All Forum Posts by: Hannah Atherton

Hi @Nate Kovaly I live in Portland, Oregon - similar in terms of higher prices (appreciation market, not cash flow) and landlord tenant laws. I'm a landlord and I'm also pro tenant rights (I was one for a long time). As long as you're educated (I'm sure there are landlord associations there that provide resources), it's actually a benefit to you. To be an investor, you're solving a problem - and in your market, one of the problems you're solving is other people don't want to be the landlord there because of the regulations - so you become the expert on them and use that as your super power (or pay a management company). Secondly, is $400/month in cash flow in an area that appreciates maybe $10,000/year or less something you're looking for? Or no or little cash flow to capture $40,000+ appreciation each year, owner occupy for 2 years and sell in 5 years cashing out massive appreciation?  Keep your personal expenses low where you don't have to rely on the cash flow and you can go the longer term plan for a larger impact to your wealth.

Hi @Gilda L. Sauceda It was really hard for me to start as well until I met a real estate agent who was an investor themselves. She gave me the missing piece - a spreadsheet to run through the numbers in an easy way. I'm happy to share that with you and set up a time to run through it! It was the single most important part that tipped me over into investing. 

The last I spoke with my lender this week (who works mostly with investors), they advised a HELOC over a refi at this point in time with the interest rates as they are.

@Connor ODay the only thing I would add to @Wayne Brooks is that your GF and Son can each start their own business by creating a Sole Proprietorship or whatever entity formation works easiest for each of them (you can consult a lawyer as well to form it but should be able to do on your own as well). She can look on the Secretary of State Website for Nevada. Not sure if they'll allow this website paste but: https://www.nvsos.gov/sos/busi...

Agreed with much of what's been said. Only thing I'll add is that I've heard of this only in areas (such as Bend, OR) where there are limited supply of permits for STR properties. I have not had experience with the verbiage around inheriting the VRBO listing. Agreed with @Nathan Gesner that the performance over the last 2 years is hard to base such an increase on.

A home I wouldn't live in personally.

The market for multifamily investors is changing right now. It's providing an opportunity for owner occupied multiplex owners in the Portland market (and across other markets). Owner occupied buyers are able to capture a lower interest rate and a lower down payment (3.5-5 % down, which might give you cash left over or enable you to raise your purchase price to beat out cash buyers). Certain portfolio loans (hopefully you can find one in your market) are able to pay off your PMI at closing. Non-owner occupied buyers have to put more money down (25%+) and additionally buy down points on their interest to combat the higher interest rates and get close to cash flow. So, in our market - those with access to an owner occupied portfolio loan are coming up on top. The duplex market, while it still experiences overflow from single family buyers, is easing up with competition from non-owner occupied investors.

If you're looking to call around lenders in your area - a Portfolio loan is a loan product that a lender originates and keeps in house instead of selling on the secondary market to Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac - so they can follow their own rules/interest rates. You can ask what portfolio loans a lender might offer to start you tracking down your deal! 

I use Zelle. I concur with having a separate bank account for this. You can have a bank account that's for the mortgage and rent. You and your tenant will pay that account each month and your mortgage will come from that account. Zelle is supported by most banks and transfers happen instantaneously. Apartments.com gave me problems, so I just shifted away from it and set reminders for myself to make sure rent is in. Set autopay for your mortgage for the 8th or so, which gives plenty of time for rent to get sorted out. Good luck!

@Gunner Rutherford Because of these types of challenges, I have handypeople/contracts communicate only with me and specifically say not to communicate with the renters. Hope that helps for the future! You are the owner, the state of your asset is your business. You're clearly a responsible landlord who is doing your due diligence and getting things fixed, so it's not necessary for tenants to know things that aren't a harm to them. That was nice of you to offer to clean this, but cleaning up there isn't necessary either. Best of luck!

I agree with @Kelly Asmus - an owner occupied duplex would be great! I would also consider getting a home now, capturing the appreciation, refinancing that down the road while it's still a primary and then buying another. My caveats are: don't buy in a location that will be not desireable or a house that's a little strange - those will be harder to sell down the line, and don't get something that needs a bunch of work (like @Matt K.mentioned). Also, I'd consider lowering your down payment using a conventional loan at 5% down. Say you purchase something at $550k (is that achievable there?) using $27,500 down. With appreciation at a conservative 5%/year - you're sitting on $150,000k - that's seems well worth the $27,500 down and a few hundred in PMI/month.