All Forum Posts by: Karen Guo

Thank you for the advice. Could you give some advice on evaluating house hacks financially? The Seattle-metro multi-unit real estate (houses/condos) 3Bed3Bath or similar are at least $800k with monthly HOAs ranging from $200-$600. Financially I just don't know how to approach an area with numbers like these.

I'd say RTP has more long term growth. Apple, Epic Games are all building new campuses here, and the schools in the southern suburbs of RTP draw a lot of parents. Hence Apex/Morrisville/Cary/Holly Springs are growing in construction & home values.

However, Seattle-metro area's market is down 12-15% now and I believe it'll go back up. There's just too many big tech firms there and there will always be people looking to rent there.

As for connections, I know more people in RTP, but am close to one agent in Seattle metro.

My goal is to put my money where there is most potential. However, if I put my money here in RTP I'll have to rent for a couple months in Redmond, save up for a down payment, and then house hack there. However, renting to me is throwing money away, so I'm stuck.

Thank you for the advice Nathan! I've been looking at deals and doing some calculations. With the current market conditions in RTP (low rent, high house values) and the high interest rate environment, I'll be cash flow negative ~$300-$400 monthly until I can refinance at a lower rate. My goal is to buy and hold for the long term, build equity and hopefully appreciation in the home value. I see a lot of potential here (Apple announced & bought land for a new campus, Epic Games is also building a new campus here). 

However, I've also looked at deals and done the math for house hacking in Seattle metro area--the market there is around 12-15% down so this might be a good time to enter BUT the monthly payments will be incredibly high (high interest rate, low down payment due to high cost of real estate there) and I'll definitely be very cash flow negative ~$1000.

I'd love to hop on a call and get your advice on my thoughts. I'll DM you.

Hi everyone, my name is Karen and I am a new investor. I’ve been interested in real estate investing since 2019 and have been watching videos, listening to podcasts, and reading books like Brandon Turner’s book on Rental Investing. I’m 22 and would like to start investing this year but would like advice on location and strategy. Currently, I live in the RTP area but am moving to Redmond WA in October to start full time at Microsoft. I’ve been struggling between deciding to invest here in a 3Bed/3Bath and rent out the entire thing and hold it even after I move to Redmond, or do something like a house hack around Redmond in October when I move there. Would love any advice or a phone call to walk through my thought process.