CAPITALIZING ON LAS VEGAS RENTAL INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES
It’s a good thing that the human body is constructed the way it is, which is to make it difficult to do any real damage by kicking yourself. Particularly after many of us recall quite clearly how incredibly low Las Vegas prices dived during the last decade’s real estate meltdown. When you see the bounce back the intervening years have brought, if you are at all investment-minded, you want to, at least, smack your forehead… The good news isn’t just that the rebound looks to be progressing still, but that in the realm of Las Vegas rental investments, the wished-for growth in underlying value of any investment property may be only half the goal. There is also the ongoing cash-generation to consider. If you were to set out to search for a property to become one of the Las Vegas rental investment income producers, one place to start out is to think about a two-part qualifying question: Part 1: will you be actively managing the rental investment property? Realistically, do you have the time and inclination to do so? As a true investment rather than a sideline avocation, the answer to that question should take into account what your time is worth elsewhere. Whether you are a fully-engaged professional or a massively-overstressed soccer mom (or, heaven forbid, both!), the cost of hiring a professional management firm might be the better choice. Zillow notes a starting point for estimating management services at around 6%-8% of the rent number (which may or may not include services like re-leasing services). The answer to that Part 1 consideration will give you a firm basis for estimating the answer to Part 2: What is the price range of the properties you should consider. Managing the rental yourself will increase the bottom line, but that’s only one of your rental’s operating expenses. The complete operating budget will include maintenance (generally ballparked at 1% per year of the property’s value), insurance, taxes, and any HOA and gardening fees. The next step is to investigate what the income stream is likely to be. The Las Vegas classifieds will show what comparable Las Vegas rentals are going for. There are also a number of online information sources like Rentometer, craigslist, Zillow and Trulia that should supply a good approximation of today’s market. Once you find where those rates stand, you’ll be able to pencil out the cash-generating potential of candidate property. At every step of the way—from first looks at the many promising Las Vegas rental investment properties to introductions to the kind of reliable Las Vegas tradespeople who make a landlord’s life easier—I offer my clients fully-engaged service and advice. Give me a call!
ADVANTAGES TO SELLING YOUR LAS VEGAS HOME OVER THE HOLIDAYS
Selling your Las Vegas home during the holiday season may sound like a less than ideal game plan, but there are some advantages now present only at this time of year. It’s true that some extra effort may be called for, but it can be worth the endeavor: there are several factors that make showings at this time of year particularly promising. The first advantage is the flip side of the greatest disadvantage: the slowdown in real estate activity we usually expect over the holidays. That relative paucity of active prospects means fewer showings, so the number of times you’ll be called upon to put your Las Vegas property in peak condition will be smaller. The other side of that disadvantage? The showings we do expect will be to particularly motivated buyers. If they are interrupting their own Christmas and New Year’s activities to go house hunting, they probably mean business. And it’s also likely that they are motivated by a timing deadline. This makes those showings especially promising. Another positive aspect to selling a Las Vegas home at this time of year is how appealing the staging possibilities become—and with little extra effort. Your regular holiday decorations make the place festive and cheerful every year, anyway—usually little else will be needed to bring those enhancements into play for prospective buyers. Yuletide décor is automatically a kind of natural staging that brings out the cheeriest side of any home…and who doesn’t respond favorably to the scent of cookies in the oven or cider bubbling on the stove? Along with those automatic holiday positives, owners selling their home in Las Vegas do need to be careful to avoid some built-in potential downsides. Right now the sun stays lower—even at noon—than at other times of the year, so it’s important to make the most of the light that is available. Keep rooms well-lit and window drapes pulled back to allow as much sunlight as possible. Even during daylight hours, most rooms show their best with all lamps and ceiling fixtures turned on. Fireplaces are sought-after features—and this is the best time of year to make the most of yours by keeping a cheery fire blazing. When you are selling your home during the holiday season you should also make the effort to keep your own schedule as flexible as you can—even more so than would ordinarily be called for. Potential buyers will have their own holiday obligations to attend to, and are often forced to jam showings into tight spaces. It can be worth it, though, when you keep in mind that holiday home shoppers are motivated prospects. If this December and January look like opportune times to be selling your own home in Las Vegas, it’s not too late to give me a call. I will be active throughout the season, helping Las Vegas prospects find the home of their dreams—the home they will be making holiday memories in for many years to come!
UNIVERSAL AND CUSTOMIZED TIPS FOR YOUR LAS VEGAS OPEN HOUSE
If you are planning for your own open house in Las Vegas, you won’t have much trouble finding good advice. Here’s a quick list of what you’ll find: • Don’t leave your pet behind • Don’t forget the yard • If you’re not confident in your house cleaning ability, trust that instinct (hire a pro)! • It’s the kitchen, stupid (really: don’t leave dirty dishes in the sink) • Clear out the medicine cabinet • Fresh bath towels These are all sound pieces of advice (although the medicine cabinet one should be more comprehensive: any valuable items should also be packed away). It’s why you’ll find some variation of those pointers on just about everyone’s ‘Top Ten Tips for Holding an Open House.’ There are also some open house tips that may not apply to every Las Vegas open house, but which deserve to be in the running anyway. One good idea syncs with the last bullet point: white-out the bathroom. Instead of just seeing that the towels are fresh, use fluffy white ones that you only bring out for your open house or another showing. White and fluffy = fresh and bright to most people. If your Las Vegas home has a shower curtain, consider whether replacing it with a white one might be worth the effort as well. Another tip is to turn on every lamp, flip every switch, check every faucet, flush every toilet. Picture a house visit that’s going really well—then is interrupted when a switch doesn’t work or a faucet leak can’t be stopped. Every agent knows what happens: they flip the switch back and forth three or four times (or use both hands trying to turn the faucet)—and the conversation is immediately derailed while they fiddle with the single tiny mishap. Those kinds of events plant doubt in anyone’s mind: it’s unreasonable, but human nature. As a side corollary, don’t run your facility check five minutes before the open house begins. A failed overhead light means hunting down a ladder, finding a replacement bulb, etc.; a faucet leak or running toilet, much longer to fix. An extra tip is to give the floors special attention. If you have taken good care of beautiful floors by protecting them with throw and Las Vegas rugs, unless they are themselves showpieces, you’ll probably do well to roll them up temporarily. Wide Las Vegas of open hardwood flooring can be a real selling point. Every Las Vegas open house and showing appointment is its own special event—one that that calls for some preparations that are unique to your property. I can help with this: being able to call upon experienced ‘eyes on the target’ is one of the benefits my clients are able to rely on. Call me!
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