All Forum Posts by: Alex Chin

@Karen L. - I am going to echo what @Lane Kawaoka said and add that while you may be able to find the occasional cash-flow property, it is not possible to consistently add to your portfolio here. Neighborhoods where traditional buy-holds are more palatable are generally either north in Snohomish County, or south of Seattle.

Personally, I like Tacoma for slightly riskier, but higher reward type properties. Renton is on the cusp of joining Seattle-Bellevue I think. Kent-Auburn will provide unspectacular, but solid targets for an SFR investor.

I would also take a look at Burien, Des Moines, and Federal Way. Never studied the area myself, but have heard good things from others.

Hello @Christopher Hu and welcome to the PNW! Congratulations on the job.

"NYC is a tough place to get started in investment since it's super competitive and very pricey." - so...I hate to break it to you about the whole super competitive and pricey thing, but... :)

The Seattle area has been white-hot as far as rising home prices go, great news for the savvy flipper or talented wholesaler, not so great news if you're into traditional buy-hold investing as home prices have far outstripped the ability of rents to keep up.

If you're looking for an informal meet-up to attend, @Troy Fisher and @Tiffany Plovie run a great series of get togethers in Kirkland/Seattle while their colleague @Kevin C. is passing the torch down in Tacoma-Lakewood.

Cheers and good luck!

@Louis Schotemeyer - your profile says you're from California, please be aware that this thread is concentrating on the Puget Sound area in Washington.

Hey @Greg Harriman.

I am just a small time guy and haven't run into DTI issues yet, truly sorry, but I can't really help you with specifics. If you are looking for a lender to talk to about these kinds of things, I can definitely refer you to a mortgage broker I know who is accustomed to working with investors.

Hello @James Wilson, @Greg Harriman.

If you haven't already, you should read up on the BRRRR strategy, it's pretty simple but has a lot of potential for your situation, and it nicely sidesteps the DTI ratio issue:

Buy: with hard money, advantage here is that the property is paid for with cash, so you can just put in an LLC immediately.

Rehab: either with the loan or your capital

Rent: get a tenant in

Refinance: ideally, start this process as soon as you buy, look to cash-out and essentially have a new property at 25% down, on a nice 30-yr. term.

Repeat!

If you are looking to finance through a regular bank or mortgage broker, I do have a contact who has been pretty good about working with investors and may be able to help you. If you'd like, I will message his contact info to you and you can see if he will meet your needs.

Hello @Rebecca Johnson.

If you are interested in partnering on a flip, I would suggest figuring out what do you bring to the table BESIDES energy and enthusiasm? 

The hard reality is that most folks looking for a partner want that partner to bring something concrete. Are you well capitalized? Do you have experience managing a GC or are one? Can you keep a project on/under budget and on time with deliverables? Are you adept at finding funding sources or off-market deals?

Once you've determined what your advantage is, then you'll have a more concrete place to work from to find a partner.

I would also echo @Nathan Robbins' advice, there are monthly BP Meet-Ups in the Seattle, Eastside, and Tacoma areas where local investors will have a free, informal gathering to talk shop, pass around deals, and find partners. @Tiffany Plovie, @Kevin C., and @Troy Fisher run the meets, you can also find details when they are posted under the Community>Networking Events tab.

Cheers and good luck!

@Kevin C.

Your friend is correct in that the market has heated up enough to where all the low-hanging fruit has been plucked, at least as far as small multifamily properties go. There aren't any more quick and easy finds.

The last statement, about not having the mortgage covered even by three renters, will only apply if your purchase price was too high (which is kinda related to the temperature of the market). Before buying, you should always have a good sense for the rental rate and the three renters should be able to cover the mortgage as well as your cash reserves for repairs/capex.

Another thing you will have to find is an agent who is willing to work with investors, and that often means submitting many many offers that are considerably below list price. A lot of residential real estate agents will end up not being good partners in these endeavors

Hey @Randy White. @Anthony Angotti has some good advice, I would add that the closing process can easily drag out over the course of a month or more, so you will have time to potentially work with a buyer to figure out what will best suit their needs in buying the property.

With that in mind, I would keep the tenants in place and then let the buyer know that they have the option of keeping or moving them to leases as they choose.

Out of curiosity for myself, what is the general location of your property and selling timeline? I will be in the market for a small-multifamily myself at some point after the summer if my plans work out.

I will try to attend, although the 1hr. drive between Seattle and Olympia means I'll probably have to leave early.

Hello @Aaron Nelson and welcome to the site.

For networking events and opportunities, I would direct you to the Community>Networking Events tabs at the top of the page. @Troy Fisher, @Tiffany Plovie, @Kevin C. run the local meet-ups for the Eastside, Seattle, and Tacoma-Lakewood respectively.

Since you've already started to focus in on rental properties in the Puget Sound region, I would recommend you start looking into budgeting. Realistically speaking, what sort of financial commitment are you willing to make to your first investment (and keep in mind, this is not some sort of challenge. I know that I did not allocate anywhere NEAR as much as I could have to my first investment because I wanted to limit my exposure in a new field). Once you've determined your budget, work backwards from there with the assumption that you'll be putting 25% down on the property, and that you need to budget for potential repairs, closing costs, and basic investment start-up costs.

When you have your budget, or possibly before you've determined a budget, I would contact a real estate agent who can sit down with you and start looking at price points in different areas that you are interested in. Be prepared by having a basic understanding of rental unit pricing and you're all set to find a list of potential that you can run numbers on to nail down what you'll offer on. If you would like an agent recommendation, I would be happy to message contact info for one who has a lot of energy, is an excellent communicator, and has a solid network of the basic contacts you would expect of an agent.

Cheers, and good luck!