Innovative Solutions for Affordable Homes

Discover how the bustling Las Vegas real estate market is grappling with a severe affordable housing crisis. With a staggering shortage of 80,000 homes and a long waiting list for affordable options, we unpack the impact of rising demands fueled by people migrating from California. Hear how development projects, like the 964-home development near Sunset Station, are shaping the landscape amidst soaring rent costs. We'll also discuss the proactive strategies employed by the local housing authority to address these pressing issues and cater to the increasing needs of the community.

Join our conversation with Celeste, a trailblazer who transformed her career from landscape contractor to leading a women-owned cleaning company with a focus on creating jobs and personalized service. Learn about her innovative approach to the cleaning industry, from specialized construction cleanups to the launch of safe, natural cleaning products made with simple ingredients. Celeste's commitment to community is evident through her partnerships with organizations like Hope for Prisoners, offering second-chance opportunities for those reentering the workforce. This episode is packed with inspiring stories and valuable insights into the dynamic real estate and entrepreneurial scene in Las Vegas.

Chapters

• 0:00 Las Vegas Realty Market Update
• 11:49 Women-Owned Cleaning Company Building Jobs
• 19:45 Safe and Natural Cleaning Products Launch

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to Vegas Realty. Check your go-to podcast for all things Las Vegas real estate. Whether you're buying, selling or investing, we bring you the latest market trends, insider tips and expert insights to navigate the ever-changing Las Vegas realty landscape. Tune in each week as we break down the data, answer your questions and help you make the best real estate decisions in the entertainment capital of the world real estate decisions in the entertainment capital of the world.

Speaker 2: 0:32

Good morning, this is Vegas Realty Check and it is now the third week of January and we are here with our community spotlight, celeste, and we'll go over some things and some great things about your company and business here shortly. It is, you know, we're three quarters through the month of January and it feels like it's gone really fast.

Speaker 3: 0:50

Tell me about it.

Speaker 2: 0:52

And Trish, the host, is not here today. So I'm going to do my absolute best to bring you guys some great value and some great tips and things like that as well. And I just want to say you know, for everyone out in California we hope you're staying safe was another fire yesterday which is close to Los Angeles and I think a lot of us have friends, family. We all know someone out there, so very close, yeah, do you have any friends or family? I do.

Speaker 3: 1:17

I'm from that area. So, yeah, I think everybody's affected by it. Six degrees of separation, somehow it's.

Speaker 2: 1:23

It's really been a lot and you know we're praying for everybody and hoping everyone's safe and you know the firefighters, everyone and we're saying prayers for you all. You know we always like to bring you value here on this podcast. So I wanted to go over a couple things first, before we get into market numbers, and my friend, celeste and her amazing business and company. So I was actually watching the news last night and they were saying that nevada is the worst or we have the worst. Uh, we're basically the the biggest crisis as far as the affordable housing uh market. So right now, nevada is.

Speaker 2: 2:03

Uh states that Las Vegas has a most significant housing shortage in the nation, according to Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority. So, because everybody's moving here and it's not going to get any better. It's not going to get better. No, it's not. And I'm almost certain that we're going to be seeing a lot of people from California coming here, especially if they're, you know, dealing with fire insurance. That's in the thousands, and certain that we're going to be seeing a lot of people from California coming here, especially if they're, you know, dealing with fire insurance. That's in the thousands and thousands of dollars or lack thereof.

Speaker 3: 2:33

Yes, and earthquakes and fires and, you know, drought, it's just. And then what's going on? Just as a state, I mean, nevada looks really promising to a lot of people.

Speaker 2: 2:46

It really, really does, and it states that we have the worst shortage right now in the country. So they said that the housing authority is working on building more affordable housing that will help in trying to utilize other programs. Donald Trump, on his first day in office, did sign an executive order to direct executive departments to deliver emergency price relief for housing. I think that is something that we all know. I don't care who you are you can go anywhere and hear people complaining about the cost of everything.

Speaker 3: 3:19

Yeah, you know in housing, especially with COVID, what happened during the pandemic and you know just the increase in prices. They've kind of leveled off a little bit but they're still out of reach for a lot of people trying to buy a house.

Speaker 2: 3:35

It's just really becoming I don't want to say unaffordable, but it is becoming very unaffordable for a lot of people to especially younger to purchase a new home, or you know, it's just. We really do have a problem here. For sure, we really need to make things more affordable, and not just here everywhere, right. But I guess what they were saying is we are about 80,000 houses short of. We need about 80,000 new homes built that are considered affordable housing, about 80,000 new homes built that are considered affordable housing, and there are 44,444 people on a wait list right now here for public housing that is affordable or affordable housing. That's a lot, so it's kind of scary.

Speaker 2: 4:16

I mean, it's you know, it's just. I think there's going to be more people moving in with family members and things like that. It's you know, I think there's going to be more people moving in with family members and things like that. I think the median rent here has got to be close to at least a couple thousand dollars. I think you're right about that and that's probably for a two-bedroom apartment. It's expensive, it is expensive. Also, there was just announced recently that they are actually doing a really large development with 964 new homes right around sunset station. Oh, that area is really kind of starting to really grow a little more. Not that it wasn't developed, but I think they're just trying to add a whole new life to that area and you're like the gallery of mall and yeah that's a good little area.

Speaker 2: 5:01

Yeah, there's costco, they have lvac, there's a bunch of great stuff over there, so they're going to be building a 964 homes.

Speaker 3: 5:08

I don't think we can build fast enough here no, even though it seems like we're building fast, it's, there's a pace that we're we're being out, paced by the people that need housing versus what?

Speaker 2: 5:19

what's actually um getting their ceos and we better start building faster, because I think a lot of people from California are gonna be coming that's a fact and the pricing is not gonna go down and they can afford what they're getting there and what they can get here for the same price is a vast difference, yeah, for sure. So I'm just gonna go over some market numbers for this week. Right now we have 5,087 single family residences on the market currently, which is up 61 from last week. You know people are putting their house on the market. I don't know, maybe they're hoping that people from California are going to come here and buy, but I don't know, we'll see.

Speaker 2: 6:01

Either way, it hasn't been too much movement in the market. We're up 25 from last. It hasn't been too much movement in the market. We're up 25 from last week. As far as condos being put on the market, we have 1,849. So pretty decent. You know we're moving up a little bit as far as the market. It's kind of. You know, more people are putting their house on the market, which is really normal for January. People are done with the holidays.

Speaker 3: 6:30

Right, they're ready to start.

Speaker 2: 6:31

Start looking at maybe summer moving Absolutely. Kids are out of school Absolutely. And then, as far as some other inventory and some numbers, we have new listings which are down 113 from last week. We have 935 on the market, so people are definitely getting ready to put their home on the market. I feel like a lot of times too, after an election, you know people are ready to get moving and get things going Back on the market. We have 158. And we have 100 less price decreases from last week, so 663. Week, so 663. So I think pricing right in this market is important, even though I don't think we have so much on the market where it's people can't find things. So I think being competitive is important. But I have a feeling a lot of those house prices, especially with this new fire, might start going up a little bit.

Speaker 3: 7:21

Yeah, and then interest rates always play a big part in that too.

Speaker 2: 7:24

Oh, that it does. We hope they go down because we will get much busier, but that'd be a good thing, Absolutely For us for sure. Yep, Under contract this week we have $749, which is down $48 from last week. So a tad bit slower, Not a huge difference. You know, pretty steady market right now. Things aren't changing drastically in the last couple of weeks or the. You know, from the 1st of January and then sold, we are down 94. We have 424 that were sold this week. Pretty steady from last week, no huge differences. And a lot of that, speaking of rates, does have to do with the rates. We were hoping that we'd see a decrease right at the beginning of January. The Feds aren't meeting again until, I think, March 19th and that meeting we, like I said last week, are hoping that we're going to see a deduction in rates. Currently the rates aren't really moving, which is, I guess, good. It's not going way up, but they're not going way down either.

Speaker 2: 8:39

I remember I bought a home back in 2001 and my mortgage was at 8.1%. That's what I try to tell people when they're complaining about 7%. Rates used to be years ago like 13, 15%, so rates are really not high right now. I think what happened was when COVID hit. The rates were two and a half 3% and in people's minds they're hoping that it's going to get there again.

Speaker 3: 9:02

That would be a miracle, I think, if it did.

Speaker 2: 9:04

I mean, granted, what would have to happen for those rates to get there? Because I don't want to be stuck in my house for six months straight, right? So, either way, do I personally think rates are going to get to that again? No, no, I wouldn't be personally complaining, but it would be great for us as lenders. But you know, I'm hoping that the rates are going to get down into the low sixes by the end of the year, which would be great. That's actually a really great rate.

Speaker 2: 9:32

Right now we are sitting on a conventional loan Right around our national average is about a 7%, 7.1%. And when I say national average, that's really just based on the national average. That doesn't mean that if someone has great credit or great debt to income, you're not going to get a lower rate. But that's a national average. And we're sitting right at a 30 year for VA conventional right about a 6.4, 6.5. It's really not that high, but at the end of the day, it has to be affordable for somebody, right? And so we're going to get into. This is my friend, celeste. We're going to get into her amazing company and all about what she does, and she is and does have a local business here and we always like to bring people you know on the show that are local and you know are here in Nevada, which I think is awesome. It's just such a great community and I feel like everyone kind of knows everybody. It gets that way.

Speaker 3: 10:25

Or you know someone, it's a big little city. Absolutely, it really is.

Speaker 2: 10:30

And it's just great to have you know local businesses on the show. So Celeste owns an amazing company called Lady Lux Cleaning Co. Yes, or company, and I love her tagline. Her tagline is yes, or company, and I love her tagline. Her tagline is I wrote it down and it's so cute and I love it. It is. You probably know it way better than me. I better. Yeah, right, it's wait. Where is it? It's oh, experience luxury, live spotless.

Speaker 3: 10:56

Yes, yes, I think that when we talk about cleaning, right, there's a whole conversation around. You know, eco-friendly, non-toxic, what one person considers clean, another one doesn't. So it's very subjective, right, when we talk about cleaning and I wanted to create a company that kind of disrupted and shook things up a little bit, leaning towards clean living, because I've done a lot of research, I'm kind of a chemical or a chemistry geek.

Speaker 2: 11:31

I can see that about you because I've known you long enough to know that just by hearing you talk, I know that you really you definitely are someone who talks about stuff like that a lot. How did you and I'm going to go back to your products and things here shortly but how did you like, what made you want to start that business?

Speaker 3: 11:49

So I previously was a landscape contractor in town and sold artificial turf and stuff and my partner bought me out and shut down the turf part of the company and I honestly, courtney, I tried to get a job in this town. Nobody wants to hire a business owner Because you're too qualified. I don't know what it is. I applied for like sales, anyway. So I just realized it was the universe telling me that I needed to create jobs rather than take a job. So I started asking a lot of my friends. I love construction. My dad was a GC, so I grew up in the on the job sites and things and they're like start a cleaning company, like construction cleaning, and I was like that is what I did when I was 15 and 16 on my dad's job sites out in Northern California Instead of going to the beach with my friends. I was-.

Speaker 2: 12:42

Working for your dad, working for my dad.

Speaker 3: 12:44

I can put you to work, Picking up job sites, translating Spanish, doing all the things. So I just started out wanting to do construction cleaning but then realized soon that residential and commercial kind of helped pay the bills and keep the lights on. So that's really how the company was formed.

Speaker 2: 13:03

And so when you go into a home and you do everything right, you do office, like what I know, you definitely do residential but what else do you do, what else does your company do or focus on?

Speaker 3: 13:17

Yeah, so the commercial division of the company. We do office cleaning and the normal janitorial, but we also clean the warehouses. If somebody is moving out and a new tenant is moving in, we'll come and pressure wash, wipe down the walls, get on the scissor lifts and really clean the space, oh wow. And then we also do construction cleanup as well. So progress cleanings. I've created a CMP plan for dust mitigation during construction, because dust in Nevada is a big deal.

Speaker 2: 13:47

It is bad, and that's why everyone has allergy problems Me too, yeah.

Speaker 3: 13:52

And then we do the final cleaning. So we take the prog, the project that the gc is going to turn over to the owner, and we make it look really good for them so that when they turn it over the owner is wowed by you know, just the sparkle and shine, I guess and you also will do like.

Speaker 2: 14:07

Uh, if someone has like office like, you can do that the company will do that once, twice, a week or whatever absolutely we.

Speaker 3: 14:14

We have customized, you know, cleaning programs for whatever the customer wants.

Speaker 2: 14:20

That's awesome. So a lot of commercial agents and agents that you know watch this show. If you guys you know know someone who has a commercial building or whatever and they need that cleaned, I feel like there's not many companies that really do that here.

Speaker 3: 14:33

There are there's not a lot of independently owned or woman owned. A lot of my research has been in the franchise space. So there's a lot of cleaning companies that you know carry the right insurances and you know have W2 employees and pay work comp and are bonded, but they're franchise models.

Speaker 1: 14:56

So they're part.

Speaker 3: 14:57

They're locally owned, but they're a franchise. I'm actually a locally owned startup cleaning company in town.

Speaker 2: 15:06

And I love that. I always feel like you know, not only because it's you know a woman business right, we always like to, not only because it's you know a woman business right, we always like to, you know, support our local women. For sure I do, but I think it's just important that you know these huge companies. I don't necessarily know that they have that personal touch and I think you know for you, being locally owned, I think you know things just are a little different. There's more care put into everything.

Speaker 3: 15:35

There is, it's. You know, the team is really about treating the space as if it's their own, and I love that. You know that is one of our brand pillars service beyond expectation. Oh I like that, really trying to figure out how do we wow somebody and do the things that's the little things right that people appreciate, because overall, the big thing is you have a clean space, but the little thing is, oh, I didn't realize they washed two coffee cups in the sink, or you know, those are the extras.

Speaker 2: 16:07

The little special touches, the little things, yep. So when you go into a home, like what do you you know when, when your company, when they go into a home, what do you guys really try to focus on? Or what is you know?

Speaker 3: 16:18

what are some things you notice that maybe like another company, just we do a lot of move outs with property managers and do the deep cleanings and we see a lot of misses. I mean, now do we miss? Yes, we're, we're humans, right, like, right and, and we own that Um, but we'll go back and make it right and I think it's just more about um, efficiency and how many houses or properties you can do in a day, and for us, I I'm I'm about volume, yes, but I'm also about quality, so that you have to marriage each other so that you get the result that you want, which is a clean space, absolutely yeah.

Speaker 2: 17:08

I think that's important because I think you know if you have someone to clean your home and then it's like it is a little thing, because sometimes, like you'll look and the baseboards just have dust all over them, I just think it's those little things that you know, you notice that do make a big difference. And usually you said you always send out two people, two people.

Speaker 3: 17:27

We do a minimum of a team of two. Now, there is an exception to that. If you have a small little studio. Two people are going to trip over each other. Yeah, not always needed, not always needed. The rule of thumb, though, is we send out a team of two for two reasons. One is safety right.

Speaker 3: 17:47

Two people is better than one, especially when they're going into somebody's home. And then the second thing is we don't want to spend all day in your house or your office, right? We want to get in, do the job and get out and give you your space back. So we're not about spending six, seven, eight, 10 hours in somebody's home cleaning.

Speaker 2: 18:07

Yeah, and I think that's really important. Years ago I remember I, you know, had someone come over and they were there literally like seven hours and me personally, I just I don't like to stay there, because at one it's like, you know, you're in their way of doing what they need to do, and then it just, at what point does it just become like, okay, I want my house back. So I think that's great. What is your standard time for? I guess it just depends on the size of the house.

Speaker 3: 18:31

Yeah, I mean, like we have a team of two on a job this morning and it's, you know, 1650 square feet, because I priced it out by the square foot, it's about an average size house, yeah, and they've got two and a half hours to get that done. Oh, that's great, which is five hours total of work. That's great. So if they do three hours, that's okay, but that's great. So if they do three hours, that's okay, but you know cause we want to get the job done.

Speaker 2: 18:57

So that's kind of the average. That's awesome. Now, as far as your products cause, that is a big thing and that's something that I think does really set you apart. Just in general, I know you know you use like really safe products as well. Can you tell us about your products and that type of thing?

Speaker 3: 19:15

Yeah, you know, I suffer from allergies and sinuses. I've always been one that um tries to stay away from, like dyes and preservatives. Um, I I cook at home, so I I know what you know is going in my food. Um, because I just have my whole opinion about our society and things that we suffer from and what food does, and so I started thinking about okay, what am I putting on my body Like lotions and potions?

Speaker 3: 19:45

And then I started looking into bleach and ammonia and what are these products doing as we inhale them? I have two dogs and my housemate has three cats and they're walking on these floors after we clean them. What's happening to them? And so I started looking into the adverse effects of all of these cleaners. Lysol Fabuloso, which is a big one, bleach and it's not good and we all know it's not good. It's like eating, having a diet Coke with McDonald's. You know, big Mac and fries.

Speaker 2: 20:19

It's crazy because when you use certain products like, the smell is so strong it's just strong.

Speaker 3: 20:26

So I started doing some research and figuring out okay, how do we, instead of paying another big corporation money to use products that I know that are bad for us, how do I formulate products that can do a very similar job, maybe with a little bit more elbow grease, but that aren't going to leave that bad smell, that are good to use on surfaces? And also I want to protect my employees.

Speaker 2: 20:51

And animals, and animals, all of it. Yes, I imagine that when someone's using bleach or all these strong ammonias over and, over and over again, it can't be good.

Speaker 3: 21:01

It's not good. Actually, with bleach you're supposed to use gloves, a mask and goggles.

Speaker 2: 21:06

Wow, it's actually on the bottle, that's one of my next questions, I'm going to ask you some interesting things. Okay, maybe most of us don't know, so. So you did a ton of research and started coming up with your own stuff, right and and so so your products are just all natural, all of them.

Speaker 3: 21:23

Yeah, so I mean I use. I mean you can go out there and you can, it's no secret. Um, you can use like the vinegars and the baking sodas and the Castile soaps or Dawn soap. Dawn soap's actually a really good product. Um.

Speaker 2: 21:37

I love Dawn. I know it's's versatile it's good for grease on your clothes. If you didn't know that that's good.

Speaker 3: 21:42

It does work, but the formulation like how much of what ingredient. That's where the real science comes in and how to figure out how to make it work. And I tell you, I have a friend that's got these beautiful vinyl floors, like the high-end vinyl floors, and my friend, charity, and so I said, okay, look, I'm developing the floor product. I want to use your vinyl floors as the guinea pig, like the tester. Okay, well, we failed miserably the first time, the first time we did it.

Speaker 3: 22:13

She's like I had to clean that floor four times because there was so much sudsiness on it and I was just okay. So 14 iterations later, the floors are streak free, they're clean like you can take a rag after we're done and there's not the dirt. And I've talked to a lot of manufacturers. So I went to stone and flooring manufacturers and I said, okay, what products are not to be used on your surfaces? And I got all of that information and use that to make sure that my products are safe for that specific surface.

Speaker 2: 22:50

So that's awesome. So can people buy your products.

Speaker 3: 22:54

Yes, we have a brand new website we just launched last night. It's ladyluxcleaningcom and it's L-U-X, and on there are the five products that we already have that have launched. And then it takes people to our online store and we're not set up for shipping yet. But it's local. You can pick it up or if we're out in the area, we can just bring it to you. But yeah, it's all for sale, it's all ready to go.

Speaker 2: 23:25

Thanks, is there any interesting facts about cleaning or certain things that most people wouldn't know about?

Speaker 3: 23:34

No, I mean cleaning is cleaning, but different.

Speaker 2: 23:38

things that people would be surprised about are different little tips or things that you so don't use vinegar on stone, because vinegar is acidic and it will etch your stone over time.

Speaker 3: 23:47

So don't do that. When you mop and clean vinyl flooring, you really want to keep your mop as dry as possible. So really wring it out good, because the moisture will seep in through the cracks and then buckle it and that voids the warranty. Oh, that's kind of interesting. Yeah, very interesting. So you just the pink stuff, I need them to be a sponsor because I have that they have. It's amazing. It's all natural, I'm not about to oh is it?

Speaker 1: 24:16

Yeah, I'm not about to recreate the wheel.

Speaker 3: 24:20

So the scrubby paste is we use that because it's just, I can get behind that company.

Speaker 2: 24:26

How do you scrubby paste? What is it?

Speaker 3: 24:29

So it's in like a little jar, a little yeah, a little tub, and you use it like you would use soft scrub in the same situations as you would use soft scrub. One of the things, though, courtney, that I don't talk a lot about, that I really want to talk about is our workforce development. So, lady Lux, we hire second chance employees, meaning they're post-incarceration gone through their program. So we partner with Hope for Prisoners. We're working with EmployNV to people who are reentering the workforce. We have um a few that are sober, going through sober programs, um and it. It requires not only um an understanding of what's going on, but also when life happens to them, because it seems to happen more to that demographic than anybody else. So the understanding, and as an owner, I got to pivot and I've got to make sure that the customers are always taken care of Absolutely Our hope for prisoners we put on our construction projects.

Speaker 3: 25:37

We don't have them in the residential homes just because and we don't bring anybody that has any violence or sexual based offenses into our company, because we're women, owned Absolutely. So I got to make sure that there are some defining metrics that we follow.

Speaker 2: 25:57

You're helping give someone literally a second chance, and that helps the community and I'm sure it makes a huge difference in their life as well.

Speaker 3: 26:05

It does I actually didn't know that. That's really awesome, yeah, so out of that comes our new nonprofit sector of the business, which is Second Chance Enterprises.

Speaker 1: 26:13

I love that that we're launching this quarter.

Speaker 2: 26:15

I love that. Yeah, Is that going to be similar to what? Is that totally different?

Speaker 3: 26:20

It's a whole new thing for us, but it's where we can then, you know, get some grants and really help affect people of that demographic that are looking for ways to reenter the workforce. I love that the vehicle to teach workplace we get certified, certify them, we can give them job skills. That's awesome, get them off to the next level.

Speaker 2: 26:45

I love that well as your friend and someone who knows you personally. I just want to say congratulations because I think even six, seven months ago, from where you are now, it's came so far, so fast. Product line, you're growing, you're just doing everything you can for your business and the people involved in your business and it's really amazing and inspiring to see, especially as a woman. You know it's, it's just. I don't want to say we have to work harder, but I feel like sometimes we we work hard and women are just amazing and you know the, the grind that I know you go through daily is is amazing, especially having employees and things like that. So where can our viewers get a hold of you?

Speaker 3: 27:26

So LadyLuxCleaningcom has all of our contact info. We're on socials, at LadyLuxCleaning, my LinkedIn, I mean we're on Google. Love that you can. Just you know, Lady, Lady Lux L-U-X cleaning and we're out there. I love it yeah.

Speaker 2: 27:47

Well, I hope our viewers use her. She's amazing. Or if you have office buildings, commercial, anything, they can do it all. And then to reach me, my number, of course, is 702-416-6918. I hope that I somewhat did as amazing job as Trish does. She's so awesome. We miss her and I will see her next week. And we want to also thank our sponsor, chicago Title Also, please like, subscribe, tell your friends. You know we're always trying to bring everyone as much value as we possibly can and we will see you next week. You.