All Forum Posts by: Joe Ellis

Hey Jorge! Welcome to BPNation! I hope you can get a lot of information and networking out of this website! If you haven't already, get started listening to the podcast, it's hilarious and super informative without having to tire your eyes out by reading. 

Hello there everyone!

First off, let me say thank you for being a large part of my learning! I have learned a ton in the last couple of months from just reading a lot of the forums, a lot of the blogs, and I absolutely love the podcast! 

I currently am in the process of getting out of the military and getting my RE license here in Nevada, I am planning on staying here in Las Vegas because I enjoy the weather and I really think that I can do well out here in Las Vegas as an agent. I do own a home that's within a 20 minute drive of the Air Force Base and I am trying to buy a house that's a little further west in the valley (closer to my next job location) and my plan is to rent this home out once I can get the second home. I bought this house with a VA loan and I'm trying to get my next house with the "2nd half" of the VA loan that way I don't have to put any money down. The issue I'm running into is that since I am changing jobs here fairly soon and since it is a commission based job no lenders that I've spoken with, except for one, will be able to work with me. The one that might be able to work with me I just learned about tonight and I'm not 100% sure whether they'll be able to help me quite yet, I'll know more probably next week.

I've had my BiggerPockets account for a few weeks now but I've been doing a lot of reading on the forums and blogs for a few months along with reading a lot of Mark Ferguson's blog, his blog was actually how I found BP! So far my plan is to own 10 homes (including my primary residence) in the next 5 years and by that time I should be able to "retire" but more than likely I would be too bored to just sit at home every day so I'll probably end up continuing to sell Real Estate and help people buy their homes and continue to manage my own properties. 

This is probably one of the longer first post/introduction posts that I've seen so thank you if you've read this far and I am excited to make my job switch and attack my RE goals! 

@Michaela G. That is a great idea checking possible tenant's facebook profiles! 

Welcome to the BP community! Looks like you have a ton of experience and plenty of knowledge. Good luck with your ventures and maybe we'll get to shake hands at the next BP meetup in Vegas! One thing i would suggest is getting started listening to the podcasts if you haven't already! @Joshua Dorkin and @Brandon Turner are both hilarious and bring loads of guests with lots of information for your listening pleasure. 

As everyone else has mentioned do some diligence when buying in NLV. I currently live here in NLV but I made sure to drive the streets before making my purchase. Anywhere west of the 15 is usually pretty good but there are still a few suburbs that i would cuation against. 

I am by no means a lawyer but I bought my primary residence as a short sale in North Las Vegas and I'm not sure if it was during closing or earlier in the transaction but they asked me if I knew the previous owner or if I had struck a deal with him. Like I said I am by no means an expert and hopefully someone who is well versed in the short sale subject can come in and shine some light on this! 

This is great information for an aspiring agent/investor such as myself! Thank you! 

Hey Cristy! Welcome to BP Nation! I'm new and live in Las Vegas as well and although I haven't been here (on BP) long I have already garnered a huge amount of information from BP and my first suggestion to you is to get on Josh and Brandon's Podcast! They are great and hilarious and there is so much information on each of their podcasts so hop on that!