New investor in Las Vegas

[Anthony Greco]

Hi BP! I have been listening to podcasts over the past year and reading and learning all I can about real estate investing. I moved about a year ago to Las Vegas from the Chicagoland area and quickly my interest in real estate was sparked when I decided to learn about the area and it's respective real estate. I decided now is the time to start to take action and that begins with trying to be active on the forums. My goal is to acquire a cash flowing multi family (duplex to 4 unit) property as my first investment but the areas that type of real estate is available seems to be only in the rougher areas of town. (Would like my first investment to be local if possible while I'm really learning the ropes to keep things simple.) When it comes to the SFR route the good deals don't last longer than 24 hours and usually involve cash buyers with multiple offers. I have really only been looking on MLS up to this point. Although SFR is not my ultimate goal I am eager to get started. I was hoping someone who has been in this market longer and is more experienced than I could give some insight on the current market climate here. Is my best bet to start trying to find deals from off market opportunities by driving for dollars and yellow letter type campaigns? I think learning how to rehab is a very important tool to investing to add value and generate larger amounts of cash flow, so maybe starting small with a SFR would be the way to go. That way I can learn starting small and then either have the opportunity to fix and flip to build quicker capital or hold for long term wealth. This also gives me more exit strategies to capitalize off of. Thoughts or advice? Looking forward to the journeys ahead.

[Phillip Dwyer]

Welcome to Vegas and to BP!  Have you purchased a primary residence yet?  That may be one way for you to get started.  This would require less start up capital, and then you could fix it up while living in the place.  From there you could either sell or rent it out.