Landlord or tenant friendly options near Portland OR?

[Dax Kirkwood]

Hello Bigger Pockets community,

I am as new as they come to absolutely every faucet of this so please excuse any ignorance on my end.

A brief rundown of my basic outline; I intend to begin with a house hack (my budget here will limit me to renting rooms in a SFH) and grow from there. I'd like to start with building passive income in the form of buy and hold rentals. After I have created a little breathing room, and can perhaps cut back to part time work, I would like to start ramping up and branching out into flips as a way to accrue capitol for larger multifamily units (2-4 units). During this next phase I will be more keen on branching out into other markets including out of state/countrywide.

A few things I have going for me; I am flexible with where I can go, in that I have no regular commute. I do need to be within an hours commute to the Portland area, so, any of the outlying towns, or even across the boarder into Washington state are options.

The most important thing to me is that it is a strong investment, however, I won't have much if any money for remodel upfront so it needs to be livable and somewhat inviting to potential renters. I will be limited to a conventional loan (to avoid locked in PMI). I am handy (to an extent) and intend on making improvements during the year or two I'm there before I can hopefully move onto the second.

While I’m open to thoughts and opinions to any of my stated outline, I’m looking specifically hear thoughts on renting the property after I have left.

I keep hearing about Portlands terrible tenant policies and it has me a bit concerned for a long term hold. I’m wondering if that’s just inside Portland, and what advantages there are in surrounding areas?

Thanks!