Yesterday I stumbled across one of those famous foreclosed developments, where the builder has stopped building and left everything there. Right across the street on Rain Water Drive, next to the Co 215 freeway is a brand new park, with community pool, grass areas  and nice picnic areas that is the only thing complete besides 4 show homes. It’s kind of creepy and relaxing at the same time. The development must have stopped because of the recession down here and the builder has 4  really nice show homes still there, all furnished facing the community swimming pool, and the play area complete with grass field etc. It looks like a ghost town after a nuclear holocaust or something, weird. The grass is cut, the pool looks maintained but not a soul in sight, except for the odd car that drives by.

There are many parts of North Las Vegas that are 1/2 built with vacant lots around them. Don’t get me wrong this is no ghetto (far from) but it does have a weird  feeling when you go into these developments where there is no one is around. Once the recession stops then all these places will be built up, but until then they will remain vacant. There are no home buyers, except for people like me looking for killer real estate deals. No new homes will be built until the inventory of foreclosed homes is sold.

The bonus is that the park is basically all ours, all the swings, tables and grass field. It’s cool cause it’s like a 2 minute walk from our front door, with an amazing view of Las Vegas, especially at night time.

Las Vegas was the hardest hit area in the USA for foreclosures, hence the amazing deals on real estate down here. And the deals are STILL coming .

Looks like the wild west all over again, tumble weed and all…

These places were supposed to sell for the low $200,000 range still a nice price if you ask me.

vacant land, all divided up with sewers in place, stop signs and street, but no homes….

street lamps with no homes, weird…

cul de sac and still no homes…

community pool on the left, all locked up with not a single soul in sight.

I got for walks around  my hood every few days (too burn some of my calories cause I sit on my computer too much). Anyways some  bought 2 lots 2 houses away from me and has torn one house and down, and left one standing for now until he starts building. The only problem is that it’s turning into a local dump. My area (Renfrew Heights) is looking like the ghetto, but  with a million dollar price tag attached to it. Maybe I should rent out the place to some squatters, until they tear it down. Or.. Maybe I should call the city of Vancouver on the builder for being such a clown and letting the mess get worse and worse. ..

I snapped some photos just to show you how nice it looks…

Cute place, too bad no windows, but you can keep warm lighting the garbage on fire!

Awesomw view, buy now

Wanna buy  a complete sh*hole, only $700,000? Call Melissa Wu 604-783-8272

Domain name graffiti, cheaper than buying ad space on Google I guess!

Cool reflection off of the rear window of my Escalade ( not Photoshoped!).

Back to work now!

Well, in my last post I mentioned I put offers on 6 different properties in Las Vegas. I am very, very happy to be able to say that the place I wanted the most is now mine (after I get it inspected). I put an offer on a 3 bedroom 1500 square foot condo/town house in a gated resort like community but there was already an accepted offer, so I was too late. Luckily for me that deal fell through for the other buyer and since my offer was second they accepted my offer and it’s mine!!

A place like this in Vancouver would EASILY cost $350,000 or probably more. I bought this place for $99,000 U.S which is a steal, considering this exact place was going for $230-245,000 just 2 years ago!! And don’t tell me about the U.S. recession, big deal. The economy will bounce back, prices on these places have gone up about $10,000 since March 2009, when prices stopped falling in Las Vegas.

The place is a 3 bedroom, carpeted with tile in the kitchen, granite counter tops through out the property. It has 2 full bathrooms (tub in 1 shower in other), in suite laundry (washer/dryer), small patio area, and a 2 car garage, which is awesome to have. People might think I’m nuts for buying so far away from Vancouver, but with such low prices it makes WAY MORE sense to buy in Las Vegas than say a place such as  Kelowna. Even if I have to fly the whole family there it’s still  way cheaper than buying a place in Kelowna or whatever for like $275,00 – $300,000. Besides the appreciation on a place is Vegas will rise much more than Kelowna, because it has dropped so much.

I’m nervous and excited all in the same wind…

view of Las Vegas from entrance of the gated community.

Chateau Versailles (the name of the development)

Chateau Versailles entrance area

Chateau Versailles entrance area

walkway to the pool from my place

such an amazing pool complete with hot tub spa and waterfall. Has wild palm trees all over for a tropical feel (no cactus though, weird for a desert) ..

shot of the pool

exterior of building

kitchen (missing fridge)

kitchen

bathroom (granite counter tops)

bathroom and tub

bathroom

other bathroom

bathroom

one of the bedrooms

washer and dryer

computer nook (do my affiliate marketing here…)

These photos were taken off of a website, the place is actually completely vacant now, as it is a foreclosure property and owned by one of the banks.

It’s 5:38 am, and I’m wide awake since I went to bed at 9 pm last night. I figure I’m wasting too much time watching TV from 9 -11 pm so bedtime is now 9 pm.  So to the thought of the day, Las Vegas….

I got back on Wednesday, and it’s unreal just like I said about the cheap prices for townhouses. Prices range from$65,000 to $100,000 U.S. You get 1200 – 1500 square feet, 3 bedrooms, community swimming pool, gym room, spa and 1-2 car garage. Most places are built between 2003-2oo6, so they basically brand f’n new! It’s seriously retarded the prices of places down there.

Did I Get One?

I put offers on 6 townhouses, 2-3 were sold as soon as I put my offers in and I am waiting on 3 of them. I’m thinking that I will probably have to go down again and put more offers. Since these townhouses are foreclosures , they are bank owned. Banks like to take their sweet ass time to make a decision (up to 60 days), to tell you yes or no that they have approved or disapproved your purchase of the property. It’s a f*cked up system but the deals are incredible, so it’s worth it.   Basically you put in 10 offers with the hope of getting a few approved, then you can choose if you actually want to go through with the purchase of  the place. There are deals coming up daily, but there are lots of investors like me seeking discount deals, from all over the world, even China.

So, right now I’m sitting in limbo, but I’m calling the realtor in  a few hours, to see if there is any news, and also if there are any new places up for sale. I am determined to get something down there, for now I wait…

Read this blog 5 years from now and I can guarantee you a post about how I made at least $100,000 profit from each townhouse I bought this year in Las Vegas. You want easy money, here you go on a silver f*ck*ng platter. Too bad most people will do nothing about it.

I snapped some photos of stuff, not of townhouses, just touristy type stuff. Enjoy.

Vegas desert, shot from plane

Vegas desert, shot from airport

Paris hotel in Las Vegas

Paris hotel in Las Vegas

Paris hotel in Las Vegas

New York, New York hotel in Las Vegas

Flamingo hotel in Las Vegas

“You catch em, we cook em”, yes you can win lobsters and then they cook it for you. Anything goes in Vegas…

Harrahs

Advertising escorts services on display trucks, going back and forth on the Las Vegas strip

Donny & Marie. All the washed up stars end up here

Cirus Circus hotel

Caesars Palace

The water works show at the Bellagio Hotel

The water works show at the Bellagio Hotel synchronized to music

The water works show at the Bellagio Hotel, from across Las Vegas Blvd

Ballys

Las Vegas strip

Treasure Island hotel, pirate show

I checked out the Real Estate Outlook 2010, which was at the Vancouver Trade And Convention Center, very cool building. I have been to the seminar about 4 times now and have always got some useful chunks of info.  I went down this time specifically to met with the Las Vegas realtor who I am going to be dealing with when I go to Vegas tomorrow afternoon.

I had a few questions before I packed my stuff. If you are going to buy in the U.S. and buy foreclosure properties owned by the banks, then the banks will want to know that you can afford to buy the property. You need to bring bank statements showing how much savings that you have and if it can cover the purchase of the property you are putting a cash offer on. I just wanted to make sure I had all the right documentation before I got on the plane.

The first speaker was my realtor’s (David Brownell) partner Mark Dziedzic. He spoke about Las Vegas as well as Phoenix which is also full of UNREAL deals (why are we in Vancouver?!?) because of all the foreclosures. I am super excited, and i am sooo pumped to get down there, I can’t hold it in. Enough on that…

I stayed at the seminar for the 1st hour to hear Mark Dziedzic speak and to talk to my realtor, then I bounced.

I snapped photos of some of the cruise ships right next to the convention center, then I took the Sky train cause wifey had the SUV.

Oh and one last thing, from Twitter sensation -  shitmydadsays “Sometimes life leaves a hundred dollar bill on your dresser, and you don’t realize until later that it’s because it fucked you.”

I added the buy real estate part, fuck RRSPs!!

Skytrain tunnel between Waterfront and Burrad stations

docked cruise ship at Canada Place

docked cruise ship at Canada Place, convention center on left

cruise ship docked at Canada Place