All Forum Posts by: Adam Hanson

I hear so much talk about when starting out, try to partner on a deal to get your feet wet. I get the concept of partnering on a deal if you have a tremendous amount of knowledge and or capital, but what does it really mean when entering into the REI world with no real experience other than passive education (i.e. books, podcasts etc.) and little working capital (under 30k)?

How does a newbie partner with someone whos been in the game and what can they really offer to allow a balanced partnership?

Tell me about your experience with partnering. How did you set it up? 

What kinds of properties were involved? 

What were the terms of the partnership? 

What were challenges and learning experiences you had? 

@Geordy Rostad "So on a detached alley garage the numbers change drastically if you have to pull water, sewer, and power out there. Sewer can especially be a unique challenge because you either need gravity back toward the house or you need an injection pump to grind up the sewage and shoot it down a higher pressure line."

That is a huge factor I didn't consider. What is your take on the compostable bathroom bnbs? Is a non plumbed bathroonm in a vacation rental a huge deterrent? I dont want to cut corners on my first project, but dont want to break the bank for a vacation rental toilet ether.

And with carving a single into a double residence, does it require sealing the two units off from each other? I rented a room in Ballard in an old craftsman from 1910s with an apt downstairs and they had open access to our house from the basement door (no lock), the roommate in the house was good friends with the couple in the downstairs flat, so it wasn't too big of a privacy issue, but if a stranger moved in, would have been a completely different story. The landlord was a half step above slumlord to begin with, granted. 

I'm wondering what that would do to the desirability of the property if I were to completely seal off two separate parts of the house, should I choose to sell down the road?

@Richard Santi, is that with all sfh's or specific zoned (ie. lot size, proximity to neighbors, etc)

How big are you able to build? I imagine its a specific percent max to the lot size? That has to be such a fun project to design! Would you share photos on here? I would love to see that!

@James Dainard I just shot him a dm and hope to connect over the weekend, thanks for the connect!!!

Hey all, 

 I am currently shopping for my first deal in Tacoma WA, and I have a plan for our first "house hack" that I wanted to see if it is doable/legal. 

We are looking for a fixer 1500-200 sq ft (Ill be doing a large portion of the rehab myself excluding electric/plumbing) that we could turn into 2 separate units by adding a second small kitchen and potentially extra bathroom, and renting out the second unit, along with converting a detached garage into a vacation rental we would self manage, while staying in the first unit for the first year to fit the FHA loan.

My questions are for the lawyers and contractors in the area:

1. Is it legal/ what paperwork do I need to create a second unit?

2. How much would adding in plumbing for a kitchen/bathroom into a basement unit and bathroom into the "garage BnB" cost?

Hey @Matthew Riggs,

  I moved out here to Seattle about 5 years ago from Rochester too!  

I have just began my investing career and currently am shopping in and planning to move to Tacoma from North Seattle because of price/cost of living. Housing in Seattle seems to be picked clean unless you are deep in the scene or happen upon a bananas deal, however Tacoma is definitely looking like there's plenty of opportunity. There are parts of Tacoma that have an "Austin MN" vibe, a little gruff but starting to clean up as folks are investing in cleaning up neighborhoods and there are plenty of quiet clean and hip neighborhoods in full swing. Seattle is such a great city, but the price of entry seems to be at a real peak right now and it's getting more and more populated to the point that my work commute has over doubled in travel time due to the horrible traffic. But really, anywhere out here in the northwest, you're going to love, if nothing else, there's no 4 feet of snow and 40 degrees below zero in the winter.

Feel free to reach out when you get out here, always love meeting folks from back home!

Best of luck!

Hey all, this my be slightly long winded but I love being thorough. I am brand new to bigger pockets, and just about as new to real estate investing, but Ive been wanting to jump in for a while now. Ive been burning through real estate books, bigger pockets podcasts and dropped in on some REIA meetings out here in Seattle. I have about 30K set aside for my first deal and just want to get folks feedback before getting too far ahead (definitely the analysis paralysis type...)

I have been keeping an eye on the Seattle market and cost entry is just bananas, but I have been taking a look at duplexes just south in Tacoma WA, and have seen a couple fairly distressed properties (20k-40k rehabs).

I want to house hack my first property with a rehab, doing a fair bit of the work myself (i have a bit of experience in construction) and farming out the rest of the heavy work. Then fill the other unit, and plan to try to BRRRR the property within the following year.

Among the billions of questions I have, the biggest ones are:

Is it more common to do a conventional loan or FHA for someones first deal?

What percentage of a rehab cost to property cost should I ballpark for on my first deal? 

Should I be setting up an LLC for ownership of the property before I even begin to make offers?

As a custom woodworker I would want to doctor up the property to an extreme level, is it more fiscally inteligent to rehab a property with a general look, or is there a good return value in premium details?

What are the biggest dangers I should be looking out for with this strategy?

Any other pieces of advice before going in on this venture?

I am so excited and nervous about this whole process, and so, so, so appreciative of this community for all the support in it, and can't wait to hear from folks!

Thanks Rich! I would love to get any referrals I can at this point, my real estate involvement at this point is mainly intellectual and I will definitely need to start growing my contacts list. For getting started, Im assuming the first person to reach out to is a good agent. Any recommendations? 

Hey all, My name is Adam and I am a 29 year old future real estate investor in Seattle WA. I am a custom staircase maker and have been blessed with the ability to binge real estate investing books all day at work, and finally got hooked on the bigger pockets podcast as well.  I started out building guitars on the east coast, and have since transplanted my little opperation out to seattle in 2014, where I still build acoustic and electric guitars in my personal time. During the working hours, I have been working with a custom staircase company building absolutely bananas spiral staircases and solid wood bathtubs and sinks. 

I have been a woodworker for the better part of a decade but have been casually dating with the idea of a fix and flip, along with a buy and hold lifestyle.I love the whole ideology behind real estate, but I have always held an "over analyse before jumping in" mentality and catch myself dragging my feet some days to try to progress to the next step (rather, the actual first step which is to buy a property) and get that analysis paralysis. One of the biggest excuses I make right now is the cost of entry in Seattle, along with not really knowing which areas are the most critical to focus in on, and try to process as much content as possible. I am currently reading up about getting into multi unit properties and plan to have the first rental I do be a house hack. 

I am so stoked to be here with such an awesome community of folks, and I look forward to talking to all of you fine folks out there!

Adam Hanson