All Forum Posts by: Tyler Blackwell

Hey Ryan, welcome to BP!

I'm in the Olympia, WA area but I've been toying with investing in Spokane for a number of reasons. I think the returns look attractive out in Eastern Washington, at least in comparison with the greater Seattle area, and I've spent a lot of time in Spokane (I have close family in Mead.

Let's connect the next time I'm there!

Hey Rishi,

Personally, I took the house hacking route to real estate investing, buying a single family REO property that needed some repairs and then living in it. Just last year my wife and I bought another property and rented the first house for a profit. In between I bought a condo with some creative financing and we rent that also. The advantage to buying the home to live in it is that you can secure good financing with as little as 3.5% down. For our second home we used 5% conventional financing. If I had to do it over, I would do the same thing, BUT, I would have done it more frequently when we were younger. If we were to move we would keep the property we are currently living in as a rental because we bought it well, but it would be nice to have another one or two small properties under our belt with low-down financing. Now we're at the point in which we've accumulated so much stuff it really isn't fun moving!!

@Brandon Turner, is this the property you had under contract a few weeks ago? I was wondering if Heather was going to allow you to keep it or not :) I guess now we know?

I'd like to hear about how you found this one and how you financed it, etc. I can't make the webinars because of work, do you have these uploaded somewhere else to access after the fact? Nice score with the hardwoods!

I know there are many people with opinions about <$30k properties, but it sounds like this one has real potential. Buying equity as you did here is a fun perk of real estate investing. Good luck with this one!

Thanks for including me here @Brandon Turner, I didn't see the thread. I'm going to be doing a special weekend project for work, unfortunately, so I'll be in the Portland area that weekend.  Seems like everything cool on planet earth is happening that weekend, including this meetup! The last one at the RAM was really cool--lots of good information and nice pool of experienced investors. Sorry to miss out. 

@Hattie Dizmond , it never occurred to me that if the older family member were still on the title after death that the rest of the family could vie for that share, essentially 50% of the property. Thanks for that tip. I was also a little concerned about the mortgage as well, but figured we could assume the note without too much trouble. We would also easily qualify for a refinance and we could rent the property for cash flow (we're landlords currently). 

@Account Closed , It sounds like a living trust is something I need to look into, and would be more seamless in terms of ownership as well as financing and addresses the senior's needs as well. Thanks for that.

This is what's great about BP--lots of great information that primes me so I can get legal/tax advice with a little bit of background. Thanks for the responses!

Hey all,

Let's consider a scenario: An older family member is moving to town and buying a house. This person will put a significant portion (50%) down, so there will be plenty of equity in the property. This family member would like to pass the house to a specific individual, and not split it up amongst many children and grandchildren. 

She is willing to include this individual's name on the title--but would carry the loan alone--if this would make it an easier transition and to obviate any death taxes. Does anyone know if this is beneficial or will the tax dogs come attacking regardless?

Aside from taxes, is there anything else the individual should know about the transition. Should the individual assume the loan or would a refi be necessary?

@Brandon Turner , We just got the carpet through the contractor that's helping us with the basement. I think he actually got the materials through Home Depot but had savings on the pad (the same recycled Nike pad) that made the quote competitive.

I AM familiar with VJ's--we love it! We bought laminate for our first home there and for the basement rental it was tricky finding a kitchen sink to fit the small custom cabinets, but we found it at VJs. Quite a drive for you, no? I guess if you need almost ANYTHING besides Starbucks it requires a drive :)

Hey Brandon I just ordered some carpet NOT from a big box store (a first!) for our basement apartment. The carpeted area is around 420 sq ft and I think the price of the install was around $300-$350, which includes tack strips and transitions. 

Hey Bryan,

I don't know what others are doing to find rental rates, but I've done pretty well just looking at rental listings on Craigslist for my local area. You get to see other properties with similar characteristics and base your rent on how much better (or worse) your property is versus a comp house. Love Craigslist!