All Forum Posts by: Brandon Vukelich

Hey @Joey Klusmann , you are correct. Prices remain elevated and depending on where you are targeting, it will be $550K+ for any "ok" duplex around Pierce, Kitsap and Thurston Counties. Not really going to find prices that low for a starter multifamily in King or SnoCo. Often the numbers don't support it because some investors still try to get into a deal with 20-25% but in reality, it's more like 30%+ to get to positive cash flow. You need to review a lot of opportunities to find ones to pencil. Even if you could find a low down payment financing option, it usually won't work unless you don't mind running negative for awhile.

The "Pacific Northwest" is a pretty broad area. I watch all multifamily 2+ units up to about $7,500,000 between Everett and Olympia. If you're looking for someone in Bellingham, Vancouver/Portland or Spokane, I may be able to refer some brokers. Alternatively, you can use the "find an agent" feature here on BP or you can check 3rd party listing sites for brokers listing the types of properties in your areas of interest and contact them directly. Best wishes on your journey!

Now that we have a statewide rent stabilization (control) bill in Washington that went into effect immediately upon signature (May 7, 2025), love to hear your predictions on investment property values. No prizes if you're right and no consequences if you're wrong. What will be our market trends? Just thoughts, comments, etc. that may help us investors and agents consider market conditions going forward.

I'm running numbers on multifamily opportunities where many have massively lagging rent rolls. For example, rents are $1200 but current market rents should be $1600. New regs restrict rent hikes at 7%+CPI or 10%, the lesser of the two. Latest Seattle CPI checked in at 1.7% so the most a $1200 rent could be bumped in 2026 is 8.7% or about $104 to $1304. If CPI remains the same for two years out, the next possible max increase is $113 to $1417. That's for a 2027 renewal and the property owner would still be $183 short of 2025's $1600 market rent.

I don't see how prices for occupied properties with significantly under market rents cannot come down. I'd be concerned that the current or new owner will be playing ongoing catch up on the rents for years. "Proforma" for year two or selling the upside on rents is now limited. Potential sellers will need to keep their rents as close to market as possible or provide vacant units for a buyer to place tenants at market rates. The only way to achieve market rents on these properties will be via at turnover or serving notice to terminate tenancies due to substantial rehab of the unit(s).

Correct, NWMLS is not NAR owned. Agreed, a lot of fear, confusion, etc. after the NAR lawsuit circus. We are pretty much status quo for the most part out here.

Not totally accurate @Steve K. about a buyer's agent can no longer see commission. We (in the NWMLS) still publish buyer broker commissions being offered. It is not visible on 3rd party sites but we (agents) see it on our end. However, we are seeing more "request in offer" being stated than a percentage or fixed dollar amount. 

Agree with your comments about the proposed commission "stair stepping" thing. Especially for a $200k-ish property. After splits, taxes and fees most agents would hardly take home much even if 3% was offered. At 1-2%, I'd rather refer out my potential buyer and let another agent do all the work and give me some tiny referral for not having to manage the transaction.

Welcome @Kevin Ballowe! We all start somewhere so good for you to getting your ducks lined up to get started. I'm local-ish (Port Orchard) and like connecting with investors, beginners to well seasoned vets. Happy to chat biz anytime you'd like. Just a heads up, the flipping space is still extremely competitive in the greater Puget Sound region. I just toured an off market duplex in Bremerton this morning and there were over a dozen parties there. Best wishes on your journey. Keep repairing those subs!

@Allan C. that assumes CPI stays positive. It ran negative in 2015 so there may be times rent can't be bumped at a full 7 percent. Fortunately, recent CPI trends shows that the max should allow in the 7-10% range.

@Bill B. there isn't really much of an issue for 1st year market rent renewals. Most agree that 7%+ is more than most landlords would normally bump newer, market rent tenants for year 2 or 3 that they wish to renew & have stay anyway. When I owned a PM business in Seattle, we ranged between 0-5% at renewals for great tenants that we wanted to retain. The main issue with all of this are the 1000s and 1000s of tenants currently paying well under market rent (i.e. $1000 when they should be $1600) and the years it will take to catch them up, even at 10% a year rent hikes. I'm mainly considering buyers/new owners of rental properties and inheriting the seriously lagging rent rolls.

Prices for many properties with under market rents will need to come down as buyers will have their hands tied trying to increase rents in a timely manner other than via potential turnover. We'll see...

Hey @Sean Smith, quick correction to this: 

owner-occupied duplex, triplex, and fourplexes are exempt.

I attended an RHA event yesterday and both attorneys (Sean Flynn and Chris Cutting) leading the seminar could not confirm this applies to all 2-4 unit properties. The best they could say at this time was that they "may" be exempt. So we can't count on it yet. 

@Allan C. - you are correct about undisciplined operators (more like older, less proactive owners) will need to discount their properties. Ran numbers on a deal today with rents at $1100 that should be $1500 but now we can't bump more than ~$77/mo. Going to take a long time to get to $1500 so prices MUST start reconciling with our new regs.

Another terrible part about all of this is notice requirements: certified mail on ALL. 

Some new laws went into effect May 7 but some are pushed to July 27. But of course with normal terrible new policies there are some overlapping and vague issues that will need to be sorted out. #hotmess

How do we get more details? Please send a DM.

Happy to help if the process is quick and easy. Send me a DM.

You don't need to pay for a course. My licensed assistant is also my TC and I'm happy to share her template, process, etc. Send me a DM if you'd like. She was using Trello but may be using something else within our new CRM. Also, we just use Google drive to share/store transaction folders. She also places deadlines and reminders on my Google calendar. Best wishes on your journey!