Steve Christmas, Author at Las Vegas Real Estate - Page 2 of 3

The Little-Known Secret of a Mortgage Recast, And How to Use it To Time The Real Estate Market

While over the long haul, home values will always go up due to inflationary pressure on the value of a dollar, we understand that there are times each year when homes are at a premium due to demand.  Yes, there are cycles (usually around 16 years for a complete cycle) of up-swing and down-swing on home values, but most of us can’t plan our major life events (births, deaths, job-changes, relocation, marriage, divorce, or inheritance, etc.)  around these larger market conditions.  What we can do is capitalize on the seasonal trends throughout the year we find our life demanding a change.

Listed on Monday, in Contract on Wednesday, Closed for 100% of Appraised Value!

My listing in Arden Park had a lot going for it. The sellers had already purchased their new home, always kept it clean & well maintained, and they were realistic about their asking price. They didn’t imagine the Raiders football team hoisting their home’s value through the clouds. They were open to hearing what homes in the neighborhood had actually sold for, how long those listings took to sell, and implementing a plan to quickly sell for maximum profit.

Being right on the border between two neighborhoods, with very different valuations, they understood a professional who can extrapolate the data into a real asking price that will motivate offers can make all the difference. The average days Listing to Close for the area is 89 days. We sold at 45 days LTC with an in-contract extension to make some repairs to satisfy the 1st-time (but well qualified) home buyers; almost 1/2 the average time from putting it up for sale to collecting a good check!

How were we able to beat the market timing by almost 50%? First & foremost,

Relocating to Las Vegas, NV and How to Buy A Home Out of State.

We just helped Debbie & Peter purchase a home in Spanish Trail; a gorgeous, well-established golf course community here in Las Vegas, NV. I’d spoken with Debbie, who was a referral from a friend of mine. She’s his mother & was looking to move to Las Vegas to be closer to her new grandson. Her husband also just got a relocation here with his company. There are a lot of great reasons to move to Las Vegas. Lower taxes & more affordable housing is a big one we’re seeing from many Californians making the move. For Debbie & Peter, being close to family, having the job-relocation opportunity, & being able to say goodbye to those frozen New York winters were main motivators.

We’d done all the leg work to figure out what she & Peter were looking for in a new home, had her pre-qualified with Charles Christmas at Gold Star Financial, and were prepared to make a confidant offer when the right home appeared. Something low maintenance, secure, and comfortably appointed with great amenities were all on the top of the list. Fortunately, Spanish Trail community was not only checking all these boxes, it was a short drive from family already in town.

Debbie’s son & I had walked a few properties together, using Facetime to give a live feed to Debbie and Peter, while her son gave commentary on how he thought the space & design elements would

Just Listed Near Durango & Sahara! 8296 Arden Ladder Place – 3 Beds, 3 baths, Pulte-Efficient Beauty!

Nestled in the quiet neighborhood of Arden Park, just over a mile from Desert Breeze Park, with it’s soccer, baseball, skateboard & aquatic community offerings, this corner lot is the largest one in the tract. It also provides even more privacy with no neighbors directly behind you & beautiful mountain views from the master suite.

Two Books For Understanding Financial Calculations – Without an MBA

Without a doubt, investing in real estate is best done with a firm grasp of the financials involved. Financial calculations can appear daunting to say the least. With a quick look at the HP-12C financial calculator shown above you’ll quickly begin to wonder what the heck all those buttons do. While I don’t use all of them, using a similar calculator to quickly and accurately assess your costs and returns involved in real estate can help you immensely when evaluating investment opportunities. Is it better to invest in a vehicle that returns 16% annually but compounds only every three years, or an investment that returns 12% but can be compounded every two?

I recently did calculations for this example above & found, though compounding interest periods are a vital component of assessing how your money will grow or shrink overtime, the 16% return that compounds every three years is indeed a better investment for my 18 year horizon. In order to do this I had to use both my HP-12C and an excel spread sheet. Excel has many of the calculations the 12C does built right into it, but I’ve been really enjoying using the HP after reading a book that is basically half education on how money works, and half instruction manual to the HP-12c. This book relies heavily on the use of this exact calculator to illustrate it’s figures & if you’re looking for a solution you can carry around in your pocket without needing to lug your laptop around, I’d highly recommend reading it. The title is “Taking The Mystery Out Of Money” by Lonnie Scruggs, a now deceased investor who focused on flipping mobile homes. You don’t need to be interested in mobile home investment to benefit from his knowledge about how money works, and the material is so beneficial I’m left wondering why this book isn’t required reading somewhere along the education cycle of a high school senior.

The second book is definitely more real estate focused in-depth, but uses Microsoft Excel

What is a SID? What is a LID? Why Is My Mortgage Payment Going Up?

Purchasing and owning real estate anywhere involves a myriad of costs & benefits. Las Vegas is no exception. Our master planned communities and home owners association fees are just the beginning. All homes have property taxes due to the county or city each year. Some homes in our beautiful valley also have what are called

The Four Pillars of Real Estate Investment

Hopefully, you’re someone who owns not only their own home, but also another asset that generates cash flow.  If you are a real estate investor, you’ll realize many benefits when done correctly.  The four pillars of real estate as an investment vehicle are: Cash flow:  Simply put, if you can rent the home or apartment