Real Estate Investment For Rookies In Las Vegas

[Leah Ezra]

I am local to Las Vegas, I just joined a lot of meet up groups including Bigger Pockets last night. This past week I have been filling my head with as much information as I possibly can, and shall continue doing so. I have always talked to my husband about doing REI, but I haven't quite felt like I had the time or energy to dedicate to the subject. About two weeks ago I was let go from my day job, due to my employer having cash flow issues. I started sending out a ton of resumes to try and find something part time to keep me afloat, and so far nobody has responded to my emails/calls. I decided that if nobody is responding, that must mean its just time for me to forget about the financial risk of not having steady income for the time being, and just go for my dreams! Investing is one of those dreams.

Being that I am a rookie, however, I feel that I need some guidance. I've been seeing a lot of mastermind groups and such, but I'm not sure if a group will be as beneficial to me as having some kind of mentor that is focused on me. What are your opinions on groups vs. a mentor? 

I am also writing to this forum to ask what the best deals for a rookie to start making are? I've been studying a lot of Legrand and Pustejovsky methods, talking about using little to no cash or credit on deals. These methods sound incredibly appealing, but I'm not fully understanding deals like ACTS, and how they work. I understand the basic, however, I'm not understanding the amount of money in which is earned off of each deal. Most of the houses I see in Las Vegas, only ask for first and last months rent, which is usually nowhere near $10,000 +. Can other investors in Las Vegas comment on how this method works in the specific market we have here? Are Legrand methods actually the best, and if not, what are better methods or other methods I could begin using? 

[Christopher Brainard]

Hi @Leah Ezra and welcome to Bigger Pockets. 

A couple of red flags went off for me while reading your post. First, you seem concerned about the risk of not having a steady income. When you're first starting out in real estate, money isn't going to be coming in - it takes a while to get established, figure out a system of finding deals, build a team, and close on those deals. If you can't survive financially on your husband's income, you should look for a job to keep things afloat and look into real estate part time. I'm sure that isn't the answer you're looking to hear, but its good advice. Financial desperation drives people to make deals they normally wouldn't and that usually turns into a disaster. 

The other thing that stood out was the plethora of guru mumbo jumbo in your post. I'm not familiar with either of your Guru's methods, but I'll tell you strait up that real estate requires money. Now, it doesn't have to be your money, but you have to have access to capital to make things work. I believe that his latest pitches dealt with securing properties via lease options or seller financing and then turning and lease optioning to someone else. The Las Vegas market right now is still hot and sellers are expecting top dollar (in cash) for their properties. While I have found a few people who will carry notes, most of these properties need work (which is why they weren't selling in the first place.

My advice is simple, read as much as you can on this website and decide what type of real estate investing interests you. Once you know what area you'd like to focus on, concentrate your studies there. Once you have enough knowledge, setup some goals and a strategy to get there. Then work on assembling a team. If you have any specific questions about a topic or deal, there are plenty of people here willing to offer advice or deal analysis to help you get started.

-Christopher