All Forum Posts by: Joe Ellis

Welcome to BiggerPockets! There is more than enough inspiration and knowledge to go around here, start digging through the forums and figuring out what steps most are taking to accomplish the things they like to do. Anything under the Education tab is fantastic and the Podcast is definitely one of my favorites! I was actually born and raised just north of you up in Wheatland so I know my way around Sac quite well as we spent a lot of time with family that lived out there. Hope to see you around and I hope that you end up learning a ton! 

Welcome to BP Islay, you're in the right place to help you achieve your goals! It sounds like you've read Grand Cardone's book The 10X Rule and so you're already a few steps ahead! Like I said, this is the perfect place to get started learning about what you're wanting to do. Forums, podcasts, blogs are all going to help you along but getting out there and doing it is the most important step. Implementation! If you have any questions feel free to reach out, that's what we're here for. 

@Brian Ichikawa (just as a heads up you can tag someone by using the "@" symbol and then their name afterward to let them know you're addressing them, not sure if you've seen that yet) 

My follow up question about your dad is would he sell them once the market prices got to where the rents would be 10%? Or if rents actually declined then he'd sell? I feel like rents falling would be an indicator of market prices going down as well which to me would be a bad time to sell... 

I know that @Walter Purdy is a lender and I'm sure that if he can't help you, he could point you in the right direction as far as rates and whatnot. From what I've heard, most of them offer the same rates but you are correct in that fractions of percents could save quite a bit. 

Do you have a W-2 job? From what I've heard is that normal lenders won't qualify you if you don't have W-2 income or haven't been a 1099 agent for at least 2 years. (Although it may be different out there). Also, I was also told that I must have had at least one year of "landlord experience" before they'll accept my tenant's signature. Not sure if that makes sense but just some things to keep in mind. 

When I got out I got my RE license (I actually received the physical license within the week after my DOS) and I tried to buy a second home and rent out my first but they wouldn't let me because 1, I didn't have any W-2 income and 2, they wouldn't count the rental money since I hadn't been renting out a place for a year. It seems like kind of a catch-22 but there's a way to do it I'm sure.

Hey there Brian! Welcome to BiggerPockets! Watch out learning too much, you might end up wanting to invest in property yourself! I'm an agent here in Vegas as well and there are quite a few of us on here including @Omar Merced and Philip Dwyer. Getting started is fairly simple with the Education tab up in the top and pretty much anything in there will help you learn the ropes with investing and will give you a leg up on the competition at work that don't really care or aren't interested in helping other investors! If you can learn how to work the numbers like an investor then you'll know the difference between a real deal and the classic MLS "investor's dream".

Good luck and let us know if you have any questions! We're here to help! 

Also, the podcasts are a GREAT source of information and @Joshua Dorkin and @Brandon Turner are both hilarious! 

I think it kind of depends on what you specialize in. Real Estate obviously would help, taxes would definitely help you, and even if this side of RE doesn't interest you after you try it out maybe you know enough that you can advise others (and gain more clients while doing so) on what they should do in our market. I think the fact that you can read through extremely boring documents without falling asleep is definitely a plus! Also, you have more of a know how on how to correctly word specific documents.

 Obviously I'm not your lawyer so seek local counsel, haha. jk.

It all depends on what YOU want to do. Everything works, you just need to put in the time and effort to get it done. Wholesaling here in LV is totally doable, even now while it's over 100 degrees outside, you just need to get out there and pound some pavement and knock on some doors and ask if people are interested in getting out of their places OR sending some yellow letters OR a thousand other ways to get wholesaling done. You just gotta take action. 

I have a friend who lives in the Kansas City area and I had thought about moving out there to invest with her since the prices out there in KC were WAY cheaper than here in Vegas but then I decided to actually just do something here. 

Like I said, everything works, just take action. Good luck! 

@Barri Griffiths, I've lived in Vegas for just over 3 years now (moved here from AK as a military transfer) but now that I'm out of the military and a RE agent out here I like it quite a bit but I do miss being back in Florida. As far as the RE investors market here there are TONS of them out there and most of them aren't even on BP! I've met flippers who have never heard of the site as well as smaller scale guys and gals who haven't either but I try and get them to come check it out at least. 

As far as "up and coming" there seems to be a big rumor around that Faraday Futures is coming but I haven't seen anything set in stone yet, there's also that "Big Blue" casino that's like $16B or something that they're working on and I feel like that's going to bring in a ton of jobs so that means more people needing more places to stay. 

I have a guy who is interested in developing a plot of land with 15 homes between $300K-$375K but it's hard finding the right land at the right price so we're always on the lookout for raw land that will fit that criteria. He's doing it for friends of his and he said it's more of him dipping his toes in the developing world and if we do well in this he's looking at doing more later. As of now I'm needing to find the land and the construction crew and someone who knows how to fix the zoning of an area here in Vegas. 

@Jeremy Guarino Welcome to BP! It sounds like you're on the right path with a little bit of hard knocks to back you up and make you a little wiser! There was someone recently speaking about building a 4-plex near Nellis so that might be something to look out for. I'll probably see you at some of the meet-ups since I try my best to make it to any of them that aren't down near south 215. I live in North Las Vegas and work out in Summerlin so I try and keep my business near where I live and work. Keep on with the education side of things and feel free to reach out for information!