All Forum Posts by: Harrison Liu

@Soh Tanaka You did not count loss of rent during vacancy time. which averages about 1.5 months and rent is around $1400. plus because of property in the C hood, had a couple evictions in my other units which runs about $1000. Now you do the math. I think I am better off keeping her for the last 12 years. real estate is location specific, there is no one size fit all solution. it also depends on owner's financial situation.

@Peter Bowen I totally agree with you if it's a commercial complex. even $100 less market per unit for 69 units are significant revenue loss. mine is a triplex. also need to consider the neighborhood property is in, mine is in a C neighborhood. turn over cost is higher than better hood. lastly I had a full time job and just retired last year. I rather spend time doing things I like than manage tenants. I spend on average about one hour on my rentals per week. it is as passive as you can get. real estate is not my goal, financial freedom is. I can care less if it is real estate or other form of investment can get me to my goal. it's just so happened real estate worked out for me at the end. I am not as passionate about real estate as most BPers. lol.

@Soh Tanaka @Peter Bowen you guys are over worked on this. I'd rather charge a little below market rent and have 100% occupancy than charge market rent and have vacancy. especially for small multi-family. one vacancy out of a fourplex is 25%. in order to gain $100 in rent, you have one empty unit. you do the math if you are better off charging market rent. I have a tenant who has been there since 2005 over the years rent has doubled but it's always $100 sometimes $200 below market. as market rent increases, her rent increases as well but always lagging the market. what I lost in rent I saved in having no turn over cost, no vacancy cost and most importantly no time spent looking for new tenants and having potentially bad tenants. the risk has been reduced dramatically. under most circumstances over 12 years span, you would have 4 or 5 turn overs I had zero and I am only behind $100, $200 max market rent. which is a better deal?

relax man! enjoy what the passive income has given you. you worry too much. life is short, don't get caught up in this thing called real estate at all time! it's the means to get the goal which is enjoy life, not the other way around.

@Cindy Zhang It depends on how much down payment you want to spend. You may be able to find cash flow property in Tacoma or south king county that is what I heard. you need have a local agent to do some research if you are serious about investing in Seattle. the cash flow you get really depends on the price you paid and when you bought it. I bought mine in 2001 and my cash flow number is great. so there is not an average or above average cash flow per se. in core areas such as Bellevue, Queen Anne, capitol hill you get highest rent but you also pay a lot more for the property so your cash flow is negative unless you pay a lot for down payment.

the biggest challenge in Seattle market is not rent control, it's finding cash flow properties. it wuld be much more difficult to compete with local investors if you are out of state.

a good place to start is go to local meet up and connect with other investors.

@Shiv Jey another option is to max out on credit cards. @Adrian Chu good to know. thank you.

get a hard money loan.

How can you ignore restrictions and HOA rules? these are the biggest challenges in short term rental in hot locations on the coasts. You don't want to spend a bunch of money buying furnitures, only to be shutdown later.