All Forum Posts by: Ben Winchester

Jay Hinrichs where are you building in troutdale? My wife and I are looking to move at some point after we re-finance our condo we are living in now. The condo is by Edgefield McMenamins and we are planning on renting it with the Spike of more people from the new Amazon fulfillment center. I’d be interested to see what you are building and where. On a slightly unrelated note, since you are building close to Amazon, and Amazon is building so close to the troutdale airport, it’s just another excuse for you to fly in and check on your project haha. As for the Amazon fulfillment center in troutdale OR increasing property values, id have to agree with Jay on that one. I haven’t seen any noticeable change outside of normal market increase. Amazon isn’t coming until July 2018 so like he said, maybe it’s just too early. I don’t think they’ve even started hiring therefore there is no demand increase as of yet. Once demand increases, I definitely expect an increase in values.

You listen! duh! end post...

Just kidding guys, well sorta. I recently learned about this really cool app that allows anyone, with a public library card, to download/checkout audio books, including real estate books. The app is called "OverDrive" and should be downloadable on most major app stores. OverDrive allows you to link up to your county library and checkout Ebooks and audiobooks. OverDrive stores these books in the app and once downloaded,  you can even listen offline. My library allows me to checkout up to 15 titles at one time, but I think that depends on the specific county library. Each Ebook or audiobook can be checked out for 3 weeks, I also think that is going to depend on your specific library. Not all books ever written are at your library, and even books that are there, may not have an audible version; but this app allows you to easily request books through your library. The more requests there are, the more likely the library will purchase that title. 

A couple downsides are that the app is not the most user friendly, but it's not the worst I've used, and there tends to be a wait list on most major titles. 

Overall, I can't justify paying for an audible.com account, and I hate sitting down and actually reading. OverDrive is a really good alternative to be able to listen to a lot of books for free.

I hope some people benefit from this post. I am not affiliated with OverDrive in any manner at all. This is just a friendly suggestion for anyone looking for audio books, and doesn't want to pay for a service.

Wow, this is such a fantastic idea! I want to see one in person! I hope this takes off and becomes successful. I could totally see this becoming affordable housing or even high end housing. It's super modern and plays on the minimalist theme, which seems to be popular, especially in the Portland area. I didn't see any prices on his site, do you happen to know rough costs he's going for on these?

I just googled "Oregon landlord tenant laws" and got this website as a response. https://oregonlawhelp.org/resource/entering-your-rented-space?ref=Bkouz It all still falls into the fact that most of us aren't lawyers and once you get a basic understanding of the rules he's breaking, to talk to an attorney and figure out a plan of action. There is also a free legal advice phone number for Multnomah county. I don't remember it off the top of my head but when I worked at 911/dispatch, I gave it out all the time for people to call. If they can't help specifically with the landlord/tenant side of things, I'm sure they would have a suggestion. If you can't find the number online, call the non-emergency phone number and ask for it. Best of luck!

Welcome and thank you for your service in the coast guard! I am also a newbie and have been learning for the last 6 months or so. The bigger pockets podcasts are extremely valuable and I would recommend binge listening to all 236 or however many there are ha. Some would say to start at the beginning but I started at the most current and worked my way backwards. There is so much gold in those podcasts, seriously consider listening to all of them. I drive a decent amount and just listen while I drive, kills the time and keeps you motivated to invest all while learning the ropes. You also might consider checking out some books if you like to read. I'm not a reader but have read a few books on real estate. At the end of each podcast Josh and Brandon ask what the guests favorite real estate and business books are, I have a running Amazon wish list of all of those books and pick the next one up after I finish the current book. A bunch of the recommended books are in audible form as well. Anyway, I hope you get started and stay motivated! Best regards, Ben

Just to clarify, there have been 2 books recommended here. J Scott's book on estimating rehab costs AND J Scott's book on flipping houses. I believe when they first launched they were sold together, but now you can buy them separately. I have only read his book on estimating rehab costs and besides the multiple grammar and spelling errors, it's fantastic. The content is top notch and worth the read. I just have a bias against books that get published with grammar errors haha. Great read though.

Welcome Rob Jones I'm no going to pretend I am an expert but I have been doing a lot of research around the Multnomah County area, and a little bit in the clackamas county area. I have yet to see any deals worth jumping on in the portland area. None of them seem to cashflow, but I am only looking on the MLS. I'm sure there are some off market deals to be had. Driving for dollars and tracking down the owner could dredge up some deals. From all the podcasts I've listened to, I've been looking in the outlying portland areas. Troutdale, woodburn, Estecada, sandy, etc. I have seen some 1% deals that end up cash flowing $200-$300 a month after ALL expenses (prop management, cap x, maintenance, vacancy, marketing, admin, etc) with 25% down on a 30 year fix. they go extremely fast though and I'm not sure that cashflow meets your criteria. I haven't seen anything close to that once you go inside of portland. Take Jay Hinrichs up on his offer! If you haven't heard his podcast you should definitely give it a listen. BiggerPockets.com/show222. He would be an excellent mentor to have and I'm super jealous you guys are going flying haha. One day I'll get up in the sky's. I want to get skydive certified and my pilots license. I love every bit of aviation and body flight. My mom lives out in Estecada and the area is fantastic. I ride my motorcycle out there sometimes. Awesome roads when you go out to Indian Henry camp grounds. Best of luck to you!

Hi Jon Kampen I am in a similar situation of living in my home that has since appreciated an insane amount. What's your strategy going to be? Are you going to sell and move and use some money from the sale to invest? Cash out refi? home equity line of credit (HELOC), or maybe you already have cash to invest with? I've been trying to figure out the best route and am curious if you guys have thought about what you will do? Ben

Mike Cumbie and Ron S. thanks for the explanation! I think the podcast I listened to was in fact them buying the loan from the bank when the owner was upside down and then restructuring the loan. I've been listening to podcasts everyday for the last 6-8 months, so sometimes I get a few of them mixed up haha. Thanks again

I don't want to hijack this forum with an off topic question so I'm going to try to keep this on topic and then search for other posts about this. After reading some of these responses it sounds like the seller has a lot of rights in the short sale process. I could have sworn that I heard on a podcast at some point where a guy was buying short sales but he was mainly dealing with the bank to avoid having to convince the seller of accepting his offer. That sounds completely wrong though after reading a little bit online and this post. So I'm wondering if it was an old practice where the seller didn't have as many rights regarding short sales? Or if there is any way to go around the seller and just deal directly with the bank? If the home owner has already missed payments and is violating the terms of the mortgage, I feel like they shouldn't have as many rights anymore…