All Forum Posts by: Bryan Parmenter

Just bought my first rental in Vancouver, WA and I live here. There are people interested in having ADUs but I haven't seen many yet. Just interest. I've been looking at mine because the lot is large enough to have an ADU installed. The county website, https://clark.wa.gov/community..., has some information on them. Garage might be a good option. People’s usage of them are hit and miss and so if you rent out the main house without the garage, it could work. Good luck.

@Harry Standafer I have a Sense Smart Energy monitor on my personal home and have had it for a couple years. Very easy to setup, in my opinion. It learns and starts to identify different items in the home. I can see when my electric oven goes on or a small space heater. It does take time for it to learn but there are also smart electric baseboard heater thermostats.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/My...

https://sense.com/

Very cool stuff. I worked for modular home startup company. The availability of technologies for building is actually quite extensive. Because of that, we don't get the mass production capabilities like the auto industry that can drive down costs. A saying I always heard at that startup is the fact that we like to make Snowflakes when building, each one built a little different.

One of the things I learned when building modular is surrounding building codes. Does the product meet the building codes for certain property types? I don't knock building codes because the intent is safety but it does create a regulatory nightmare for startups to bring technology to the masses because of the testing fees associated with it. I've investigated this 1st hand with trying to bring a building product from Europe to the US. Lots of testing needing to be done to meet code. Lots of costs. That's why I think they are looking towards other building options that don't require meeting of residential building codes. The tiny houses can meet a code that is similar to the RV industry. Not as much testing of the materials but more of quality and compliance. My experience from working at a custom Mercedes Sprinter conversion company that was trying to become RVIA compliant. If the unit is on a trailer chassis and under a certain square footage, then it has a different compliance. Don't take my word 100% because I'm not an expert. Just my experiences.

I'd love to see more building technologies become more common place.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Vancouver.

Purchase price: $493,000
Cash invested: $123,750

First rental property in a while. Positive cash flow but maybe not the best cash on cash but the intention as well is to eventually allow for my spouse or my aging parents to move close, if they need to.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Close location plus we had always wanted to find a place that was close for future family members.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Neighbor mentioned a family we knew was getting ready to move and was getting the house prepped.

How did you finance this deal?

I was impacted by Covid due to furlough for work and took advantage of the opportunity to take money out of my tax deferred IRA as well as some of my contributions from my roth IRA. Financed the rest through a conventional investment property mortgage. Got a rate of 2.875 for it so that was nice.

How did you add value to the deal?

None needed

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Had some money from the seller for closing costs. Ended up not using all of it. I didn't really follow up enough with my lender to ensure that we used as much as possible to pay down points or even to drop the price more with the buyer. While this investment is positive cash flow and meets the needs of the intent that we have for it, we will look at better cash on cash in the future.

I'm finishing the purchase of a SFH for a rental in Vancouver, WA. We found the place off market and have used a realtor. We are putting 25% down and the rate is pretty good. Our eventual goal is similar to yours. Lot has potential for ADU.

Now, I’ve been looking at a duplex myself and there are some options in that price range but not many in the area. It’s going to be a challenge but like everyone says, run the numbers are each opportunity. If it makes sense, then do it.