All Forum Posts by: Colin Johnson

I have been researching buying a cabin to use as a vacation rental. Curious to hear if anyone else is doing this and if the experience is fruitful?

I am looking at houses near our local mountain where tons of local tourism flows through for winter and summer sports. So the demand is there.

Also thinking to have it property managed by Vacasa, which takes a moderate commission, but could be worth it since they handle everything from reservations, guest support, cleaning, and everything in-between.

Would love to hear your thoughts and experience on this strategy!

Thanks

Colin

This March my wife and I closed on our first house hack deal in east Portland. The property is a 5 bed 3 bath, with an additional workshop in the backyard. We will be doing a small rehab to convert it into a duplex (it’s fairly good to go). 3 bed 2 bath’s for our living quarters, and 2 bed 1 bath for the tenants, with potential to rent out the workshop as work space or storage.

This property is the ideal first home / rental property for us because, based off preliminary projections, renting out the additional unit and the workspace, the income could cover about 2/3 of the mortgage. Which will reduce living costs significantly more than what they currently are, and allow us to save and invest further.

It will also be great experience learning the ropes of being a landlord and managing a property. Any tips for being a landlord and managing the property while living there would be great!

With the first property under the belt, I’m already thinking of what will come next. I definitely want to keep expanding into real estate investing. Perhaps go for a larger multi-family property next, maybe a 5-6 unit. Since a commercial loan isn’t based off your debt to income ratio, but the income of the property itself. Which seems more logical to be able to keep expanding your portfolio, and leverage more loan power. But the main question, that I’m sure every newbie investor has.. how to get that down payment for the next investment without having to save a large percentage of income for a few years?

Would love to hear some strategies and techniques you guys have done to branch out to more properties after getting your first.

Thanks for your time and appreciate any insight shared!

@Daniel Krantz that's awesome! Congrats on that win. Now that you've done a deal buying through auction, would you do it again? Besides not being able to physically see inside the house beforehand, are there any other big drawbacks?

What a great example to showcase. It turned out great, congrats!

Thanks for your reply @Phillip Pommier. Sounds great, and could be exactly what I was hoping for. I'll try to attend soon! 

Hey BP Members,

I'm based in Portland, and am wondering if there is any active or upcoming meet-ups about REI to network and meet people? Or some more upscale networking events going on in the Portland area?

If there isn't currently any going on, maybe we should set one up!

Thanks,

Colin

Great job! That is awesome. You learned how to flip a house and all the work that goes along with that, and walked away with some solid profit. 

A great case study to refer to.

Thanks!

Hello fellow BP members!

I'm excited to join a community of like minded individuals, and am eager to learn, meet people, and start investing!

My name is Colin Johnson, and I live in SE Portland. My wife and I are currently looking for our first duplex investment property. It will be owner occupied at first until we move onto something bigger and better. I am still undecided on which route for funding to go, but I guess that depends on the right deal!

Would love to hear about what deals and markets you guys are working in, and what type of investments you have experience in.

Thanks for reading my post. Looking forward to meeting people of the community.

Thanks,

Colin