Does the number of rentals available concern you as an investor?

[Justin Bautista]

Hi there. I'm still learning everything about real estate before I dive in. I'm looking at my local market (Seattle), there's dozens upon dozens of rentals available - and they're right next to each other. Does this concern you? I'm thinking if there's this much landlords competing to get a tenant, it might not be a good idea to do BRRRR in this narket. However I know a lot of people rent in Seatte since it's too expensive to buy, so it just doesn't make sense to me. Any thoughts?

[Michael Haas]

@Justin Bautista - some Seattle investors are offloading / 1031-ing their rentals within the city limits because of our regulations and current city council - this election cycle was an opportunity to swing back to a moderate center, but with Kshama Sawant winning another term we as Landlords in Seattle will keep being cast as the bad guys. We're still holding our 5 Seattle rentals, but are looking more aggressively in Renton and other outlying areas to diversify our risk. 

The only neighborhood where I see a large number of adjacent rentals on the market is Youngstown, West Seattle, and that's likely because the above ground lightrail opening in 2031 is set to cut straight through that neighborhood and decimate their property values. Since that's 10 years away, a lot of investors are of loading now in the hopes that someone will buy either 1. not knowing what is coming or 2. not caring as that construction won't begin for a few years. 

Make sure you've got a good Seattle Realtor that knows investment properties- if you don't know what you're doing its easy to fall into one of those bad buys. Cheers and good luck, and feel free to reach out if you're interested in grabbing a coffee sometime!