Seattle WA New Guy

[Nicholas Shepherd]

Hello BP,

Names Nick, my wife and I have decided to dive head first into real estate investing, even though we barley have our toes wet. Not to mention the sound water being freezing!

My wife and I are in our mid twenties and love the outdoors and traveling. Our goal in real estate investing is to gain a substantial amount of passive income to allow us to work fewer hours at our jobs and more hours together doing the things we love.  Can you guess our favorite book? (hint: It's the 4 Hour Work Week). I am a nurse by trade and am in the US Army. My wife does marketing for a company in DT Seattle. Although we enjoy our fields, we enjoy our free time and time together far more.

We took a road trip spanning a month across the western states and into Canada. We fell in love with the  PNW, Seattle in particular. The outdoors were calling us and we picked up the phone. We decided to move here from Chicago a mere 3 months ago. We found a small one bed apt in southern Seattle, just to get us out here. The apt is 500 square feet and costs us, after utilities, over $1400 a month. Luckily for us, we only signed a 6 month lease anticipating that we would soon become tired of paying for such a small space that doesn't belong to us. We anticipated correctly. Were 3 months in, and we've had it. We've toyed with the idea of investing in real estate before back in Chicago, but never pulled the trigger. Now is the time. We cannot stand the idea of paying the equivalent of a mortgage for our tiny Apt. We are looking to purchasing a multifamily property, and occupying one of the units. House hacking if you will. We are going to kill three birds with one stone in that we will have a place to live, tenants will be paying for most of the mortgage, and we will gain some experience in investing and land lording. After gaining knowledge in the field, we plan on traveling different avenues in the way of flipping single families, and one day, commercial properties. Were not completely green behind the ears, We know the Seattle market is tough, but with being in the military, I am no stranger to adversity or a challenge. We have set our sights on our first property by the end of 2016, and are planning to own 10 by the end of '17. 

Every one starts somewhere and here we are. 

We would love to network with others in the area, to include seasoned investors and fellow newbies alike. We are also open to any and all advice or tips you guys and gals may have. We look forward to interacting with the BP community and getting to know everyone in the area.

[Michael Lee]

Hello and welcome to BP!  Your past in the military service should help you to do this.  Thank you for that providing service.  I was lucky that Nixon stopped the enlistment when I was 17.  I had a friend that was older than me and got shot jumping out of a helicopter in Vietnam Nam but he made it back home.  It is also great that your wife is into real estate investing.

Y'all ought to form some sort of corporation or an LLC after you get some professional help from a CPA and\or an Attorney. That should protect you and your wife from personal problems like bankruptcy. If either one of you been saving with a company and have any IRA or 401K savings you could probably use that to help you in investment. Get a pre-qualification letter so that can help you with some seller's.

Find\Get Team members you can trust to help you and keep you from trying to do everything yourself.  The primary typical Team members are Attornies, real estate Agents, COA's (or accountants), Inspectors, General Contractors, and Handymen.  Always remember to do a math analysis on a prospective property and try to look at it before you make an offer or at least have a clause in the sales contract that will allow you some time (about 15 days) to make a detailed inspection on the subject property without a penalty that will hurt y'all.

I am 59 years old and I found BP about a year ago and I have not decided what to do.  I also went to college, not that it is mandatory, and I got a degree in business that emphasized real estate.  Since I was in Texas and planned on staying there I found out that I was qualified to take a real estate broker license test and get a license so I took the test and got that license but I never did that full time.  I kept that license active for about 30 years.  I did close a few deals for other people and I have done one investment deal for myself.

Regardless of what I had I felt more comfortable with the construction business.  I even owned my own business when I had a brain anuerism and a stroke.  I was hoping that I could do something with a flexible schedule.  My father has been buying and selling real estate for about 45 years and he has taught me a little bit.  If you think that I could help you with anything, please contact me through BP at any time.  Just do what is average for that neighberhood. Good luck to you both!