All Forum Posts by: Steve Moody

I'm having a hard time understanding the end game here. Does she just want to give tenants a 90-day notice? Does she expect a lot of renters to be able to purchase a multi? Does she think the city wants to be in the landlord business? (That last one might work out in our favor a few years down the line when the city needs to liquidate a bunch of property). 

Whatever her plans, I really have a hard time finding a way that any of this will benefit renters. 

It seems like the only way to go in this area is to find a very good deal off- market, renovate, then either sell to one of the suckers who thinks rent just barely covering the mortgage is enough, or keep it and rent it out yourself. I've looked at multifamily on MLS on and off for a year and have only seen a couple deals that might be workable if you get it at discount and have the resources to do a full reno. Most people listing on MLS want $380k for a duplex that pulls $600/month in rents. But hey they're all "below market rents" yet they're selling instead of raising rent? :-D

I think most people who find deals (real ones are out there) do it off-market either in their own or through a wholesaler 

@Cory Griffin There are other possibilities. BRRRR (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat) method might work if you find a place that needs a lot of work, and find a hard money lender. You buy cheap, reno, rent it out, then refinance at the new higher value. This might let you pay off the hard money loan and still come in at 75% loan to value. The trouble is finding a place, doing the work, and the waiting period that most banks make you wait before refinancing. If you find the right property you can make it work.

@Erik Haugen I'm interested to hear a follow-up from you on this. I understand the dilemma a bit, but you can't let others dictate your business. Not everyone understands how business works, sounds like your friend is one of them. 

 That seems kinda crazy. A year ago in that neighborhood you would have had 30 emails within a few hours of listing. I think the Portland rent/sale craziness is starting to slow down a bit. Homes in my neighborhood (not far from Bethany) are sitting a bit longer on the market. A year ago they'd sell in a day, now it's weeks. Good luck with the rental, that's a great neighborhood so you should be able to attract good tenants. 

@Sarah Buchanan my (completely novice non-expert) opinion is that it's better to lose a few months rent waiting for the right tenant than to rent it right away to the wrong tenant and have to deal with an eviction. 

As @Eddie Silva mentioned we do get quite a bit of rain here, but not always huge amounts of rain (winter 16/17 was pretty bad though). The further east you go the more dry weather you get. I have no idea what type of work you're looking to do but if location doesn't matter a great place to get good weather, water, hiking, biking, etc is Hood River, OR.   You might look into Bend, OR as well but it's growing and getting more expensive (nowhere near L.A. expensive though). they get more snow than Portland, but not a ton. 

I live in the 'burbs west of Portland and while it's getting harder to find, there's still pretty decent deals on land outside of the Urban Growth Boundary. Look at areas like Sherwood and Newberg as well. I always tell people to visit the Portland area around November-January to get a feel of what it's like in the winter. It's a big change from L.A. but it's not that bad. The hardest part for me isn't the clouds or rain, it's the short days of winter. It's only lihgjt between 7:30am and 4:30pm at the shortest part. Lots of dark and even at noon the sun is only about 45 degrees above (if you can see it) 

@Eddie Silva why are you trying to get MORE people to move to Portland? :D  It rains all the time and is really expensive, you don't want to move here!! 

@Cody L. What state(s) are you investing in to get better than 1% rent? It's not happening anywhere near Portland, and I suspect CA is still very much the same. 

with the way tenant laws are in Portland I'd stay far away from this type of agreement. Is she going to pay for the eviction if they turn out bad? Who pays relocation fees that are now due with all no cause evictions? I could see this causing a lot of unnecessary drama and costs in the future.