New Investor - need advice and guidance.

[James Amon]

Hi Bigger Pockets community, you can call me James. I own a house but a real noob when it comes to real estate investing. I'm interested in the BRRRR strategy and would like to implement it. I live in SoCal but I'm targeting Las Vegas as my market, mostly 2plex to 4plex properties in maybe C+ to preferably B neighborhoods. I chose LV rather than where I live because I feel more comfortable financially over there due to the lower cost of properties. I'm hoping I'd be able to use hard money to purchase properties and access my credit card for the rehab part. My plan is to do the rehab myself since I have a background in architecture and I've done some repairs at my house so I have the tools. I currently work only 3 days a week (12hr shifts) with flexible scheduling so I can travel to LV every week and put in the time. The max price for a property that I would like to work on is up to $200k and max rehab cost is up to $30k. Preferably way below those prices but we can make it work up to that.

I watched the recent webinar about the 45 day challenge and since then, I’ve been analyzing properties almost daily using the tools in this website. At this point, I feel like I’m ready to take the next step which is to start making offers. My questions/concerns are:

1. Is this the right next step or do I have to do something else prior to this?
2. I would like to ask for a recommendation for a real estate agent who works with investors in the Las Vegas area.
3. In terms of the offer, will the RE agent assist me in putting in the offer with the right contingencies in place or do I need a lawyer for that?
4. What’s my next step? Is it to start networking with a hard money lender or do I have to wait until I have a property under contract.

My apologies for this post being too long but I appreciate everyone’s time in reading through it and look forward in reading everyone’s responses. Thank you!

[Basit Siddiqi]

I think the first step is to find an agent which you have mentioned. 

I did a quick search on Biggerpockets and I saw there was other posters seeking a Las Vegas Agent/Realtor - Please find the links below.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/21/topics/214..

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/517/topics/37...

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/432/topics/33...

Feel free to connect with the posters and see who they decided to go with. I would ask the real estate agent that you work with to set you up with daily email alerts for any multi family with a price of $100,000 - $250,000(remember you can always negotiate a price down to your desired target of $200,000).

The next step is to find a lender that you feel comfortable working with and see if you qualify to take out a 200K mortgage. 
You may want to look into getting a 203K mortgage which allows you to roll up the rehab costs into the mortgage.
An alternative is to get a hard money lender for the rehab costs.

An agent should be able to put in the contingincies into your contract.
The 2 contingencies that I always put in are the finance contingency and the home inspection contingency.
The finance contingency allows me to back out if for whatever reason my lender can no longer lend to me
The home inspection contingency allows me to back out if I see something in the home inspection report that I do not like.

Good luck with everything!