All Forum Posts by: Mike Nuss

I know this really well as I'm on the RSC and have gone to verbal battle with Chloe's policy advisory multiple times. Here's a little more background. 

@Kelvin Lee you're not forced to accept criminal background records. You just cannot out flat deny a criminal record with certain time frames and circumstances. This is part of the "individualized assessment" portion of the proposed ordinance. This section alone is multiple pages and has a lot "if this, then this" scenarios. It is difficult for even attorneys to make sense of (this played out by an attorney at our last RSC meeting) and so complicated I haven't even really had a chance to wrap my head around it. The ordinance will make your head spin trying to figure it out. 

@Mathew Wray part of the ordinance is to cap the income to rent ratio requirement to 2X....and part of that income has to include other benefits (food/snap program benefits, family benefits, etc..), but also can include average cost of utilities for the rent side. 

I whole heartedly agree with @Thomas S. that you don't let policies keep you from operating your business. However, business won't ever "be as usual" again in Portland. For example, when this new ordinance goes into play (I believe it will pass), we will have to completely overhaul our "screening criteria". You won't simply be able to just raise credit requirements either.....there are more "if this, then this" scenario steps you have to go through if someone doesn't have perfect credit or enough income (like allowing co signers). 

Most small landlords won't be able to keep up with all of the "notices of rights" that will be required and like @Account Closed said it will force others to sell. It will also take a lot of property out of personal management and put into professional management, which probably means the self managed rent subsidy will dissipate. Unlike the relocation policy, this policy does have a lot of real unintended consequences that will come in to play. 

@William Kernan I personally will have some lots coming available. Two in the Woodstock area will be ready early 2019 and two in the West Portland Park area will be available next fall/winter. You can DM me for more details. Some of the agents at my brokerage work with land as well, so I'm happy to introduce you. 

Thanks!

By the sound of it even section 8 varies based on location. @PJ Kolnik I have a few section 8 tenants and have had no problem with the program. We were able to get rented up in 2-3 weeks, so there is some potential rent loss there. The rent was questioned for one of my tenants, so there was actually a back and forth with a section 8 rep that we actually showed and discussed comps we knew of and found in the market. They look at the zipcode for locational parameters, which back fired on this property because we were on the west end of a zipcode and values typically go down heading east (and there was a freeway dividing east and west in that zipcode), so we were "pulled down" by "comps" east of that freeway. In the end, still a fair amount of rent for the property and they pay like clockwork. We've had one inspection (only the initial inspection) in the two years this tenant has been there. 

@Jay Hinrichs my favorite was the post crash, pre run up, when you had Arbor building in DR Horton hoods and DR Horton building in Arbor hoods. Same floor plans, same everything, but different builders that no longer were the same as the builder noted on the entry sign for the subdivision. They couldn't get the lending for stuff they already owned, but they sure could get lending on new projects so they just started swapping land. So funny.  

@BJ Ralphs there is a free group that meets Tuesdays during lunch. They're called REVIN. Trevor Coxen runs the group, but I don't think he's on BP. I think they just started doing their notices through face book so you can search REVIN on face book to find them. 

I also run a networking group in the Portland area called RareBird Investor Network that may be of interest to you. I'll be posting our next couple meetings on bp here soon if they're not already advertised as "events" on BP. 

Good luck on your move to the area. Don't hesitate to reach out if you need any other help. 

@Jay Hinrichs how much did you pay per lot in Canby? 400K houses? Roads/sides in already? That's a big project for Canby, although the city has grown quite a bit over the past decade+.

@Jay Hinrichs you and I view this topic exactly the same.  That's just normal course of business (and smart business for that matter) as an active developer in my opinion. 

@Luke Lesh you won't find anything in the ORS that states specifically "wholesaling is illegal". Reason being, "wholesaling" is not a defined real estate term. It's used all the time, but wholesaling happens in all sales industries and all states. It's a simple term, not a recognized real estate term. Hence it's not in our statutes. 

Oregon has a "definition of real estate activity" and "wholesaling" as taught by gurus, does in fact fit in the "definition of real estate activity" per the State of Oregon. So if you're wholesaling, without a license, you are breaking the law. In fact, even if you do have a license, "wholesaling" as taught by a guru is probably illegal as well. 

It really all comes down to marketing. You cannot market a property you do not own without a real estate license. That is clear as day and night in the Oregon statutes. This fact gets argued all the time on BP, but it isn't even debatable in my opinion. The whole "buyer's list" discussion pretty much makes it black and white to me. 

Now, "Assigning" a property is legal and will be facilitated by local title companies. It's the "marketing a property you do not own" (or have a listing agreement with the owner) in order to do that "wholesale" that breaks the law. 

@Emily Refi I use and recommend Kyle Pearson at Collective (formally Pearson Advisory) ilovecollective.com. He started his cpa career working for a large national syndicator, so he knows real estate very well. He also has the fun of trying to figure out our crazy acquisition and entity structure.....we're always putting him to the test so he's used to it.  

You may want to reach out to IRA Advantage out of Lake Oswego. David and Tom Moore are extremely knowledge in SD IRAs. I know quite a few people that have used them to set up their check book IRAs.

Just a quick heads up. SD IRAs are their own entities...."part of a downpayment" will have some very strict structuring guidelines in order to not break the IRA rules, as co mingling funds is not allowed. Dave and Tom can speak more to that though for sure.

@Andrew Shipley way to jump in and get started.  Converting old homes is not easy when dealing with commercial code, and I'm assuming the micro units project would fall into commercial code (3+ units). That's a great to cut your teeth. You should learn a lot. I'm curious, what part of town is this project and how many units are you creating?

@Mathew Wray

@Mathew Wray is correct. Airbnb is a flooded market in Portland and the rules are not investor friendly. The value from airbnb isn't in the real estate (unless you convert the structure to a hotel).....airbnb is a business in and of itself and it's 100% geared toward customer service and experience. The value is in the business and it takes a special person to run that business. Feel free to reach out for more specific answers and such as I converted a 4 unit building into a hotel for this very reason. 

Also, my property management company is looking for a good handyman. Feel free to reach out to discuss more about potentially trading services there. 

Good luck!