All Forum Posts by: Jason R.

Welcome @Shawn Curtis

There is a Meetup group, Real Estate Millionaire Mastermind, having a meeting this Saturday at 10am in Henderson. Good way to network with others in the local REI world.

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to post the link here, so just send me a PM

@Brian Gibbons I know someone that may be willing to work with you in this manner. I'll send you a PM

@Nick Moriwaki

As you can imagine, there are lots of people from Hawaii that invest in Vegas, as many of them are familiar with the "9th island" and visit often. I'm sure you'll get tons of terrific advice, like the comments above. Here are my two recommendations to add:

1) Ask some people you trust in Hawaii if they already have solid relationships with anyone in Vegas. Plenty of them do, and I'm sure they'll tell you about some things to avoid.

2) Use BP's search tools to find some Hawaiians that work in the real estate industry in Vegas, and ask them. Since you've spent your life in Hawaii, you probably have a pretty good feel about who you can trust from there when you speak with them. If you trust them, it's worth it to consider who they recommend that you work with. I know many of them will treat you like ohana.

@Sandra Holt

Solar City did mine (through a lease) and there were no out of pocket costs. Utility bills are lower than before and it's fixed that way, so I've been happy. I do, however, live in Las Vegas where we get far more sunshine than most of the nation.

I doubt I would put them on rental properties as it seems like there could be too many potential problems. If you lease the solar systems, that lease is in your name to pay the utility bills, whether you have tenants or not. If tenants run up the bill and don't pay it, it's still your responsibility to pay. You can come after the tenants, but does that really sound fun?

I'd like to know if there are creative ways to protect yourself from the potential tenant hassles. Keep us updated on it please

I'm not positive how it would all play out, and I wouldn't want to give you improper advice. It's definitely something to find out, but maybe you could ask a real estate tax/accounting expert like Steven Hamilton II (on BP).

@Steven Hamilton II I would love to hear an answer to the post from @Bracha Pushkin if possible. I am wondering something similar, although I would not already have a "real life address" in MI.

Even if there is no response, I appreciate the helpful info previously posted above.

@Hussein Al-asadi

One thing to keep in mind, most of the investors here on BP do not simply buy properties and rent them out. To be brief, the two main methods that many investors in your price range make money are:

1) Fix & Flip. Buying beat up properties that need work for large discounts, fixing them up, and selling them for more money than the purchase and rehab costed.

2) Buy & Hold. Buying beat up properties that need work for large discounts, fixing them up, renting them out, refinancing them to get back cash put into the deal, and collecting cash flow (and hopefully, most likely, appreciation).

It sounds like you are already familiar with these strategies, but I just wanted to clarify that you don't simply buy value, you create it. This is largely accomplished by purchasing properties that need work, and fixing them up to make them worth a lot more money. This is how you will maximize your profits, and not have to wait 192 years to get back your investment. It should only take you a matter of months to get back your investment (plus profit).

@Hussein Al-asadi

The tax return was mentioned above. This is something to pay attention to, and you might want to research FIRPTA (Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act). Basically, since you are a foreigner, when you sell a property located in the U.S., 10% of the sales price will be withheld so that the IRS can ensure that they are able to collect any taxes that you owe from the sale.

However, there are exceptions. If you sell a property for $300,000 or less and the purchaser (or a member of their family) is an owner-occupant (meaning they plan to live in the property for at least half the year, for the first 2 years after purchase), then no money needs to be withheld.

In consideration of this, it might be wise to focus on SFRs with ARVs no more than $300k.

Keep in mind that you are still required to pay proper taxes from your real estate deals for each year, but you just wouldn't have to worry about the IRS withholding the money from you ahead of time. Otherwise, this could obviously largely cut into your ability to maximize your profit.