Real Estate Financial Advisor / Strategist

[Jessica Vollendorf]

Does anyone know if such a person as a real estate financial advisor/strategist exists? I am specifically looking for an expert in Portland, OR. 

[Julee Felsman]

Hi @Jessica Vollendorf 

I'm a long-time loan officer and real estate investor myself in Portland. I've searched for years for a financial advisor who "gets" real estate. They're hard to find. For the most part, the advice from the financial planners I've encountered, when it comes to real estate  is a version of "too risky" and "you need to diversify". Risk is in the eye of the beholder (what investment isn't with out risk?). I probably do need to diversify my investments a bit (but I've muddled through so far and done pretty well). And well, I like my real estate.

Not 100% sure I've found The Planner, but I have two leads I can share if you want to DM me. One is in Lake Oswego (recently met them, getting to know them still, but impressed so far). Another is out of state, but a dear friend who's soon-to-be retiring on the cash flow found them and she and her husband have been really happy.

These folks are financial planners -- bigger picture, holistic financial planning.

if you want to focus on managing your real estate portfolio (strictly), your best bet would probably be a team approach: an investment-focused real estate broker, a lender who understands investing and (especially in light of Portland's current landlord tenant laws) a property manager. 

All three can offer different perspectives on your portfolio, managing the debt/leverage to strategic benefit and the opportunities and risks and give you input to filter and use to make decisions. 

I've got good resources for these that I'm happy to share.