All Forum Posts by: James Phan

Hello all, my mom's 4bd/2.5ba rental property in SW Las Vegas has a tenant turnover at the end of February. Her home is fully paid off, but she is all ears regarding ways to maximize rental income. The house was built in 2005, has been previously rented for years as a LTR, and has most likely not seen many renovations.

Firstly, may I ask for suggestions regarding which renovations would most likely maximize rental income? 

Secondly, may I have others weigh in on their experiences with Airbnb (31+ days, not STR), Furnishedfinders for traveling nurses/businessmen, or even rent-by-room model in the Las Vegas area? If you have specifically have a similar size home or have a property in the SW area, I would greatly appreciate further insight into the viability of such rental models.

For reference, I am a complete newbie to real estate, but I have am a traveling healthcare worker and have signed many leases or seen examples of the furnished rental model work in California where I have been working. I would love to see if any of these models have worked for those of you in Las Vegas. I understand that all of these models would require much more management due to turnover, cost of furnishing (average estimate that I could find was $10/sq ft), potentially paying utilities/wifi/Netflix per month, cleaning fees. Any other cons/considerations that I should think about?

Example of Airbnb (31+ days) that I have found online:

https://www.vegaspropertymanag...

https://www.airbnb.com/users/7...

Example of Furnished Finders for same SW area:

https://www.furnishedfinder.co... 

Examples of Rent-by-room for same SW area:

https://www.roomies.com/rooms/...

Thanks for the quick response @Bill B.! It would definitely add in a lot more work for myself versus just going through the LTR route with my mom's current property manager, but do you think it would be worth the hassle and/or provide a valuable experience for a newbie like myself to manage the property?

@Mikko Allen Lucernas @Brian Walters Hey guys, I'm moving back to Las Vegas and was wondering if you guys were still entertaining the idea of an Airbnb in Las Vegas and/or would be willing to share any additional notes that you have for the area?

I understand that rules for STR are quite restrictive, but what about medium term (31+ days) rentals on Airbnb/Furnishedfinders/travel nurse/businessmen?

For example, I see that there's a property management company in Las Vegas that currently has a few properties listed this way:
https://www.vegaspropertymanag...

https://www.airbnb.com/users/7...

What do you guys think of this model? I'm a complete newbie so I'd appreciate any insight. Thanks in advance!

@Michael Robbins I appreciate your suggestions regarding my situation. As it turns out, my mom has not kept up with the market rent and has been charging the same rent since my dad passed away in 2018! Obviously, it is grossly underrented for the area at the moment, but would you consider https://www.rentometer.com/us/... to be a good comparison for the Las Vegas market? 

Also, as it turns out, my mom's tenant is planning to move out after her lease expires end of February. I have not seen the property myself, but my mom says that it is mainly original from 2005! I thought that this would be a good opportunity to do renovations and also consider other rental models, such as furnished rental through Airbnb/travel nurses. May I ask what improvements you'd suggest I look at first that would maximize income? Also, given your experience as a property manager, may I ask your views on renting a SFH traditionally as a LTR versus medium term/month-to-month on Airbnb (30 day minimum)/Furnishedfinders?

@Bill B. Thanks for showing your real life examples. I used these examples when I had a talk with her today and she just didn't realize that the market was going up so rapidly. She also told me that our tenant in the SW home may be leaving to buy her own house, so that brings me to a question.. May I ask if you rent out any of your SFH by the room, either to travel nurses, construction workers, single professionals? My background is actually in travel healthcare and my wife and I typically rent by room/ADU in California on contracts. I'm just wondering if the same concept could be applied to the Vegas market or if it's not quite as common here. Previously, my parents have always rented to families.

Hey @Dwayne Poster, I am not an only child and also have a brother, but both of us have pretty much been hands off with our parents’ finances. My dad was pretty much doing the real estate thing on his own, supporting my mom with his W2 and rental income, but unfortunately passed away unexpectedly and we did not get a chance to learn the real estate game from him. I know my parents having a living will and such established, but I’ll have to look further into the details. Any pointers on where to go/where to look for more information for estate management?

Hey @Bill B., I’ve actually read through a lot of your insightful comments, especially in the Las Vegas market, prior to making this post, so I appreciate you taking the time to respond with such detail. 

I wanted to clarify that the 1.3M in equity includes a primary residence, so she is only renting out 2 SFH - one in East Vegas for $1550 and one in SW for $1750. Looking at Zillow rent estimate/rentometer, it seems like they are grossly under rented for the areas. My mom told me that she has basically kept the rental prices the same since my dad passed in 2018 despite PM telling her to raise the rents because they were long term tenants and she didn't want to worry about vacancy. The current tenant's lease for the SW home is up for renewal in March, and the average rent in the SW area seems to be above $2000. Obviously, I think that should change, but what should I expect if we go about increasing the rent? Are there laws in Las Vegas against such an increase in rent?

Additionally, I appreciate all the math and calculations that you’ve put forth as they put a lot of things into perspective for the future. I guess I am just split into two sides. A part of me understands the low risk tolerance someone like my mom would have and I don’t want to ruin what my dad had already built financially for my mom/our family since I have no real estate experience, but the other part feels that it would wasteful to see my mom burn through what she has left without preserving/creating more wealth with what my dad had already started. 

Hello all, this is my first post on the forums and I'm brand new to the whole real estate realm. Looking for suggestions on what you would recommend going forward in this situation.

Background

I am moving back to my home town of Las Vegas to help take care of my elderly, disabled mom, who is becoming more dependent for daily activities and no longer able to manage finances independently. Quick info on me: I am 30, married, stable health care job, very frugal, spend about $3000/mo combined with wife, currently at Coast FI through VTSAX and cryptocurrency, but absolutely ZERO real estate experience, including no primary residence because I have worked exclusively travel contracts. My dad passed away a few years ago and left his assets to my mom, which currently includes 3 SFH (1 primary residence + 2 rentals) all paid off, about $1.3mil in equity and $3300/mo gross rental income + some stocks. In the past, I have helped my mom invest her stocks, but she had been dealing with the rental properties. Unfortunately, it was my dad who was the finance guy and managed all the rentals and my mom does not have as much financial literacy, has tried to outsource most of the management to a property manager and would rather not do anything with management at this point. Additionally, she is used to the lifestyle that my dad used to provide while he was still working and she currently spends about $6000-8000/mo (a lot of which is also medical expenses for chronic conditions), so she withdraws from the stock portfolios to supplement current spending. From my calculations, she would deplete her stock portfolio with current spending in less than 7 years, which then her plan was to start selling off the homes. I believe that if she were to continue down this path, she would obviously run out of money.

At this point, my mom is also willing to have me take over the rental properties and/or use these properties for leverage to increase our wealth so that she does not run out of money and so that I do not have to support her with my own W2 salary in the future; thus, I am wondering what would be the best way to proceed with the least risk? 

TL;DR

Mom has 1.3m in equity, willing to do joint-mortgage or joint investments for real estate. I am taking care of her as far as daily expenses (groceries, transportation, etc), so looking to leverage her current investments to increase wealth. Being a complete newbie, what should I look into as pro/cons/risks for this plan going forward?

- HELOC vs home equity long vs cash out refi?

- how would potential lenders view the situation?

- potential risk of partnership? We both have 800 credit score, I would handle all mortgages and simply pay out 50/50 or more depending on her bills

- least risky investment? I was thinking SFH buy & hold in our backyard of Las Vegas, rent by room to travel nurse/professionals or potentially Airbnb in Henderson (Airbnb potentially becoming legal in Clark County in July 2022)

Thanks in advance!