Californians are moving to Nevada - Again!

Yesterday, a Multi-family investor from the Midwest that I have been trying to help buy a Las Vegas motel/apartment property, asked for the impossible.

Using the all too typical phrases of: "I'm a cash Buyer." "I can close quickly." You get the inference.

He's looking for a property which he can steal.

I've tried over the past two weeks to emphasize that the steals have been gone since 2012-13.

Here in 2018, you must accept the fact that a 10% Cap Rate purchase is NOT going to happen.

With the large national real estate firms in the passed year having acquired the larger apartment complexes in Clark County for Tens of Millions of Dollars, this has driven the smaller apartment owners/sellers to raise and keep a firm stance on their selling prices.

Sorry but if the national firms are buying at a 5% Cap Rate.  Your 10% offer is going no where.

The current problem causing this is the housing problem in California.  There was a report that the cost of California housing and apartment rents are so high, that (employed) people find it cheaper to buy an RV, park it on a quiet street, and live there -- all while they have a day job!

This housing crisis in our west neighbor has caused a lot of it's potential residents to move east to "cheaper" housing in Nevada!

Now, I'd sell my medium income neighborhood home to any qualified person.  I just don't have a place to move forward to.

And, as the wife said at dinner last night while discussing this topic, we don't want to start over - again.

So, even though our empty-nest home is worth three times what we paid for it, it would cost us three times to acquire a 'newer' residence.

This leads us back to the problem of multi-family acquisition cost.

Unless you understand the economics of the Las Vegas Valley situation, prices are going to be too high for you.

One seller I represent, has a portfolio of homes that he rents out by the bedroom.
If the home has three bedrooms, he rents out each bedroom to a different family.
He does this because it is cheaper for the low income family to share a house than rent one out by themselves!
Plus the landlord is able to get a higher than normal rent with three tenants than one!
Is it legal?
Hell, no.

But, it is happening all over the Valley.

Also, the Motels aren't as cheap either because before finding a stable place to stay, most transient families will stay at a low rent motel for up to 30 days, then move to another place -- all the while searching for work and a home.

So, will the Owners sell cheaply?
NO!
But, as the buyer, will you have a lot of potential tenants?
YES! (for right now).
Who knows what's going to happen to real estate in the near future?

To Contact David Howes try: davidATdavidhowesDOTnet OR; 7 0 2 5 01 9 3 8 8 AND Please #Follow David on Twitter: @DavidAHowes Have a nice day!

ICSC Las Vegas -- More like Deal or No Deal!

It has been more than 10 years since I last attended the weekend long Council of Shopping Center's (ICSC) Las Vegas.

Back then, I did my best to attract Buyers, Sellers, Landlords and Tenants in my attempt to establish a career for myself as a Commercial Real Estate Broker (CRE).

Back then, the cost for the entire weekend was +$600 for full access.

Yes, they had good seminars, panels, and key note speakers.

I learned a lot about what I already knew.

I tried very hard to meet and begin relationships with national credit tenants, landlords and investors.

To this day, all that work added up to $0 in earned commissions.

So, when I see an article like this: Six Take Aways from ICSC Las Vegas, I wonder why I ever went in the first place.

The Meet & Greets (that I was invited to) were nice.  Since I live and work in Las Vegas, going to a casino wasn't or didn't have the same thrill to it as for those who wandered here to represent their companies - and then find themselves lost in the shuffle of the gaming floor.

I'm sure going to ICSC is beneficial for the representatives of the various companies who regularly attend.  But, when you are a CRE Broker, it's a hard time to even get them to even press flesh (get a hand shake); get some one on one face time (exchange business cards); and/or even interested in doing business with you (because they do their own real estate deals; OR, they already have their real estate being handled by a national real estate firm).

So, I take articles like his with a huge grain of salt.
I don't even go anywhere near the Las Vegas Convention Center this time of year.
(My brother in law works there as a fire inspector. He says it's a mad house.)
But, I keep pressing on phone calls, emails and even try to re-kindle long term (former) clients to see if their last deal we did was still working for them.

I'm moving on without the cost or effort it takes to attend ICSC.

To Contact David Howes try: davidATdavidhowesDOTnet OR; 7 0 2 5 01 9 3 8 8 AND Please #Follow David on Twitter: @DavidAHowes Have a nice day!

Great Britain -- Yes, we finally made it

For more than a week now, I've debated -- with myself mostly -- as to whether or not to share some other (more personal) photos of our the trip that sailed around the island known as Great Britain.

Since I have never liked any photos of myself -- nor does my spouse like any photos of herself -- I decided to at least show us as a group having a pleasant time.

I can say this because it was the day of our disembarkation. We were traveling from London to Southampton to board the Norwegian Jade later that day. Stonehenge just happened to be on the way.

The traveling crew at Stonehenge

Since the people in charge of keeping Stonehenge nice and tidy, they don't allow anyone to go anywhere near the Stonehenge Monument any longer.  (I think it's for safety reasons.)
Anyway, this was as close as we could get.

It's okay.  Massive stones that were brought to this site thousands of years ago is as amassing as the recently erected gift shop that helps keep the place operating.

At every stop, there were multiple places for us tourist to drop a few pounds along our way.

I came home 5 pounds heavier than I left.

To Contact David Howes try: davidATdavidhowesDOTnet OR; 7 0 2 5 01 9 3 8 8 AND Please #Follow David on Twitter: @DavidAHowes Have a nice day!