All Forum Posts by: Wes S.

@Kevin Dehesa The principles will be the same for finding cash flow. But I recommend you get a real estate attorney in whatever country you're investing. Laws often restrict ownership of property by foreigners, meaning you may not be able to own more than 49% of a property. You also may have less legal standing in the country (for instance if your 51% partner decides to stop paying your share of the cash flow). Each country is going to be different so you need to do your research carefully.

@Nghi Le That's great, exactly what I was wondering. From a nuts-and-bolts perspective, how do you pay out your partners? Just in a monthly transfer from your bank account?

@Brandon Wieschhaus thanks for that suggestion! 

Thanks for the insight! When it comes to working with a partner though, is it common to do that through some kind of Limited Partnership, or simply by means of a contract? And are there any Washington State specific concerns when it comes to this?

Investors of Washington State! How do you prefer to setup partnerships for your investments -- is it through an LLC, LP, or something completely different? Are there some unique state laws and regs that make one kind preferable to another?

@Janet S. Short answer is that is not normal. I've worked with property managers in Washington, Florida, California, and Maryland. Typically I've seen 9-11% of the monthly rent, and usually half of the first month's rent (in Orlando, one company has a sliding scale to incentivize them to keep long-term tenants, unlike most "first month's rent" contracts).

If anything, that $120 monthly fee (and full month's rent for new tenants) just incentivizes them to keep one-year tenants -- no maintenance requests, no late rent, all they have to do is post their ads and still get to collect the full month's rent when they find someone. I'd strongly consider finding a new property manager.

@Shawn Q. You may need to live further away from the city and commute, but it is possible to find a place that would work with a roommate. I lived in Bremerton (which has its own pros and cons, separate from Seattle), and plenty of people took the ferry over every morning into the city. A bit annoying, but at least you aren't driving.

@Mandy Ellett I'll qualify this by saying that I don't speak Russian. However, there are some general ideas you can explore to develop a skill-specific vocabulary.

1) Financial and real estate news. Try searching for whatever "real estate" is in Russian, and focus on news results. There are certainly Russian-language economic magazines or newspapers that could help. I've found reading is the foundation for higher-level speaking in a second language.

2) Real estate books. It might not be on Amazon, but there may be some basic real estate books in Russian you could find with a little digging.

3) Russian-language news/podcasts. There may be some options, again with some digging. Focus on the hard news, and strongly recommend avoiding Russia Today (RT).

4) You're in Bothell -- isn't there a pretty vibrant Russian-speaking community in Seattle? There may be some meetups, and they could assist developing that vocabulary. Or recommend some Russian bookstores that would have things you couldn't find online.

@Account Closed I'll PM you for more -- thanks Grant!

@Scott Price it might be awhile until I'm back! In the meantime I'll send you a message.

@Ben Lukes great insight, thanks! I'm definitely staying north of the city for now, like you said I'm focused on small properties.