All Forum Posts by: Scott Price

Welcome to Whidbey, @Chris A..  Glad to see that house hacking is working for you.

If you are ever interested to meet other local Whidbey Island investors, you can join our Meetup.com group "Whidbey Island Real Estate Investors".  We met regularly before COVID and plan to re-start again after that gets under control, plus you can reach out to members in the interim if you ever need anything.  We have a wide range of local members and backgrounds to mastermind with.

Scott

@Caylon Haggard, I own two apartment complexes in Yakima and have direct experience with all of the large property management firms in Yakima.  I agree with @Peter Welch's good assessment.  There are a couple other decent options in Yakima such as Rent Ready and Home Source, too.  All of them have a different approach, team structure, software and reporting variations, fee structures, and plusses/minusses, and it also depends upon the type of property you want to have managed.  None are perfect.  Overall, I would recommend Landmark as well.  You can contact owner Ryan at their office.

Hi Miguel,

You have received some good advice here regarding house hacking a 2-4 unit using your VA loan benefit, which requires very little money down. In addition, your future home in Oak Harbor has a very strong rental market with insufficient supply relative to demand. So, it is currently a good place for you to get started.


I own 30 rental units in Oak Harbor, in addition to my properties in other markets.  I also run the local Whidbey Island Real Estate Investors group meetings, which you can find on Meetup.com.  We are a very supportive group and welcome new local investors to help them get started.  Come visit us and introduce yourself at one of our meetings after you arrive on Whidbey.  You will get a lot of in-person advice and help from local investors there.

Scott

Who is ready to bring in their new year with new focus, education, partnering, and guidance on how to ramp up your real estate investing trajectory? The first WIREI meeting of 2020 is coming up!

Properly managing your investment properties is one of the most important things you need to do as an investor. It is the difference between success and failure of all types. We are happy to have special guest Dakota Gurich come share some wisdom with us. He is Senior Property Manager at Koetje Property Management in Oak Harbor plus head of their Mount Vernon division. Dakota will speak with us about property management best practices that can be applied to both professional property management and owner managed scenarios. Dakota will also talk about the local rental market, what is in demand and what is not, where things are heading, and other topics that you need to know as a local investor. As usual, the conversation will be interactive with you and the other investors there.

In addition, (optionally) come prepared with your ideas on what you want to accomplish in your real estate investing goals for the new year ahead. We can all informally talk about how the group can support you in enabling those goals plus brainstorm any questions to be answered or first steps needed. Some other open topics are planned as well, if time allows.

If you can bring a snack (optional), please do so. Even more importantly, bring your desire for raising your real estate investing in the new year. See you then!

Scott

Hi Tori, I run the Whidbey Island Real Estate Investors Meetup group (click link for Meetup page).  We have some members who own and manage local short term rentals (I personally own long term rentals on the island).  If you are ever in the area for one of our meetings, come on by and see if some short term rental owners are there.  I'm sure they would be happy to chat with you and answer your questions.

Come join us for our first post-summer investors gathering. We are very pleased that local real estate inspection expert Scott Carpenter of Integrity Home Inspections has agreed to come educate us on the many key things that investors should look for when buying a rental or a property to rehab & flip. He will also share some stories from his years of experience in the field, plus we'll have open Q&A so bring any and all questions.

In addition, local investor friendly real estate broker John Joynt of Keller Williams will provide us with an update on the Whidbey market. Now that the summer rush is over, how did it shake out and how are things looking for the near future?

And in addition to that, I/Scott Price will provide an update on local county government initiatives that are underway to help you as an investor contribute to resolving the affordable housing issue on Whidbey Island while still making a profit.

We'll also talk deals, and if anyone would like to get some mastermind inputs on your business plan, a specific property, addressing issues with your current investments, and anything else, bring it!

Scott, Paul, and the rest of the gang

Hi James,

Whidbey Island has a supply/demand shortage of rentals in some areas and has experienced rent increases like other areas in more mainstream metropolitan areas.  If you have a decent place and are already planning to live on Whidbey, house hacking could suit you well.  It also depends upon your setup, whether you are renting out just a bedroom or a full separate unit with a given number of bedrooms, since different areas of the island attract different household types/sizes, though there is good general rental demand across the board and across the island.

Scott Price

Our next Meetup for both experienced and aspiring local Whidbey Island real estate investors is coming up soon!

This month, we will continue our tradition of allowing time for meeting others and sharing ideas. In addition, we have two presentations planned that are very locally relevant:

> Affordable Housing and how it relates to local investors: Our own Tammi Moses will provide an overview of recent Island County efforts to address current affordable housing issues, highlighting topics and opportunities for real estate investors.
> Opportunity Zone in Oak Harbor: There is a relatively new federal Opportunity Zone in Oak Harbor where there are many incentives available to real estate investors. You can leverage these incentives to increase the returns on your solo investments and/or to entice co-investors to help fund your deals. I/Scott will provide an overview on the opportunities for everyone.

For more information:

https://www.meetup.com/Whidbey-Island-Real-Estate-Investors-WIREI/events/263102089/

The Whidbey Island Real Estate Investors May gathering is coming soon!

• Introductions and announcements: You can optionally mention any deals underway or being investigated, needs/information that the group could help you with, and/or any business services you would like to provide
• Local market update by member John Joynt
• Overview and how-to on private/hard money sources by member Ski Mydynski
• Overview on how to drive extra income + net worth / market value in your multi-family rental properties by member Scott Price
• Snacks, talking, catching up together

Optional: We encourage everyone to bring a snack (can be as simple as a bag of chips or fancy as you desire) to power us through the evening with some yummies.

If you know anyone (novice or experienced) with an interest in local real estate investing, please invite them to join our Meetup group and come with you.

If you are coming, please first RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Whidbey-Island-Real-Estate-Investors-WIREI/events/261054573/.

Looking forward to seeing you at the Coupeville Library main meeting room Thursday May 9 6:00pm.

Scott Price

> CREATIVE FINANCING: We will provide an overview of different creative financing techniques you can use to help jump-start or expand your portfolio. This includes joint ventures, lease options, seller financing, wraps, subject to, seconds, assumable loans, and more techniques to get into your first or 100th property with lower down payments and more flexibility.

> MARKET UPDATE: Update on the local market.

> DEAL Q&A and MEMBER UPDATES: Please come with any investing related updates since our last meeting. We can go through anyone's active deals for group info, inputs, and recommendations, or ask for any general help.

> NETWORKING: As always, we will leave some time for everyone to re-connect.

> BRING A SNACK: We are not meeting at a restaurant so that we can have our own space without noisy distractions. Please bring a snack to share. It can be as simple as a bag of chips, and is optional. Hungry investors will appreciate it (and it's a lot cheaper than a restaurant bill :-) ).

> RSVP: Be sure to RSVP if you will be participating. https://www.meetup.com/Whidbey-Island-Real-Estate-...

Let us know if we can help you in any way outside of the meeting, as always. And share the invite if you know of any other aspiring or current Whidbey real estate investors. Looking forward to seeing you!