All Forum Posts by: Ryan Evans

All I know is that whatever happens, I'm gonna keep buying for cash flow so I can cover some vacancy and rent decreases as a worst-case scenario. 

I'll put in another vote for going big on some mid-large multifamily deals. If the goals is to be more hands off, that's where you'll get to maximize economies of scale in addition to having less properties for the same result as a bunch of smaller deals.

I've found that online reviews are almost always going to be skewed very negatively. It's like how nobody writes reviews about how great the power company is until they don't have power for five minutes. Then they jump on Yelp and start ranting away. Same goes for property management companies a lot of the time. 

In the past I've called a few places and asked how they can help me find a place to live as a tenant. It was a good indicator of how they treat people and provide service. If they can't give good service to a new tenant, it's time to keep looking. 

A lot of folks around this side of the state have a tough time finding even 200 a month cash flow, so that's not a terrible deal to hold onto. But you do run the risk of the HOA eating that up over time with increased fees. I think it should come down to what your other alternatives will look like.

This sounds like a decent opportunity to do a lease option. You might be able to find someone who can give you a decent down payment to effectively pull some cash out of the property. Then you can likely rent for a premium. If they back out, it'll hopefully have appreciated past your break-even point and you can sell. 

From what I've seen, snce the area is so expensive right now it's negotiable to some extent, at least with the smaller companies. But one month is standard in a lot of areas. 

As for recommendations, I bump into the team at Avenue One Residential a fair bit. I haven't used them personally and can't review what they're like to work with, but they are highly reviewed and the people are all great. 

@Mindy Jensen already beat me to it, but I wanted to mention Turo. It's an airbnb for cars. You could give them the option of renting the car, just on a different platform. 

I've never used it in the US, only the equivalents in other countries, but it's been great. Not sure how this would work with bookings and lining it up with the availability of the property. I bet you can have a private Turo link or something to give your guests after booking the property, though. 

@Randall Prosise good point. With 7 units, you'd know more about the local condo landscape than I do. 

And to your last point, I don't think it's crazy at all, but a lot of people call me crazy for investing the way I do and I'm sure you'll hear the same haha. 

In addition to what the others have said, the Local RHA chapters do monthly "link" meetings that are free to attend and I always learn a couple things that make it worthwhile. It's a bit of an old school crowd, but it's buy and hold people that already own properties. A lot of meetups have a lot of newbies, which there is nothing wrong with of course. And we've all been there. But I'm looking to meet people that have more experience than me and the RHA people almost always have quite a bit of experience. 

There is quite a range of inventory in the "greater" area. It's pretty tough to find cash flow in King County, but go north or south and you can still find a decent mix of cash flow/appreciation. Feel free to reach out if you want another take on the local market. 

If all you're hearing from these successful investors is to get started, it's probably wise to listen to their advice.