All Forum Posts by: Andrew Kniffin

@WayneBrooks - my lender requires me to get LENDER'S title insurance, but (on prior rentals that I've purchased) I have not been required to get OWNER'S title insurance.  

The question here is regarding insuring my ownership (clean title) to the home.  

Hello all-

I am buying a personal residence in Seattle, Washington this week. I received my HUD form on Friday.

The HUD defaulted to include a ~$1,940 Owner's Title Insurance policy. I told my agent that I would rather NOT pay that amount, and instead keep the funds as cash. (Basically a 'self-insurance' strategy.)

My RE Agent said that WA law **requires** that I get the policy, and so I am not allowed to keep the cash.  

Can anyone help me find out whether this is true?  My Agent seems educated on the market, but she also sounded as though she'd never run across this before.  

Thanks for your input.  

-Drew

I bleed purple...though purple is part of the color scheme of the Seahawks, too!

Hello all.  I am moving from Minnesota to Seattle next Thursday, and so this would be a great event for me to get to know some of the BP'ers in the new area.  Please invite me also, if it's not too late. 

I'll be moving to the Seattle area in mid-August (in MN right now).

I really appreciate this conversation, especially for the nuanced trade-off that's being discussed between (a) regions with appreciation potential (but lower cashflow opportunities), and (b) high cashflow (eg, Gray's Harbor @Brandon Turner ) but virtually no appreciation opportunities.

There must be a way to quantify that tradeoff. For instance, Zillow has its (a) property value Zestimate, (b) rental estimate, and (c) 1-year appreciation forecast. Setting aside the accuracy of those numbers, those are the three variables you need to examine the tradeoff. Then, overlay that data on a color-coded map to see how the tradeoff changes by location.

Gig Harbor, eh? That is surprising to me. SFRs there? Duplexes? The prices seem too expensive to find cashflowing properties. What am I missing? Can you provide more color to that comment? Thanks Jon.

Consider places that are in demand year-round. Some areas are seasonal: high demand in winter, and low demand in summer. Others are desirable year-round, though.

To verify whether a home is in one of these types, head over to VRBO and look at rentals in that area, and what the availability of each place is. VRBO can also provide you an idea of what rates you can get on a X-sized property in Y-location.

Thanks @Giovanni Isaksen for the input. Two follow-up questions:

1) the numbers you were articulating ($1M or $550K) were the TOTAL purchase price -- not merely the DP on a financed property -- right?

2) you're suggesting seeking F&F for financing even now, rather than doing 4plexes (etc) on my own and then later going to F&F. Is that right?

Again, I appreciate your input.

@Brie Schmidt Thanks Brianna. Those are all great podcasts. I've listened to each of them more than once --- every time I listen I pick up on another nugget of advice and am further inspired.

Goal: My goal is to purchase a 100+ unit apartment complex that is somewhat distressed (eg, high vacancy or poorly maintained) but in a Class A area. Improve its operations and NOI, and obtain "forced appreciation" through the process.

My challenge is "how to get there". To do this, I'll need to syndicate the deal, which meals I'll need to possess a track record of success in (I'm assuming) smaller deals.

This feels like a Catch 22 to me: need success to get investors, but need investors to have successes.

Background: I currently work Finance at a Fortune 500 company. With RE, I have 2 SFRs and invest "on the side". I plan on moving to fulltime RE soon (my wife also works, and so we're not dependent on my W-2 income for groceries, gas, etc) so that I can accelerate this plan.

Question: Should my plan be to move from 4-plex to 8 units, to 16, to 32, etc? Or, do I just "go for the jugular" and try to leap from a 4plex to the 100+ unit.