All Forum Posts by: Garlynn Woodsong

 Account Closed, they have been coming very slowly. The delays caused by the City of Portland's Bureau of Development Services' failure to follow state law and issue permits within 120 days (http://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/227.178) meant that we got pushed into the rainy season for excavations. And what a rainy season! More delays, as we had to do what we never wanted to do... dig during the wet months. As a result, we are only now beginning to move beyond foundation work towards project completion.

So, lots of lessons we are continuing to learn here, the hard way (the only way?)... including the need to structure each project incrementally, such that there is a way to earn cash flow to cover holding costs during the design & permitting period.

In the meantime, however, the market is continuing to rise, so I'm not questioning whether these are good projects. Our procedural manuals moving forward will be based on some very relevant initial experiences!

cheers,

~Garlynn

Indeed; even with all the multifamily activity, the data I've seen indicates that we're still far behind the demand curve. We will need to step up the pace of unit production a little bit more just to meet the annual increase in demand this year, then up a bit more next year, and even more the year after that, if we want to not only meet the annual increase, but begin to catch up with the backlog of demand from previous years. 

Further, I've seen some data that indicate that townhomes with sufficient outdoor space could begin to meet demand from demographic segments that are generally considered to prefer single family detached products (families with children, etc). 

Because it is a market segment that is not usually broken out and studied by itself, I believe that flats in structures with 3-5 units that look like single family homes and have yards could also potentially meet this demand tranche, if need be.

I will definitely provide more information on the projects currently underway as they continue to progress!

cheers,
~Garlynn

 Hi Mike,

I agree that 82+ is more ideal than 70. However, I have found plenty of good neighborhoods in the 70s range, where the walkscore is slightly lower not due to any inherent flaw in the neighborhood (such as poor street layout), but rather due to a shortage of nearby walkable destinations. If I feel that the neighborhood is up-and-coming, and other fundamentals are good, then I would still consider something above 70 but below 82!

I'm active in Concordia, the Northeast Coalition, as well as citywide in a couple of capacities.

cheers,
~Garlynn

Hi folks,

I'm Garlynn Woodsong, and I live in NE Portland, Oregon. I have a background in regional planning and geography, which has given me a laser-focus on developing real estate options to meet the changing demands of the market, driven by larger demographic, social, and economic trends. Specifically, in this decade, we (real estate folks) just can't build enough residential rental real estate in walkable areas to keep up with demand. No matter how hard we try, demand is so far above supply, that the best we can hope for is to make a profit on every new unit we bring to market. That, my friends, is a good problem to have.

Accordingly, my focus is finding distressed properties, adding units to them, and bringing them to market. I like areas with a walk score of 70 or above, and similarly good transit and bicycling scores. I'm willing to consider other locations, however, if they are exceptional for a less-quantifiable reason (and otherwise pencil as a good deal).

I have been at this for a little over a year. My company has two properties currently going through permitting, and another that is wrapping up design and engineering, about to begin permitting. Once we have solved the financial puzzle for those three properties, we would like to add a fourth to the pipeline -- then a fifth, and a sixth, and so on.

I have a great contractor, but he is a specialist, so I'm open to meeting other contractors who may have capacity to work on rehabs in the near future (3-6 months out), especially if they have a laser focus on keeping costs low but quality high.

I also like meeting new potential private investors, other developers, and anybody else with an interest in this stuff.

I have a four-year-old son, and am active in my neighborhood association and other community activities. I tend to stay busy.

Working to make better communities, one property at a time. Let's make this happen.

cheers,
~Garlynn