All Forum Posts by: Dustin Berman

Hello BP! First off, can't tell you all how much I appreciate the collective knowledge here. It was through listening to BP podcasts and digging through these forums that I was able to purchase my first properties.

Anyways, my name is Dustin and I recently purchased 3 different properties in the Skykomish, WA area. I am struggling to figure out the best path towards achieving my ultimate goal of living mortgage free in Skykomish for half the year chasing snow and the other half travel to places with low cost of living like Southeast Asia. I would love it if I could build these properties into an income stream that could help finance this dream life.

Two of the properties are vacant lots that need improvements (namely clearing and driveways) to be usable for a rental situation. The last property has an old abandoned cabin that is in pretty poor shape (though potentially structurally fine, TBD).

I'm not entirely sure where to start for an introduction, and that is a reflection of the fact that I'm a little overwhelmed by options at this point. For now my priority has been cleaning up the old cabin so that I can get someone qualified in there to assess the structural integrity.

Would love the opportunity to share more about my situation, and to learn more from others who have been down this road before.

-Dustin

I live in Seattle and could use some input and advice on achieving my goal of living independent with little to no housing costs.

I am hoping to achieve this by taking advantage of newly enacted DADU laws in Seattle. I want to buy a house, build a DADU on the property, then rent the main home and live in the DADU. I'm essentially trying to have someone cover my living expenses by paying rent on the main home.

I am hoping to get a loan and pay the minimum down payment, then use the money I would have used as a down payment to pay for building the DADU. From there I would then get the home value reassessed to hopefully bring up the equity in the home to 20% or more and eliminate paying PMI. The DADU sounds like it will cost about $100-140k.

I'm really not familiar with loan options, but I understand that in Seattle the jumbo loan limit is around $726k. What loan options should I look into that will allow me to put the smallest amount down? My girlfriend and I make $140k/yr combined.

I'm looking for input on this plan, a check on if my logic is sound, and if there are any potential issues that I need to be aware of.

I am interested in bidding on a property at my local foreclosure tax deed auction (King County, WA) that I suspect may have an unreported sale.

The owner of this property had 4 parcels in the same subdivision. 2 of the other parcels were recently updated with new sales information and removed from auction. County records still show the taxes on the property as unpaid, and it is currently at auction. It also looks like there have been improvements made recently to the property, which would indicate to me that there is a new owner of the property.

Worth noting that this is vacant land, but construction of a house has begun on the property.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? If I choose to bid on this property, will the money I bid potentially be at risk?