All Forum Posts by: Casey DeCaire

Okay, I'm pretty new to wholesaling... I've been able to help and basically watch a friend negotiate a few wholesale deals. But my friend doesn't know the answers to my questions on this house that I'm pursuing by myself, so I'm turning to you all!! And also trying to find a nice real estate agent who will let me ask them questions!

Basic Info:

~SFH built in 1916 in the Greenlake neighborhood of North Seattle

~2830sq ft, 5 bed, 2 bath

~5711sq ft lot

~Land Value: $364,000

~Improvments Value: $1,000 (its in bad shape)

~Total Appraised Value: $365,000

~Bought in 1988 for $82,500

So I think that this is a pretty great find so far... comps in the area are going for $500,000. But this property is zoned LR3

This is where I'm confused. I know that this property has more potential than just a single family home, I just don't know how to put this into numbers to take to a buyer. I believe that 1 unit/800sq ft would be allowed, so if I'm assuming correctly... You could have between 3 and 7 units on this property.

The house in its current state is very bad, the city has assessed it at $1,000 for the improvements to the land... and they've done that for the past 4 years. It's completely boarded up and has No Trespassing signs all over it, not to mention the graffiti. But the owner is still paying taxes on it...

I think the best option would be to tear down and rebuild. I just need help figuring out how much everything would be worth, once its maxed out to the zoning limits... meaning ARV... and then I can figure out what I can actually offer this lady.

Thanks for your help in advance everyone!!

I just got a job working for a guy doing property maintenance and construction work... My boss does a lot of custom cosmetic work for high end clients in the North Seattle area, and he's going to teach me what he knows!! Excited to be working for knowledge and decent pay, and getting to work at a beach house on Lake Washington is very nice!

I'm going to finish going through the enrollment process at University of Washington for architectural design!! I'm 26, but I decided to sing and travel the world for a few years instead of going to college... so its exciting to going back with a passion for something!

And I'm going to be setting up a marketing plan to hopefully wholesale my first house within the year!! School's expensive, trying to pay for it without taking out any student loans by wholesaling as much as I can and flipping houses during the summer breaks.

Wishing everyone all the best as 2015 comes to a close!

Hello Seattle folks and BP community! I've posted an introduction previously, but I thought I would post again not that I'm ready to take action... extremely ready to take action! I'm at that point in my research where you just feel like you need to do something.

But, I'm 26 and new to the city, hustling as much as I can, and already struggling with higher living costs than I'm used to having coming from Michigan. I'm trying to take the first step out of this continual cycle of asap... I can only aimlessly drive for dollars for so long. So, I've set up a business plan on a crowdfunding website:

http://www.gofundme.com/6w2qfaa9

One thing that's been great about this time of research and talking to other investors on how to get started, going to a local Meet-Up,  I think I've found my niche! I used to tell people that I was getting started in real estate investing...  but what am I actually doing? Well I'm going to design school next year(still undecided on which school) and I want to delve into the world architecture and design. An architect/designer who wholesales, flips, and builds passive income!

Check out my business/life plan! If you have some suggestions, please send your thoughts my way! If you wish to donate and pay-it-forward so I may do the same in the future, I would be forever grateful. Or maybe you know the right person to put this in front of that can turn this into a loan... so that we're both winning.

Thanks so much for your time guys!!

Hey @Alex Chin I am kind of using this as analyzing practice. I've narrowed down my focus to working on wholesaling for the moment, and have some great people that I met at the PacificNW Real Estate Meet Up last night to give me some awesome guidance! But this topic is like my fun time... and what I'm interested in doing down the road. There's a lot about this property that I don't know... all the info I gathered was from rental sites to see what they're renting for, the assessors website for tax info, and I looked up the LLC that the property is under to see what kind of owner I would be working with. I'm not sure of the actual number of units, as I'm not sure where to find that, just guessing from the building size and windows lol... and you never know, that could be 35 studios since it used to be a hotel or maybe its a mix of 25 different size units that they made when they converted it to an apartment building. And since it was built in the 1920's it could be under watch by the King County Historical Preservation Program... so there's that hurdle, but they would probably welcome someone who wants to restore it to its former glory. Definitely something I'm going to keep my eye on! And you never know, this might be my niche because I've already seen a few other low rent, run down buildings in Belltown just like this one and Seattle seems to want to keep all of the beautiful historic buildings alive... so I could probably get some backers once I get some experience under my belt to show that I can do it. Who knows, maybe I could get a show on HGTV like that lady who restores historic houses in Detroit! haha

@Kara Haney I haven't been inside the building yet... it just looks nasty, and they are known for being a very pet friendly complex in Belltown. But from the pictures, they seem to have the original wood floors in the units. I would definitely want to keep those. Its the community areas that look the worst! Trust me, in my guesstimates I made a ton of room for extras!

Hey @Joe Bertolino I welcome the negative view point, sometimes I need people to bring me down from my high flying cloud of optimism! It would definitely be property in which I would need some partners or investors with some really big deep pockets to provide a good amount of the money or at least cash for the renovations because seller financing may be a definite option. I may not have a lot money or equity at the moment, but I do love a challenge and project to work on.... its something I'm going to work towards for the future.

Thanks @Joe Fairless! Very good to know, I suppose it really is about the team you put together. Surround yourself with people who have the knowledge and skills you are lacking for your vision, just like Henry Ford did. And this definitely isn't a tomorrow thing, I need to build up to this one, maybe as my version of Year 5 in "7 Years to 7 Figure Wealth." Except this place is currently assessed at being worth 7.7 million... with other similar sized, but newer complexes on the same street, just blocks away, being valued around 12 million.

I think its going to take a while getting used to that kind of price tag! I'm from Northern Michigan where the expensive houses with beach front or lake access property are worth maybe $120,000. But the median home price in Seattle is currently $507,000. I keep on telling myself that they're just numbers, and even though they're bigger the math is the same... just to ease my anxiety a bit! Haha I'm sure it will all start coming together once I get my hands on that first deal, thanks for the advice! I'm going to a Meet-up tonight, so maybe I'll use it as a conversation starter there.

Hey everybody! So I'm new but I've been looking at properties in Seattle, especially in Belltown. There's an apartment complex that I want to keep my eye on for the coming years... but a question popped into my head when I was thinking about the possibilities.

THE PROPERTY: It was built in the 1920's and from the outside its a beautiful, ornate brick building but the inside looks like it smells of cat pee from the 70's. I looked up reviews and most of the tenants stay there because of the price ($950 for a studio), but they move out as soon as they can afford more because of bad management, low-level tenants, and poor upkeep of the property. It's a great location, I want to live there! Its the perfect balance of downtown, the cool vibe of Belltown, easy distance to the market/blocks from the waterfront, and you could watch the NYE fireworks from the roof... if the roof were safe to walk on. After doing some digging, I discovered that its been owned by a single person for about 20 years and that person might be tired of it soon and want to pass it on to a younger guy like me!

I did some guesstimate calculations on what I think the building currently makes and what is possible for cash flow after renovations. There's a lot of guess work because I'm not sure of all the details, like how much each individual unit is renting for, but I used the BP rental calculator to do the work, and I think that I was pretty conservative in my ARV estimates. Right now, they must be loosing money or just getting by... After renovations it cash flows pretty darn well at an average Belltown rent price. But it needs major renovations! I would want to keep the integrity of the 1920's building, but the lobby and hallways are out of a horror movie and the kitchens and bathrooms look like they're falling apart... and they could definitely use an upgrade on technology.

MY QUESTION: How would you handle a full gut job on an old 35 unit property like this, especially when it comes to tenants? Do you go unit by unit? What if you open that first vacant unit and realize all of the pipes and electrical needs to be redone and you have asbestos running throughout the place? Do you evict everyone and close down for a while, reno, and then a grand reopen? Wouldn't that destroy your reputation/displace a ton of people and make them extremely unhappy? I love the idea of the business opportunity, but I'm also a nice guy who cares about people and knows what its like to struggle with housing...  but I'm really interested if there's a more proper etiquette on how to handle this, because this seems like a wonderful niche for myself down the road.

Hey everybody! So I'm new but I've been looking at properties in Seattle, especially in Belltown. There's an apartment complex that I want to keep my eye on for the coming years... but a question popped into my head when I was thinking about the possibilities.

THE PROPERTY: It was built in the 1920's and from the outside its a beautiful, ornate brick building but the inside looks like it smells of cat pee from the 70's. I looked up reviews and most of the tenants stay there because of the price ($950 for a studio), but they move out as soon as they can afford more because of bad management, low-level tenants, and poor upkeep of the property. It's a great location, I want to live there! Its the perfect balance of downtown, the cool vibe of Belltown, easy distance to the market/blocks from the waterfront, and you could watch the NYE fireworks from the roof... if the roof were safe to walk on. After doing some digging, I discovered that its been owned by a single person for about 20 years and that person might be tired of it soon and want to pass it on to a younger guy like me!

I did some guesstimate calculations on what I think the building currently makes and what is possible for cash flow after renovations. There's a lot of guess work because I'm not sure of all the details, like how much each individual unit is renting for, but I used the BP rental calculator to do the work, and I think that I was pretty conservative in my ARV estimates. Right now, they must be loosing money or just getting by... After renovations it cash flows pretty darn well at an average Belltown rent price. But it needs major renovations! I would want to keep the integrity of the 1920's building, but the lobby and hallways are out of a horror movie and the kitchens and bathrooms look like they're falling apart... and they could definitely use an upgrade on technology.

MY QUESTION: How would you handle a full gut job on an old 35 unit property like this, especially when it comes to tenants? Do you go unit by unit? What if you open that first vacant unit and realize all of the pipes and electrical needs to be redone and you have asbestos running throughout the place? Do you evict everyone and close down for a while, reno, and then a grand reopen? Wouldn't that destroy your reputation/displace a ton of people and make them extremely unhappy? I love the idea of the business opportunity, but I'm also a nice guy who cares about people and knows what its like to struggle with housing...  but I'm really interested if there's a more proper etiquette on how to handle this, because this seems like a wonderful niche for myself down the road.

Hey there @Aaron Ramm I'm going to be there, trust me... I'm hungry to learn! Been driving for dollars the past few days, mainly in the Issaquah and Sammamish area since that's where I'm currently staying. Haven't found any good deals yet, but I suppose it's all about the law of averages! But it's given me time to listen to a lot of podcasts! Soaking up as much info as my brain can hold everyday on here... Been focusing more on wholesaling. I know they say that's the typical beginner thing to do, but I think its the best use of my current skills and definitely a good option for my monetary situation. Can't wait to have some conversations face to face, learn some more, and get to know some investors in the community!

Hey there! This may be a silly questions... But is it cool for a new guy like myself to come and just absorb, ask questions, etc?

Hey Alex! Thanks for the welcome, I definitely had a bit of word vomit in that post... I think I just needed to write it out just to get my thoughts into writing somewhere to make more room in my brain!

As for location, its definitely something that I'm confused about and might create another post addressing it specifically as it pertains to the Seattle area and where I should focus... I suppose it depends on the specifics I set for myself. I want to live in the Belltown/Queen Anne/Ballard area for personal benefit... I like to leave my car behind and walk and use the market as often as possible, its close to theatre stuff, and in general I'm a downtown kind of guy... but hey, I'll totally make sacrifices to get a start that I can handle and scale up from there. If that means a year or so of commuting, so be it.

I haven't really done the math myself, but I've seen on forums that people are having a hard time with getting a healthy cashflow in the city core. Its crazy to me with how high rent prices are...  but that's coming from the farm town boy in me! I think its time for me to really focus, narrow down my parameters, and see where I fit in.

Here's to both of our future successes!