All Forum Posts by: Phil Wells

Nice! Let us know how demand is when it's up and running!

It's certainly a hot market for those duplexes, but it's possible and it's a great strategy for building wealth.

My biggest piece of advice is not to be blinded by cash flow. Cash flow is not the point of house hacking. The point of house hacking is to take your say $0,000 mortgage payment down to a few $000. That way you're controlling, say a $500k, asset for a substantially reduced amount, freeing up money to invest further or enjoy life. 

Remember, you're still getting loan pay down and appreciation which is building long term wealth for you even if you're still paying a small monthly amount to live in your duplex. 

Lending isn’t black or white. There’s a lot in between in terms of getting you approved - If you don’t get approved at a big bank then try a credit union, for example.

Definitely reach out to a local lender, a national lender, a credit union and see what they can do for you and see what their requirements are. You don’t have to launch a full application for credit to speak with them remember. 

Good luck with it all. 

@MacKenzie Dunn - Having access to the MLS won't really give you access to pre-market deals and you can get burnt (fined by the local MLS) if you end up wholesaling in a way they decide they don't like. Just somethings to be aware of.

Let us know how your first deal goes please!

If your goal is investing why are you getting your license? What does your investing plan look like right now? I'm curious how being an agent fits into that.

I used Rockwell, they're fine. Most of the courses are pretty low on useful information tbh (and they're not exactly cheap). You'll get much more knowledge by doing your first deal than you will through the licensing course itself. The same applies to REI, you'll get more education in these forums and by analyzing deals than you would through a paid course.

Whatever you do, good luck with it all, I hope you get the results you want.

You don't, that's how you become a real estate professional.

Good luck with the deal! Tell us about it when complete.

What do the leases look like? Did you get parents to co-sign? 

@Manju Nat The area you mentioned is historically a higher crime area, though as Spokane evolves nice pockets are emerging all over the place so consider each place on it's merits. You can still find cash flow here but rents are beginning to push past what is affordable for the average income - so for how long cash flow will continue is anybody's guess. 

In terms of post-pandemic rental demand and appreciation prospects - Median homes prices were 390K last month in Spokane and 385K nationally. Spokane never leaped too far ahead and it's still a cool place to live. A solid portion of my client base are people moving into town because they want to be here. I think that's a positive sign for future rental demand and appreciation.

Feel free to reach out, I work with a ton of investors, happy to give you my 2 cents.

Are you being realistic with your purchase strategy? It's not just investors buying those kinds of properties - i'm seeing a lot of frustrated home buyers deciding to take on project homes because they can't find a move-in-ready home and they don't care about CAP rates.

In Spokane we're seeing terrible properties go for well over asking and QUICK too! I saw a 2 bed 1 bath home that stunk of cat pee list for 170K and sell for 225k all cash and close in 10 days recently. Low balling in this market isn't a viable option unless you find a property that's been under contract a few times or has just been sat on the market with no love or is off market. 

The deals are out there though and it doesn't help that your agent won't assist. If you work together you can get the offers into a template format where it takes very little time to produce them - maybe that's something you should explore.

@Manco Snead - I'm working with a lot of buyers who are moving from California. They are typically bringing their remote jobs with them and are qualified to buy above median home prices here in Spokane. However, most are looking to replicate/slightly improve their standard of living not buy a 10,000 sq ft mansion. 

I'm seeing a lot of Californians pocketing a large portion of their equity from the sale back in CA and enter the Spokane market at the 250-500K range. This is forcing appreciation and leading to multiple offer situations.

Just my 2 cents.