All Forum Posts by: Dave K.

Hi Philip,

I'm just getting started. I am thinking of getting a RE license to get into the business and save up some money to begin buying homes for rent. I am studying the summerlin/southwest market and hope to eventually own a number of rentals.

I have been looking and studying the Summerlin (far west newer area) for a bit. The homes rent higher than homes nearby in the southwest due to people wanting to send their kids to schools they perceive as being safer and better. The area is nice and most homes I've looked at have both a Masterplan hoa of about $41 and association fees. The association fees in the nicer gated area such as Queensridge range from $2-300 for guard/pool/tennis/amenities to $30 ish for a smaller gated complex with no amenities but just landscaping.

The homes are nice and they were staying on the market for month or longer and being re-priced lower before the recent uptick. Now the homes I am studying are going within days of listing.
Prices range from mid $150K for 3br and up and some homes are tightly packed. But the area is much nicer than the older parts of the city IMO.

If you buy to hold and rent this could be a good place. I've seen some homes that sold at the highs of the market at $900K+ going for half. If I had the money, I'd be buying up all these fire sale homes. Another areas you can look is in the mountains edge where homes are also cheap and the builder said that ME was another "master planned" community but it's not as nice as Summerlin. If you look in Vegas, homes are going fast but the value is still there for longer term buy/holders.

Dave

P.S. I'm still a newbie with no rental homes and not even a RE license. Just someone very interested in RE and studying before getting started in the market.

Hi James,
You are correct you are safe as long as you understand FDIC's limits. You can increase your coverage with beneficiaries (kids) if you have them.
I used to be a rate chaser myself but have found that to be too much work. I saw a lot of friends chasing rates only to find that every 6 months they were opening new accounts when their initial special rate period ended. I for one now prefer consistency and not having to learn new user/passwords to banking sites. :)
UFB direct is a good place but I also see a bit higher rate at TIAA direct for 1.25%. Sounds like you want the best rate possible with FDIC coverage. EverBank is also offering the same 1.25% but that's only good for 6 months I believe.
I have found that although higher the better, sometimes a good bank/cu that consistently places in the top 10% of rates while providing great service and user interface is just as important.
I loved my ING account but am going to migrate towards CU such as Alliant CU (0.80% savings) or PenFed CU. Their Customer Service is very highly ranked.

TIAA http://www.tiaa-cref.org/banking/bank/mmd/index.html
Alliant Credit Union.org

Lastly, another alternative to the Savings/MMA was a CD with low early termination rates. Ally has some decent rates on CDs and if you compare them to the Savings rate, you can do better even if you consider the early termination fees.
Ally 5 yr CD is 1.72% with 2 month ETF. If closed after 1 year that would be equal to 1.43%, 2yr 1.58% and 3 yrs 1.62%.
You might consider opening 3 x $250K CD's there and in case you need access to some money, you can break just 1 of the 3 CD's or perhaps 7 x 100K CD's and a 50K CD?

The current rates are horrible so I had to participate in creative CD laddering and such.

Dave

Hello Alia, Stephen, Philip, Jesse, Mack, and Ali.

I'm here in Las Vegas also. Just getting started, can't avoid looking and learning about the market as my neighbors go into foreclosures and short sales.
Learning to invest in RE and would enjoying meeting all of you as well.