All Forum Posts by: Julie Marquez

@Bruce Runn That warms my heart, because everything I have I learned directly from my dad. He was also a strong believer in the 4/2 mile rule. It makes it easy to cart around my tools from garage shop to building to building just across the street. I love the family aspect of this business and I'm excited to teach it all to my son and daughter.

@Kevin Mahoney Does my job title of Project Engineer for a large GC qualify? I'm a CM major from U of WA, but it's in the College of Built Environments with architecture and urban planning. I can't think of a better background for real estate investing!

@Alvin Sylvain I think we have the same dad! My dad's love for working on his units created millions of wealth for him - not a bad gig for a little handyman. I caught the bug from him and continue to follow in his footsteps.

@Joey Copper I honestly love managing my rentals. I love working on properties, I love fixing them up and making sure everything is working and doing maintenance on them. I have my tools and my shop and I love tinkering around the apartments. I love my tenants and getting to know them and having real human interactions with the people who live in the buildings that I spend time fixing up. I can't imagine a better paying job than making great housing for great people.

I love learning the rental processes, laws and procedures that make up this business. I enjoy the other investors and landlords that I meet. I love that I can show an apartment to a potential tenant and tell him that I changed out that toilet. Maybe it's not the best use of my time, but why not hang out with my handsome husband for a couple hours and pay ourselves for the work? I do hire out the things I don't enjoy (like that clogged sink drain). I love that my apartments make me money, I love caring for the building and the people. It's a really fun job!

@Nikki Closser I really appreciate being involved with RHAWA (Rental Housing Association of WA) because they are legal advocates for us small time landlords, along with providing up to dates news around the state, education and resources. They are a great resource now and long before the pandemic. I invest in Skagit County and following RHAWA's news about Seattle the past decade has made me glad I don't invest in the City limits, and I follow closely hoping that the entire State doesn't copy the City of Seattle. At my rentals, people are still paying their rent. I only hope that landlords in Seattle have great relationships with their tenants so to encourage them to continue to pay even in these hard times, it's a customer service, relationship business.

@Tamar Hermes I have 19 units in Skagit County, mostly apartments and some houses. This has been our best month in a long time. I checked the drop box on Sunday morning and everyone's rent was in there. 

I personally reached out to everyone in March just to check in and open communication, in April I had two pandemic related inquiries and they ended up paying, and now everyone seems fine for May.

Thanks for the mention! I am just glad to have found a place in the world where people "get me" and I felt understood, and get learn a whole bunch from other smart people and ask some questions and get some great feedback. I honestly love real estate and construction and am happy to talk about it all day, with people on the internet and people in real life. If I can help others with my obsession - let the world be a better place!

@Robert Freeborn @Matt Joplin I literally just got my head down from three different apartment attics reinstalling the bathroom vent line. Just a tip - don't use actual duck tape on ducts. Then I was thinking about how I should be more hands off and maybe find someone else do this in the rest of the apartments (which I haven't check, but are probably the same poor status). I'm lucky that the kids still go to daycare, and I don't envy the folks trying to work from home and school their children all at the same time, let alone try to check on the forums and keep up with real estate. 

So, Matt - I say keeping doing what you are currently doing, and when life gives you a hint, it will lead you in that other directly, but just hang on for now and keep learning - or teach your kids all about real estate. It's my dad who taught be all about going up into the attics.....

@Cameron Tope Our itemized "price list" has the hourly cost of the landlord doing repairs on it, so that should make it easier to charge my time. Which will probably be less than hiring it out. Does that line item help my cause in charging the tenant for my time?

@JD Martin A blind has a useful life of 3 years, according to HUD. So if they stay there for 3 years and break the blinds, you can't charge them. Am I understanding this correctly?