Oregon Investor with some great info!
Hello everyone! My name is Oscar Cardenas and I am an investor and Realtor in Oregon. I currently own a duplex in Silverton, OR and am in the process of acquiring my next BRRRR in Albany, OR. I am here to introduce myself and give some nice current info that hasn't seemed to hit a lot of people yet.
First a bit of background. I have been listening to the podcast for a while but only recently started coming to the site.
I started my Real Estate journey straight out of High School right as the crash was hitting hard in 2007 with my first job being an administrative assistant in a real estate law office mostly handling evictions and collections. This being in San Bernardino, CA which declared bankruptcy. At the time this small office was handling 1000 evictions a month... fun... even had a guy come up to the office with a shotgun once.
after 3 years of working there I started College and was majoring to get an associates in Real Estate. A semester before finishing I switched to Robotics Engineering thinking I could get a nice wage as an engineer and invest on the side. 2 semesters before getting my B.S in Mechatronics in Cal State Chico, I got forced out of school due to financial aid being cut because undocumented students had a time limit of 2 years with financial aid that I did not know about in California. I had a 3.6 GPA at the time.
Having my future career taken away, I started car washing to support my wife through school while she got her Masters in Electrical Engineering and B.S in Physics. She graduated a year later and we moved to Oregon in Jan 2018.
She now has a good job and I got my realtors license about a week and a half after starting the course since I knew so much about Real Estate law from my previous job and had studied Real Estate during my engineering school days. So I became a Realtor approx a year and a half ago. About 6 months ago I became a US citizen. About 4 months ago we acquired our first Duplex in Silverton, OR. about 1 month ago I got braces to finally fix my teeth (important since I come from bad poverty). I am in the process of getting my second rental. I have now specialized in being an agent for investors and hope to work with you all!
NOW FOR THE NEW INFO!! Tips.
-Oregon coast is very affordable. Partially due to a lot of the coast being in a tsunami zone waiting for "the big one". Oregon had laws restricting the building of certain government facilities like fire stations, schools, ect in tsunami zones. Some lenders had trouble lending there since some insurance had trouble insuring there. Well, as of Juneish 2019 Oregon has opened op construction in Tsunami zones! The moment that was announced Oregon State University announced an expansion of their facility in Newport or. a 60 million dollar facility! Great potential for appreciation on the Oregon coast! Include me in any deals you have here haha.
- Oregon recently (julyish 2019) passed a law to allow duplexes to be built in Residential zoning of towns with over 10k people. Heck, I dont know for sure but I hear Portland will be allowing 4plexes as well. Salem only recently started allowing ADUs be built and they were paying for utility hookups for a limited time! think that time is over thouhg. I dont know what affect this new duplex law will have on things, but I am excited to see!
-National Association of Realtors recently passed rules (about a month or two ago) forcing realtors to list on the MLS any pocket listings 1 day after advertising it (to like an email list, a sign, ect). This means we will most likely not see nearly as many pocket listings where a realtor can provide off market deals. I predict this means you need to have a closer relationship with your realtors now to get off market deals. I don't know if they consider calling past investor clients about the pocket listing as "advertisement" so we will see. I don't believe Realtors should be holding onto pocket listings anyway since that has so much potential for breaking fiduciary duties going after both commissions unless the seller strictly states they want to stay off the MLS.
- Now about specific cities. I invested in Silverton, OR because I believe it is now very desirable and will be even more later. This city has access to things that are Anchors and provide tons of value. Oregon Gardens (largest botanical garden in the Salem area) and Silver Falls (the "crown Jewel" of Oregon).
-Towns to look out for. Independence, OR is one for sure. Independence has an attached city Monmouth. There is a very long history with the two. Monmouth is a college town and was a dry town until very recently. Independence was essentially the place to get booze and do crimes for the longest time lol. Very recently though, both cities have started redoing infrastructure. Independence started growing and the Downtown will essentially be twice its current size in the next 3-5 years. This was my first choice in investments, but sadly no deals popped up since Independence and Monmouth rentals are snatched up the second they appear.
Anyway, I can go on forever. Nice to meet you all and hope to meet some of you in real life! If you pass by Independence, my office is downtown!