[gacri]

I do feel the pain of those who purchased a home a few years back and at this time are out a substantial amount due to the market. I have a brother who is in the same boat... Without sounding insensitive, if a person like me is looking to have a second home/vacation home whatever you want to call it, Is this not the best time in history to purchase in the Las Vegas area? Like I've stated in other posts we visit there often and would like to invest in a place as a part-time endeavor at this point. We also kicked around the idea of renting the home out when were not there...Any suggestions on what area(s) are best to buy for rental purposes and an escape out of the PA winters? Thanks in advance for you replies..

[airics]

how will you rent your home if you also intend to use it? if you are thinking daily, wkly, or monthly - most hoas will not allow this. you also need a representative in the area to manage the home. your property tax cap will vary also 3% owner occupied 8% rental

[LV_James]

We own several rental house in the northwest part of Las Vegas. Although we're planning on winding down our holdings over the next few years (not getting any younger), I am almost tempted to buy one or two more.

I agree that this is fantastic time to buy in Las Vegas. Sales are just starting to pick up, and there is some bidding going on at the low end of the market. Definitely signs of strength.

We had a property manager for about a year and a half prior to moving out here. After firing her, we hired a second one. After that we upped our move date so we could manage them ourselves.

If you are thinking of being an out of state landlord, think very carefully, and watch you manager like a hawk. There may be goods ones, but we haven't found one yet (believe me, I'd love to dump the day to day stuff on someone else).

An earlier post mentioned HOAs. We have two left in HOA neighborhoods. They can create enough problems when you live there ... when you have renters who aren't interested in the rules, you have serious trouble.

I do not know of any HOAs that allow short term rentals. Some used to, but the ones we were involved with never did. Some are starting to fobid renting completely, so do your homework.

There are many nice areas (mostly older) that don't have an association. They might be a good place to look. Most of our rental units are in areas like this, and it eliminate a bunch of headaches.

As far as what area, that's far too personal a choice for me to make any suggestions. I'd say find a good Realtor (or two), and spend time looking at each part of town you think you might like.

Good luck, and I hope that helps.

[airics]

the problem is that they want to rent the house and then also use the house, which is not going to happen... you need a vacation home and a rental.. the other bad thing is that countrywide is now requiring 30% down on investment properties.

[Daddys///M3]

Originally Posted by airics

the problem is that they want to rent the house and then also use the house, which is not going to happen... you need a vacation home and a rental.. the other bad thing is that countrywide is now requiring 30% down on investment properties.

Although I don't use them anymore (they have a bad habit of declining loans on the wholesale side and then picking them up and closing them on the retail side from what I hear) I can't believe that they tightened up that much. I have lenders that will go up to 80% full doc and 75% reduced doc. CW used to be much more lenient than these other investors. Maybe BofA is reigning them in?

[airics]

i have been preapproved through cw, credit score over 700, stated income loan.. as soon as i said investment, they said 30%

[Daddys///M3]

I think I figured out what the deal is. The max loan to value across the board is 75% for stated investor properties. I think CW is still reducing the max by 5% for the declining market hit. I know that FNMA was supposed to be eliminating the declining market policy, but have not received confirmation that it actually has happened yet.

[airics]

what kind of rates are you seeing for these stated loans.. 30yr and some arms interest only

[Daddys///M3]

I haven't checked the rate sheets in about a week (in the process of switching brokers). I looked around my stuff though and found one from an investor that will go up to 80%, although I don't think the actual 80% will be available until FNMA lifts it's soft market policy (should be soon if it hasn't already happened). Anyway, assuming a 720 mid FICO and a 15 day lock you are looking at around 7% at 80% LTV, 6.875% at 75% LTV, and 6.75% at 70% LTV. The 5/6 ARM will be pretty much the same, and the 7/6 ARM will actually be a bit more, probably 0.125% across the board. Keep in mind that the rate sheets I saw were about 2 weeks old, so it's possible that rates have gone up substantially.