All Forum Posts by: Justin Cloyd

I'm looking at options for my current residence (3 BR, 2 BA house) in Portland, OR. I'm not sure if it makes sense to sell and invest elsewhere, or rent it out as a long term rental. (Portland doesn't allow whole 3 BR houses to be rented out as short term rentals.) We have about $190k left on the current mortgage at 3.75% interest and about $360k in equity. I'll need about $200k to buy the next house, so if I'm not selling I need to get a home equity loan. There are a few questions I think BP can help with:

1. Does anyone have any legal advice for managing a long term rental single family house in Portland? (Attorney and PM contacts would also help.) I know it's a very tenant friendly city, so I'm worried about the legal side of things and I want to get everything set up the right way.

2. Getting the right terms on the home equity loan is the key to keeping it as a rental from a cash flow standpoint, keeping the favorable existing 3.75% mortgage intact. Any recommended investor friendly Portland lenders out there that I should talk to?

3. The alternative to renting out this house is that I could take about $100k from the sale and invest it elsewhere. I'm comfortable with new development, or in Ohio rental markets (Columbus, Cincy, Dayton metro areas). Obviously understanding these investment alternatives would be on a case-by-case basis but my gut says the low interest rate on the existing mortgage makes the existing house the most fruitful deal since the Portland market has been appreciating faster than Ohio markets for the past 20 years. Development might also make sense if construction and land prices pull back a bit. What are other people's thoughts on this option?

I'll gladly repay any advice or suggested contacts with architectural advice (~15 years experience, mostly in new multifamily apartments).

Thanks in advance everyone!

Welcome to the BP forum. I'm right there with you as far as posts go!

Outside of my real estate and development activities, I'm an architect with about 15 years of experience, mostly in new multi-family construction. I'd recommend starting with a quick feasibility study to see what the zoning code says you're allowed to build on the site. A good architect will put together a package that tells you what type of occupancy you're allowed to build, plus the max height, # of stories, max building area, parking requirements, etc...They'll also put together a conceptual site plan showing you how all that info translates to your site. From there you can talk to a contractor to estimate ballpark costs and use the package to gather investor interest if you plan to partner with others.

Feel free to dm me if you want more info or if you're not having much luck with other architects. It always helps to have a practical architect that knows the developer's side of the industry also. Good luck!