All Forum Posts by: Kyrstin Szewczyk

You need to figure out what price would make it work for you and only offer that. You may need to look at listings from people who are trying to sell their own homes without a realtor / talk to neighbors and try to snag them before they go out to market, look for the cosmetically ugly places you can touch up and remove all the contingencies (if you’re comfortable with doing some rehabbing and basic inspection on your own), keep looking and making offers (there are slower times like Christmas where you won’t have as many competetive bids, look at what’s renting for higher than the mortgage (like Marysville), go in with someone who can make a “cash” offer (where they get a business loan and pay the owner all cash), etc.

Awesome! Welcome! I just joined on here as well, am in Seattle, and have similar goals with real estate (for us to work part time versus retiring early but similar!). 

Thanks @Alex Deacon, that's why I want to know what a partnership looks like legally prior to going into it, so I can prep them for the duties and risks prior to even starting to make sure we're all on the same page. I am used to working with friends and family for many things real estate related so I'm not concerned about it I just haven't done this particular partnership (outside of an LLC) before so don't know what exactly it entails legally.

I am looking to buy a single family home for a buy and hold rental property 50/50 with another couple. For the rest of my real estate I'm in LLCs but for this one we want to get a personal loan, together, so this is new territory for us. 

I read in one Bigger Pockets article that there's a "Partnership Agreement", what is that exactly, and is there any protection from someone going after both of us in the worst case scenario of something litigious happening? 

One added detail is this other couple are family (my husband's sister) so we need everything written and laid out clearly but with the assumption we will operate within these boundaries without going to court...meaning we don't need every word to be air tight but need it to be clear cut (as a side note I'm not interested in hearing about horror stories of doing business with family, I have done real estate business with family for over ten years and am fine with it). 

Also, how do we go about getting a mortgage? Do they look at all our incomes and debts in combination? We combined have good incomes but I'm concerned my LLCs will make them think we're too risky (I own 33-55% of four houses and my own house with a renter in my home, all are doing well financially but I ran into this problem of really having to search with getting my own mortgage because they looked at only my percentage of income but all the debt as risk). 

What are some tips for either where to find more information (I don't mind putting in the work to learn I just figured rather than do a basic search I'd rather get trusted resources from you lovely Pros) or tips you have for moving forward? 

Did you check out Smart Move? https://biggerpockets.mysmartmove.com/

I'm an investor located in North Seattle and am looking to buy a place (single family home for buy and hold) a little north of Shoreline (thinking Mountlake Terrace / Lynnwood).  Due to all the rental laws (and fear of how many new laws they'll make) in Seattle I don't want to buy another one here. This would be a rental investment we'd want to be safe for a family (though I realize that might not be who we rent to ultimately) but also potentially somewhere my in-laws could live in the future. 

Are there areas / neighborhoods that you'd recommend? Where would you avoid? Bonus if it's near I-5 since if we are driving to get my in-laws / visit them we'd want it to be a short drive so that visiting could happen frequently. 

Also, any other info about the area you think would be helpful would be much appreciated. 

How do you establish that income is high enough? 

For instance there's a 3:1 suggestion for income:housing costs but what about when you're a co-signer and have your own housing costs but aren't going to necessarily be paying for what you've co-signed but obviously could... 

I have a rental and am currently accepting applications. There are three that want to rent together. 3x the rent is about $7000/month for what combined income they should have. Two together make about $4000 and the third is job searching and her parents are willing to co-sign. 

I will make sure the parents are aware if they co-sign they need to be responsible for the full rent, not just a third, just as each roommate is responsible for the full rent ultimately. Other than that what should I be asking them either of proof of ability to pay and/or verbal questions.

For instance I'm thinking I should ask about their income but how much should I make sure they make or savings on hand? 

Keep in mind I'm in Seattle so I have to consider each application before going onto another (there's is not 100% complete so this gives me a little lee-way right now but not once they complete it).