All Forum Posts by: Brad Hammond

@Stephen Shigematsu, double-check the city's Airbnb rules, sometimes you need to live on the premise.  Also know that purchasing land within the urban growth boundery (UGB) is going to difficult and expensive.  Best of luck, let me know if you need help looking for properties.  

Hey @Keegan Gallagher.  I'll let you know when I have more info on the Zoom class.  Yes, you should check out Investor Lab, it is the local real estate meet up group for Portland.  I think it's $300/year and there are all levels of investors there. 

Hey @Kerry Bragg, that is a personal decision based on what you feel comfortable with but I'll give you my take on it.  I like long-term debt so I would put as little down as you can.  That is one of the best reasons to invest in real estate.  If your property goes up in value by $25,000 and you put $100,000 down, you made a 25% gain.  If you purchased it for $400,000 and the property value went up $25,000, you only made a 6.25% gain.  Also, your tenants are paying your mortgage off for you, so if you can have more properties with tenants doing that, the better off you are. I also like that a mortgage is a hedge against inflation if you are worried about that at all over the next 10 years.  

If you are looking for a higher monthly payout, then I think paying all cash or doing a higher downpayment makes more sense.  Take a look at your goals but debt will help with long-term wealth creation and paying in cash will help with short-term cash flow. 

Hey @Paul Bogdan, congrats on getting started at 22!  The first thing you will want to do is get out of that hard money loan ASAP since the interest rate will be so high.  Chances are you will need to wait 6-12 months to "season" the property before you can refinance but talk with your lender.  Once you've paid off your hard money loan, take whatever is leftover and invest that into your next property.  

@Gregory Oliver, I have helped a few clients purchase a house hack the past few months. Here are some things to look for in a SFH house hack:

1. 4 bedroom, 2 bath (Minimum of 2 full bathrooms per person)

2. Open kitchen, not the thin, galley style ones

3. Depending on how many teammates/roommates you have, look for one with an ADU.

4. Something with an unfinished basement will give you flexible space. 

No, I didn't learn how to do comps when getting my license, I learned on the job.  Honestly, you don't learn anything useful for investing in the licensing process.  I think of it more as a barrier to entry than anything.  If you are not planning on doing deals for other people, I don't think it is worth it to get your license.  These days you can get most of the info on a property you need from any of the home searching websites.  Besides the 200 online course hours it took just to sit for the exam, it costs me about $1500/year to keep my license.  After you pay all your transaction fees and taxes, you are looking to net about 1% of the property price.  

In my opinion, you should partner with an agent that you work well with and have them set you up with a search based on your criteria (be as specific as possible). You will be getting a "one sheet" or "MLS listing" emailed to you. If you have the agent send you the agent version instead of the client version it as a little more information.

Hey @George Yagappa, I had a condo rental in Westminster for years. That one was built in 1983 though. Here is the best thing about condos, if anything inside the walls (the foundation) need repair, they will take care of it. Just make sure the HOA has enough funds. You will have access to their books when you are under contract and you can exit the transaction if you are not satisfied. If the unit needs a cosmetic rehab, just make sure you account for that in your numbers. Just note that you are responsible for windows if they need to be replaced. I don't think you should worry about an older condo as long as it has a good layout.

Hey @Elliott Holdosh, I'd be happy to walk you through how to run comps.  Basically, your goal is to find as many recent sales (3 months) as close to the subject property as possible (.5 miles).  I'm assuming this is in an urban area but if not, expand these as needed.

You want to find 7-10 properties that closely reflect what your property will look like once the repairs are done.  Take a look at Zillow (or whatever your preferred platform is) at recent solds, pending sales, and currently for sale.  Most of your properties should be solds with 1 or 2 pendings and/or currently for sales.  Make sure you have the bedroom/bathroom count the same and square footage within a couple hundred.  The further you get outside of the subject home's criteria the harder it is.  Also, make sure the condition is close to what you will be doing.  

Just know that comping is mostly an art with a little bit of science mixed in.  It is going to be your opinion based on facts.   

@Paul C., I don't think that is too big of a deal for what you are concerned with.  I'm wondering if there was an unpermitted addition or covered porch that wasn't permitted with the city?  If you tell the county clerk, you might be asking for a tax increase.  As far as resale goes, what does your last listing say?  Upon resale, I would have your agent use the 2,800 ft and tell the buyers to verify.  

Hey @Tom Port, I would look at the requirements and the annual costs to see if it is worth it to you.  For me, it was 250 studying hours and costs about $1,500/year to maintain.   The things they teach you don't help you in investing whatsoever.  In my opinion, if you partner with a good agent, they should be able to do everything you need.