All Forum Posts by: Nghi Le

My parents currently own a home in Seattle, Washington. It's worth about $160k, and they owe an FHA loan of about $140k on it. I recently purchased my first home and moved my parents in with me so that they can cash flow the home (currently $300 a month) and keep some extra money to themselves.

My parents don't make a lot of money and are in their retirement age.  There's a lot of low-income programs they can qualify for, but because they have this home as an asset, they aren't able to qualify for those programs.  I want to take the home out of their name and into mine, while keeping the financing (since it has such an incredible rate @ 3.25%).  I don't want to sell it because it has sentimental value to them; it was their first and only home.

Any advice on how to do this?  I heard about "Subject To", but not sure how well it works in WA state.  It sounds like the bank could possibly foreclose on the house if I do this...?

Hi @Tyson Bumgarner!  I'm a newbie investor in the area as well.  I've done some research into the REIAs around here and I think I've decided on REAPS located in Bellevue. It's the largest REIA in the country and it's also non-profit.

I am not currently a member, but I do plan on joining soon.  They are actually having a new member orientation this Saturday on Mercer Island if you're available.

I haven't yet checked out any other REIAs yet though.  REAPS already seems so overwhelming that I don't think I'll have time to check out another one.

@Brandon Turner may also be able to recommend you to some since he lives a little bit closer to you.

I live in Burien (SW Seattle) and it's pretty accurate in my area.  I do wish they had more options than just bedrooms though.

Hi @Mary Dodd and @Anthony Giannette.

I'm a new investor in Seattle (focusing mostly in the south/southwest Seattle area) and I'm also looking for good contractors.  Would you be willing to share your contractor information as well?

@Zach Schwarzmiller Do you have any recommendations for community banks in the Seattle area that you've found favorable?

Hi everyone!

I'm still a newbie investor, but my fiancée and I found this nice home in Seattle (or actually, Renton) that's that we could live in for a little while and then sell in a few years.  It is, however, a short sale.

Right now it's listed at $285,000.  We did some estimates and comps and think the current value is around $350k (but can jump $100k within 2 years).

My agent told me that it's a short sale that came back on the market in August of 2012 around $260k.  It got an offer the following month but the short sale lender turned it down (along with three other offers) and put a sales price of $325k on it.  In the past year, the listing agent keeps lowering the price to to get buyers (from $315k to current price of $285k), but the lender will not approve an offer below $325k.  

My agent recommends that I offer $325, but we honestly don't want to pay any more than $300k.  My fiancée and I won't be married until next year and thus don't need a home until then, so we can afford to wait and be patient with this deal.

Any recommendations/strategies/insights on this?

Hi Tiffany,

Please add me to your list.

Thank you!

- Nghi

Has anyone had success with community banks in the Seattle area?  I'm a new investor and am currently investigating different financing options to prepare for my deals.  I have a mortgage broker that I've used to both purchase and also refinance different houses and met with him yesterday to discuss my options.  He didn't seem to think there was any additional benefit to getting a loan directly from a community bank, especially in terms of the best rates.

I'm primarily looking for financing options (outside of hard money lenders) for my flips.  I have have good credit with a good steady income, but I want to use as little of my own cash as possible.  It didn't seem like my mortgage broker could help me much with flipping loans since he loses his commission (and has to pay an additional fee) for any loans under his name that are paid off or refinanced within 6 months.  I was hoping perhaps the community banks in Seattle would be able to provide some unconventional/creative ways to finance for my flipping loans.

Thank you in advance!

Welcome @Brandon Johnston!  I am a newbie investor (as of last month) in Seattle, WA and am somewhat in a similar situation to yours.  I've actually attended that Rich Dad workshop a few years ago.  While there was some good information, I felt like it was thrown at me in bits and pieces and didn't really lay out a straight-forward plan, so I didn't end up buying their advanced training.

I have considered wholesaling, but to be really successful at it seemed to require a lot of time (to send out hundreds of letters and responding to phone calls), which isn't something that I thought I could do with a full-time job.  So I'm pretty much looking to flip.  I'd love to stay in touch and hear your progress on wholesaling :-)

Thank you everyone for the welcome, the advice, and the support!  And @Brandon Turner, it was especially nice to see you and Heather at today's meetup!  I was finally able to associate a face to the daily voice in my car :-)

I've setup a keyword alert for "Seattle" and "Washington" a couple of weeks ago and get so many results per day; I'm actually behind on catching up with them right now... as I mentioned to Brandon earlier, I had to deactivate one social network (Facebook) in order to gain more time to spend on another (Bigger Pockets).

I've yet to read the UBG.  I actually signed up and paid for one of those guru workshops and am still sifting through the material that they gave me.  It's funny because those gurus actually referred me to BiggerPockets as well.  I definitely don't think all gurus are bad, but you probably don't need to spend that much money to gain that kind of information.  But because of that guru, my fiancée and I got the push we needed to start our real estate business.  Now we just need to get that first deal!