All Forum Posts by: Jess Haas

If you have enough value in the house I would do a HELOC over a cash out refinance. You would keep the current loan with the HELOC and you only pay interest when you borrow the money. Super flexible compared to a refinance. Have you looked into First time Washington home buyers? Do you have good credit?

Hey Ken,

Welcome to Washington. I am also originally from the south Bay area(Mountain view).  with 800k there are a lot of options. You could go North or South Seattle. The question is what are your goals? Do you want to park your money in an investment(townhome) or do you want to rehab and refinance and pull more of your cash back out for another investment? The market is hot and inventory is low right now. With interest rates hiking up competition is as fierce as ever. If I were you I would try to find something off market. 

This is an interesting idea! Do you put a lid over the dumpster? 

Hey @Carlson Driver,

What area of Beacon Hill(it's long and narrow)? I have 2 houses in the area(closer to the lightrail) that rents fairly easily(within a week or two of listing). This time of year is a little tougher since less people are moving. We typically try to get tenants on a summer schedule. I would advise doing a 6 month lease and then switching to a year long lease after. 

Hey Kelton,

I agree with the posts above. The tough thing about true zoned multi families is that there is a premium just for being called a "multi family". Usually multi families are zoned for larger projects which attracts developers who drive the price up. Another option is buying a single family with an ADU which allows you to househack in the same way as a multifamily(you could even short term rent the other unit for typically double your projected long term rents). If you are looking outside Seattle in Tacoma or Everett there are still a lot of good options in the 500k price point. If you don't plan on moving in the next few years I would focus on your primary residence. Build some equity and take a HELOC to buy your next investment. With the way homes have been appreciating it won't take long in this market. Let me know if you have any questions about the Seattle market. Happy to help.

Hey Joey,

If you are interested in out of state investing I would read Long Distance Real Estate investing by David Green. I have also heard good things about the Inner Circle with Addicted to ROI(https://addictedtoroi.com/). 

If you dont already own your primary residence I would suggest using your VA towards your primary residence. You can leverage more with your VA loan in this market vs buying OOS with a smaller loan. If it's one thing I have learned recently it's borrow as much as you can while interest rates are low.

@Daniel Nobile used his VA loan to house hack in Woodinville. I know theres a puget sound group Active Duty Passive Income(ADPI) that meets in the area. Welcome to BP!

Hey Scott,

Michael and I are working on rehabbing our 3rd cabin along highway 2 before Stevens Pass. We also have 1 short term rental in Seattle. Michael Baum is correct about the moratoriums in chelan county. As much as I love Leavenworth, I would steer clear of that market because permits are limited. Our team looks at short term rentals across Washington so we would love to help you. 

What neighborhood are you in?

That’s tough. My biggest regret is selling our house in Seattle when we moved to California. If we had just held onto it even if rent didn’t cover mortgage and expenses, we would have done okay because the house and rent has appreciated significantly. We moved back to Seattle and the house is literally worth double what we paid.

Flip side though, Seattle legislation is getting tighter. 60 day notice of rent increase, limits on how much you can raise before you are required to pay a relocation fee, etc.  

If you kept it would you manage it yourself or hire a property manager? 

We meet up as a househacker happy hour once a month in sodo.