All Forum Posts by: Kyrstin Szewczyk

I feel like every LLC question is someone in CA...

One theme I do see (besides the high annual price of CA LLCs....) is you need a good attorney / accountant. Do I need BOTH or just one? 

Does anyone have an LLC in Washington and know a good contact?

Is contacting an attorney a first step? 

Side question, do you know a good Washington based tax accountant? I've been doing my taxes and having someone look over them but I want someone who really knows real estate and really knows Washington laws, to not only make sure I fill out my taxes correctly but can keep me updated on any tax incentives / strategies that might help me plan my investments as well. 

I've never bought where there's HOA because they may have a rental cap (how many places can be rented out vs owner occupied) or could potentially put one in in the future if they don't have one now, but I haven't looked into it much. One other risk of course is how well the board (volunteers usually right?) manages the funds and how their rules are written, since if they don't have a reserve for a big ticket item they could just ask for additional money from everyone and you may not have been planning for that, thinking your fees were going to cover anything big. That same thing could be a reason townhomes might not be a good idea either though, right? The siding is going bad...do you all cough up the money at the same time to replace the siding? The roof? I feel like I'd want to create a written agreement with the neighbors at least to be on the same page. Like I said though, I haven't invested in this area so defer to those that have, I'm just recalling what I've heard second hand.

I agree that this doesn't reflect the overall Seattle market. I've had no vacancy issues in the previous three years of owning property in Seattle and the surrounding area (though they are single family homes) and multiple applicants to showings. Just last month I rented our new place in Mountlake terrace and there were many applicants who were saying how hard it is to find a place... sure, expensive downtown apartments is a different market but if you own anything else you're not going to have a hard time finding renters. 

Hi @Jeffrey S. Breglio how could a irrevocable living trust be structured to lose asset protection? Or are you talking about other estate planning? 

Do you buy the warranty for your appliances when you buy them for your rental properties through Home Depot, Lowes, or Sears? I only have on washer and dryers and a deep freezer and been fine with annual free maintenance  through Sears on the Washer dryer and a service call on my freezer but am wondering what others' experiences have been. Do you buy them? Why or why not? For some appliances but not others? Through some companies but not others? I only mentioned the three places that I've purchased through but if you have another favorite by all means please share. 

Side note: I did a search through the forum and didn't see this exact question but did see I'm not the only one with appliance warranty and repair type questions :) 

I'm planning on buying a single family home or duplex (whatever is available that makes sense) north of Seattle. I will reassess in early 2019 to see if and where I should buy another (doesn't make sense to decide that right now). As long as rents are paying the mortgage that's a good enough investment to me since I'm going to hold it and let it appreciate (if it doesn't on a small chance then at least someone else will have paid it off in 30 years or less). 

@Kaelyn Hearn thanks! For some reason I didn't even think of Mukilteo really even though my cousin lives and loves it there!

@Nathaniel Anderson, someone was just telling me Brier is where I should look, so I'll have to look into that. And thanks for the website, that sounds like it's going to be very helpful! 

Thanks for the info on the neighborhoods, that's all great information, @James Lusk and @Jennifer McElliott

Thanks! I appreciate any help 😊

Good to know about Edmonds especially, I’ll have to look into that. 

Just curious because I live semi close to Greenwood, why stay away from there?