Buying first property

[Ernie Castaneda]

I live in Monterey Park CA, With house prices in CA don’t see doing my first home purchase here, so I’ve been looking at property’s in Las Vegas prices are very tempting but not sure. Look for advice where to start and if Vegas would be a good place to start

[Nathan Platter]

Hi @Ernie Castaneda,

Just from reading other CA investors decisions, a lot of them go for 1-4 unit rentals in the midwest states. Ones that come to mind are Milwaukee WI, Indianapolis IN, Memphis TN, Atlanta GA, and Kansas City MO.

Wherever you can find deals with good ROI is worthwhile when the surrounding market demographics are trending in a positive direction.

Excited to see what action you take!

[Brian Schmelzlen]

Hi Ernie,

I have been looking at Las Vegas as well. I like that the market can be good for both cash flow and appreciation. I also like that you can justify the travel costs to Vegas as a rental expense then (within reason- talk to your CPA). The downside is that the housing prices there can fluctuate down as well (as demonstrated when the last bubble crashed).

[Louis Davis]

Just wanted to chime in @Nathan Platter @Ernie Castaneda@Brian Schmelzlen  I have been wholesaling and flipping in the Vegas market for about 8 years now. The best advice I can always give is to start off in your own backyard so that you can get a feel for running the numbers. Vegas market at this time is more of a sellers market and people are paying way more than they should for properties. Unless you have a good source for finding properties where there is absolutely zero competition (like I do) it will be an uphill battle and as long as your ready for that then jump in. But the techniques and strategies are the same as finding a property in your own backyard so why not start there? 

[Phillip Dwyer]

@Ernie Castaneda  What areas have you looked at thus far?  What rate of return do you expect?  What price range are you targeting?

[Andrew Johnson]

@Ernie Castaneda Pick someplace that you know.  Maybe it's Vegas, maybe it's where you went to school, maybe it's where a cousin lives, etc.  It's really tough just to try and parachute into a metro area from afar not knowing the right from wrong side of the tracks.  Now you can use crime heatmaps, school districts, advice from BP members, etc. but there's nothing like having some experience (or someone you trust) with the area.  

My overly general advice would be that if I look at a market like Las Vegas that has been on fire for (literally) years now, if something looks "really good" then there's probably something that you don't know.  I can't tell you how many properties I've visited out-of-state that look good on paper, look good in the pictures, but somehow just look/feel completely different when I drive through the neighborhood to see them.

So what would I do in your shoes?  I'd pick 5-10 properties that look interesting and drive out to Las Vegas for a weekend.  See if you can get to see a few of them and just drive by the ones that you can't see.  You'll probably get a feeling pretty quickly if they are "very tempting" in person or just "very tempting" when you're a few hundred miles away :-)