All Forum Posts by: Kyle Wells

 For appliances, definitely the Appliance Recycling Outlet off Airport Way in Snohomish. I would highly recommend picking up the appliances on site though. You have to micro manage their delivery and install process. 

For kitchen cabinets, I'd recommend Evergreen Granite and Cabinets in Everett.

@Kristine Thompson I would be happy to connect and see if I would be a good fit for you. Happy to answer any questions and provide with you some great lender contacts as well.

Hi Delaney, a few thoughts:

-Seller credits cannot be used towards down payment. They can be used towards closing costs and rate buy downs.

-You may want to look into an FHA loan if you don't already have an outstanding FHA loan. Better rates and the monthly PMI rates dropped from 0.85% to 0.55% of the loan balance annually.

-How long do you plan to live in this home? One thing to keep in mind is if you sell the home within 90 days, you will not be able to accept an FHA offer. If it sells between 91 to 180 days to an FHA buyer, the property will require two appraisals.

Just a few things to keep in mind! Great strategy though. If you ever need help in the Snohomish County area, let me know!

I would recommend speaking to a real estate attorney. Where are you located? I may be able to refer one if you're around the Snohomish County area. You can even have an escrow company facilitate the collection of monthly payments if you wanted.

What are your goals? Everett is a city where you are going to see cash flow sooner with great appreciation upside still. Redmond is going to be difficult to cash flow, but has a bit more appreciation upside due to it being close to Bellevue/Kirkland and close to equal commute to Seattle as Everett. You will likely see higher quality tenants in Redmond as well.

I would personally invest in the market that is most in line with your goals and what you can comfortably afford with reserves. I think there is more ways to be creative in Everett and the city is spending a ton to upgrade the Marina area in Northwest Everett too. 

Hi Grayson, 

I wish I had seen this post sooner. I think there are a few markets worth tapping into. 

1. Bellingham is a great market in its own. It has a large college campus, airport, and operates as it's own "Seattle" just on a smaller scale. I think there is opportunity there to rent to college students or even tap into STRs since there is also sound access to the west. 

2. North Snohomish County. This is the more affordable area of Snohomish County and the population is growing like crazy because it's commutable to Seattle/Bellevue, but much more affordable. This would be a great area to break into LTR investments. You can purchase multifamily starting as low as $600k.

3. Whidbey/Camano Islands. These would great areas to break into STRs. They offer some affordable properties with water access. Of course, you'll want to check into STR laws for both the county and local municipalities (if within city zoning).

I would be happy to connect and offer any advice. I'm a big fan of investing where you live. 

Hi Ran, 

Great question and I think this will greatly depend on someone's time horizon and risk tolerance. I personally invest into equities and real estate. 

The reason I love equities is it is extremely passive and very easy to diversify. I put money into both my 401k and a non-retirement account and both are fully invested in equity ETFs (mainly the S&P 500 ETF). ETFs are very low cost and naturally diversified so they are a great way to build wealth without spending the hours analyzing individual stocks. Over the long-term, this should generate an annual return of 10%. It grows slowly in the early years, but will eventually grow exponentially with compounded growth.

The reason I love investing in real estate is the different layers of wealth creation and tax advantages. Not only will your real estate portfolio grow in value, but your tenants will pay the mortgage. So you constantly have this equity creation through the value increasing while the loan balance decreased. Additionally, you get to write off the cost basis of the structure over 27.5 years along with property improvements. This makes your year-to-year tax burden much less even if you are cash flow positive. Real estate also has a utility to it so it will always be a needed asset. 

I think there is some upside to day and option trading, but there are hefty tax consequences and it's a job at that point. I definitely say go for it if that is a passion. However, I think at some point you would want to diversify into longer-term investments simultaneously. Bonds have never interested me because there is no upside. There is still payment risk depending on the class of bond you are purchasing. 

Did you find a solution? 

Hi Abhishek, 

Try reaching out to the Tyler Beard Team at CrossCountry Mortgage in Everett. They are great and will tell you if they can't beat your existing loan estimate.

I would sell and 1031 exchange into a larger turnkey property and have it professionally managed. You defer the taxes to the future and you lose the headache. You'll still have to manage the PM though so not 100% passive. Another option is to sell the property and pay taxes and invest in dividend stocks. It doesn't get any more passive than that.