New Urbanist from Portland, Oregon

[Garlynn Woodsong]

Hi folks,

I'm Garlynn Woodsong, and I live in NE Portland, Oregon. I have a background in regional planning and geography, which has given me a laser-focus on developing real estate options to meet the changing demands of the market, driven by larger demographic, social, and economic trends. Specifically, in this decade, we (real estate folks) just can't build enough residential rental real estate in walkable areas to keep up with demand. No matter how hard we try, demand is so far above supply, that the best we can hope for is to make a profit on every new unit we bring to market. That, my friends, is a good problem to have.

Accordingly, my focus is finding distressed properties, adding units to them, and bringing them to market. I like areas with a walk score of 70 or above, and similarly good transit and bicycling scores. I'm willing to consider other locations, however, if they are exceptional for a less-quantifiable reason (and otherwise pencil as a good deal).

I have been at this for a little over a year. My company has two properties currently going through permitting, and another that is wrapping up design and engineering, about to begin permitting. Once we have solved the financial puzzle for those three properties, we would like to add a fourth to the pipeline -- then a fifth, and a sixth, and so on.

I have a great contractor, but he is a specialist, so I'm open to meeting other contractors who may have capacity to work on rehabs in the near future (3-6 months out), especially if they have a laser focus on keeping costs low but quality high.

I also like meeting new potential private investors, other developers, and anybody else with an interest in this stuff.

I have a four-year-old son, and am active in my neighborhood association and other community activities. I tend to stay busy.

Working to make better communities, one property at a time. Let's make this happen.

cheers,
~Garlynn

[Mike Nuss]

@Garlynn Woodsong your strategy definitely is a solid one. All of our hold properties are located within close-in high walk score neighborhoods. I'm interested in how you decided a walk score of 70+ was a parameter for you. I think most of our properties are in the 82+ range so that just seems a little low, based on all the other factors you mentioned. What neighborhood association are you active in?