Rentals in outer NE Portland?

[Tara Ballenger]

Hello all. Do any of you have rentals, of any type, in outer NE Portland, east of I-205, west of 162nd? Gateway, Hazelwood, Glendoveer, Parkrose, Argay, etc.? I'd love to hear your experiences with the tenant pool - both in numbers (how many people are interested in the rental) and quality of the applicants. 

[Derrick Aragon]

@Tara Ballenger message me your questions. 

[Tara Ballenger]

@Derrick Aragon I sent you a PM, but my questions are in the OP. Wondering about whether outer east properties are sought after by quality tenants, especially in comparison to closer-in properties. Plus general experience with landlording these properties. Thanks!

[Zach Davis]

I have some in Centennial and a few in Rockwood. It can take time to find a decent tenant out there but it is doable. I certainly wouldn't call those neighborhoods desirable but there are good tenants to be had. If you want to go out that far, you might think about straying into Gresham. There you can still use a no cause without paying them to move, at least for the time being. The properties I have in Gresham are very comparable to the ones I hold in Portland, but the Gresham ones tend to be easier to manage for that reason.

[Mathew Wray]

Hey Tara, 

Thanks for posting this! I think it's easy for "everything east of the 205" to get stigmatized (being a Portland native, I find myself part of this sometimes and work really hard to fight it). It's an unfair judgement on a huge swath of the metro area with a lot of good areas. At the same time, I think it's fair to say that there are definitely areas that are less desirable and others that are WAY less desirable. But, I think it's really a block by block (or at least sub-neighborhood by sub-neighborhood) proposition in a lot of the neighborhoods you mentioned. I agree with @Zach Davis that at some point it's probably easier to push out to Gresham and avoid the whims of the city council; the rents aren't much less and you can get plenty of people that have been priced out of Portland as a reasonable applicant pool. Like Zach said, it might take longer, but my experience has been that once in, (if we're talking about SFRs) the tenants tend to stay put. On the other hand, if you're talking about many of the apartments lining Stark, Division, and Burnside, then you're looking at a whole different issue that I'd rather not spend my time working with. Too much hassle and not enough return for my time. Like everywhere else, I think quality of applicant is going to depend on location and price. If you're talking about apartments on Division between the smoke shop and Carl's Jr., then you're going to get tenants who walk to the smoke shop and Carl's Jr. If you're talking about areas around Glenfair Elementary then you'll probably get middle-class families that make generally calm tenants. 

My .02 anyway

Best of luck!

[Tara Ballenger]

@Zach Davis and @Mathew Wray thanks so much for the insights! I am looking to convert a split level to a duplex - so it would be like a 3/2 and a 2/1. Separate yards and driveways but shared walls. I really like the Glendoveer area, and further out areas like Argay, and there are tons of lovely split levels in those ‘hoods. Do all families want detached SFRs? Is there a strong market for 2 br units outside of the trendier hoods? So many questions. :) 

I live in Gresham currently, and will be converting my primary sfh detached to a rental soon. But for the split level conversion, I need to do it in pdx city limits, bc it's more ADU friendly.

[Zach Davis]

@Tara Ballenger my properties are exclusively small multi. 3/2s and 2/2s or 2/1s. I have not had an issue renting any of them. Studios and 1 beds tend to be more of an issue out that far.