Monthly Archives: August 2010

You Can Call Canada Using Google Voice For 100% Free Now

If you don't know what Google Voice, it's a free service that enables you to do long distance calls throughout the USA, and now its free to call Canada. You need to be in the U.S. to use this service, it will be for Canadians in the future but not yet. Since I'm a Canadian in Las Vegas I can use the service, and I can call friends and family back in Canada for 100% free! I was paying about 0.05 per minute which is nothing, however the long distance calls to Canada would add to about $10-$15 per month. If I can save that money, why the hell not? I tried it out today, and it works perfectly.

Google Voice

Google Voice evens give you the option of getting a new U.S. phone number for free. The power behind this is that you can forward calls from your new Google Voice number to your home phone, mobile phone, work phone etc. You can add as many phone numbers  as you want, and have them ALL ring when people call your Google Voice phone. So people can tell people your Google number and it will call all of the phone numbers you have added as forwarders. There are a ton of option to choose from. You can choose to have certain numbers work only on weekends, or just weekdays and certain times of the day.

You also get free texting, and free voice mail, which is all managed online through your free Google Voice account. Pretty slick stuff.

Few More Days Left Then Back To Vancouver

It looks like the fun is coming to an end. I only have a few more days in this desert dream land. I have offers on 16 places, but my goal is to buy 3  condos out of the 16 that I put offers on. I am waiting to hear back from many of the offers I put in, then I will choose exactly which condos I want to buy. Las Vegas real estate is crazy at this point and you need to put in a bunch of offers, because many times there are multiple offers, so if you only put an offer on 1 place unless you want to pay asking price then you may lose it. I'm not paying asking price that's for sure, lol. I'm low balling on many places and others I am putting offers $5,000 to $7,000 less than asking price. Asking price is usually about $75,000 for a two bedroom with a 1 car garage condo, so it will cash flow even at that price.:)

My friend Paul is down here (from Vancouver), he just bought a 2 bedroom condo near the strip and is doing some touch ups to it before he gets a property management company to do the rental managing  for it. Good to see some people taking my advice.

Hopefully I know the result of the others offers I put today. I need to leave Vegas this week, but not before I see these places in person.

And if my fucking hosting provider (IValueHost.net) doesn't get there shit together, I am going to find new web hosting, this is complete bullshit. I can't even call you assholes on the phone because you never pick up the phone! I want reliable service please, you jackasses!. Moving wordpress blogs takes a  bit of time and that is the only reason I haven't moved it over yet, dickheads!

I snapped some photos of random stuff, as well…

I painted 2 walls in the condo a yellow, these will be the accent walls. I will come back in October and paint the rest of the condo a pale yellow I'm thinking..

Driving to Red Rock Canyon

Driving to Red Rock Canyon

brother feeding big sister…

Sad because they have to go home, no more pool….

Lazy Days In Las Vegas

I'm still here in sunny Las Vegas, working by the pool everyday. Life is good. The temperatures are hot but it's a dry heat so you don't sweat much at all, unlike Vancouver that get's humid heat in the summer.  I snapped some shots of random shit , that has been added below. Taking photos costs me nothing, and it's a great way  to preserve memories.

I've been putting offers on more condos down here. The prices are too cheap for me to resist:). If you can get 2 bedrooms condos in the $55,000 range and rent them for $800-$900, it won't be long before I retire completely and let the rental cheques do all the income earning for me, lol. I'm not going to preach about why you should buy here, it will be more for me to buy so stay away!

Tommorow night were going to the Olive Garden, I have been there only once ever in Langley. They're having  an all you can eat pasta deal for $9. We have gone out only once since beening here for 3 weeks, so that's ok if I have some fat ass carbs for once night..  I can't even recall the last time I had pasta, and I'm Italian…. Ma Che cazzo!

The weather is still hot, palm trees are growing and prices are still cheap. That's all I have to report kiddies. Stay tuned for more from Sin City!

Harley Davidson on Las Vegas Blvd (the strip)

Hang Over movie anyone, ring a bell?!?

self explanatory…

80's music Cheap Trick!

After a rain storm…

Caesars Palace Bhuda thingy

Caesars Palace..

Aria hotel, biggest hotel in Vegas…

Aria hotel, biggest hotel in Vegas…

street magician at Freemont in downtown Vegas

street magician at Freemont in downtown Vegas

street magician at Freemont in downtown Vegas

she's a jumper now!

New York, New York

crazy looking clouds

at the MGM hotel,trainer with tiger…

I do love to fart!

Las Vegas Real Estate, Where Cash Flow Is King

With all the gloom and doom about foreclosures going on in Las Vegas, I still think it’s a good time to buy. Why is it that when prices are high and EVERYONE is buying, that people make it seem like it’s the right time to buy? I have learned following the crowd isn’t usually the smart choice. Yes unemployment is at 15% and foreclosures are still  happening, so what? Do you think Las Vegas is going to disappear? Personally, I don’t.

The US is in a recession, but prices are so damn cheap! I put offers only some places and have low balled them and gotten accepted offers on a 2 bedroom with 1 car garage for $58,000, in the same complex I own my vacation home! You can’t even buy a new Escalade for $58,000! But you think it’s going to go down even more  right? Well let me say this, waiting to buy when the “magical bottom” hits is a mistake. This 2 bedroom cant rent anywhere from $750 to $900 per month! Don’t you think that is a great return on your money, I do!

But it’s risky right? Don’t you think it’s riskier when you buy a place in  Vancouver for $250,000 and can only rent it for $1,000 a month?  All the real risk is gone in a market like this. This condo will rent for $750 to $900 and if it didn’t then I could drop the rent to even $600 and I will still come out ahead, but the rent won’t go that low. The foreclosure market in Vegas reminds alot of  my internet marketing. The opportunity to make money in both sectors is big, but when the rules and landscapes change then those doors will be shut forever. When you see an opportunity you need to decide, then act on it. You can work until you’re 65 or have the life you really want to have, it is your choice! Sure I get scared but I analyze the situation then act on what I think is right.

Could I go bankrupt by purchasing a few properties and $55,000 to $65,000, no way. The mortgage payment on those is small, it’s not a $1,500 monthly payment, just a few hundred dollars. It’s much safer than buying condos for $350,000 and then you need to put a couple hundred of your own money into that Vancouver condo every month to make it cash flow. Every property you buy needs to cover itself and if possible make you a few hundred per month, per property. This is the way to do real estate investing, then you can go far. If you need to dip into your wallet for every property you buy on a monthly basis, how many condos can you buy? Not too many right?! Enough said on this. I just needed to get this out. Everyone thinks real estate is so difficult, not as hard as you think.