All Forum Posts by: Brent Huling

I would agree with that.  Rentals are down this year compared to the last 2 in PS.  Not a huge concern as I use this home to vacation when not rented.  I know Bend well.  I have one rental there and it does well, but bought a long time ago.  I had an offer on a home last April for $1.6M.  It would have penciled out, but maybe $75k year net at best.  It already had a license, but wasn't being used and could be trasnferred.  I could have added a basement and another 1000 sq. ft. of living space to add more equity.  Just didn't feel right about it with the market changing last year and backed out on signing day.  It sat for 3 months and went for $1.3M after, so I made the right call.  It would have tied up a lot of capital and create a lot of stress. Wasn't worth it.

I will get a place in Bend next year, but I think I will have to do more of an Airbnbrrr.  The $1.5M homes last year will be closer to $1M. In order to get a decent deal, I will have to do some upgrades, add some square footage, etc. to create the value.  Problem with that are building permits are 6 months out there, so now you have holding time.  Or rent for less for a while, shut it down for 2 months, and then rent for more, refi, etc.  Not easy right now and everything is dependent on location.  

It is an interesting thing to look at. To give a comparison, I have a rental in the Palm Springs area. It is a cash cow. Purchased for $550k and could sell for $1M today 2.5 years later. It grosses around $200k per year. Would I buy this house now at $1M at 7%? No. If I did, could it still make money? Yes. I have made offers on at least a dozen houses over past year or so and most decent deals get bought out by investors. Last house I looked at, there were Bentleys, Mercedes, etc. up and down the street looking at a $700k house. Sold for around $900k cash and there were over 10 cash offers within a few days. Any good deal in this area now is cash only and if it can be a STR, it is going for a $200k premium with the investor crowd. Hard to find a deal that makes sense here right now. You would have to be extremely lucky, or some deep pockets. Just an example in one area.

You can sync yourself, or use a CMS like Guesty or others to do it.  On top of the synching on multiple platforms, the added features of auto responders, notifications, etc. is well worth it for me for $20 per month...at least for me.  My time is more valuable than doing things manually and risking a mix up as well.  I also add Pricelabs for dynamic pricing to further automate and maximize rents.  

For a short term rental in a sunny place, I would not buy a house that didn't have a pool.  It more than pays for itself.  Long term rental, different story.  I have a pool guy that comes twice a week to clean for $125 per month in Palm Springs.  My pool is always sparkling clean and I charge for usage to offset the gas costs.  My properties rent for over $1k per night, so you have to have a pool if you want to charge those prices.  

I will say, I went from being rented every weekend in 2021 to being 2 or 3 weekends full in 2022 and things are a bit slower in 2023.  80% of my listings used to be Airbnb, 20% VRBO.  Now, over 90% is VRBO and hardly anything on Airbnb.  I have reached out to Airbnb multiple times and not getting any help or answers.  I am a superhost too. Not worried about it, but I can't figure out why I have completely dropped out of Airbnb.

And I get the base in WA for no income tax.  I spend as much time in OR and CA as I do up here, but no way would I become a resident!  It would be cheaper to rent an apartment here and call it my home base than live in those states sadly.

If you are looking for only appreciation, these houses will appreciate over time for sure unless the tech industry blows up, which won't happen.  Klahanie area might be a good buy for an older house that you can fix up and create more value with.  Great neighborhoods, but older houses.  Easy to fix up.  I have a few agents that live here in the Highlands and sell houses only in this area, so they would be experts to talk to.  They would know the market better than anyone.  It is nice to walk everywhere including the restaurants and shops and be 30 minutes away from the mountains.  

RE will always appreciate here, but man, it is soooo over priced right now.  It needs a correction for sure.  I can't fathom how these 10-20 year old 2,000 sq. ft. homes are selling for 1.5M when they were built for under $500k originally.  Probably a personal thing as I should have been buying these things up long ago!

Happy to help if you want more intel.

Not sure you can make these numbers work in Issaquah Highlands.  I live here.  I have a friend who bought a few houses in a new development (Forest Ridge) for around $500k.  They are all over $1M now 6 years later, but are just cracker jack junk houses.  They squeak and rattle in the wind.  He rented one out for 5 years until his kids were out of high school and moved in.  Smart.  Rent covered the mortgage, house appreciated.  In my view, every house in the Highlands is highly overpriced.  Hard to find anything under $1.5M.  Yes, you can rent a 4 bedroom house for $4k per month, get depreciation, write-offs, etc.  But I just don't think these houses are going to appreciate for the next few years.  

I have a house in Bend and Palm Desert area too.  I mean with tech and Issaquah, it is possible the appreciation will continue, but it is hard to imagine. I personally would not buy a house for the prices right now in the area. These houses are soooo overpriced right now.  I think fundamentally you have a great idea, just not sure the Highlands is the best place to execute.  Further east in Snoqualmie or North Bend might work better.  New house in a new development would have the best chances of better appreciation, or a long term flip.

I've always thought there could be a need for a concierge for STR owners. Pay maybe $200-500 per month and they can do check in/outs, inventory after a checkout, monitor things, be the local contact, do gifts for incoming groups, etc.

Not a property manager, just another set of eyes and ears for your property if you are out of state. Would be a nice little business for someone.