All Forum Posts by: Michael Tully

@Vaughn Cruz Have you looked into applying for a zoning variance through the city/county? It depends on where your AirBNB is but since yours is zoned for AirBNB I'm assuming it's technically in Las Vegas city bounds. If you look at what happened downtown at the Ogden, you just need to apply for a variance and try and get it approved.

@Luke Tran You mentioned you are a novice agent. Are you a licensee? If so be careful as you are opening yourself up to liability by wholesaling. Make sure you have disclosed that you are a licensed agent and that the seller is fine with their price. You need to make sure they understand they are giving you a great deal.

As an agent, you may want to consider a net listing. They are legal in Nevada as long as the seller is aware that you may make a significant profit above whatever they’re happy with as far as their net income from the sale. I’m not an expert on this so consult with your broker and a legal expert on this.

Again, if after the sale they find out you made a lot of money and they feel that you misled them and took profit out of their pocket you need to have those disclosures to protect yourself from liability in court. Net listings are kind of like a way to wholesale but again, be careful! Don’t let dollar signs get in the way of helping someone out. You should find a way to make a win-win situation out of this and leave the seller feeling happy after closing!

*Not a lawyer or an expert. Do your own due diligence and consult with a broker/real estate attorney*

@Brian Walters If you're looking to invest in Las Vegas I would say the first two things you should do are learn the city and meet with a lender to discuss financials. 

Drive through every part of town - get a feel for what each area is like. Personally, I'd recommend driving Charleston from the east side near Hollywood all the way to the west side and take the loop past Red Rock until it turns into Blue Diamond, then keep driving East on Blue Diamond. It will turn into Windmill but keep driving that until you get into Green Valley and you'll get a good feel for what neighborhoods are like here. 

As for meeting with a lender, it'll be a good financial check up and you'll be able to find out what steps you'll need to take to get financing, should you choose to go for conventional financing.

Good luck and welcome to Las Vegas!

@Eric Fernwood Amazing data and analysis as always! I absolutely love your statistics and graphs in your posts. One observation I noticed in that heat map (I know it's an approx.) is that it seems people love to stay for many years near the 215. As someone who has been a local for 27 years, I also have always tried to live within 10 minutes of the 215. Definitely a well desired location! (At least the band from Cheyenne on the west side to where it terminates in Henderson!)

Like @Bill B. said it all depends on the property. Most houses here are newer and mostly tract homes so the utilities are all pretty much the same. Water and Gas are usually in the $20-30 range TOPS and Trash/Sewer/Recycling are super cheap too. Electricity is the big one and will always run $200+ in the summer, depending on how efficient your home is and how old the AC unit is. I've looked at houses near downtown (older houses built in the 1950-1970's) and have a friend who owns a rental down in the Beverly Green area and his bill is much higher due to the external ducting and poor insulation of those types of houses. He keeps his house at 80 all summer long and still pays well over $200 on his June-August electricity bills.

In most cases however, your tenants will be paying for their own utilities. (Aside from trash/sewer/HOA since they'll put a lein on your house if your tenant decides not to pay)

 The data set is looking at what percentage of renters are now unemployed due to COVID-19. The data doesn't include price ranges but does note that those who are low income earners, people of color, and undocumented individuals are historically the most at risk for evictions when unemployment rises. With data that shows that most people spent their stimulus checks already and the unemployment benefits at risk of running out, their statistics show that people will begin to face evictions when their savings run out. 

@Bill Brandt Yeah someone told me that a contractor could lose their license for filling with R-22 but I’m not sure how accurate that was.

Yeah I can see that. Unless you really trust the buyer it’s safer to just sell and take your earnings!

No worries! I wasn’t offended. I just didn’t want to come across as an armchair quarterback. I don’t know you personally so I thought Bill was a bit too informal! You’re famously a fan of Blaze pizza and one day I’ll be sending an invite your way! I appreciate the replies and your input as always.

@Bill Brandt Fair point Mr. Brandt, as I do not have any rental units. I did see your posts earlier this year and you are included in that statistic of those who collected all their rents. I would consider you at a higher skill level than a lot of one property landlords out there.

As far as that NLV property you’re thinking of selling in a few years you could try doing seller financing. Since it’s classified as an installment sale you spread out your tax hit over the life of the loan and you won’t have to pay a large capital gains tax up front. Could be worth looking into (I am not a CPA so check with your own tax people)

As well I just had to replace the compressor in my AC unit and got great service from a local company. I was chatting with the tech about the new laws and got some clarification. The old R-22 is illegal to import or manufacture so the price is going to climb as supplies dwindle. His price (with markup) was $75/pound. The replacement for it is R-407c and its only $35/pound and works in all the systems that currently use R-22. It works almost as good as the old stuff (might struggle a little on the 110+ degree days but otherwise works the same). I thought he would have to replace the whole thing but you don’t have to unless you want to completely upgrade to a newer refrigerant. But for now the R-407c works great and is approved by the EPA and is plentiful.

Has anyone seen this report from the Guinn Center? Meet Kevin also did some discussion on this topic. I feel like most landlords here on BP got above 80% rents during this crisis, but I'm sure there are many mom and pop landlords who aren't on here that didn't handle the crisis as well as those on here who knew what to do. Report is here:

https://guinncenter.org/wp-con...

As well, the Nevada Unemployment Insurance Program has announced that they are running low on funds, with some estimates saying they have about 8 weeks of funding left unless they get federal assistance. Combined with a huge state deficit and proposed budget cuts of over $1B to cover this, do you think there is a coming eviction surge? Will this cause a foreclosure surge in the valley as well as mortgage forbearance comes to an end? Could be a great time to find deals as small time landlords try to unload their headaches.

Link to the Unemployment article:

https://www.ktnv.com/news/coro...

@Erik K. Something else that might be a factor is that in Vegas, most of the cheaper condos (if not ALL of them) used to be apartments and were "converted" by selling off all the units to individual owners. For someone looking to buy a home, condos in Vegas still have an apartment feel to them and so the demand is smaller since people who are buying are usually trying to leave the world of renting/apartments. If it weren't for the HOA fees, renting condos would be great! However, in areas that are desirable you're going to see HOA fees from $250 and up which eats your cashflow. As well, as others have said, you have many restrictions in these condo communities, such as restrictions on how many rentals are allowed (if any) and other restrictions on your property. Plus you still have to worry about having someone above/below you which has definitely got to impact the price of the property. It's got to be a great feeling to purchase your first home and then find out your neighbor above likes to stomp everywhere or that you have to tiptoe anywhere you walk in your place so as not to anger your neighbors below you. (I feel bad for those living in a second floor unit in some of the 3 story condo buildings here in town.)