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Curious about local real estate? So are we! Every month we review trends in our real estate market and consider the number of homes on the market in each price tier, the amount of time particular homes have been listed for sale, specific neighborhood trends, the median price and square footage of each home sold and so much more. We’d love to invite you to do the same!

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You can sign up here to receive your own market report, delivered as often as you like! It contains current information on pending, active and just sold properties so you can see actual homes in your neighborhood. You can review your area on a larger scale, as well, by refining your search to include properties across the city or county. As you notice price and size trends, please contact us for clarification or to have any questions answered.

We can definitely fill you in on details that are not listed on the report and help you determine the best home for you. If you are wondering if now is the time to sell, please try out our INSTANT home value tool. You’ll get an estimate on the value of your property in today’s market. Either way, we hope to hear from you soon as you get to know our neighborhoods and local real estate market better.

At Ravago Group Property Management, we always go on record recommending that property owners agree to consider pets. We have had an unprecedented number of pet applications recently, and that tells us that our market here in Henderson and Las Vegas demands rental propertiesthat allow pets. Property owners have to remember that this area has been the foreclosure capital of the world. Many of the tenants looking for homes are former homeowners who have pets. These people have been displaced and because they cannot buy another home right away, they need to find a rental home. They’re going to want to be able to take the pets they had in their homes with them.

When you allow pets in your property, you open the rental pool up considerably. You’ll find that in this market, 75 percent of the applicants have at least one pet. When you agree to allow pets, you need to protect yourself and your property with a solid pet policy.

An important distinction: when we talk about pet policies, we are not talking about service animals. How a landlord needs to handle a service animal is a completely different topic, and we do recommend that you read up on the applicable laws or talk to an experienced property manager on the specifics of what a service animal is and the repercussions that can result if you deny a tenant’s application because of a service animal.

If you allow a pet into your property with a tenant, it’s a good idea to ask for a pet deposit. At Ravago Group, we require a deposit of between $300 and $500 per pet. We also collect a pet rent every month in addition to the tenant’s rent. Pets are not a protected class. You can charge a higher rent when you accept a pet. Ask your applicant for a picture of the pet so you know what kind of animal you’re dealing with. There are several breeds that are 

considered vicious, and you probably do not want to allow them. If you are a dog owner yourself, you probably know that Rottweilers, Pit Bulls and German Shepherds can be loyal, protective breeds. However, your insurance company will probably not allow them, and you don’t want to lose your coverage.

The one thing you don’t want to do when a tenant stops paying rent is panic. There are some good ways to alleviate any financial stress this may cause you as a rental property owner. The first thing you want to do is to try and contact the tenant in any way you can. Refer to your lease and all the contact information you have. Reach out by telephone or email and do what you can to get in touch and try to find out what the problem may be.

Legally, you can serve a 5 Day Notice to Pay or Quit. This tells the tenants that rent is required within the next five days, or they will have to leave the property. Once the legal deadline passes and you still don’t have the rent, it’s time to file for eviction. The tenant will have the option of requesting a court hearing in the appropriate jurisdiction; otherwise you’ll be able to successfully get the tenant out of your property through eviction.

Once you have your eviction, schedule a date and time with the constable as well as a locksmith. You’ll meet at the property to move the tenants out as well as any of the tenants’ belongings. You do need to give the tenants the opportunity to move any remaining belongings out on their own before you show up with the constable. Under no circumstances should you move out or touch any of the tenant’s property before you have the legal right to do so. You don’t even want to move things out to the garage. It could be legally and financially catastrophic for you to do so.

Wait until you have the locksmith and the constable on the property to do anything. If the tenants are still inside, you can knock on the door and part 

company with the tenants. Give them a little time to get moved out, and then take possession of the property. Then, the process is complete and you 

can focus on getting the property ready for a new tenant.

When you own a home in Henderson or Las Vegas, and you get a job transfer or some other circumstance shows up that requires you to leave the state or the country, you will probably wonder what you should do with that property. There are a couple of options available to you, and one of the first steps you should take is to consult with a company that provides both real estate and property management services. You’ll get an unbiased opinion about what the best course of action might be for you and your property.

Talking to a professional firm that handles both property management and real estate means they can analyze the costs on the sales side and the rental side. They might tell you that the benefit of selling is that you can just be done with the home and move onto your new destination free and clear. They might also explain why renting out your home is a lucrative option. The Las Vegas market is still a seller’s market, or an appreciating market. Therefore, holding onto your property and allowing a tenant to pay your mortgage while your house continues to appreciate in value can be an excellent financial decision.

You’ll want to talk to your CPA or tax adviser as well. There could be some tax advantages to holding onto that property. If you are planning to return to the area at some point, renting out your property instead of selling it is another good way to ensure you have a place to live when you come back. Working with a property management company means you won’t be disrupted by that phone call in the middle of the night about a leaking faucet or a 

broken water heater or an air conditioning unit that needs to be replaced. Your rent will be automatically deposited no matter where you are in the world. That might give you some peace of mind should you decide to rent out your home instead of sell it.

When it comes to screening tenants, there are five specific elements we look at carefully at Ravago Group Property Management. Those elements are credit, income verification, rental verification, criminal history and identity.

Credit

Start your screening process by looking at the credit score of your applicant. At Ravago, the minimum Fico score we will consider is around 600. If there are any derogatory issues on the credit report, we’ll take those things under review. When everything else checks out but the applicant does not meet the established credit standards, you can ask for an additional deposit. We will often talk to the property owner about whether a weaker credit score is acceptable when other elements of the screening process check out.

Income

You have to make sure the applicants have the ability to pay rent every month. It’s a good idea to require an income that is two and a half or three times the amount of rent. That means if the monthly rent is $1,000, you are looking for your tenant to have a monthly income of at least $2,500 or $3,000. It’s important to verify rent can be paid.

Rental History

We always talk to an applicant’s current landlord, but remember that any reference should be taken with a grain of salt. If the tenant is a problem, the landlord might be looking for a way to get rid of that problem. You might consider talking to a previous landlord to get a more accurate reference.

Criminal Check

You certainly don’t want Bonnie and Clyde living in your home. Always run a full criminal background check. At Ravago Group, our background checks are so detailed that we often pick up speeding tickets and parking tickets while we’re doing our screening. That’s okay, because you want a detailed system that is robust and won’t leave anything out.

Identity

Make sure you know exactly who is moving into your property. Check the identification of your applicant and make sure it is valid.

Once you decide to outsource the day to day tasks of managing your rental property, you need to choose a property management company. Spend some time researching and interviewing several prospective property managers, and focus on these five specific things:

1. Size. Decide whether you want a smaller, boutique style property management company or a larger outfit. It’s important to get to know what kind of ratio they work with. Find out how many employees there are on staff to manage each property. You want to make sure there is enough coverage.
2. Services. You need to know what kinds of services are provided. Some companies will be strictly property management and others will have real estate expertise in addition to management abilities. Keep in mind that even if you are looking for management services presently, you might want to sell that home some day. You’ll need help from a real estate broker, and it can be beneficial to have a relationship in place with a good real estate agent.
3. Communication. Take note of how long it takes for a property manager to contact you once you send an online inquiry or leave a phone message. That’s a good indicator of how responsive they will be when something at your property needs attention. First impressions are important, and you should pay attention to the turn-around time and the communication skills coming from a property management company you’re considering.
4. Online presence. If you cannot find a company online, you have to wonder how a tenant is going to find your rental property on the market. Make sure you can find the property management company easily and gain access to the different properties available through that company. You want to make sure your house will get maximum exposure when you’re looking for a tenant.
5. Physical location. Take a look at where the property manager is located. You have to consider whether the tenant will be able to get to the office and pay rent or ask questions. Find out whether the office is open seven days a week and what the office hours might be. It should be accessible and close enough to your property that the  staff can get there easily if necessary.

In our last blog on buying investment property in Las Vegas, we shared some statistics that can help prepare you for becoming a real estate investor in this area. Today, I’d like to expand on the benefits you can reap when you contact a professional property manager who also has a real estate license for help in finding an ideal investment property to buy.

When you get some help from a property manager, he is going to do his best to find you a property that will be a great long term investment and fairly easy to take care of. Part of advising you on some great investment properties to consider will include thinking a little bit down the road, after you have closed on the deal and you’re ready to get that house on the rental market. The property manager you work with will want to be the professional you choose to manage the property. Therefore, the advice he gives you will be based on a relationship that lasts for five, 10 maybe even 20 years. The property manager is going to be thinking of the amount of work involved and opportunity available when he assists you in finding an ideal investment property.

As you can see, it really pays dividends to have a property manager assist you in finding property. The manager will advise you on the right area to buy in because we know how important location is to renters looking for homes. A property manager will also make sure you choose a home that will be easy to rent out. You don’t want to buy something that will be overlooked or avoided by tenants for one reason or another. The property manager will also help you find something that is easy to maintain. You don’t want a property that is going to come with a lot of expensive service requests or maintenance headaches. Finally, a property manager will want you to buy a property that is easy to get to. Being in close proximity to that property 

manager will make getting there easy if there is ever a need to be on site for any reason.

Working with a property manager when you enter the investment market in Las Vegas comes with a lot of benefits. If you’d like totalk further about the advantages, or you’re ready to look around for potential investment properties, please contact us at Ravago Group Property Management.

In our last blog on buying investment property in Las Vegas, we shared some statistics that can help prepare you for becoming a real estate investor in this area. Today, I’d like to expand on the benefits you can reap when you contact a professional property manager who also has a real estate license for help in finding an ideal investment property to buy.

When you get some help from a property manager, he is going to do his best to find you a property that will be a great long term investment and fairly easy to take care of. Part of advising you on some great investment properties to consider will include thinking a little bit down the road, after you have closed on the deal and you’re ready to get that house on the rental market. The property manager you work with will want to be the professional you choose to manage the property. Therefore, the advice he gives you will be based on a relationship that lasts for five, 10 maybe even 20 years. The property manager is going to be thinking of the amount of work involved and opportunity available when he assists you in finding an ideal investment property.

As you can see, it really pays dividends to have a property manager assist you in finding property. The manager will advise you on the right area to buy in because we know how important location is to renters looking for homes. A property manager will also make sure you choose a home that will be easy to rent out. You don’t want to buy something that will be overlooked or avoided by tenants for one reason or another. The property manager will also help you find something that is easy to maintain. You don’t want a property that is going to come with a lot of expensive service requests or maintenance headaches. Finally, a property manager will want you to buy a property that is easy to get to. Being in close proximity to that property 

manager will make getting there easy if there is ever a need to be on site for any reason.

Working with a property manager when you enter the investment market in Las Vegas comes with a lot of benefits. If you’d like to talk further about the advantages, or you’re ready to look around for potential investment properties, please contact us at Ravago Group Property Management.

When we talk about buying investment property in Las Vegas, there are a few key statistics you need to be aware of before you jump into the market. While it’s a good time to enter, you need to get a sense of where our market is in the Las Vegas area.

We have about 3,400 listings right now, in a market with a 2.1 million population. A normal or healthy market should have about 15,000 to 17,000 listings to support a population of that size. We are also definitely a heavy investor market.

The second important statistic for you to consider is this: 61 percent of all offers that come in on homes are cash. This tells us that these are investors, and they are pushing around a lot of money. You can be sure that these are hedge funds and big players in the market who are competing with the average mom and pop investor. A few years ago, we had a lot of real estate owned and bank owned inventory in the real estate market. Right now, however, that ownership only makes up about 13 percent of the inventory. The majority of this current market includes listings that are flipped houses and short sales and the remainder are REOs.

The Ravago Group can assist you in finding the right property because we know what makes a good investment property. It’s what we manage all day long, every day of the year. We are probably best suited to help you because we can identify what will be available and what will make a good investment in the long term. We have a unique knowledge of what renters are looking for, and what sorts of properties will earn you a good return on your investment. When we help you decide what to buy, we’ll also be hoping for the opportunity to manage the property for you. Therefore, we’re going 

to make sure you make a wise and educated decision that will not only make you money, but provide us with an opportunity to take excellent care of the home and the tenants who eventually live there.

Investing in Las Vegas real estate can be a challenge, and we’d love to help you work your way through it. If you have any questions, or you’d like to talk about potential opportunities, please contact us at Ravago Group Property Management.

In our last blog, we talked about the challenges of home warranties, and we also addressed why it’s not a great idea for property owners to take care of their own maintenance and repairs on the homes they rent out. I’d like to expand on that point a little bit more, because it’s important. Sometimes, property owners who live out of town might come back to Las Vegas for the weekend, or maybe they’re even local, and they think it makes sense for them to show up at their property and take care of any maintenance or repairs. As I said in the last blog, tenants want and need their privacy. Having the landlord show up at the house can be disruptive and it can also make everyone uncomfortable.

One of the reasons I have another property management company manage all of my rental properties is that it’s more professional. It’s a sound way of doing business to have someone else manage the day to day affairs and the maintenance needs. It also removes the emotional component that always shows up when property owners are checking in at the homes they own. It might seem easy enough to stop by and fix something that is broken, but it’s not a great idea. You are much better off leaving your own maintenance work and repairs in the hands of a qualified, licensed, insured and bonded contractor.

When you do your own repairs and maintenance, you are also setting yourself up for some liability issues that you just don’t need to have hanging over your head. You don’t want to hurt yourself or cause further damage to your property by trying to fix something yourself. Let your property manager take care of scheduling the maintenance and calling out the vendors that they work with all the time. It will be more practical and a lot safer for everyone. It’s really the best way to go.

If you have any questions about maintenance or the boundaries property owners should respect in regard to their tenants and rental properties, please contact us at Ravago Group Property Management. We would be happy to talk to you.