Olympia, WA · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 7k+ votes
5y
Hey @Jason Kim, with the eviction moratorium continuing for the foreseeable future, the last place I would do rentals is in WA state.
This is not a friendly place for investors and it will only get worse with time. There are plenty of people making it work so take what I say with a grain of salt. I am sure others will chime in with positive experiences.
There are more than a few stories about STR's getting hijacked once people are in there and there is very little you can do about it. Especially in King, Pierce and Snohomish county.
Olympia, WA · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 7k+ votes
5y
Hey @Jason Kim, with the eviction moratorium continuing for the foreseeable future, the last place I would do rentals is in WA state.
This is not a friendly place for investors and it will only get worse with time. There are plenty of people making it work so take what I say with a grain of salt. I am sure others will chime in with positive experiences.
There are more than a few stories about STR's getting hijacked once people are in there and there is very little you can do about it. Especially in King, Pierce and Snohomish county.
Olympia, WA · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 7k+ votes
5y
@Jason Kim, well I am not against investing here 100%. The biggest issues I see are prices, availability and the government attitude.
If you are going to do a rental, then you are on the hook for the moratorium. If you get someone in there who decides not to pay, then you are stuck. You are obviously a very rich investor so you can afford to not get paid right? Not likely, but that is what they think.
If I was going to do a rental in WA, I would look in areas that are strongly getaway oriented. You are still at risk, but it is way more likely to happen in a major metro area than let's say Ocean Shores, Longbeach, or Moclips.
Make sure you don't rent more than 30 days. That will put you in long term rental territory. It could be tempting to get that 30 day stay, but then you are on the hook.
You might do well doing some flips? That is a very different thing than we do in this part of the forums, but with skyrocketing values in our area, you might find a place. It is really hard to say.
My mother-in-law passed away last year. She had a small home in Longbeach a 5 minute walk from the beach. Her son is living there, but the house is falling down and he can't really keep it up or fix it. We are thinking of buying it from him, restoring the house then renting it like we do with our lake house. That is the only reason I would do something here.
New to Real Estate · Washington State · Member since 2021 · 12 posts · 8 votes
5y
@Michael Baum thanks for the input. I've thought about flips, but I have not put in enough work to find below market properties to make the numbers work.
I've thought about buying a lakehouse, but isn't the occupancy based on the season here in our state? Meaning there would be major vacancies for winter months. I'm having a hard time committing on a lakehouse type of deal because of this reason. What has been your experience with your lakehouse?
Olympia, WA · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 7k+ votes
5y
So our house is in Idaho on lake Coeur d'Alene. We bought it 4 years ago and the last 2 years have been gangbusters. Yes it is a seasonal rental but we are fully booked from May to Sept right now with bumper time bookings coming in for Oct this summer. It can be a bit of a crapshoot right now as values are WAAAAAY up. Hard to say if you can cut it or not with the market being so hot here in the northwest.
Investor · The worst town to live in, KS · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
5y
Have not done what you are asking. But I did rent out a 3 story house with 4 bathrooms to a bunch of pipefitters. If you don't know what a pipefitter is, they are ruffians. So am I. Every evening a woman would show up and put on a show with a vegetable.
Rental Property Investor · Seattle, WA · Member since 2017 · 383 posts · 248 votes
5y
You can still find some off-market BRRRs in Tacoma but for the most part that market is picked over. For STR's I'd look along Route 2 - prices are skyrocketing, but I have one in Monroe that does right by me.