All Forum Posts by: Chris Williams

@Paul Wachtler If it were just me, I'd have no problem doing this. However I have a girlfriend with a dog, who's ultra-protective of her. Doing a basement AirBNB's possible, depending on the property of course.

Appreciate all the advice. I hadn't planned on an LLC at this stage, but it's totally doable. I do have a local broker looking around the area for me, and I'm keeping an eye out.

Given all the current craziness, in the housing market and otherwise, I wanted to run an idea pas the BP Conglomerate.

I'm following this plan at present: Buy a small multifamily (2-4 units) property in Washington State for a house-hack. Live in one, rent the other/others to cover the mortgage and maybe a little cash flow. You know the process.

This would be my first deal, wherein I would live for a few years before refinancing, pulling the cash out, and start in on investment properties in the Midwest or South.

Pretty standard approach, right? Which is where I've hit a snag. My intended area (Vancouver, WA) has caught on to this approach. Small multifamilies are going like hotcakes. Snapped up in days, if not hours. I'm a patient man, but I've no idea how long this could take. Meanwhile prices keep rising...

So I wondered. What about a larger multifamily - 4 to 8 units, let's say. Would that work?

You don't see too many, I know, but they also seem to have fewer people buying them up. It's a bigger mortgage, but higher cash flow, and a little more of a cushion in terms of vacancy rates. I could free up a little extra cash by borrowing against my 401K to increase the down payment.

What do you think? Good idea? Disaster in the making?

Quick update - We're heading to Tacoma next week, from February 6-9, to look around the area.

Have a bit of an odd question, but...if you were looking for indications of the area's economic health & real estate market, where would you go?

Sadly, this is not a hypothetical. Thanks to some serious family troubles, my girlfriend needs to find a new place to rent.

She has two dogs. Medium-sized, one of which acts as a service dog for her (diabetic). The other is her dad's dog, but he stopped taking care of her.

They're your typical goofy love-bugs, so I'm not worried about them. What I am worried about is finding her a place that will take them.

We're in the Bay Area - where it's horrendously difficult to find anything reasonably-priced, let alone reasonably-priced + pet-friendly.

Given what I've learned from BP, many owners are rightly concerned about pet damage. I don't have an issue with a pet deposit...what I'd like to know is, is there anything else we can say/do to make it easier to find & get into a rental?

P.S. - I will likely have to move with her, to cover rent.

Does your lease specify a time period in which tenants must pay rent? (This may seem obvious, but it never hurts to ask.)

Insults aside, if he's violating the lease by continuing to pay late, then you have the right to evict. Sounds like he'll put up a fight though, so if you do, research the process for your state beforehand. Each state has its own rules about evictions.

If you're in a "tenant friendly" state, those rules will favor the tenant over you. Eviction could take months and cost you a good chunk of money. If this is the case, you could try directly negotiating with the tenant first.

Say something like, "Look, it's obvious this isn't working out. To make this easy, let me offer this - I give you back your deposit PLUS the last month's rent, in exchange for you moving out in 7/14/21 days." If he takes it, have him sign paperwork agreeing to the terms.

If he doesn't, then you start the eviction process. Best of luck.

Lawrence's advice is on the money here. There are plenty of places where 400k will go further than in WA (though overall the state's not bad). Columbus OH, Dallas TX, Tampa FL are all such areas...with many more.

If you do want to invest in WA, what about the Spokane area? I've heard it's doing pretty well.

@James Dishongh is a Vancouver-based agent, and investor-friendly.

As someone who's rented rooms in another major area (Silicon Valley), Ryan's right. Nobody ever wants to clean up. They also don't want to take care of the yard, if you have one. Invest in a cleaning service & a gardener, and incorporate the cost into the rent. 

Hope the house hack goes well! Please share whatever you find out from the city; I'd like to know about this too.

As soon as I heard the Oregon announcement, I dropped it from investment or move considerations. Wasn't high on the list for either, but that's a big no-sir from me. I'll invest places where they have a bare modicum of respect for people taking the risk of providing rentals.

I see Bitcoin as the harbinger for a larger, farther-reaching economic change. It spawned an entire currency market, much of which is more stable & better-running than Bitcoin itself. For instance, several cryptocurrencies exist for use in the real estate market. They're listed here: https://cryptoslate.com/cryptos/real-estate/

I hold a little bit of one, and a couple other cryptos. Mostly to see what happens down the line.