[UrsusMinor]

Originally Posted by fishordie

Okay, Now I really love this site. I did not know you could use an LLC rather than an actuary to handle this type of IRA or retirement plan purchase of real estate. Very good to know and I will find out more as I plan on doing just that so I will no longer need to have my actuary to act as an intermediary for that type of investment. Thank you for the info.

FOD

The folks I selected to handle the setup of the LLC and the rollover are Guidant Financial. It will cost $3500-$4000 to set up (though this doesn't have to come out of the IRA--you can pay it and then deduct it as an investment expense on your personal income tax). After that, the only annual fee is just $105, paid to the IRA custodian.

(Technically what happens is an LLC gets set up and then your IRA buys all the shares in it.)

There are other companies that do the same thing, but after spending quite a bit of time prowling around, Guidant seemed to me to be the best. They give you a long free consultatation with one of their experts, and if you decide to proceed, then included in their base charges are two hours of consultation with an attorney specializing in real estate IRAs--someone who doesn't work for Guidant, so that you get an independent take on the issues you're concerned over.

If you get interested in proceeding, be sure you understand the tax bits. Your LLC doesn't have to pay any income tax on money it receives on its own equity, but if your LLC borrows money to finance property, then a some of the income (proportional to the share of debt in the company) is subject to tax. And there are all kinds of rules to prevent you commingling your own funds with the IRA funds.

The rules actually make a lot of sense once you reason through them, but I had to spend a couple of days scratching my head before the light bulb came on.

There's also a book called Retire Rich with Your Self-Directed IRA. Terrible title, but the book is good at explaining all the ways you can use an IRA that your broker never told you about--and that don't include ongoing relationships with attorneys or actuaries.

[bledsoe3]

America's Fastest-Growing Cities 2010: Fastest-growing city in Nevada: Summerlin South - BusinessWeek

[olecapt]

February results are not yet official. Maybe Friday or Monday...

But they are slightly up for SFRs and split on Condos. Volume is down from January though up a bit year over year. Still the best February since 2005

The most interesting thing is that the REO volume continues to drop for both inventory and sales. It would appear that REO volume is clearly being throttled. The likely suspect is that the loan mediation process is slowing the process and perhaps resolving some loans. There apparently have been confrontation with some of the lenders. The result has been rejection of foreclosure or recycling. There are some reports of successful modification of the principal.

Going to be an interesting spring.

[dano]

Slightly up for SFRs is good news.

Since my purchase 6 months ago in the Peseos, I have noticed two sales transactions on what appeared to be empty houses. One was a bank-owned and the other was not. Neither had "For Sale" signs and I don't think they were on the MLS. They both were in great shape with great culdesack locations. Both sold at slightly below what I think is market - say average $117/foot as opposed to market $123/foot. What gives on these? Neighboring houses with less amenities that are exposed to the market are going for the $123/foot.

[jfkIII]

Just curious...why are housing prices always expressed as dollar per square foot in LV? Is that unique to Western states...or perhaps larger cities?

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by jfkIII

Just curious...why are housing prices always expressed as dollar per square foot in LV? Is that unique to Western states...or perhaps larger cities?

Actually the median and average prices of Single Families and Condos are kept in straight price (dollars per house)

It would make more sense to keep them in dollars per SF but we don't.

The argument for the use of dollars per SF is that it cancels the impact of shifting size on markets...somewhat true though not completely.

When we get into the kind of market we have had for the last year we tend to move the mix to a much lesser product...thus the price decrease is greatly exaggerated...

Yes the price moved down 50%...but 10% of that was the mix getting weaker.

[Gomezy3k]

I am trying to use a VA Loan to buy a house but am having problems. When I find a house and get all the paperwork done, the VA wants an appraisal done. So far the appraisals have been much lower than what the seller wants and the deal goes south. Houses here are low, but unfortunately the sellers have unrealistic prices, even the lower priced ones. The last house, the seller wanted $80K and the house appraised at $65K so no deal since the seller refused to lower the price to what the VA would loan.

Another thing I have noticed is that the banks list a house at one price but then wait and it turns into a silent auction finally going to whoever will make the highest offer. Sounds like shady business practices to me. If I advertise something and put a price on it, I should be selling at that price instead of telling the person who shows up to buy it that the price was just to get someone to make an offer and I am waiting for a better price.


Instead of releasing houses the banks only release a few, keeping the prices artificially high and hard to get even in the lousy market.

[movinmomma]

Originally Posted by Gomezy3k

I am trying to use a VA Loan to buy a house but am having problems. When I find a house and get all the paperwork done, the VA wants an appraisal done. So far the appraisals have been much lower than what the seller wants and the deal goes south. Houses here are low, but unfortunately the sellers have unrealistic prices, even the lower priced ones. The last house, the seller wanted $80K and the house appraised at $65K so no deal since the seller refused to lower the price to what the VA would loan.

Another thing I have noticed is that the banks list a house at one price but then wait and it turns into a silent auction finally going to whoever will make the highest offer. Sounds like shady business practices to me. If I advertise something and put a price on it, I should be selling at that price instead of telling the person who shows up to buy it that the price was just to get someone to make an offer and I am waiting for a better price.


Instead of releasing houses the banks only release a few, keeping the prices artificially high and hard to get even in the lousy market.

Omg this is exactly what my husband and I experienced. We didn't have a va loan though. We had an FHA loan because we didn't want to put a lot of cash into a down payment because of all the money we lost on our last house. We didn't get to the appraisal portion of any deals but just felt the prices on many of the homes we saw were still too high. The sellers were not willing to budge. Fine with us. We decided to rent for awhile and see how we feel in year. Good Luck to you in your continued search...

[MomMom]

Originally Posted by bledsoe3

America's Fastest-Growing Cities 2010: Fastest-growing city in Nevada: Summerlin South - BusinessWeek

There was also a huge amount of foreclosures in Summerlin South as well, it's one of the newest Summerlin communities built before the economy bust.

It's actually not a city, I'm not sure if some of the area is located within the City of Las Vegas boundaries, some (or all) of it might also be considered located within the boundary of Incorporated Clark County.

Nevertheless, it's all Las Vegas to most folks, really.

So, we're growing...again? I was hoping the ranks would be thinning out a bit to cut down on traffic and dang waiting times at all the local places

[MomMom]

Originally Posted by movinmomma

Omg this is exactly what my husband and I experienced. We didn't have a va loan though. We had an FHA loan because we didn't want to put a lot of cash into a down payment because of all the money we lost on our last house. We didn't get to the appraisal portion of any deals but just felt the prices on many of the homes we saw were still too high. The sellers were not willing to budge. Fine with us. We decided to rent for awhile and see how we feel in year. Good Luck to you in your continued search...

This is exactly what is happening to my nephew and his wife. The kids got an FHA loan but they getting tired (and quite despondent) of getting outbid for homes, plus, people coming in with all cash and those bids getting accepted first.

They won't settle for a fixer upper or a house that is missing appliances, countertops, need landscaping, etc.

They're going to rent over at the Red Rock Villa's and wait it out a bit. Prices shouldn't increase in a year, hopefully, they'll even come down a bit.