propertyman@foxnews.com. i'm bob massi. i'll see you next week. [ woman vocalizing ] >> i'm bob massi. for 32 years, i've been practicing law and living in las vegas. i help people with all sorts of real-estate problems, from trying to save their homes to closing major deals. eight years ago, 6,000 people a month moved here, looking for employment and affordable homes. little did anyone know that we would become ground zero for the american real-estate crisis. now, it's a different story. the american dream is back. we're gonna meet real people who faced the same problems as millions across america, and we'll dive deep into a city on the rebound because las vegas was a microcosm of america, and now vegas is back. [ woman vocalizing ]

when you're selling your property, doing some very simple things can give you an amazing bang for your buck. one of those things -- it's called "staging." it's basically remodeling or redecorating your home to make it attractive to any potential buyer -- so important. and the results? they can be dramatic. we tagged along with professional home stager jennifer paxson, as she transformed two properties that are about to hit the market. >> what we do as stagers is we bring furniture in so that people can see how they could live in the space. we make people have an emotional connection so they see the way that they could live life. >> for property number one, jennifer went way beyond traditional staging and worked with the homeowner on repainting, restaining cabinets, and even replacing carpets. >> the style of the home is very traditional. and what we're trying to do is make it transitional because transitional is gonna bring the traditional style as well as

contemporary pieces. contemporary pieces are more of what buyers look for today. it's more livable, it's more realistic, and it's more comfortable. in this room, what we're doing is changing the paint color because what this paint color does is it darkens the room. so, we're bringing in some lighter colors. we're gonna do barstools. we're gonna do accessories, bowls. you'll see a pasta with pasta sauce. so, they can actually connect. in this room, it's gonna be a sofa, a chair. we put down a large area rug. it's a huge transformation when you see the "after." we don't ever want to clutter a space. we just want to accent it. this room here is gonna be the game room. we're actually installing real tvs. we're bringing in a large pool table, some furniture -- like a sofa, some comfortable chairs. this is the formal dining room.

what we're doing in here again is painting to brighten up the room. we're bringing in a large, formal dining table, six chairs. so, i set the table, bring in floral arrangements, things that are again going to have the emotional connection that we can entertain here. this is where we're gonna have our friends and family and enjoy. we're now heading into the master bedroom. we're going to warm up the space by bringing in a large king-sized bed with nightstands, lamps. >> so, jennifer, the last time i was here, there was nothing here. >> we have added furniture and accessories to all the main areas of the home. we've brought in all the master-bedroom furniture. a few weeks ago, this room was vacant. now that the furniture's in, you can imagine yourself sitting by the fire reading a book. >> what's the difference between a stager and a decorator? >> interior design -- we're focusing on decorating for a

person. like, i'd be decorating for you and your taste. only 10% of buyers can visualize what a home actually is going to look like with their furniture. home staging is more about appealing to 90% of the population. the cheapest and most effective thing you can possibly do is paint. it's the best thing to totally transform a home. >> property number two presented some unique challenges. it's another beautiful home with a massive open kitchen that opens out into an unbelievable outside area. >> we have a gorgeous outdoor living space. you have the pool with the grotto, the waterslide. and this room is the master bedroom. what we're going to do here is a large, king-size bed with end tables and lamps. you want the potential buyers to see this room and just fall in love with it. >> you know, jennifer, the last

house was beautiful, but i must tell you, this is magnificent. the last time we were here, a lot of these things weren't here, like this beautiful sitting area... >> mm-hmm. >> ...with just first-class furniture. what did you do in here since the last time we were here? >> this room was completely vacant. what we've done is we've brought in all the accessories to warm up the kitchen. >> mm-hmm. >> i like to make it have a homey feel. the spices are out. the pastas are out. you know, just little touches like that that will connect them to the space. in the living room, we've added a large sectional so they can see themselves and their family having somewhere where they can hang out. >> this magnificent pool area was nothing like this. >> no. this is more of a remodel. they've actually emptied the pool. they're staining, refinishing, and sealing all of the rock area. >> what input does the homeowner have as it relates to the proposals that you make? like, you say, "i think this

dining room should be oak." and somebody says, "oh, i hate oak." >> right. >> so, how do you react to that to make them understand that that's really appropriate? >> well, what i try to do is just convince them. we are looking at your home as a product now. we want to appeal to the 90% of buyers out there. you want the majority of people to like the home when they enter it. >> people have to understand that this is a million-dollar home, but you could do this with really any reasonably priced home. >> yes, any home. >> yeah, and that's an important message out there. great job. this is beautiful. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. there's no way to talk about properties without dealing with the topics of credit. lending and debt -- well, those things can seriously trip you up and haunt you for years. i'll tell you how to protect yourself and come out the other end successfully. plus, behind the scenes at one of the strip's hottest condos. [ woman vocalizing ] if you're taking multiple medications, does your mouth often feel dry?

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♪ >> nearly every person in

america at some point in their lives will need to understand the complicated issues of credit, lending, and debt. but to really understand it all, you first have to go back about ten years before the credit bubble burst. housing prices were booming, and mortgages were being given away like candy. >> we're talking no income, no assets, stated income, stated assets that never were intended to be used on wage earners but then allowed people to get into homes they probably should not have bought. >> there's surely some fault on some homeowners in america that got into the american dream but really shouldn't have been able to get into that american dream. >> in many institutions, you would have a chief lending officer. chief lending officer is chasing production for production's sake, making loans, as many as they can, and not caring about the credit risk. >> soon, millions of people were having trouble paying back the money they had borrowed, and foreclosures skyrocketed. the two most common ways of saving a home from foreclosure are persuading the banks to

modify the loan or doing a short sale, which means selling the property for less than what is owed on the mortgage. >> you had to be in such a sweet spot to get a loan modification. you couldn't make too much money. you couldn't make too little because the banks wanted to see you could afford the payment long term. so, if you weren't in this little, tiny piece of pie that they cut out, you were going through months and months, if not years, of supplying paperwork to the banks, giving them your pay stubs, your bank statements, hardship letters, over and over again on a monthly basis and really getting nowhere. >> it's much better for us to keep a borrower/owner in their home than to take that home back. >> but many responsible people, those doing everything they could to stay afloat but still struggling were often told that the only way they could get help was to actually stop making payments. >> most of the times they said, "well, you know, you can make your payments on time, but wink, wink, nudge, nudge, you're

probably not going to get approved because you're not our problem. you're making the payments. why are we gonna look at you when we have a stack of hundreds on our desk?" >> that are in default. >> that are in default. so, now they have the hit on the credit. they're not getting a modification. and now what do i do? >> now, even though things are getting better, there's still a lot of unpaid debt out there. and when you borrow money that you can't repay, it doesn't just go away. eventually, debt is often sold to debt collectors, sometimes for pennies on the dollar. and to collect on it, they can get very aggressive. when times got tough for jeffrey smith, he turned to payday loans to cover his expenses. >> a knock comes to our door. i open up the door, and it's one of the people from the payday loan companies. a manager is knocking on the door, asking us for money. "i'm sorry. we're going through bankruptcy." >> "no, no. you owe us a debt. you have to pay up." "no, you have to get off my property." "no, no, you have to pay up now." and he wouldn't leave. >> but what if you don't even owe the money? joe hernandez and his wife, well, they were always very careful to pay their bills on

time and keep their credit good. but that didn't seem to matter. >> we started receiving phone calls just out of the blue, and they would call and they would ask for somebody with the last name of hernandez, like mine. and it usually was john or joel or jeff or julie or judy. i continually told them that they had the wrong number and to quit calling us. i thought that would end it, but of course it didn't. >> did they call all times of the day? >> we'd get calls early in the morning, late in the evening, on the weekends. it didn't matter. sometimes we'd know when the phone rang that it was some collection agency trying to collect. sometimes they would call and then about not even a half-hour or an hour later, they would call again. and we could tell by looking at the phone, what phone number it was, and it was the same number. >> how many times do you think they actually called you? >> on a daily basis? >> yes. >> could be anywhere from 3 to 14. we just got tired of the phone calls. it seemed like we were being harassed on a regular basis. it interrupted our life, and we just thought, you know, we just

want them to stop. >> eventually, they couldn't take it anymore, and they called attorney kevin hernandez -- no relation. >> it's a cost benefit that they go through, these collection companies go through. they say, "we'll violate the law this many times," and maybe one or two of these people, like the hernandezes, will seek an attorney. the rest won't, and they can recover off of those people who are scared and who want to pay the debt just to make the calls stop. >> we were told that they were in violation of federal law and that there was some recourse that could be taken to stop the harassing phone calls. >> when you first get a call from what is perceived to be a debt collector, do you think, "well, gee, is there a bill i didn't pay, and i forgot about it?" did that ever come across your mind? >> you know, you kind of think about it, but we know that we're very current on our bills, and we check our credit scores, and there was no credit problems. so, as soon as i realized it, i thought, "well, why am i being harassed for something that i don't owe?" >> there is intimidation and fear and coercion by these -- 'cause these people are really pros. they're very disciplined people.

they're not afraid of rejection. >> one thing i want to make clear is that debt collection in general is a legitimate business. >> sure. >> and so, i don't want to disparage the business in general. but if you look at some of the players in the game, especially here in las vegas, you see that the collection tactics they use, like calling at odd hours of the day, calling multiple times per day, telling people that they're gonna go to prison for a debt, telling people that they've opened a case against them and making up a case number -- these are things that i see all the time, and they're things that are obviously clear violations of the federal law that we use to file these cases. >> if people realize that didn't owe, they probably say, "well, yeah, you owe $100. we'll settle for $50." i'm sure that's a common tactic. >> it is. it is. i've seen as low as $16 in some cases, where they claim that they owe $16, and they have no verification, no basis for it. and they'll tack on fees on top of that to make, you know -- "so, oh, you're gonna pay for this debt? well, now you have to pay for our attorneys' fees or our costs." >> and if you're wondering what happened to joe hernandez and

his wife, whose phone just wouldn't stop ringing? well, they filed suit in federal court. >> it's interesting. as soon as the federal litigation was filed, the calls immediately stopped. >> so many people have lost so much in the last several years because of the real-estate crisis and just enormous amount of debt. and they've been harassed by debt collectors. checklist of what your legal rights are if you're being harassed by a debt collector. and also, you want to see some beautiful condo living on the las vegas strip, the center of las vegas? we'll be right back. this is the property man. [ woman vocalizing ] [engines revving] you can't have a hero, if you don't have a villain. the world needs villains [tires screeching] and villains need cars.

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>> welcome back. i'm bob massi, the property man. more than 500,000 americans buy condos or co-ops every year. if you're thinking about joining

them, go to foxnews.com/propertyman, and i'll tell you what to look for and what to watch out for. but first, let's check out a unique complex right here in the las vegas area. you could find luxury condos in just about any city in america nowadays. so, what makes these special? well, it's the old cliché about real estate -- location, location, location. the veer towers were built in 2010 as part of the city center development, right smack in the middle of las vegas strip. city center has been called a city within a city -- 67 acres of shops and restaurants, hotels, and apartments surrounded by that famous las vegas strip. the veers' unique buildings stand out due to their bright yellow color. and, by the way, they were built tilting outwards at 5-degree angles. let's go get a tour.

we're at the veer towers on las vegas boulevard. this is the famous strip. so, obviously, this is a spectacular place overlooking the strip. tell us about this particular setup. >> this residence is one of our two-bedroom condominiums. we're on the 15th floor, a little over 1,300 square feet. >> we have a kitchen area, dining area, living room, sort of all self-contained. >> correct. clients can purchase them and do whatever they want as far as the decor. what is standard, though, if you look at the kitchens, for example -- the bosch appliances, the countertops. all that stuff's standard, whether you go to a studio or, for that matter, one of our three-bedrooms. our success is really based on where we are. you move these buildings two blocks in either direction, our numbers would be different, completely different. >> vegas has always been known for destination, place to come and hang out, but never for, like midtown manhattan, where people are coming and buying facilities like this, buying a condo to live here or invest in it. so, that's a big change for vegas. >> i think so.

and it's starting to change more in what we're seeing. in other words, when we first started, you would see a lot of the investor market coming. over the last year, it's changing -- a lot of the end-users now. as nice as the hotels are, it's still a hotel room. this is their place. they sleep on their own pillow. >> ♪ ain't it good to come home? ♪ >> here we have obviously a bedroom. >> yeah, you're going into the master bedroom. the thing to point out here is the bathrooms, because these are the standard finishes that we have throughout the building. >> let's talk about the price range. >> okay. >> this is 1,300 and... >> little over 1,300 square feet. >> so, how much is this, if somebody's gonna buy it? >> as you see it here, fully furnished, you're looking at $1,025,000. >> okay. >> turnkey -- everything you see. >> and you go from a studio? >> oh, no, we have condominiums that are $250,000... >> okay. >> ...on up to more than $2 million. >> we'll check out the $2 million apartment in a minute, but first, most owners will tell you that the best part of a condo are the amenities. owners are able to take advantage of these facilities, like pools and gyms and game

rooms and media centers. well, at the veer, there is no exception. so, we just came from this spectacular-looking condo with a view that's unbelievable. so, you think when you're looking at it, how can anything get better than that? >> i'm gonna show you. >> and then you bring me up to this amazing -- 37th floor at the veer. >> we're on the 37th floor. if anybody had any doubt as to where we're located, this is the heart of it. we're in the heart of the strip. >> and you got the fitness center over there. >> we have a fitness center, right, and the media room. >> we only have sunshine about 360 days a year. >> yeah. >> life is good. >> it's not terrible. >> life is good. >> it's not terrible. we're on the 21st floor, and this is a 2-bedroom with a media room. it's a little over 2,200 square feet. >> so, ed, you mentioned the media room, or aka the man cellar. >> let me take you to the man cave. >> yeah. >> come on in. >> here we go. this is living right here. >> this is it, yeah. no, this is a great spot, obviously, to come here and unwind. >> you've been in the real-estate business for a long time. >> yeah. >> in general, when somebody is buying a condominium, what kind

of questions do you think they should be asking you, the person that's representing the veer or any other condominium complex for purposes of answering that question? what direction do you give them? >> i think it's really important that when people buy condominiums, they realize that it's not just buying their little residence. you really are part of a bigger picture, which in this case, for example, veer towers. the association, for example, and the financial standings of the association is something that you want to look into in any condominium purchase, regardless of where you are. let me show you the master bedroom. >> yeah, yeah. i would never have expected to see this kind of closet in a facility like this. >> this residence here is perfectly suited for that individual who does make las vegas their primary home. i tell the clients, "how cool is it that you get to own a piece of what's arguably the most famous boulevard in the world? >> no question about that. ed, thank you so much for your time today. >> thank you, bob. thank you for coming. >> oh, no, fantastic facility, beautiful -- the amenities, the views.

>> and you're welcome anytime. >> thank you, buddy. when we come back, we'll review some of what we learned today in the massi memo. [ woman vocalizing ] when heartburn hits fight back fast tums smoothies starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue and neutralizes stomach acid at the source tum, tum, tum, tum smoothies! only from tums ♪ [engine revs] ♪

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♪ >> welcome back. i'm bob massi, the property man. and now it's time for the massi memo. earlier in the show, we talked about debt collection. everybody gets a letter from a debt collector, they panic. here's what you need to do.

open up the letter. don't be afraid of it. make sure it's a debt that you owe, or you don't owe. if you don't owe the debt, you have rights. you write them a letter, and you say, "hey, this is not my debt. prove it to me that it is." if you check your credit report, it's on your credit report. you say, "hey, that's not my debt. remove it." so, you have rights. don't be afraid of that. debt collectors, for example, they can't garnish or threaten to garnish your wages or put a judgment against you and take your kids away. they do these type of things. they're not supposed to call you late at night. those type of people can be very abusive, and there are specific laws on the books that say you can't do that. so, don't fear it. the biggest problem i have, so many times. we get e-mails. people are afraid. anxiety creates confusion and frustration, which leads to more fear and problems. if you get a registered letter or certified letter, please go get it. it's very important to do that. that's all we have time for today, but there's much more on foxnews.com/propertyman. be sure to send me your

questions and any property stories at propertyman@foxnews.com. i'm bob massi, the property man. i'll see you next week. [ woman vocalizing ] >> i'm bob massi. for 32 years, i've been practicing law and living in las vegas. i help people with all sorts of real-estate problems, from trying to save their homes to closing major deals. eight years ago, 6,000 people a month moved here, looking for employment and affordable homes. little did anyone know that we would become ground zero for the american real-estate crisis. now, it's a different story. the american dream is back. we're gonna meet real people who faced the same problems as millions across america, and we'll dive deep into a city on the rebound because las vegas was a microcosm of america, and now vegas is back. [ woman vocalizing ]

i'm coming to you from the world-famous neon museum, right here in downtown las vegas. it's often said that vegas was a microcosm of the entire united states. and when it comes to the real-estate market, nothing crashed harder or bounced back quicker. but rebuilding your dreams is not always easy. now we're going to 23 1/2-year retired air force veteran grady. thank you for your service and thank you for allowing us in your home today. >> sure. >> and your wife, of course. now, let me ask you, when did you buy the home that we're sitting in right now? >> we moved in in early 2006. >> boy, that's when vegas was booming with building, wasn't it? >> it was. it was the single-story community that we wanted. >> at what point did you realize that you were gonna be faced with a problem as it relates to value and what was owed on the home? >> 2006, 2007 were okay -- all house payments made, everything made on both of the loans that

we had. but then 2008 hit, and the bottom just fell out of the housing market. and so, this house that we purchased for almost $370,000 went from a value of that down to $134,000. >> in a short period of time. >> it seemed like it was overnight. 2008 became a year of exodus out of this community. people were walking out of their homes. they were not gonna pay for it. so, when the new neighbors were moving into the house that other people had walked away from because the payments were so high, they were paying a third of what we were paying. >> so, you have a home that you bought for in excess of $350,000... >> yeah. >> ...that now has a value of maybe around $100,000. so, you're $250,000 underwater. >> absolutely. so, we didn't know what to do. >> did you contact the lender directly? >> initially, the customer-service representative said, "well, there's nothing we can do right now." and they would kind of dismiss my phone calls. well, i continued this over and

over and over. >> you continued calling them. >> yes, because i didn't know where else to go. and finally one of the ladies -- bless her heart. she finally told me. "we got programs for people that default on their payments. but people that are current? we will not help you." >> the banks were generally not willing to work with people who were maybe only slightly delinquent on their mortgages. i think the banks focused more on people who were 60 to 90 days past due and beyond. >> military man, always paid their bills, responsible, a generation that was raised if you sign something, you pay it. how did you cope with the decision? >> oh, it was absolutely awful. it was humiliating. i would have to get to the point of not paying my bills to get attention. it just didn't make any sense to me that i would have to go through that. and i had. i had paid my bills. growing up, coming up in the

military, you don't make a whole lot of money, especially on the enlisted side. but we always paid our bills, every single month, every time, overseas, everywhere, combat zones, all that stuff. we always made sure our bills were paid. but this was something that my wife and i had never experienced, that we were actually gonna have to ruin our credit in order to get the bank's attention. >> how did you feel when that first month came, and you made that conscious decision? >> oh, i felt awful, actually awful. i felt like i wasn't living up to an obligation that i agreed to. it was absolutely terrible how i felt, and it got worse. >> sure. >> we defaulted on the payment. we defaulted on another payment. then my wife and i are saying, "well, what are we gonna do next?" >> eventually, they got a notice of foreclosure. but grady learned that nevada had a mediation program meant to get homeowners and banks to sit down together and try to work something out to save the home.

>> prior to the mediation, their attorney asked for information about what we were looking for in the mediation process. so, i outlined some proposals that we would agree to, and basically it's what i was trying to say in the past year. modify the loan, reduce it to a price we can afford. we'll even pay more than the value of the house, but get it down to a reasonable amount. i said, "the other option is we're gonna walk out of the house like most of our neighbors did." we were watching these people, these big-time people, get bailed out and getting all this free money that was passed to them and getting relief. and here, we're just little people. we're just out here trying to live in a house, and we can't even get anybody to talk to us, much less make a deal, as far as modifying a loan or anything else. you simply could not get anyone to have a conversation with you. i spent 23 1/2 years serving this country all over the world, and it was humiliating to think about what we had gone through

and all the -- why can't you just pick up the phone and talk to somebody? >> work it out. >> when we were in the mediation, they asked me to start, and i told them basically the story that i've just said, talking about here. and the first thing the bank representative said -- "well, we don't want another house on the market, and we want to try to arrange something. she said, "what i can do is i can take $100,000 off the loan, put it at the end of a 40-year mortgage. it does not draw interest or anything like that. it just sits there. but then we can finance what's left of the loan and get your payments down." >> it's called a forbearance. so, did you reach a deal? >> we did. on that particular day, we reached a deal. >> how much was the second mortgage at that time? >> it was about $74,000, right in the neighborhood. >> interest-only payments. >> that's correct. the second proposal was that they would write off $54,000. >> and you thought that came from heaven. >> i did. i thought it fell from the sky.

they said they'd write off $54,000, and our payments would be reduced to $69.36 from over $600. initially, we had the two loans where our house payment was almost $2,500. and by the time all that was done -- the mediation, the second mortgage, to negotiate all that stuff was done -- it went down to about $850. if the banks would have cooperated with us from the very beginning, we would have never missed a payment, they would have continued to have gotten their money, and we would have gotten what we got in the end, anyway, which is a reasonable payment. and that's all we wanted. >> if only one side talks, there's no way there's a winner. >> no. not at all, not at all. but we're still here. as i said, we haven't missed any payments whatsoever in five years. we enjoy our little single-story home. >> good for you. you're a great american, grady. >> hey, thank you very much. >> thank you for your service and thank you for your time today. >> thank you very much, bob.

>> yes, sir. thank you. a few years back, lenders had no way of being consistent. grady got lucky, got a good lender, got a good representative, and was successful. not many properties have drive-through tunnel of love and a pink cadillac, but i'm going to show you one that has both. plus, an owner with a heart of gold. [ woman vocalizing ] there are two billion people who don't have access to basic banking, but that is changing. at temenos, with the microsoft cloud, we can enable a banker to travel to the most remote locations with nothing but a phone and a tablet. everywhere where there's a phone, you have a bank. now a person is able to start a business, and employ somebody for the first time. the microsoft cloud helped us to bring banking to ten million people in just two years. it's transforming our world. you can't breathed. through your nose. suddenly, you're a mouthbreather.

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♪ >> thanks for staying with us. i'm bob massi, the property man. and i want to show you a very unique property. it started basically as just a small box and has grown into the home of more than 800,000 weddings, including those of frank sinatra, bruce willis, and michael jordan. here we are at the little white chapel in las vegas. forty-seven years ago, charolette richards lived in a 600-square-foot apartment with a little chapel. that's what she started this business in, and now literally is a city block in las vegas.

the property, the business is worth millions of dollars, and celebrities from all over the world come here. [ camera shutter clicks ] >> and kiss. kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss. >> this is the wedding center, where we have wedding gowns, tuxedos, suits, elvis costumes, and all kinds of wonderful things for those people that like to dress up. some people buy them, some people rent them, and some people give them to me because they don't want to take them home. i've done so many weddings during the past few years free because... >> to help people. >> ...i can help people. >> yeah. >> and i've never had anybody that was military pay for the use of this chapel or this grounds. >> thank you for that. that's wonderful. >> no, i love the military people. oh, i'm so glad you're here. i'm honored to have you here. >> thank you very much, ma'am. >> ♪ i won't care at all as long as i have you ♪

>> you may kiss your beautiful bride. i want to comp their wedding -- everything. >> you don't have to do that, ma'am. >> i want to do it for you. i want to do it for you because of what you stand for. >> here you are. >> that's a good thing. >> alive and well. >> yes, sir. >> how many weddings have you done here at the little white chapel? >> oh, my goodness, hundreds. i don't know. i did eight yesterday. elvis is just synonymous with vegas. you'll have some people that are really big fans and just love him, man. it's amazing. he always thought people would forget him, and here we are, all these years later, and someone like myself is making a living doing weddings. [ "bridal chorus" plays ] >> behind me is a drive-through, where you pay to get married, sit in your car, and drive right out onto the old las vegas strip towards downtown as a married couple. >> seventeen years ago, i said, "i want a drive-up-wedding window." so, i told my son, "cut this wall down and put a window

there." he said, "why do you want to do that, mom?" and i said, "so that people could get married." he said, "you mean they could pay first before they get married?" i said, "no, they're gonna get married at the drive-up." he said, "i won't do that. i'm not gonna build you one because i don't think that's right, that people get married in a drive-up." >> sure. >> you know what? it's become the most popular thing there is. and they drive up to the window, and they stop. the minister comes out and says, "do you want to get married?" and they say, "yes." "well, you've come to the right place." some come on motorcycles, all different ways. >> so, if they come up to the drive-through wedding window, how long does it take for them to get married? >> fifteen minutes. people just love this pink cadillac, which i have two of. they love to get married in there. >> oh, so people actually get married in there. >> they get married right here in the backseat. if they have little children, we let the little kids stay up in the front so mommy and daddy can get married back here. >> las vegas, of course, was ground zero in the real-estate

crisis in america several years ago, and it's coming back. but during that period of time, this amazing property still sustained itself. the little white chapel is a great example of an american success story. >> the business was growing and growing, and i lived here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. i never left here. this, in fact, used to be my living room. >> by the way, is this the first chapel of this whole structure? >> yes, this is, uh-huh. this right here is. >> and you lived literally behind this chapel? >> i lived right here, behind this wall. the chapel was there. >> so, this is where you lived, where the altar literally is. >> yeah. >> and the chapel was over there. and then you switched it up, obviously. >> and then, my sons are contractors, so they tore all this down, and we made it bigger because there were so many movie stars coming in here, and we were getting so many big weddings. people say, "how come you're so successful?" it's because i love people. i want to be honest and faithful to them as well as them be to

me. from then on, it just took off. >> now, when you bought the property, how many square feet was this building at the time? not too big? >> 600 feet, maybe, something like that. >> so, over the years, and you expanded. >> i just kept buying up the property as it came available and then tore all the things down, which was all doctors' offices and stuff like that. i don't know if you remember that. >> this is old las vegas. you built this business your own as a young woman... >> yes. >> ...and built this up. you should be pretty proud of yourself. >> well, i'm not proud of myself, but i'm thankful that i've been given the ability to do what i have done. and not only that, i've worked very hard, and i enjoy every moment of it. >> you're a married man now, soldier. [ laughter ] >> up next, there's a thing called a 1031 exchange. it's a complicated concept of how you save taxes over a period of time, when we come right

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switch to liberty mutual and you could save up to $509 call today at see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ >> welcome back. i'm bob massi, the property man. you know, nothing is more complicated than buying and selling real estate or buying and selling a business. we all think we know so much, but let me tell you something. when you have to deal with the good, old tax code and the irs, you better know the law. there's a thing called a 1031 exchange. it's a complicated concept of how you save taxes over a period of time, but let me tell you something. you better have the right expert to explain it. i talked to rex reese, a prominent attorney who understands and will break down the 1031 exchange. rex, most americans, they sell their home, and they're gonna go

buy another home. but what are the tax implications of just selling a primary residence for the average american? >> well, your principal residence is a capital asset, and the normal tax rules apply. if you've held the property for more than a year, then you get long-term capital-gain rate, which is 20% or less, which is of course a nice savings from ordinary rates, which could be as much as 40%. so, there is an advantage to home ownership. years past, you could do what's referred to as a 1031 exchange transaction with your principal residence. however, about 15 years ago, congress decided that was too complicated, and so rather than forcing people to jump through all the hoops to do a 1031 exchange, they just give them a credit, principal-residence exclusion. >> let's take a home, $500,000. and they sell it for $800,000. primary residence -- how does

that exclusion work? >> so, there's $300,000 of potential gain there, which would be subject to capital-gains rates. under the principal-residence exclusion, an individual's entitled to exclude $250,000. so, the end result is, there's only tax, capital-gains tax, on the $50,000 that's not covered by the principal-residence exclusion. now, with respect to a home that's been acquired a married couple, they're entitled to a $500,000 principal-residence exclusion. double your money. so, in your example, where the couple bought the house for $500,000 and sold it for $800,000, they would have all $300,000 excluded, pay no tax on it. >> what about if the properties you're buying or selling are not your principal residence? that is wher prepared and do it right, usually by doing what is called a 1031 exchange. >> you sell your old property, and you buy a new property. you have to do it within the

180 days, generally. you cannot take possession of the cash that you sold the old property for. you have to engage a qualified intermediary. >> explain to our viewers exactly what they are and what they do. >> the treasury does not want you, as the seller of your old property, to have control over the proceeds from the sale. that money has to be used and poured into your replacement property, your new property. so, you must engage a qualified intermediary to hold the proceeds from the sale. both parties must recognize that this is a 1031 transaction. the contracts have to reflect that. that's about the only thing that the q.i. has to do is maintain control of those funds. now, the q.i. cannot be your broker, your attorney, your cpa, no one that you would have actual or constructive control over, because that would then collapse the transaction if you're deemed to have control over the money. >> if you don't designate in

that 180 days that new property, what's the impact? >> you have to close on the second transaction within 180 days of the first transaction. >> but you have then a 45-window period to designate that new property. >> that's correct. >> have you ever seen it in your experience where somebody hasn't designated it in a timely fashion, and, if so, what's the consequences, a tax? >> the regulations under 1031 are pretty complex, but they're designed to be sort of a safe harbor. and if you jump through all these hoops, and you do it timely, you qualify for the safe harbor. there's a land of limbo out there, however. if you have missed some of these deadlines, but you've still never had control over the money, and the properties were like kind, you might be able to make the case that this was in effect a like-kind exchange. you're looking then for the regulators to give you a pass,

basically. there's no guarantee you'll get that. so, it is legislative grace, and you've got to make sure that you qualify because unless you can prove that you have, you're not entitled to the deduction. >> when we come back, we'll review everything we learned today in the massi memo. [ woman vocalizing ] some cash back cards are, shall we say, unnecessarily complex. limiting where you can earn bonus cash back...

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♪ >> welcome back. i'm bob massi, the property man. and it's time now for the

massi memo. earlier, we talked about 1031 exchanges, which is the process of exchanging one property for another without getting slammed with a big tax bill. the detailed step-by-step is on our website, but what you need to know is many people get caught off guard by the tax implications of real-estate transactions. but there are times when you can avoid that by doing a 1031 exchange. an exchange usually involves swapping one piece of property for another through a middle person. and this third party holds the proceeds from your sale and then uses it to purchase the other property. so, technically, you never really make a profit, and it never touches your hands and can't be taxed. now, this is critical. you must designate some potential new properties that you're looking for to buy within 45 days of selling the old one and then close on one of them within six months. that's it for today. be sure to send me your questions or property stories at prortyman@foxnews.com and check out our website at

foxnews.com/propertyman. i'm bob massi. i'll see you next week. [ woman vocalizing ] >> i'm bob massi. for 32 years, i've been practicing law and living in las vegas. i help people with all sorts of real-estate problems, from trying to save their homes to closing major deals. eight years ago, 6,000 people a month moved here, looking for employment and affordable homes. little did anyone know that we would become ground zero for the american real-estate crisis. now, it's a different story. the american dream is back. we're gonna meet real people who faced the same problems as millions across america, and we'll dive deep into a city on the rebound because las vegas was a microcosm of america, and now vegas is back. [ woman vocalizing ]