All Forum Posts by: Brian Walters

Stayed in 1 Air BnB, in Las Vegas, and was a great experience overall.  The place was exactly what my family needed, owner was very responsive to any questions or issues we had.

I feel like we got very lucky but have zero complaints.

Also, when looking at condos, or any property with a HOA, be sure to be aware of their policies on rentals. I've come across some that have to be owner occupied as the HOA either doesn't allow rentals or has a cap on how many there can be and that cap had already been reached.

I'm new to investing and looking at condos in the Vegas area as well. To echo what Kainoa said, the HOA fees can kill the numbers on a lot of deals. I've reviewed units where the HOA was over $200 on a unit selling for under $150K. Hard to imagine what a lot of these fees go to.

Also, advice I have been given is to review the entire community, and the HOA itself, when looking at condos. If the community is poorly run it could result in added expenses or a sharp increase in the HOA dues.

I've looked at many condos and if you decide to go this route you will quickly learn to look at the HOA amounts right after looking at the price of the unit itself as there are times that's enough info to know it's time to move on to the next option.

I've never found a softener outside but would think this would be a good investment as the owner as well.  It helps your appliances and general plumbing.  If the expense isn't too much to move it indoors it could be worth it.  

However, if you do have one I think you would want it to be clear in the lease who is responsible for the upkeep.  The expense is minimal but don't want a tenant not knowing it's their responsibility and never adding salt or maintaining it in any way.

I know a lot of people house hack if that could also work for you.  You move frequently but allows you to put less of a down payment as the new place will be your primary residence and keep the prior home to rent out.

If you're open to moving every year or so it's a way to get better loan rates and also need less for a down payment.

Having them on anything other than a month to month lease limits your buyers (as others have noted) but also could even turn away some investors.  Any investor that purchases has to either abide by the lease or buy them out rather than set their own terms.  

If they are great tenants you could highly recommend them should the buyer be an investor and let them work out a new lease with them, under the investors terms.  

I don't see any reason to think there will be a decline within the next few months, or even this year.  Maybe a slowing of the insane increases that have happened over the last year+ but not seeing how a 30% decline will happen.  Prices are going up, demand is going up, but the loans being given now are not the same as a decade ago.  People are buying based on demand more than supply now.  

Also, COVID changed how many people view work and housing.  Many people have stayed full remote or only going into the office a fraction of the time they used to.  This freedom from the office significantly widens where people will be looking for housing.  It becomes more where do you want to live rather than where do you have to live for work.  This allows certain markets to continue to grow.

An increase in rates from the fed may take some buyers out of the equation, or they just change where they are looking.  With how much cash is out there right now, like your original post said, 25% of purchases are cash these days, people are going to continue to buy in my opinion.  More people looking to buy means prices keep going up.

 Are all of these in NC or in different markets?

I'm new to investing and look at properties daily, getting the same results. I know there are others doing it successfully in this area, but I can't figure out how. We look at condos more than SFH because of the capital we have available to invest in down payment/rehab and every time I run numbers doesn't come close to cash flow. I could see if someone had the capital to purchase with no loan and build from there maybe.

Are you looking in areas outside of Vegas and Henderson or do you keep looking and try to find something that works around here?

 What are you looking to get for the property?  Any interest in seller financing?

I would be happy to oversee the rehab as well if that helps.