Category Archive : Investing

My investment home at 586 Lairmont Place Henderson NV is located within MacDonald Highlands in Henderson Nevada.  Below is some information about the community and the fine amenities it has to offer.

MacDonald Highlands is a collection of upscale neighborhoods in Henderson, positioned 2700 feet above the center of Las Vegas, offering some of the best skyline views in the valley.  Filled with large custom luxury homes, MacDonald Highlands has become one of the most prestigious developments in Southern Nevada.

Located within the community is Dragon Ridge private country club.  This top rated course designed by Jay Morrish and David Druzisky, is tucked into the canyons between homes offering dramatic elevations and skyline views.  Many top courses in the valley require tight target type golf with narrow fairways, however; Dragon Ridge provides a player friendly format with competitive greens.

The DragonRidge clubhouse is a social venue for MacDonald Highlands residents. You will find the top-rated Montrose Steakhouse, Onyx Bar, Dragon Grill, two lounges and a ballroom to accommodate social events. Create stunning events like weddings, reunions and charity events with the backdrop of the Las Vegas valley. A custom-designed swimming pool that offers a magnificent view of the Las Vegas skyline is also available for the enjoyment of members of the upscale community.

The Dragon Ridge Tennis and Athletic Center features two group exercise studios, private pilates room and a spacious 4,500 square-foot strength and cardio floor with a view of the Las Vegas Strip. Fitness class programs such as spinning class, pilates, yoga are offered on a regular basis.

Child care services are provided. Members also enjoy sauna and steam rooms, whirlpool baths and an internet lounge. Private training, sport-specific conditioning and overall wellness services are also available on a per request basis. Five tennis courts, basketball, volleyball court and custom pool make it possible for the whole family to find fun and fit activities.

There are plenty of places in Las Vegas, Nevada to buy stone for counter-tops but none in my opinion offer a better array of memorable stone choices than Marble Express, located at 3925 W. Sunset Rd., Las Vegas, NV.

Our luxury re-model of 586 Lairmont Place Henderson, NV 89012 has progressed to the point at which it was time to select the stone for our cabinetry and vanities. I see the same unremarkable granites for sale at all the usual outlets, and it is such a pleasure to walk into the Marble Express showroom. All the colorful and unique stone choices available makes one feel  like they are in an art gallery rather than a stone and tile store.

Quartz

A man-made product that feels like granite but can be produced in almost any color. It is very popular for the modern trend that is sweeping higher end residential design.

Granite

A hard, natural stone marked by a very grainy appearance.

Marble

A natural stone, metamorphosed limestone that has shiny, crystalline appearance.

Limestone

Natural stone, sedimentary rock.

Onyx (hot trend!)

A beautiful stone noted for its chaotic banding patterns. It is also translucent and a terrific choice for back-lighting.

For our kitchen cabinetry, we are going with modern looking white quartz with subtle gray bands. The vanities are a selection of both quartz, granite and marble. The show piece in a dining room is a wall mounted 4-8 foot backlit onyx. The fiery oranges and yellows bring the room alive. We expect to complete the home in early August 2016.

During the remodel phase of our luxury investment home at 586 Lairmont Place, Henderson NV in MacDonald Highlands community, a decision will be needed in regards to the level of drywall finishing. 

The 5 levels of drywall are:

• Drywall is hung
• Tape covered with mud
• Screws covered with thin coat of mud
• Cover screws again with mud, sand surface
• Small skim coat, sand and prime
• Skim entire surface, sand and prime, laser level

The average production home with course texture will use a level 3 or 4 finish.  For our 11,700 sqft luxury home, we chose to use a level 5 smooth finish because the type of buyer for this home will expect the best.

Obviously, the price goes up as your finish level goes up due to the high level of preparation. Level 5 requires the installer to level every surface with a laser to insure there are no imperfections.  Some areas of exception are behind cabinets and walls that tile will be applied. The highest level of attention will be large walls and especially the ceilings as the light reflects and rakes across highlighting any imperfections which are very evident to the eye.

Every project is different and requires a finish to best suit the look and budget of the home remodel. We have chosen level 5 finish because our project calls for it.

A reflective ceiling plan is what the floor plan should look like if the viewer were holding a mirror and looking down onto it.  Basically, every component on the ceiling needs to be drawn before construction, items such as venting, lighting, fire safety and soffits.  Since our investment project in MacDonald Highlands already built with a certificate of occupancy, some of our components were already in place.  Our designer Jared Lebo, also a licensed architect, provided a full set of reflective ceiling plans to outline the following:

Drop Ceilings/Soffits:

Each room was designed with respect to the entire home so that the look of the ceilings will be fluid throughout.  We incorporated some LED tape lighting to accent the soffits in the dining room, grand salon, lounge, master bedroom, master bath and executive office.  The light is inserted into a slot as to give a hidden look.  Another feature we incorporated into 3 rooms (kitchen, grand salon and dining room) is a wood grain panel to be inserted in between the soffits, in the center.  The bedrooms and movie theaters have standard drop soffits.

Lighting:

The home was fitted entirely with 6 inch recessed lighting with some 2 and 3 inch accent lights throughout.  We decided with guidance from our designer, to change out almost all of the 6 inch fixtures and install 4 inch recessed lights.  The bathrooms are fitted with 1 inch pin lights.  There are several art walls that have 3 inch amiable accent lighting.  A few areas have track lighting, such as the master closets and the kitchen.  I have discussed in a previous article titled “Choosing a Low Voltage Package” full details of our total home automated lighting and audio.  Basically, all of the lights in the home can be controlled by two Ipads located in the kitchen and master bedroom, remotely by phone, or by any switch throughout the home.

Fire Safety:

An extremely important aspect of our ceiling plan is fire safety.  This portion is drawn and work completed by Nationwide Fire, a company that specializes in fire safety.  Strategically placed sprinklers and smoke detectors which were present when the home was purchased need to be properly inspected and in some cases replaced.  The city of Henderson strictly enforces fire safety codes and requires that all structures over 5000 square feet be fitted with a sprinkler system.

With the proper reflective ceiling plans, we have ensured our investment home at 586 Lairmont Place will be properly lighted, designed with modern drop ceilings and most importantly, a safe environment.

While searching for appliances to use in my luxury investment home kitchen, I came across many good options. Ideally, your entire kitchen appliance set is manufactured by the same company, but this can be difficult due to the strengths and weaknesses offered by each.  Below, in my opinion are the top 5 luxury appliance brands that I considered using:

5. Viking

Viking is a US company that has been manufacturing ranges since 1987.  In the 90s and early 2000s, Viking ranges where present in most high end kitchens due to their stellar marketing.  Viking started making refrigerators in the late 90s, an area in which they do not stand out.  Their core product and strength is the range/stove, in which they continue to release new technology and a great looking product.  They are at #5 due to their bad reputation with service issues.

4.  Thermador

Thermador, another US company, has been in business since 1916.  They invented the first wall oven and cooktop in 1947, and introduced stainless steel into home appliances.  Most affordable on this list with an attractive line makes Thermador a great choice.  They have had poor reviews based on lack of customer service.

3. Gaggenau

Gaggenau is a German company founded in 1681.  They specialize in cutting edge built and designed home appliances.  Gaggenau was the first on this list to come out with the convection oven.  Style and sophistication coupled with a 7 year warranty make Gaggenau a great choice.

2. Miele

Miele, another German company founded in 1899, has many milestones in the industry including the world’s first dishwasher with a cutlery tray in 1987.  Their quality is second to none, and their sleek design is perfect for the buyer that wants a “European look”.

1.  Sub-Zero & Wolf

Leading the US market in sales, this family owned Wisconsin company set the standard in home refrigeration.   Sub-Zero & Wolf, synonymous with excellence, luxury and quality, offer some of the best ranges/stoves and refrigerators on the market.

Choices for my kitchen:

I considered Gaggenau or Miele but ultimately went with Sub-Zero & Wolf.  The price difference wasn’t much, and considering the fact this home will be on the market soon, I needed to make sure my kitchen appealed to a large audience.

• Refrigerator: Sub-Zero 72 inch combo 36/36 side by side stainless steel refrigerator and freezer.
• Rangetop: Wolf 48 inch 6 burner with griddle.
• Oven: Wolf double 30 inch wall mounted.
• Warming drawer: Wolf 30 inch.
• Cooling Drawer: Sub-Zero 24 inch double drawer.
• Dishwashers: 2 Askos built-in.
• Microwave: Wolf built-in.
• Ice maker: Sub-Zero 15 inch panel ready.

Whether in new construction or a major renovation project of a luxury home, one of the largest line items you will encounter is the cabinetry. It is easy to underestimate how important a role your cabinet provider plays.

In most large estate properties you have to install custom cabinetry. The scale of the rooms, the incorporation of appliances and other fixtures cannot be solved with the traditional stock cabinets. Filling a room is simply not a matter of a 42 inch cabinet here, two 24 inch drawers there until the lego set is competed. Also, high-end finishes of the cabinets themselves just aren’t readily available until you progress into the custom level.

We are currently redeveloping this residence at 586 Lairmont Place, Henderson, NV just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada, and are installing all new cabinetry and mill-work throughout the entire house. We selected a local specialty cabinet company who will design and coordinate with us and our other contractors to ensure not only the look we want, but that the cabinets and other mill-work fits precisely into the existing architecture.

One major recommendation I can make is to stay involved in the design process, learn their language, learn how to read the drawings, and constantly think of how a drawing on paper or computer will translate to functionality. If you simply assume they have it covered and check in at the end you could make costly mistakes that could mean more money and lost time. Custom cabinets can easily take 9 – 12 weeks, waiting for replacement pieces or redesigns can dramatically affect your project schedule.

Tips:

1. 1. Get your cabinet designer and other sub contractors such as the electrician and plumber to coordinate closely between you and the cabinet maker. Nothing is worse than seeing finished cabinets that don’t line up with your plumbing lines for example.

1. 1. Allow enough time to complete the cabinet production phase so it doesn’t disrupt your project timeline. Take into consideration if your cabinets are being produced outside the U.S. the shipping time and potential delays.

1. If you are putting in both flooring and cabinets, decide early which is best for you. There are pros and cons as to whether flooring or the cabinets should be installed before one another.

During the construction phase of our luxury investment home, 586 Lairmont Place, my business partner and I needed to make a decision regarding low voltage features.  With large luxury homes a certain standard is expected.  If we want to make an energy efficient smart home, now is the time to make these decisions while we have our walls and ceilings exposed with no drywall.  Below are the options we went with.

Lighting: Traditional lighting seen in most homes involves an in-line switch that operates a light or a circuit of lights.   Lighting is the core of home automation, and if you choose to make your home a “smart home”, a lighting control system is a must.

A lighting control system is defined as an intelligent network based solution that incorporates communication between various system inputs and outputs related to lighting control with the use of one or more control devices.  Basically, any light in the home can be controlled from a single device, in our case an Ipad on a docking station.  This is important with large luxury homes for 2 reasons.  The user can turn off a light that is left on in a room that may be a far distance from the front door, when leaving or the master bedroom when going to sleep.  Secondly, both energy savings and the life of each lamp will be greatly increased.

The brand of system we choose is Vantage.  Vantage is among the highest ranked home lighting automation systems, and will allow us to achieve more functionality with dimmers and more circuits per panel.

Typically, a lighting control system would be installed right after the framing phase of construction, and before drywall is in place.  There are systems however that can be installed without removing drywall.

Audio:  Most productions home buyers will consider surround sound in one or more rooms to fall into “home audio” category.  For higher end luxury homes, a full home audio system with amplifiers controlled by a single device is more ideal.  This includes in wall/ceiling speakers throughout the home operated with either wall mounted controls, Ipad docking stations or an iphone/android.  These speakers can also act as your intercom system and doorbell.

Network/WiFi: A typical wireless router will not be sufficient for larger homes.  What we will need is a high power gigabit wireless router with 2 high power wireless WiFi access points.  Our router is dual band gigabit, the latest advancement in WiFi technology delivering speeds up to 1750mbps.  Our 2 access points will harness data transmission so that more data reaches each targeted device instead of radiating in all directions equally.

Heating/Cooling Controls: There are 9 separate hvac controllers in our home.  They will be controlled in 3 different ways.

• Wall mounted thermostats.
• Ipad docking stations.
• Iphone/android application from any location outside or inside the home.

Energy savings will greatly increase by allowing the user to remotely control the temperature.

These low voltage options will greatly increase the value of our home.  With the latest technology, we have turned the home into a “smart home” allowing the end user to save money on energy bills, and gain the convenience of controlling the entire home lighting, hvac and audio from a single device.

If you need a real estate brokerage that offers services to landlords or property owners. If you have rehabbed your property and want to hire a company that will do its best to preserve your property while leased or it’s time to sell, please call Shelter Realty at 702-376-7379.

I had to post this video of the tough work one of our sub-contractors had to go through on this project. The more we looked at the exterior of this home, we hated it. MacDonald Highlands located in Henderson Nevada, just outside of Las Vegas likes to encourage the use of stone on home exteriors but this one looked as if someone just threw some tile on the sides of the house just to make the HOA happy, but the tile choice and placement was terrible and actually detracted from the appearance of the home. We bit the bullet and ordered the tile removed so we could stucco and repaint the entire exterior.

Trade persons work very hard but this work went above and beyond. Imagine running a 15 Lb power chisel above your shoulders on a vertical wall for 6 hours a day over two weeks. I know this home will look so much better once the exterior is changed but wow, what a job. Cutting the checks to pay for it is no fun either, and we sure would have preferred not to do it, but tough choices are the norm on a rehab.

If you need a real estate brokerage that offers services to landlords or property owners. If you have rehabbed your property and want to hire a company that will do its best to preserve your property while leased or it’s time to sell, please call Shelter Realty at 702-376-7379

National home values have risen and your investment properties probably gained values too. The Internal Revenue Code Section 1031 gives investors the ability to defer capital gain tax when you exchange business-use or investment property for another business-use or investment property.

There are many ways of exchange. For example, sell a vacation rental home in Hawaii and buy three investment properties in Las Vegas to generate more stable and higher income, sell an old apartment building which always needs repairs and buy a Triple Net Leased commercial property, sell a farm land in California and buy a hotel-condo in Florida. It can be exchanged for personal properties too.

Flipped properties don’t qualify, but if a property listed for rent for a few months without finding a tenant then changed it for sale, can qualify, as well as vacant land which didn’t generate any income. (Per Certified Exchange Specialist, Carmine at First American Exchange)

There are two deadlines for successful 1031 Exchange;

1. Replacement properties must be identified within 45 day.
2. The exchange must be completed by the earlier of 180 days from the date of the first relinquished property closing.

For fully deferred exchange, replacement properties must be greater or equal value of the relinquished properties, and all proceeds from the sale of the relinquished properties must be reinvested.

It’s important to select a Qualified Intermediary with financial backing of $1,000,000 Fidelity Bond and $250,000 Errors & Omissions Bond. Nevada is one of nine states which enacted the QI law.

The Las Vegas Condo-hotel Concept Pt. II

As with any potential real estate investment, a buyer should cautiously examine contractual details, make observations, and examine facts before deciding on whether or not a Las Vegas Condo-Hotel is in line with your goals and lifestyle.

• The location of your prospective purchase should be in a desirable area. Although the condo home itself may be a well designed and luxurious unit, location is an important factor in desirability and will most certainly reflect upon the ultimate appreciation of the property.
• Is the unit located in a structure built specifically as a luxury hi-rise, or has the building been converted from a standard hotel or apartment complex into condo units?
• When was the structure built? Some older condo conversion buildings may have smaller floor plans, less desirable locations and fewer amenities, but are usually much less expensive.
• Good management and a developer of excellent reputation is a most important factor in value appreciation of the investment.
• The units themselves increase in desirability if they have spacious, well-designed floor plans, high ceilings, sizeable balconies, impressive views, top quality appliances, granite counter tops, and marble vanities.
• What amenities are available? Among the most desirable features are: a state-of-the-art security system, secured parking, 24-hour front desk, concierge services, work-out room, swimming pool (or pools,) lighted tennis court, on premises maintenance crew, card room, library, clubhouse or meeting room. Nicely landscaped grounds add to eye appeal.

Owner/management agreements generally include the following specifications:

• Amount of net (after deductions) rental revenue shared by condo owner and the management
• Condo-hotel owner responsibilities for insurance, real estate taxes, capital improvements, debt service, etc.
• Management responsibilities, including maintenance, housekeeping, administrative, front office, marketing, other operational expenses, etc.
• Rental program agreement specifying number of days annually that the unit will be available for rental purposes and notice requirements, and contingency procedures

Although it is, of course, not a requirement of purchase to rent a condo-hotel a number of times per year, or rent it at all.  Renting the unit, however, not only defrays owner costs but is profitable as well. In fact, that convenience is the primary reason, of course, that these kinds of units are purchased in the first place.

However, some come-and-go condo hotel owners may eventually decide to stay permanently. In that case, the rental agreement with management would be canceled.

In fact, a condo hotel purchase should be considered similar to investing in a second or vacation home, but with an added part-time rental feature, and hassle-free, with no maintenance or grounds keeping chores to come home to.

Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.0088 with any questions about the Las Vegas High Rise Condo market.

Anyone that is following the Las Vegas Real Estate Market is aware that home prices are at historic lows. Due to the fact that Las Vegas has been leading the nation in foreclosures, Banks and Lenders have been placing homes on the market far below market value which is driving down home prices. Even though many Las Vegas Homes are selling above list price, the fact they are priced so low is still causing home values to fall.  This trend could continue as foreclosures are still prevalent in the Las Vegas Valley.

With such great deals to be had, Investors are flocking to Las Vegas just like they did in 2004 and 2005 but the big difference is the price of the homes.  If an Investor purchased a home in 2005 and rented it, chances are their mortgage payment was higher than the amount of rent they collected.  In today’s real estate market, you can find great deals on homes that will net you positive cash flow.  We currently have several Property Management accounts where our Landlords are cash flowing over $400 a month.  That just wasn’t possible in 2005 unless you had put down a size-able down payment which really defeats the purpose of investing.

Even with the amount of rental homes hitting the Las Vegas Real Estate Market, rental rates have not fallen as demand is so high.  So many Las Vegas Homeowners have lost their homes and have no choice but to rent.  It will take years before they can buy a home again due to changes in lending guidelines and many won’t buy a home again due to the traumatic experience of losing their previous home.

If you are thinking about buying a Las Vegas Investment Property and want to know rental rates for a particular area, feel free to give us a call at 702.376.0088.