All Forum Posts by: Mathew Wray

Hey Blake,

Congrats on planning smart while getting out of the military. After my 5 years in the Marines I kind of stalled for a few months while getting going. Sounds like you’ve got a running start! Condos can work, but it depends on a lot of factors. 

A couple questions and thoughts to help with advice:

Where/what are you studying when you get here? 

Do you plan on staying in Portland once school is over? This can help answer the condo question.

Bummer that GI Bill payments aren’t counted...surprised me when I used mine as well! But, doesn’t mean they can’t be used to offset costs or force appreciation. 

Are you handy and willing to do work yourself? 

What’re your long-term real estate goals? Without knowing what you’re looking to do it’s hard to say if a condo will be a good idea-I personally tend to lean “no” as a pure investment but can be okay if there are other pieces that outweigh the negatives. 

Have you looked into a FHA203k loan? Oregon has our own Vetetans loan as well...it’s really rental restrictive, but may be a fit. 

A little more info and we can give you some more targeted advice. 

Mathew

Somehow I don't think this will be as easy for her as the no-cause eviction fight. I could be wrong (shockingly!) but I just don't see as many people jumping on this bandwagon when they realize that it actually means their neighbor...in this case, NIMBY might help us. 

In addition, unless something crazy has happened that I haven't been updated on, a criminal background isn't a protected class. She's trying to make that happen, but I'd anticipate a lawsuit ASAP if it does pass the city council and I'd imagine a court would be willing to put an injunction in place holding the proposal at bay while it is litigated. 

Finally, like Thomas said, just set your criteria higher. Use a high threshold for rent to income ratio (I do 2.5X my rent in monthly income) and require positive rental references. 

Or, go along with it and rent to folks who have paid their debt to society (there's an interesting moral conversation to be had there). Just treat them like every other tenant, have a strong lease, document every interaction, and keep records to report problems to the city/parole officers/police/etc. 

I don't like the idea of the restrictions anymore than I like the rental registry they're pushing, but it's still not enough to drive me out of rentals in Portland. 

Hey Eric, my experience with property managers is that the more you manage them, the better they manage the tenants. All of them require oversight and clear expectations/follow-ups. That being said, I’d assume managing a manager is still going to be better than driving back and forth from central Oregon. I get burned out driving from the suburbs to my rentals in Portland so I can only imagine how your friend feels!!!

That disclaimer out of the way, I’d connect your friend with Dan Hayes at Real Property Managment Solutions here in Portland. He managed a rental of mine off of Alberta for a couple years. 

Have your friend give me a call if he wants to talk about particulars!

Thanks,

Mathew

Likewise! See you then

Thanks for the heads up Mike! Way to look out for everyone!

@Ben Van der Fluit

I agree with John. Technically, you're going to have no problem as long as your lender can operate in Oregon, although having someone familiar with the area, norms, and players won't hurt. From a practicality stand-point, using a local lender who is a known quantity in the area can help strengthen your offers in a still competitive market. Put yourself in the seller's shoes: if they have two offers on the table and one is from an unknown out of state lender (or national, faceless, on-line lender) and the other has closed tons of deals with your agent and is a known quantity, who do you think you'd go with?

Let me know if you're interested in reaching out to a few locals folks to see if there may be a good fit with one of them...I'd be happy to make introductions. 

Good luck!

Mathew

@Neal Collins Thank you for arranging this! Looking forward to meeting up with folks!

Howdy Dennis!

Welcome to BP! It's a great community, as I'm sure you'll find. There's tons of discussion on Memphis and Portland both for you to explore. 

Make sure and reach out and ask if you've got questions, need advice, or are looking for an ear to bounce ideas off of. 

Thanks and good luck!

Mathew

@Andrew Shipley that's great! I'm loving some of the event spaces that people are making use of. I think there's a gold mine there if you can create package partnerships with folks, otherwise you're almost stuck running a separate business. I'm sure you've got a lot on your mind, but if you'd like to connect with a few event planners to talk about what they're looking for (should impact/influence your build-out) let me know and I'll send you a couple names. 

Good luck! You know our city needs more housing!

Mathew

Hey Sean, congrats on getting under contract!

A couple quick thoughts:

Are the tenants on leases? If so, there’s not a real easy way for you to remove them even if you wanted to. 

In the sales contract it typically reads as you’re accepting current tenants-did you add anything into the original purchase and sale agreement that would alter that? 

You can ask the owner to give notice to some or all of the tenants during the inspection contingency negotiations. If they’re willing to consider that you’ll likely have to let your earnest money go hard and it’s still a long process. 

Be careful and have your criteria for “acceptable” tenants ahead of time. You want to make sure you’re not inadvertently targeting a protected class or opening yourself up to claims of doing so. 

Your inspection period should be five business days and starts the day after mutual acceptance, so if you timed it right, you could gain extra days there (check the contract). Get those lined up ASAP. A bad tenant in a room rental may cost you a few grand but a bad foundation or sewer can cost you tens of thousands. Don’t lose sight of the long-term by focusing too much on the short-term tenant issue. 

Good luck and keep us updated!