All Forum Posts by: Suzanne Moore

Totally agree with using the Multifamily NW lease forms as a DIY landlord. These forms are very thorough and are specific to Oregon and Portland landlord tenant laws. You can fill them in online for each tenant and send digitally.

After dealing with exorbitant fees and poor service with 2 different property managers, I started self managing my Portland-area rental properties and found it to be really rewarding. 

As others have mentioned, it can be a lot of work to be a DIY landlord. There are the good parts too - I've really enjoyed getting to know my tenants. 

Why is this important?

Every single one of my tenants paid full rent during COVID and I'm convinced that was because my tenants knew me as a human. I send them annual holiday gift cards as a thank you and they feel appreciated. Little gestures like that make a big difference. 

As for DIY landlord tools, I use apartments.com to collect rents. My tenants love it because they can schedule automatic payments from their bank account to mine. It's free for landlords and tenants and makes it easy to keep track of rents, expenses, etc.

Good luck in your transition to a DIY landlord! 

As a fellow Bend area investor and local realtor, I think you have another option to consider that could potentially increase your monthly rent: set it up as a mid-term rental. 

This would entail completely furnishing and decorating it, which will add up front cost. Your location in the Old Mill is a prime spot for folks who are looking for furnished housing. 

A few examples of people who would be looking for 30+ day stays: folks moving to the area who need time to look for a home, people checking out the area as a potential destination or second home market, traveling executives, medical professionals, etc. 

Additionally, your $455,000 purchase price is well below Bend's median home price of $678,000 (Dec. 2022 stats). That alone doesn't make it a good deal, you still need to run your numbers and include all expenses. 

In the meantime, setting it up as a mid-term rental could help you push rents and get closer to break-even without the ADU. Then you can do a cost-benefit analysis of the ADU, considering many of the great insights already shared.

Let us know what you decide to do!

2023 is here and it's time to set some New Year's Goals - like buying your first investment property!

Join us as we discuss 10 steps to buying your first investment property.

We will talk about how to get started:

1. Investment types (single- or multi-family, vacation rental)
2. Financial goals (cash flow or appreciation)
3. Strategies (BRRR, flip, live-in flip, house hack)
4. Building your team (lender, realtor, other key resources)

We'll also talk about the entire purchase process: from offer to closing - so you know exactly what to expect as you embark on your 2023 goal to purchase your investment property.

Agenda:
12:00-12:15 - Introductions
12:15-1:00 - Presentation / Q&A

You'll leave this meetup:

• Confident about your investment goals
• Clear about which property types + strategies to focus on
• With the tools + teammates you need to get started

Let's build wealth through passive income from real estate investments together in 2023!

I'll be optimizing my cash-flowing STRs in the Bend, Oregon area - adding hot tubs, air conditioning, fully fencing the yards for our pet-friendly properties. 

I've got a lot of mid-term guests staying in one STR, may consider pivoting to that strategy to continue attracting longer-term guests and make this one more passive.

Also looking for STRs in other markets in 2023 since we are planning to pivot away from LTR to more STR in the future.

Hey @Lance Bolen, sounds like you've got a good start on your investor eductation and funding!

I host a local monthly investor meetup, you'll find it in the NETWORK section - it's called the Central Oregon Investor Network and we meet monthly to discuss a variety of investing topics. 

We're still meeting virtually (via Google Meet) and we have investors and experts join us from all over the Pacific NW, California, Colorado, so our discussions are broad enough that they'll apply to Southern Oregon as well. 

You can join the meetup directly here. Our first meeting for 2023 is 10 Steps to Buying Your First Investment Property.

Hope you can join us!

Suzanne