to a new job in another city. She can exclude a gain of as much as $125,000 — 12 months divided by 24 months, or 50% of her maximum allowable $250,000 exclusion.

The bottom line? Don’t make assumptions about what you may or may not be taxed on if you decide to sell. Talk with a tax professional to make sure you get everything you’re entitled to understand the rules. I have had a few clients over the years decide to go ahead and sell because they found out their profit is tax-free!

(BTW – if you want to sell your investment property and legally defer the taxes indefinitely, there is a way to do that too, but we’ll save that for another day – or you can call me)

Choose to have an amazing day….Jeff

Industrial is the ‘Darling’ of Commercial Real Estate

The commercial real estate industry in Southern Nevada began 2022 on an upswing despite the lingering pandemic effects, supply chain constraints and threatening inflation.

Looking at the end of the third quarter, we are seeing headlines today that are contradictory.

Is it Inflation or stagnation? Are we in a recession or has the definition changed? The jobs report is healthy; however, some companies are laying off hundreds and thousands at a time.

Let’s review where we are today and speculate what the outlook for the rest of 2022 looks like. Should you hit the gas, or pump the brakes?

■ The Fed increased interest rates to offset the high inflation rate. In the short run, that has slowed down transaction sales volume, especially so in the runaway residential sector, and for levered buyers in the commercial sector. Given the limited supply of quality products and high demand to place capital, pricing should hold or be slow to decline until sold comparables have a chance to reset the sellers’ expectations. Expect softened pricing over the medium to long term.

■ The local office sector started waning midyear after experiencing a significant upswing during the first part of 2022. Southern Nevada’s inventory expanded by more than 382,000 square feet of new office space. With 41 percent of this space pre-leased, this will add as much as 225,000 square feet of vacant space to the local market. Look for vacancy rates to increase, with the understanding that this is a healthy increase. Southern Nevada has not added quality inventory since the Great Recession.

■ The industrial sector is expected to remain strong as the “darling” of commercial real estate through the remainder of 2022. Prompted by the exponential growth of e-commerce, Southern Nevada’s industrial inventory recently expanded by more than 753,000 square feet, while 1.3 million square feet of space was absorbed. This brought industrial vacancy down to 1.3 percent. That is the lowest industrial vacancy rate ever recorded in Southern Nevada. Plus, demand remains high, keeping developers busy and bringing capital sources to the market.

■ Southern Nevada’s retail market just had its strongest quarter since the fourth quarter of 2021, with net absorption surging to 459,545 square feet. Deliveries of new retail space were light, bringing vacancy down to 4.8 percent, the lowest rate since the Great Recession. Looking toward the end of the year, the local retail market should continue to do well, despite high inflation, and supply chain disruptions.

■ Commercial developers look to be positioning themselves for an expanding market in 2023 and beyond. Local land sales remained solid in the second quarter of 2022, with residential land dominating among all land types and industrial land sales falling significantly (most likely because parcels have been picked off). The average price per square foot for land in the Las Vegas Valley changed a little to $497,891 per acre, compared to $500,069 per acre during the previous quarter. On a year-over-year basis, the average price of land

■ Hospitality metrics for Southern Nevada saw room inventory increase by more than 3 percent, from 146,723 units a year ago to nearly 152,000 rooms through May 2022. Over the last year, Las Vegas saw the completion of Resorts World and the renovation/rebranding of Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, and the re-opening of the Palms Casino Resort. These properties added over 5,700 rooms and 540,000 square feet of convention space to the local inventory. Room occupancy averaged 83.3 percent through the second quarter of the year, an increase from 77.3 percent for the last quarter of 2021. Through May 2022, year-to-date visitor volume stood at 15.3 million people, representing 45.1 percent annual growth.

■ Business tourism figures are still down 34 percent compared to 2019. Las Vegas has not seen a complete return of its international business. That is not expected to recover until 2024. Despite these gloomy stats, Harry Reid International Airport set a new record for passengers in June 2022 (4,683,156), a 22.9 percent increase from June 2021. By midyear 2022, the airport has seen 52.4 percent more passengers (24,279,867) than the same time last year.

If you only look at the economic numbers, you’d be hard-pressed to find a problem with Southern Nevada’s economy. At worst, you could point to growth being slower in 2022 than 2021. This isn’t surprising, given that 2021 was being compared to 2020, the year of lockdowns.

Over the past three years, we have matured and added capacity in many ways. Newly completed projects include the West Hall expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center, Resorts World, Circa Las Vegas and Allegiant Stadium.

Pending projects in the pipeline are MSG Sphere, Fontainebleau Las Vegas, Hard Rock Las Vegas, UnCommons and Durango Casino &Resort by Station Casinos. Formula 1 is coming for sure. Major League Baseball is still flirting, and the NBA is like an imminent speculation.

When most economy experts look at what’s happening and what’s to come, they like the odds. As Las Vegas continues to navigate the current economy, the city will continue to do what it always does; we reinvent ourselves, bigger and better!

Choose to have an amazing day….Jeff