All Forum Posts by: Alex Chin

@Casey DeCaire - welcome to BP and that's a pretty intense data dump. Great to hear your story and where you think real estate fits into your long-term plans as you continue your work.

I am curious, are you committed to the Seattle city core for your initial small-multifamily house hack? Pricing tends to hit the $400K range for a duplex near downtown, Ballard, etc. If you were willing to base yourself further out, there are definitely more affordable options in the Renton, White Center, and Burien areas. If you venture even further afield, to satellite cities such as Kent and Auburn, that same duplex drops in price to the $200K range and immediate cash-flow becomes a lot more doable.

I know this mostly because my goal is to start out with 3-5 du/tri/quad-plexes over the next 5-8 years, and then transition them upwards into a 10-20 unit apartment. I have concentrated my research on the areas around Tacoma, Lakewood City, Auburn, and Kent as well as forays into the Everett area where I think there are also some interesting opportunities.

Good luck on your journey, hope to hear about your success soon!

@Timothy Daniels - just to be clear, you have a triple-net lease on your commercial property is what it sounds like? Or just very low-maintenance tenants?

I'm looking at buying a set of 3-5 du/tri/quad-plexes over the next 5-8 years, then transitioning them into a 10-20 unit apartment building.

End game is somewhere in the range of 50-100 doors spread out over 2-5 high-quality properties.

Hmmm. Well, depending on your budget and locational flexibility, there are some decent house hack options. I remember taking a look at a 4-plex where the "main" unit had something like 2,000 sqft., asking price was around $400K, way over my budget, but could be someone's treasure.

@Timothy Daniels - Greetings and thanks for piping up and giving us all a chance to know you!

As a former builder, do you act as your own GC then?

That is a very impressive portfolio, do you have a particular type of commercial property you're targeting for your expansion?

My end goal is to transition a portfolio of small-multis into medium-large apartment buildings, possibly taking aim at student housing since Seattle has a number of strong institutions of higher learning in the area.

@Kerry Smith - Welcome to Washington State and the Puget Sound region! I was just about to suggest contacting @David Pierce as I believe he is in the same situation as you, but I see that he has already chimed in.

Depending on your budget, I believe that you will find great opportunities in the JBLM region, certainly you can buy a 4-plex for under $350K, although I'm not sure of how much living space you and your family will need. The Seattle region as a whole is very hot, some parts starting to froth up a bit, getting to that pre-bubble stage in my opinion, you will find ample opportunity throughout your investment footprint.

Were you planning on opening your own brokerage or just getting an agent's license? I'm not completely clear on how these things work.

Although this summer has been unusually hot, my experience as someone who was born and raised in the PNW is that the mild temperatures in summer and winter are usually a great selling point for out-of-staters who move to the area.

Go 'Hawks!

@Adrian Chu - Is there a rental cap on the community in question?

Aurgh! I wish I could come, but I will be out of town for most of the first half of August!

See, what we really need is a paid session where a guru can teach us how to use Bigger Pockets most effectively...

@VAUGHN BLACK - I would probably end up bidding it as either bare land, or as you would a house that has to be completely gutted, down to the studs, with major inspection contingencies in place to protect yourself.

@David Pierce - That's BP for you, especially the local area forums.

Even with a compressed time-line, I would say you still have strong opportunity to find a great deal, unless that you're measuring in weeks instead of a few months to when you need living space by.

When there are a lot of new homes for sale in an area, that should be considered a positive for you as the buyer, more inventory creates downward pressure on price and puts you in the driver seat.