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All Forum Posts by: John Barrett

John Barrett has started 3 posts and replied 437 times.

Post: How do I get started?

John BarrettPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Everett, WA
  • Posts 445
  • Votes 378

@ZZ Song I would not start your investing journey by focusing on the legal structure / entity or by getting an attorney / CPA. Instead, I would get really clear on the specific investment type you are interested in perusing.  Once you know what you are looking for, you can start to narrow down geographic areas.

Only after you have gotten a property (or more likely a few properties) would I start looking at the other elements (asset protection & tax management).  You will be able to decide the best strategy based on what you actually own vs some theoretical portfolio of investments.  Prior to having assets to manage or protect, you are simply spending money without any clear benefit to you.

John

Post: Is Washington DC viewed as a landlord friendly city?

John BarrettPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Everett, WA
  • Posts 445
  • Votes 378

@Joe Nepomuceno My understanding is that Washington DC is considered a tenant friendly state.  I would look up the local rental housing association for WA DC and join.  This is the easiest way to ensure you are up to date on all the latest regulations.  Often these associations have classes, networking and even leases available.

Best of luck,

John

Post: National Rent Control Coming?

John BarrettPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Everett, WA
  • Posts 445
  • Votes 378

@Adrian Clapp Rent control always fails wherever it’s tried because it’s goal is to separate the profit motive from housing. This ignores that when you incentivize people to provide housing you get more of it and the quality of the housing is better.

This press release, like the many bills being floated in legislatures around the country are almost all for show. They are a way to virtue signal without having to do the real work of fixing the thorny underlying problems (environmental restrictions / zoning issues). The other legislators who actually think this is a good idea are the real problem. They are immune to the facts that what they are doing hurt the people they claim to be trying to help.

Post: Looking for Greater Seattle Area Investors to Connect With

John BarrettPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Everett, WA
  • Posts 445
  • Votes 378
Quote from @Bradley Dosch:

Hey Kobe, I live and house hack in the city of Snohomish. Work everywhere in the greater seattle area. We're having a meetup on Thursday. Happy to connect!

 @Bradley Dosch Where do you normally have your meetups? Are they in Snohomish area?

John

Post: Looking for Greater Seattle Area Investors to Connect With

John BarrettPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Everett, WA
  • Posts 445
  • Votes 378

@Kobe McDaniel I am a multifamily investor in Snohomish County.  Feel free to reach out with questions.

John 

Post: WA State Rent Control Bills in committee NOW (Jan 22 2023) : HB 1388 and HB 1389

John BarrettPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Everett, WA
  • Posts 445
  • Votes 378

@Brian Hughes I have provided responses to both bills and will attend today's meeting virtually.  I have long provided straight forward logical analysis of the consequence for these terribly thought out pieces of legislation.  For this bill, beyond the normal comment, I provided the following.

HB 1388

Thank you for finally addressing the shortage of housing in WA by creating an even worse morass of overly complex legislation that will further harm the average resident. Your complete ignorance of and disregard for the basic rules of economics, supply and demand are certain to lead to the utopian vision of overly abundant housing our state so desperately needs. While many might scoff at the idea that someone can arbitrarily dictate that all rental prices will follow the CPI-U, you have boldly chosen to assert yourself and demand that the world conform to your ideas. Congratulations, the dismal science of economics holds no sway over you! History is filled with an abundant number of examples where governments have chosen to ignore economic reality in order to deliver unparalleled prosperity to their citizenry. If you can’t find any, then it’s clear that none of those “other” leaders were as brilliant, charismatic, social media conscious, oblivious to reality or frankly anywhere near as good looking as you.

To those who might point out the obvious logical fallacy in your proposed legislation, it is clear they simply do not understand the power of this legislature to demand laws of economics be suspended whenever or in whatever fashion are necessary when they conflict with your vision of the world. Thankfully after the successful passage of this legislation and the other House and Senate bills of equivalent quality, the residents of WA will no longer have to worry about prices of anything rising faster than CPI-U (between 3%-7%). Finally, the world will be put on notice that only our legislators will decide what prices are allowed to increase in our State.

By crafting a bill this incredibly vague with little to no explanation as to how or who will decide what costs are “necessary to maintain the dwelling unit” or “substantially likely to force a tenant household to move or involuntarily relocate”, you have guaranteed ample employment opportunities for attorneys to argue both for and against this. Just like that this dreg of a piece of legislation has now made you a job creator!

Like the missing member of a group project who contributes nothing to the finished assignment but demands to present the material to the class; you are giving our court system the opportunity to shine by spending years and huge sums of money litigating this legislation. Undoubtedly, they will take this opportunity to evolve your atrocious piece of legislative tripe into something far worse.

Clearly claiming the power to reshape the rules that govern reality (economic & otherwise) is highly dangerous and can only be entrusted in your “highly capable” hands. Going forward it is clear that legislature will need to address the fact that many people have chosen to relocate to WA for employment opportunities. I have full confidence that you will address this issue of increased “demand” for housing no less eloquently than you have address price controls in this legislation. As such, when can the residents of WA expect your new legislation to require all people relocating to our beautiful state to bring their housing with them? Additionally, any insight into where you will create / manifest the new land these incoming dwelling units to occupy would be greatly appreciated. I assume all of this will be handled via legislative decree but wanted to clarify, asking for a friend.

It has been said that “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men and weak men create hard times.” While many people worry about the future of our State, it is clear based on your leadership that we will soon have the opportunity create many more strong men and women. Until they can come along to lead us back to good times, keep up the great work!

Post: WA Rental Laws - How to Respond to Legislation - Public Comments

John BarrettPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Everett, WA
  • Posts 445
  • Votes 378

@Henry T. I completely understand your reaction to this.  There are actually a number of different bills HB 1388 and HB 1389, along with a few other senate bills of equivalent "quality" that the legislature is trying to pass this session.

Given the level of absurdity to the rules they are trying to pass one could honestly think it was a joke but unfortunately it's not. If this was actually a good idea or something that would work in real life, everywhere with rent control would have zero issues with housing. Also, why wouldn't they be mandating that gas stations and grocery stores do the same?

Post: WA Rental Laws - How to Respond to Legislation - Public Comments

John BarrettPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Everett, WA
  • Posts 445
  • Votes 378

@Henry T. That's a very valid point.  I will working condensing it going forward.

Apparently WA state tool for searching legislation does not allow to link directly to the bill.  Here are a few links if you would like some details on this legislation or want to provide some feedback to the legislature.

https://app.leg.wa.gov/csi/Tes...

https://files.constantcontact....

John

Post: WA Rental Laws - How to Respond to Legislation - Public Comments

John BarrettPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Everett, WA
  • Posts 445
  • Votes 378
Hello,

I live in WA state and we have a long proud history of proposing and passing poorly though out legislation which has long exacerbated the under building of new housing.  The result has been a widening gap between new class A rents and the dwindling supply of "naturally affordable" housing.  I generally provide written comments but have not seen any response.  Here is my new approach.  Suggestions  / comments or general notes welcome.

John

Link to legislation:
https://search.leg.wa.gov/sear...

HB 1388

Thank you for finally addressing the shortage of housing in WA by creating an even worse morass of overly complex legislation that will further harm the average resident. Your complete ignorance of and disregard for the basic rules of economics, supply and demand are certain to lead to the utopian vision of overly abundant housing our state so desperately needs. While many might scoff at the idea that someone can arbitrarily dictate that all rental prices will follow the CPI-U, you have boldly chosen to assert yourself and demand that the world conform to your ideas. Congratulations, the dismal science of economics holds no sway over you! History is filled with an abundant number of examples where governments have chosen to ignore economic reality in order to deliver unparalleled prosperity to their citizenry. If you can’t find any, then it’s clear that none of those “other” leaders were as brilliant, charismatic, social media conscious, oblivious to reality or frankly anywhere near as good looking as you.

To those who might point out the obvious logical fallacy in your proposed legislation, it is clear they simply do not understand the power of this legislature to demand laws of economics be suspended whenever or in whatever fashion are necessary when they conflict with your vision of the world. Thankfully after the successful passage of this legislation and the other House and Senate bills of equivalent quality, the residents of WA State will no longer have to worry about prices of anything rising faster than CPI-U (between 3%-7%). Finally, the world will be put on notice that only our legislators will decide what prices are allowed to increase in our State.

By crafting a bill this incredibly vague with little to no explanation as to how or who will decide what costs are “necessary to maintain the dwelling unit” or “substantially likely to force a tenant household to move or involuntarily relocate”, you have guaranteed ample employment opportunities for attorneys to argue both for and against this. Just like that this dreg of a piece of legislation has now made you a job creator!

Like the missing member of a group project who contributes nothing to the finished assignment but demands to present the material to the class; you are giving our court system the opportunity to shine by spending years and huge sums of money litigating this legislation. Undoubtedly, they will take this opportunity to evolve your atrocious piece of legislative tripe into something far worse.

Clearly claiming the power to reshape the rules that govern reality (economic & otherwise) is highly dangerous and can only be entrusted in your “highly capable” hands. Going forward it is clear that legislature will need to address the fact that many people have chosen to relocate to WA for employment opportunities. I have full confidence that you will address this issue of increased “demand” for housing no less eloquently than you have address price controls in this legislation. As such, when can the residents of WA expect your new legislation to require all people relocating to our beautiful state to bring their housing with them? Additionally, any insight into where you will create / manifest the new land these incoming dwelling units to occupy would be greatly appreciated. I assume all of this will be handled via legislative decree but wanted to clarify, asking for a friend.

It has been said that “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men and weak men create hard times.” While many people worry about the future of our State, it is clear based on your leadership that we will soon have the opportunity create many new strong men and women. Until they can come along to lead us back to good times, keep up the great work!


Post: Looking to sell my triplex

John BarrettPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Everett, WA
  • Posts 445
  • Votes 378

@Clayton Swansen really a bit of a mixed bag at the moment.  Positive is that there are not a lot of multifamily properties for sale and prices are still high.  Challenge is that mortgage rates are also high which has dramatically increased the monthly payment for borrowers. 

If I were in your position, I would target having the property listed April / May time frame next year and go after someone who would want to be an owner occupant. Things to consider are implementing a plan to get rents to market rate and addressing any maintenance issues. Hire a good agent and make sure they have a solid plan for marketing the property based of recent / reasonable comps.  Otherwise your listing will not get views and will become stale.

Best of luck,

John