All Forum Posts by: Andrew Harris

Nick from Fulcrum Property Management is excellent!  Give him a call!

Steve,

We live in Tacoma and have a SF rental in East Point, just south north of the ATL airport.  Bought in spring 2016 and have been happy with the investment so far.  Bought for $51,500, put in about $6k (all for a new roof) and am renting it for $785/month (which is a little below market) in order to keep a really great tenant from looking around. 

I'd be happy to chat further if you'd like to compare notes. 

Kim, 

Downtown Mixed Use is the zoning where the city is encouraging dense/tall development.  Mixed use is generally retail on the bottom floor with office and/or residential above.  I have linked to the City's short blurb below which notes the max building height  for DMU is 100 feet.  Not all areas with this zoning type might make sense for constructing a 100-foot tower at this moment, but that is allowable, and that is the direction and location that city planners are encouraging for that sort of structure. 

I agree with Ryan Evans it would be worth a call to community and economic development.  Title 13 of the Tacoma Municipal Code discusses your options in detail regarding setbacks, etc.  Feel free to PM me if you would like to talk about the property specifically.   

http://cms.cityoftacoma.org/Planning/Zoning_bookle...

Sounds expensive for that area.  Depending on the exact neighborhood, SE Tacoma in general is higher crime and lower income.  

I have a 4br/1.5 ba, 1400 SF  in North Tacoma -- it is in pretty good condition but an older property (like most of North Tacoma)  There is hardly anything available to compare with on Craigslist or Zillow.  I have been renting it for $1550 but am planning on raising the rent to $1,690.  This includes lawn care.  Is this in line?

Great plan--moving in to the new rehab and renting your current house gives you the best financing options and puts you in a good position when it comes time to sell if you have capital gains.  Way to go!  Post updates as you move forward.

Vestus is a local auction agency with skilled agents and a wealth of information.  They have classes to educate buyers on how to purchase homes at auction.  Call Kevin Still at Keller Williams and he will set you up.

Eric:

In my experience, when the deal "has to be a cash offer," it is because the seller is concerned that the house will not fit the criteria for traditional financing. Our last renovation project in Tacoma was exactly that situation, and we raised cash by taking personal loans, borrowing form our 401k's and getting a HELOC (home equity line of credit) on our primary residence.

You will need to inspect the house thoroughly and estimate the repairs--sometimes you can get a copy of the previous inspection but that rarely works.

I think you just need to ask your questions (regarding seller financing), and if you don't get answers that work, move on if you don't have another way of getting cash.

Good luck!

Larry Tuell with Remax is great!

Welcome to BP, Brent!  Hello from across the bridge! My wife and I are investors in Tacoma.  Make sure to check out the Bigger Pockets Blog under "Education" above--I have been learning a lot from reading the posts from the contributors there.