All Forum Posts by: Tamar Mar

Hi there, Kris!  My husband and I are also buy and hold investors focused on single family and smaller multi-family units, with an emphasis on King County.  What a value for you to come into this with a legal background!  Best of luck to you.

Hello Shaan and welcome! We just got started as well with our first investment that we purchased in south Seattle as a rental. Low and behold, we missed some governing documents in the HOA that stipulates the properties have to be owner-occupied for a year before they can be a rental. And....not a possibility for us. So we are currently fixing it up a tiny bit more to sell. Good thing we got it waaaaay under market value. (And simultaneously I just got my real estate license, so as luck has it, I have my first listing. Serendipity?) We have looked into the 1031 exchange as well. If you want additional resources on that, let me know. My husband found a few good sites. Good luck!

We are getting ready to rent out our first home in the Seattle area, and we just learned that there is an anti-discrimination law in King County regarding Section 8.  I have been telling people that we are not accepting Section 8 (oops!?).  The article my husband read indicated that landlords cannot disqualify on the basis of Section 8 alone.  Rather, there has to be other disqualifying factors in addition to, say, the 3x rent monthly income.  We have a specific set of criteria spelled out for renters.  Just wondering how others have gotten around this legally if you have not wanted to accept the vouchers. 

Thank you!

I think it depends on the volume you are looking to achieve. I decided to go after my license because we have big goals, and my time valuable. I don't want to waste my time (or other's time) hunting down a broker to show a property to me when I could be doing that myself. I think it also gives you a more intricate view of the market in your area. In WA state, there is a great online option for obtaining your license, but I'm not sure about FL. Good luck!

@Evan Higginbotham 

Welcome!  My husband and I are new investors in the Seattle area as well.  Should be exciting for you to get started.  Best of luck!  

@Howard Edson - Rockwell Institute is the place that pretty much any Broker will recommend.  I completed all of my courses last week - there is a 60 hour class and a 30 hour class that is required before you take your state exam.  I'll be taking my state exam in early December after back from vacation, so not sure how difficult that is yet, though I've heard there are different versions of it that can range in difficulty.  The courses can all be done online on your own schedule.  You have 6 months from the time of registration to complete them.   Good luck!

@Kenneth Hynes - yes, we are managing our own properties, and intend on doing so for the long run.  

@Frank Garcia - to answer your question, my husband is our scouter.  He LOVES this job.  He's always actively been interested in following real estate prices.  Now he just does it for us.  He has set up a bunch of search filters on various sites.  We found this particular home on Auction.com.  Our criteria is that the property (if it is buy & hold) needs to be within King County, to avoid long driving distances for us, preferably not more than 30 minutes away.  We also took some time to put together a criteria list for all future investments - down to some small details.  That's a great place to start.  Then you can cross-check your finds against this criteria list to see if it's really something for you.  

Hi @Frank Garcia !  

We are from the Seattle area as well, and just closed on our first SFH in south Seattle, in a great location just off the light rail. We renovated it in 2 short weeks, and will be putting it up for rent next week. It's super exciting to get started, and feeling a sense of pride that goes along with it.

Good luck to you!  Even though it's a tougher market that many with higher home prices, there are still a lot of great deals out there, especially in the foreclosure market.  

Have fun!

Tamar Mar

Thanks for the suggestions, @Gerald K. 

I'll check out those groups.  I hadn't heard of the REAPS one before.  We will be managing our own properties, and have done quite a bit of homework on the subject, including WLA. 

Hello BP-ers!

My husband (@BruceMar, he "introduced" me in his post last week) and I are super excited that we closed on our first rental property last week, and spent the weekend assessing the renovations and getting started on the work.  Our three young kids (8, 5 & 5) set to work with small things, as well. :)

We've got huge visions and goals floating around in our heads, and it's nice to have a place to come and learn some more.  I listed to the podcasts whenever I get a chance.  

I'm also currently pursuing my Real Estate license with hope that it will aid us in our investing.  My goal is to complete that by the end of the year.  I have always enjoyed working in a small business atmosphere, and now I hope to create our own, but for the benefit of our family - currently, and as something to pass down to the kids. 

Here's to the next big steps!  If you have any local meetups you enjoy in the Seattle area, please do pass them along!