Introduction - Newbie to the Tacoma Market

[Bryan Close]

Hey everyone! First day here on the BP scene and loving all the inspiring stories, wealth of knowledge and openness of everyone to share ideas! I spent the first 10 years of my career managing commercial properties in Bellevue. Relocated down to the 253 about 3 years ago and soon lost the desire to help other wealthy people manage their assets. In the past 18 months, I’ve Co-founded a general contracting company where we perform a variety of services at commercial / residential properties (TI projects, general maintenance and repairs, etc.). I’m making the jump to full time at the new company in a few months with the goal of expanding our business into the house flipping market with the intent of learning the in’s and outs of flipping. Ideally in the next 1-2 years we will be under contract on our first rehab project. I’m very interested in the idea syndicated investments. As I’m a licensed broker, I’m also kicking around the idea of opening my own brokerage out of my home office, but not quite sure if thats a viable option or if it’ll be worth my time. All that being said, I look forward to networking with you all, learning a lot and attending some of the meet ups!

[Christen G.]

Originally posted by @Bryan Close:

Hi @Christen G. thanks for the kind words! If you ever need anything contractor wise, just let me know! We cover pretty much all of Western Washington! Did you start with multi-families? How's your experience been with the Tacoma market? That's our ideal target area when we look to start investing here in a year or so. 

I started in Seattle with my home - then a small vacation place up north (which we also STR) and then yes, for investments, my partner and I started in Tacoma MFH.

So far, so good but not without the usual trials and tribulations that come with starting a new enterprise. The average tenant that we're seeing is a bit different than I'm used to to personally (B/B- properties and the dramas that come with those. read: screening tenants is very important, a lot of these folks don't have checking accounts -- so paying rent online is not an option and waiting for checks is a thing). We also inherited tenants at both locations and needed to evict in one and not re-new a lease in another due to the condition of the units. As a result, we had some unexpected / un-budgeted reno costs but we had a pad and are willing to invest in these places for the long term. I'm hoping to have the 2nd place fully occupied by mid Feb and be cash-flowing.  

I'm a big fan of the city itself: blue-collar, hard-working with growth everywhere. Great breweries, great restaurants and bars, local sports teams and overall really friendly people.