All Forum Posts by: Michael Stout

Well Sean, I based my strategy off of the recent changes in ADU regulations in Tacoma. Essentially I have found a SFH with a mother in law suite that I can completely separate from the main house. I am in the process of conforming it to the Attached ADU regulations. A home owner can rent the main house and ADU to different families without occupying the property. This makes a non traditional duplex in essence, a 3/1 main and 2/1 ADU. Duplexes in Tacoma are far more expensive than SFH so I reduced costs that way plus 90% of the MILS was completed anyway. I also purchased it using a VA loan with low rates, put about 3k of updates in, and started AirBnB/ short term renting it. Eventually I will move out and repeat this process.

I'm not sure what the ADU regulations are in Bellevue but I hope this helps.

Hey Sean,

I was trying a similar experience house hacking in tacoma and come to find out that most applicable regulations are from the city and not the county/ state. If you search for Bellevue WA boarding house, you find the city regulations on boarding house as "Boarding houses and bed and breakfasts require a Home Occupation Permit, Part 20.30N LUC, approval. In addition, not more than two rooms may be rented to not more than two persons other than those occupying a single-family dwelling, provided there is compliance with health and building code requirements. The owner of the rooms to be rented shall provide off-street parking for such rooms at the rate of at least one parking stall for each room"

Found at https://bellevue.municipal.cod...

I also read about a restriction on zones for boarding homes. You can find the zone map here

https://cobgis.maps.arcgis.com...

There is a chance that you could do a non-occupied rooming house which matches closer to what you are looking to do. Here's some more info

https://bellevuewa.gov/city-go...

Good luck and let us know what happens!

Thank You both for those associations as I had not found them before now. I will look further into what they offer!

Hey fellow BPers!

I wanted to see if there are recommendations for online property management classes that are specific to WA state?

My wife and I are about to close on our first house hack in Tacoma. We expect to rent the bottom MIL suite which is an attached ADU within a month or two depending on some repairs. We would like to get better educated on the property management laws in our area even though we have read almost all of the tenant-landlord laws. The classes would need to be online because we are both super busy and will use the evenings to do the classes. We are willing to put the work into the research and learning but hate to waste our money on classes that are inefficient. Basically we want the best bang for the buck.

If anyone knows what local PM do for education would be helpful too.

Thanks in advance!

Hey Smita! I am in the same boat as you and am wondering what area you eventually invested? Were there any bumps in the road? What areas did you avoid? Thanks

Hey Everyone! I am starting my real estate journey after a few years of research on biggerpockets, different books, and podcasts. I am very excited to start house hacking with my family in the Tacoma area of Washington state. I have recently moved there and am learning all I can about the area. Please feel free to reach out to me with any helpful suggestions or just to say hi.  Thanks