New Member in Tacoma, WA

[Caroline Hedin]

I've filled in my profile a bit so I'll be repeating some I think.

I'm an architect and my husband is an engineer.  We have a goal of owning enough real estate (buy and hold) to provide a middle class family living so he can retire (I own my firm and my office is in our home so no retiring for me).

We have just jumped head first in to real estate investing with our fingers crossed and a ton of prayers said by purchasing a commercial parcel in Ocean Shores which we are designing a multi-family rental for and purchasing at auction an occupied single family home (I'm still cringing).

I am slowly learning as I've been "trolling" this site for a couple of months now.  He has a bit more experience but we both still have a ton to learn.

We will be posting the "Notice to Enter" on our auction house tomorrow and are hoping the occupant (we believe it is the foreclosed on former owner) will just say "okay, I see it's my time to go."  We're prepared to offer him some cash to move out this weekend (or next if we have to) so we can skip the whole 3 Day and/or eviction process.  We've walked the perimeter and peaked in windows but we still have not actually been inside.  I'm really hoping the whole story turns out to be the most boring one out there.

Anyway, we're thankful this site and all of you exist.  My hunch is this is going to be a huge learning curve and I'm sure all of your experiences will be (as they already have been) invaluable.

Cheers

[Caroline Hedin]

@David Truong @Steve K. @Adrian Chu I've decided to attempt to document our experience and get feedback in the Investor Deal Diaries category.  We would love input as we go if you're interested. http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/522/topics/177256-auctioncom-occupied-sfr---tacoma-wa---buy-and-hold

@Michele Fischer Thank you for the mention of WLA.  I hadn't known about that organization until @Account Closed mentioned it in my "diary".  It looks like it could be very useful.  I'm typically a mountain lover but as an architect, the opportunity to develop a piece of land on a lake with an ocean view was to (too?) much to pass up!  I can't wait to finish the design and get moving on construction.  We're hoping to draw in an untapped market.  I realize the Washington Coast isn't known for stellar weather but we're going to try to take advantage of that with our concept!

We did speak with a lawyer regarding our options but we have decided to move forward with temporarily keeping the current occupant in the property for security sake (see the deal diary link above).

Thank you all again for the warm welcome.