All Forum Posts by: Shari Posey

Some of those comps are very old--May and July. I don't know your market but our market has gone up quite a bit since then.

If she has been looking for a while, did you or she see the interiors of these other homes? If so, then hopefully she's comparing and evaluating them more than you realize. There is one sold for $209k that was about the same size and it sold for cash so maybe she's not that far off.

I think you are beating a dead horse trying to get her to buy in a different city in a lower-income area. It's just too far out of her comfort zone but I don't blame her.

Good zinger--and a true one! :)

Bill--I can see you are pretty worked up about my shoe thing. Actually, I DO ask guests to remove their shoes in our own home and no one seems offended and they come back when invited again. Yes, I ALWAYS ask a homeowner if they would like me and my buyers to remove our shoes when viewing a home and many times even in vacant homes my buyers ask me if they should remove their shoes. It's respectful and it's common in our area. Maybe it's because I've lived overseas (Japan and Czech Republic) where it's extremely offensive not to remove shoes. Personally, I can't understand why people walk on dirty streets, through dog poop, spilled Coke, etc. and then walk all over their floors were the baby plays...but now I'm off topic.

I don't own the unit yet. The current owner put hard surface floors in. I may end up having to change to carpet IF someone complains. HOA president says as long as he can remember nobody has had to change their flooring and they have not enforced it. I'm not saying it's right but of 200 units many have hard surface flooring.

Bill--I don't see how it's much different than not allowing smoking in a unit. Fortunately, we have a really tight rental market and it's a very nice unit so I may just test it out anyway.

I'm in the process of purchasing a second-story condo that has brand new really nice laminate faux hardwood floors. Two problems--I've been warned me the downstairs owners are crabby and might complain about noise and secondly, only carpet is allowed by CC&Rs but they don't enforce it unless it causes complaints. So, I'm considering to add a stipulation that the tenants not wear shoes in the units and any HOA fines for noise complaints will be passed on to the tenants. What do you think?

Phillip is 100% correct--you will need cash to purchase in Las Vegas. With $75k you will mostly find fixer single family that don't qualify for lending and condos that typically don't qualify for lending. For income properties, I've been told commercial lenders there will not touch anything under $300k.

Generally, most lenders are not going to do loans under $100k. I think you might have to save up some more money so you have a min. of 20% down in a higher price range. Or like Joe said, maybe go to the deep southern rural areas and find one or two houses you can pay cash for.

Cameron, since I live in CA it's hard to find deals elsewhere that aren't on the MLS or with a turnkey company. I have heard of investors who temporarily move to a new city to find hidden deals but I don't want to do that.

Sometimes I wish I lived in a low-priced area where I could scoop up some opportunities, but then Robert Kiyosaki says there are deals to be found in your own backyard.

I sound like a whiner, don't I?

Good point on pool costs. When the seller bought it he brought it up to code with two drains; not sure about other code issues. I would prefer to find a complex without a pool.

As for water most other multi-plexes are less than $100 for monthly water. I can double check this with the city.

I'll also double check insurance with my carrier but that is in line with what other sellers state, although not necessarily with pools.

I also look at SFRs but I can't find any that make sense either. Generally what I find in any city is 1980s B- areas $175k renting for $1350; old homes in C areas $90k that rents for $700.

I've done a good deal of research on Las Vegas, Memphis, Nashville, Atlanta, Dallas, Bakersfield, Fresno, Riverside, Inland Empire and I haven't seen anything very appealing on the MLS or from turkey companies. I take that back, there have been a few deals but they got snapped for more than I was willing to pay within a day or two.

Honestly, I can't do better than this within 2 hours from where I live. Really, this is the best. I've been looking a long time.

I've looked into Memphis, Atlanta, Dallas, Las Vegas, etc trying to balance low appreciation with high cash flow. Maybe because I'm used to California, I'm use to appreciation. While I plan to keep a property for a long time, appreciation is a nice out if you need it.