New Investor Looking to Buy in Tacoma/South Seattle

[Zach Pepin]

Hello BP family, 

I moved to the South Seattle area for a job about a year ago from Texas and have established myself enough to start looking for investment properties. I can afford up to the 525k range with conventional/FHA financing for a SF home, a MFP could bump up my budget depending on the number of rentable units that could be counted towards income.

I am open to anything in the PS region between south of Seattle and Tacoma. I am open to househacking a MFP or doing a rent-by-room situation if the home has the correct bed/bath ratio. I do have some minor contracting/home improvement experience and can do many surface level projects myself. 

I almost closed on a property a few weeks ago but investigated some foundation concerns and discovered some major issues due to neglect and had to back out. I would like to buy soon before the market heats up which I can already see signs of.

I am curious how others in the region are finding deals and if any has advice for someone in my position? Anyone looking to sell in my price range? 

Thanks, 

Zach 

[Julien Jeannot]

@Zach Pepin

Welcome Zach! Always great to see another local and like minded investor join BP.

Solid budget for that part of the market. If you can swing it, I'd recommend to stay with SFRs or even duplexes to build long term wealth.

Deals, depending on how that is defined are scarce. A lot of my clients have adjusted their strategy to match the market and expanded their return time horizon to be more competitive. On a house hack, think 3-5 yrs out and bake in conservative year over year rent increases and appreciation.