All Forum Posts by: Juan V Lopez

Very exciting, Laura! Definitely look into STR regulations in any area you're researching. Last thing you want to do is get too deep somewhere with your time and money only to realize the STR laws are not friendly.

I live in Las Vegas which is a mecca for tourism, but new STRs here are very difficult to secure. The process is tedious. I've seen many owners in Vegas get big fines for operating illegal STRs.

I own 2 STRs in Big Bear CA which is about 4 hours away from Vegas - aside from buying something you can add value to, I'd absolutely recommend not getting into somewhere too remote that it's hard to find good people who can work on it. It makes it difficult to do simple maintenance, repairs, cleaning, etc.

If you don't have a ton of reserves, I always think it's a good rule of thumb to have between 4-6 months mortgage in savings as you're trying to figure out a rhythm. Treat this like a business (because it is), keep operating expenses as low as possible while making your spot aesthetically desirable. Beautiful photos matter a lot.

Good luck!

Hey Jean, no hard rule to this but with properties I've sold, I always think it's best to communicate with your tenants to get ahead of any potential issues.

1) Potential buyers will likely need to walk the property, so you'll have to schedule with your tenants.

2) They might see the house on Zillow, Redfin etc and think "Am I going to get kicked out? What's going to happen to me" etc.

3) It gives you an opportunity to tell them how the transition will work - the next owner will assume their lease and they are required to honor the remainder of the lease.

Good luck with everything on this sale!

Quote from @Eileen A.:

I have a single family house in N Las Vegas which is on the market but not getting any viable offers. It's paid for and the people across the street offered me $1800 to rent for her mother and brother. Mother has a pension and brother is looking for work. I'm not sure if my neighbors would come up with the rent if needed. How does that work? Would they have to be co-signers on the lease? I'm hoping it will appreciate in value over the next 5 years.  I live out of state and would give it to a PM. 
Or should I just leave it on the market longer and sell?

Hi Eileen, did you make a decision here? If you need some help getting an idea for what your property could rent for on the market, send me a message.

If you end up renting it to your neighbors, you might be shorting yourself on market rent and not getting the best qualified tenants. Might be more problems for you down the road if you don't do background checks or qualify people's income. I own a property management company in Vegas. We manage 200+ homes. Here to help if you need any guidance.

Vegas market will absolutely appreciate more and more over the years. Things will not get cheaper. You are in a good spot to hold onto this property. Good luck and message me if I can help.

Hey Edward, what a great situation to be in.

If it were me, I'd take cash out of it now with a cash-out refinance and keep it as a rental. 2 main reasons why:

1) In this market, you're most likely not going to get $450K for it. It may very well be worth $450K, but supply has exploded in Las Vegas (and other markets) with interest rate increases. Tough sellers market right now. Give it some time to rise again and consider selling in the future.

2) This is what investing is all about - if you keep this home as a rental and are able to acquire another, you now potentially have properties to pass down to your kids later in life. Keep your assets as long as you can. Wealth is built through ownership over time, not selling.

Regardless, I wish you the best and wish you guys a safe move. Take care.

Hey Jonathan, hope you and your wife had a great time abroad. I live and invest in Vegas.

I think questions like these can be debated forever. The truth is, we have no idea what's going to happen or how Vegas is going to adjust to water usage.

The thing I hang my hat on is knowing that there are literally billions of dollars here in gaming, real estate, sports, hotels, etc - those big guys aren't going to go down without a fight if Vegas is in a dire water shortage in our lifetime. They'll make artificial changes to water supply before they let billions of dollars die because of a natural occurrence.

Long story short – I'd run my numbers to account for the market as it is now and in the short-term future. Wish you guys the best.

Hey Karla, props to you for getting started. Sounds like you have a couple of options here:

1) Take time to work on your finances and increase your buying power to afford a larger property - larger property -> more units to rent -> higher income. If you give it maybe another year or so to improve your finances, perhaps interest rates will come down in that time too so you can afford to buy more.

2) Tell your agent to submit your $330K offer on that duplex you found. The worst they can say is no.

3) Vegas is a tough market to cash flow in with a small down payment. If you're looking at a FHA loan with 3.5% down, you'll have a higher mortgage + PMI, which will make it harder to cashflow. If you can save up for a higher down payment over the next 1-2 years, you may be in a better position to find a property that you can cash flow on.

Wish you the best and keep going. This is just the beginning for you. Good luck.

Hey Marko, if you're out-of-state and wanting to manage a LTR, it's definitely tough. So much goes into a property, small details, things that need to be fixed, etc.

If you want to manage the property yourself, that's fine - but I'd absolutely recommend getting a trusted person in Vegas to be your boots on the ground. You could get a property manager, but maybe a more economic option might be to connect with a realtor who can take time to visit the property every so often and get a handyman out there to do repairs when needed. Not a full on property manager, but someone to keep an eye on things for you in exchange for compensation.

Hope this helps, wish you the best brother.

That's awesome Jack, super pumped for you. What kind of property did you acquire? Flip, rental? Let me know if you need any contractor recommendations in the Vegas market – I'm connected to a lot of contractors who do work for investors and myself.

Congratulations on your son, such a joy. Wish you the best, brother.

Hey @Jacob Beg, congrats on your 3 properties.

From what I'm seeing, what you stated is our current market. I invest in Las Vegas and Chicago. Even if your property is accurately priced (or even priced on the lower end), you're always going to attract lower offers.

Buyers know they have leverage right now and buyer agents are persuading would-be buyers by telling them they can offer under asking price.

These are ultimately your properties so only you know your holding costs and stresses of holding the properties. If money is a stressor, it might be a good idea to take the under-asking price offers (or at least meet them somewhere in the middle). Bite the bullet and live to invest another day. Wish you the best, brother.

Hey @Austin Laubacher, way to put yourself out there. I'd recommend a few things:

1) Consider househacking a small MF building (anything 2-4 units) to live cheaply and gain equity.

2) Pay for a mentorship course that you trust – a lot of people frown on paid courses, but often times you will not be able to gain much from a mentor that you have not paid for their time. Wholesaling sounds like it would be up your alley since you need to build more capital at this time.

3) Look to work with flippers/investors in your area. Post your services in local Facebook real estate investment groups stating you are looking to work for investors. Investors are always looking for quality workers.

4) Slash your living expenses. If there's anything unnecessary, cut it. I got started in 2017 by saving up $60K over a few years at my W-2 job, buying 1 property that I flipped and went from there. It takes time to accumulate reserves and money to work with, but you can accelerate it by living frugally.