President of Las Vegas Realtors bullish on state of housing market

When Las Vegas rapidly shut down a year ago over fears of the coronavirus outbreak, it seemed all but certain the housing market would get hit hard.

Real estate broker Aldo Martinez was one of many people who feared the pool of homebuyers would evaporate amid skyrocketing job losses and other turmoil. And while the market faced some turbulence at first, it regained its footing and embarked on a hot streak of record prices and rising sales despite the Las Vegas Valley’s widespread economic pain.

Martinez is the 2021 president of trade association Las Vegas Realtors and a branch manager for Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Nevada Properties. He has a long history in the valley, having moved here as a child in 1969 from his native Cuba, and started working in real estate in Southern Nevada in 1993. He also spent 22 years in the Army.

He spoke with the Review-Journal in January. The interview was edited for length and clarity.

How old were you when you came to Las Vegas?

I was 5. My mom, who always had maids, went to work as a maid in the International Hotel. My dad worked for the Cuban government. His family ran meat markets; he was a CPA by trade. When he got here, he cut meat. They had hopes in the 1960s that the U.S. would be successful with their insurrection and liberate Cuba, but with the Bay of Pigs invasion failing, they said it wouldn’t get better. My dad told me once, he said, “I couldn’t see raising you in a country or a world where you could have no aspirations or dreams.” It was communism; they’re going to give you what they think you need.

I think I saw in your bio that you were expelled from high school?

I was a bad egg. My parents got a divorce when I was 14; when that family unit dissolved, my mom moved to Florida. They eventually got back together years later. But she was the disciplinarian, and my dad was, “You could do anything.” I was running crazy. I ended up getting married at age 17; that lasted about six months.

I wanted to fly planes; I said, let me see if I can get in the military. I didn’t realize that without a high school diploma your options are going to be very limited, and flying jets was going to be completely out of the question if you can’t add. The Army took me as an air traffic controller. They have tactical air traffic controlling; they assign you to a combat unit. I spent 12 months, 14 months in Honduras during the Iran-Contra stuff.

After the Army did you come back to Las Vegas right away?

I ended up getting married to my second wife in Honduras. The marriage lasted 12 months. My current wife, now of 32 years, she was one of my high school sweethearts; we reconnected when I got back to Las Vegas and got married in ’88. We have two kids.

What did you initially think would happen to the housing market when the pandemic hit and everything started shutting down?

At that time, I thought we needed to weather this out until midsummer, and it will be over.

Were you scared that, with all the casinos closing and tourism shutting off, the buyer pool would vanish?

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. Where does our revenue come from? Who’s our client base?

When did you realize the housing market isn’t crashing but was starting to accelerate?

When they kept the interest rates down, that was huge. The $1 million-plus homes, those sales tripled. You’re seeing the people with money buying. And then you’re just seeing people make smart, common-sense decisions.

Our housing, the supply is extremely low; the good ones are getting multiple offers. Some people said even if the prices go up, with rates so low, I’m going to buy. Psychologically, you think we’ll never see interest rates so low again; then they go even lower.

As the year went on, did you ever sit back and think how is this even happening?

You do it every single day. This wasn’t really an economic crisis; it was a pandemic crisis. We kind of all feel and know, once we can lift this pandemic lid that’s keeping it down, the market’s there. Vegas is really ramped up to be in, I think, a perfect position. We’re hospitality. Everybody’s been pent up for 12 months now; what do you think is the first thing they want to do? They want to go on a vacation. They want to go somewhere. They want to go let their hair down.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.