New Member Investing in Las Vegas

[John Robb]

Hello BP Folks, My name is John and I live in St George, Utah. I worked in Solar for 4 years in California and Nevada but was forced to move and start over when Solar was shut down in Nevada. I just started a pool maintenance and repair business. I had my first real estate experience when I bought my 3/2 single family house in January 2016. I bought it on a 5% down, 4% conventional for $180,000. I now rent it out to cover the mortgage. I just found BP about a month ago through YouTube then I started listening to the podcast. I truly wish I had found it before I bought my house. As the saying goes "Hind sight is 20/20". I have learned I over paid on my house by about 25%, a house covering the mortgage is costing me money, and how important it is to analyze a property to make sure it cash flows and has a good CCR before making a purchase. All principles I look forward to apply to my next property. So here's where I am at today. I have about $10k saved and plan to purchase a condo/apartment/ SFD in Vegas for under $50k. I have excellent credit that being said banks/ credit unions don't loan to people that are self employed until you have 2 years of self employed tax returns. Anyone have any experience being self employed under a year and borrowing to buying real estate? Any advice, tips, tricks, etc is greatly appreciated.

[Andrew Hall]

@John Robb Hey John, welcome to BP! I am currently in the same situation and wanted to start investing in rental properties out of state. After talking with some lenders I did get a referral to a portfolio lender who will invest if the numbers make sense. If it is a true deal and you will generate a good amount of cash flow on the deal a portfolio lender might be the way to go. Especially if you have 20% down I would try to look into finding properties where the owner will carry the note. I'm currently talking with a homeowner on a seller finance deal and she agreed to the terms. 10% down @ 7% financing. Now it is high on the financing side, but you can acquire properties without having to get financed through a bank. It is a creative way  to get rentals while building your business over the next 2 years. Once you can get traditional financing you can refi the seller finance deals you acquired over the first couple of years. The deals are out there, you just need to find them! Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck with your business and google portfolio lenders and seller finance or owner finance to learn about the strategies.