All Forum Posts by: Julee Felsman

Hi Michael! She's in Portland, but I have worked with and highly recommend Katherine Van Zanten at Cable Huston.  Really knowledgeable about all of the above and has helped my partner ad I with these things.

Thanks! To a Portlander like me, it’s such a pleasant, walkable neighborhood. We’ve even toyed with moving over there someday. 

Thanks! I'm rounding out my profile, so do note that this was a good long time ago.  It was in great shape, actually (but a lot of 70s fixtures upstairs).  I rented the upstairs (studio) for $600 or so when I bought it.  We're now getting $1100 up and $1500 down.

Investment Info:

Large multi-family (5+ units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $1,500,000
Cash invested: $400,000

1970s building in Hollywood.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We didn't think we were interested in buying another building, but fell for this one due to the neighborhood.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

It was listed in the MLS.

How did you finance this deal?

Seller financing.

How did you add value to the deal?

The building is in good shape but very original, cosmetically. We inherited the building with 3 vacant units (to which we did cosmetic upgrades). We will remodel the rest one by one as they come vacant.

What was the outcome?

Too soon to say... but we hope to stabilize this into another nicely cash-flowing building. We could see moving to one of these units when we're ready to downsize. It's a great walking neighborhood.

Investment Info:

Large multi-family (5+ units) buy & hold investment in Portland.

Purchase price: $695,000
Cash invested: $139,000

12 plex in Cully. Major (major) fixer.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We felt that 5-20 unit properties were under-valued and were keeping our eye out for candidates to buy in areas with up-side. This one was in Cully and very much fit the bill.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

It was listed in MLS. The seller needed to sell one of two properties and didn't accept our initial offer. He came back to us, through our agent, when the sale of another property he had listed fell through.

How did you finance this deal?

20% down commercial loan, 10 year amortization. We sold the bank on our prior experience buying fixers and convinced them we could take on this larger project.

How did you add value to the deal?

Gut remodel of all 12 units... and landscaping. There is not a surface we didn't touch.

What was the outcome?

Great cash-flow property. It was going to be our last purchase... until it wasn't.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

So many lessons. This was quite a project. One takeaway: Don't try to use a shipping container as an outbuilding in the city of Portland. We spent a lot of time and money and finally got the message... they were never going to give us a permit to do what we wanted to do (but they were never going to say 'no' either).

Investment Info:

Large multi-family (5+ units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $375,000
Cash invested: $100,000

5 plex purchase near the Bridge in St Johns.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

At the time, 5-20 unit buildings were an overlooked and undervalued niche.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

The property was advertised by the owner on Craiglist... although he also had a realtor representing him.

How did you finance this deal?

Commercial loan with 25% down.

How did you add value to the deal?

The property had what we originally thought was water damage in one unit (turned out it was carpenter ants). We fixed that immediately and have done cosmetic upgrades to 3 of the 5 units. We've also repaired rotten balconies, replaced the roof (twice) (pro-tip: pay attention to proper ventilation of a flat roof).

Lessons learned? Challenges?

This is almost our newest building (built in the 60s)... this vintage of building was not built as well as some of our older properties. Or maybe it's more accurate to say it was built with materials that were not as forgiving. It cash flows well, but it's been a non-stop race to keep up with/correct various issues due to the vintage and style of construction.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Vancouver.

Purchase price: $202,000
Cash invested: $20,200

Cute brick bungalow in the Arnada neighborhood of downtown Vancouver. Purchased a little speculatively with terrible timing... but held on and all's well now.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We set out to buy a home in downtown Vancouver, both because we like it and because we were positive that a new I-5 bridge was in the works. Buying in the cute, old part of Vancouver within walking/biking distance of a MAX line to downtown Portland seemed like a great idea. The bridge never happened and then the housing recession did...

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

It was listed in MLS, in the area we liked, small, fairly cheap and super-cute.

How did you finance this deal?

10% down conventional financing (80/10/10). Yup, that was a "thing" on rental purchases before the housing crisis. We paid off the piggyback HELOC pretty quickly and have subsequently refinanced to a 15 year note.

How did you add value to the deal?

Our renters stay for years on end, but every time the property turns over, we try to make at least one cosmetic upgrade.

What was the outcome?

This will never be our best buy... sure wish we'd bought it 2 years later at 75% or 80% of the price. But it's been easy to rent and is worth well more than we paid for it now. And who knows? Maybe that light rail line across the Columbia will happen some day?

Investment Info:

Large multi-family (5+ units) buy & hold investment in Portland.

Purchase price: $314,000
Cash invested: $62,800

Fixer apartment purchase in up-and-coming part of N/NE Portland.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

The price per door seemed like too much of a bargain to pass up.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

The property was listed in MLS. The seller was a non-profit who'd pretty much run the building into the ground. They were looking for a cash buyer, but the seller was willing to let us try to find financing.

How did you finance this deal?

We convinced a local bank to give us an 80% commercial loan so long as we put adequate funds to make the (many) repairs the building needed into escrow with them.

How did you add value to the deal?

At first we thought we'd remodel a couple of units and then do the rest one-by-one, but as we got into the project, we realized that we needed to touch nearly every surface and redo the electrical service, so we forged ahead with cosmetic updates to all the units.

What was the outcome?

The neighborhood was pretty rough at the time, so we had a tough time finding tenants at first. After a few years, the area improved (rapidly) and we have enjoyed positive cash flow, even after refinancing to a 15 year loan.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Portland.

Purchase price: $310,000
Cash invested: $62,000

Purchased through a 1031 exchange. I sold my first home and used the equity to purchase this building. This is the first non-house-hack purchase.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Buy and hold, in an up-and-coming part of North Portland... what's not to like?

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

The property was sale pending, when I spotted it in the MLS. I wrote a back-up offer and purchased it when the first buyer backed out.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional loan with 20% down. Down payment came from a 1031 exchange. The relinquished property was was my first home, turned rental, years earlier.

How did you add value to the deal?

Boy did this place need work. We've made significant cosmetic upgrades to 3 of the 4 units over the years.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Portland.

Purchase price: $177,500
Cash invested: $5,500

My second home. An up/down conversion duplex in Rose City Park. I could see moving back to the main floor unit some day. Great space in a lovely neighborhood.