All Forum Posts by: Michele Fischer

Zach Schwarzmiller, you are right about WA laws. We were headed down the abandonment path about a month ago, no bodies but plenty of stuff. We were scrambling to find cheap storage space (like our garage) when they reappeared and paid us enough to give them a week to properly move out.

Kevin, greetings from another Washingtonian, although on the other side of the mountains.

You may feel like time is wasting, but better to take it slow, enjoy the stage of life with wee ones, and get into deals you really want to be in.

Welcome to Bigger Pockets!

Welcome Ian! I am fairly close, in Cowlitz County.

You'll be doing your own property managing? My procedure manual and rental agreement are geared toward low income tenants, but I'd be happy share both. They are aligned to WA state laws.

Good luck!

Welcome Sam!

I am also on Washington state, in the southwest corner.

We love the idea of small multis, but so far duplexes is as big as we've invested. We're in a holding pattern for now, wanting to invest where we live, and not sure where we'll live in five years or so. Plus, eight low income tenants seems to keep us busy enough with "working while working".

Glad to have you out of lurkdom,
Michele

Hi Patrick.

I can share our statement:
Provide affordable, clean, and safe housing to lower income tenants. Treat applicants and tenants with dignity while preserving the value and financial return of properties.

In shorthand, we say "safe and clean" and apply all decisions against that.

I'm not sure how we got there though. We chose a low income neighborhood that is being revitalized, so that got us to low income, and the rest kind of evolved. Narrowing to a 40 block area helped us a lot to stay focused.

Not sure if that helps any.

Paying a property manager lowers your taxable rental income, in either state. Reduces your tax liability, but I'd rather have the higher income and pay the higher taxes.

Huh, y'all are having better luck than I am. Our laminate wood flooring is normally quite banged up after one tenant move out. One to two years. We don't replace it, but we aren't happy with it. We installed Allure flooring in one kitchen/living room since it is more water resilient. The high traffic areas look like someone drug heavy furniture across it. I vote for low end carpet and cheap vinyl, replaced every other tenant. Yes, I'm catering to low income. No, I no longer think that if we just provide nicer stuff that they will take care of it. We actually wrote into our agreement "pets are not allowed to eliminate indoors"...

Ivan,
I have never been sued and don't spend any time worrying about it. Get educated, don't discriminate, do the right thing, and you should be able to bridge the gap until you get your umbrella policy.
It's a plus that you aren't in King county.
Most of property managing is transferable to other markets, there isn't that much that is specific to an area.
You're probably looking at 10% of rent to the manager for the fee.
We decided to manage ourselves, to be more in control of the maintenance and I feel strongly that I can rent a place faster than the property managers. But it is work and a learning curve.

I've really enjoyed this discussion!

I'm in my 40's, facing kids college costs before retirement, trying to live frugally, exploring the US for travel fun. And focusing on my weight and health, agree that this is a huge influencer of future health care costs. Inflation and health care is a huge unknown, but regardless, keeping up with the Jones' is a good way to end up broke.

Rich, would love to be an active retiree in the future, probably not in Eureka :), thanks for sharing.

Welcome Brian! My husband lived in Port Orchard before we met, and I love Gig Harbor. Agree this is a great site!