All Forum Posts by: Trent Werner

@David To I believe you have a valid reason to ditch your management company if they are charging you when the tenants are not paying rent. The PM company that I work with has not been charging owners a management fee if the tenants are not paying rent. You have a right to be irritated with this fee. Sorry that you are having to deal with this! Good Luck,

Trent

@Jeff S. What part of Portland are you looking into?

@Jeff S. Our friend's house is a 4bd/1bath, about 1000sqft on the east side of 101 about .2 miles from the water. I do not know the exact numbers but I want to say he rents it out for $150-$400/night during the peak months and $80-$130/night offseason. Went I pulled comps for our house two years ago I came up with $200-$600/ night peak season and $100-$180 offseason. During the summer these investments can be very lucrative. As a month to month rental, the rent comps support $1300-$1500 per month. 

Having used the BRRRR strategy myself, I recommend this strategy for 2-4 unit multifamily properties. You have the ability to increase the value of a larger asset that will generate more revenue and combat vacancy much better than a SFR. After the first project is completed, move on to the next one. I have friends that recently bought two turnkey properties, one in NC and one in MO. They purchased these houses for about $70k each (financed) and cash flow about $800 per month. After a few BRRRR projects, investing in high cash flow areas is a safer way to protect your income. Typically these properties will not appreciate as well as other real estate markets.

@Jeff S.  The city of Portland makes it much more difficult because of new regulations and fees associated with short-term rentals. A vacation rental at the Oregon Coast or Mt. Hood are going to be a better investment in my opinion. I really like the idea of a vacation rental on Mt. Hood because people participate in winter and summer activities at the mountain. If you want to invest in a vacation rental, I recommend the Coast or Mountain much more than trying to get a short-term rental to be profitable within the city of Portland.

Our family friend owns the house directly to the South of our house in Rockaway Beach, OR and the house is always booked out on VRBO! I spoke with the owner a few months ago and he said the last two years have been good to him and his revenue grew year over year. He built a house two years ago specifically as a short-term rental. He said as long as you pay your dues and taxes on time, the local municipality is pretty relaxed. 

My only concern with short-term rentals at the Oregon Coast is the vacancy during the "off-season." @Chris Shepard 's idea of renting the property out on a six-month lease from October to April is a great way to reduce vacancy and generate revenue during the slow season. As long as you can weather the winter months, the property should perform very well during the summer! Best of luck in your search. 

I recommend OnlineEd.com they have multiple different packages and helped me pass my test on the first try!

Since the start of COVID-19 has anyone had a difficult time understanding the eviction moratorium? For me personally, this moratorium has not impacted me too hard and I am curious how other investors/landlords are holding up during the pandemic. My biggest questions are:

Are you utilizing mortgage forbearance if your tenants are not paying rent? Maybe your tenants are paying rent and you are still utilizing forbearance? 

Are you making your mortgage payments even though your tenants are not paying rent? 

Were you able to get possession of your property back during the moratorium?

I am generally curious and would love to hear other peoples' stories.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Lake Oswego.

Purchase price: $575,000
Cash invested: $120,000

This duplex "House Hack" is the deal that got my wife committed to real estate! I convinced my wife to owner-occupy one side of a duplex as our first purchase and now she wants to keep buying more real estate! We bought a side-by-side duplex that required very little work initially and we started receiving revenue right away since the other unit was already leased to tenants. We were able to buy our first property and have it be a smart investment. I recommend this to any first-time buyers.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

This purchase was a way to compromise with my wife on our first real estate investment. I wanted to owner-occupy a small multifamily property and she wanted to live somewhere that is "nice." Our unit was updated by the previous owner which fit my wife's criteria, so I got to buy a duplex! This was a great "starter" duplex that did not require very much work at the beginning and I was able to introduce my wife to the best thing on Earth, which of course is investing in real estate.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

This deal was listed on the local MLS. It was listed for $600,000 and we ended up paying $575,000 after negotiating the price with some items that came up during the inspection.

How did you finance this deal?

Since we were going to owner-occupy one unit we used a 20% conventional loan program.

How did you add value to the deal?

Renovated our other unit and increased the rent.

What was the outcome?

We reduced our monthly housing costs significantly compared to us paying rent somewhere else. When we move out and rent our unit, we will cash flow about $500-$600 per month.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The biggest challenge was finding somewhere that my wife not only wanted to live but felt excited about living. As much as I wanted a multifamily property, I did not want to hate where we lived and this was a great opportunity to enjoy our home and have it be a good investment too.

The biggest lesson I learned was inheriting tenants is usually not going to work out. Sometimes inherited tenants may not be up to your standards and can cause problems soon after you buy the deal.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Liz Soucie with Fairway Independent Mortgage is incredible and gets deals done. She has helped numerous of my clients invest in real estate!

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Lake Oswego.

Purchase price: $575,000
Cash invested: $120,000

This duplex "House Hack" is the deal that got my wife committed to real estate! I convinced my wife to owner-occupy one side of a duplex as our first purchase and now she wants to keep buying more real estate! We bought a side-by-side duplex because we wanted to reduce our monthly housing costs. We inherited tenants from the previous owner that were not the best tenants and ended up moving out about 10 months after we bought it. The tenants trashed the unit so we installed new floors, countertops, light fixtures, faucets, and painted the entire unit by ourselves. We spent about $6000 in materials renovating the unit and re-rented the unit for $150 more per month during the winter.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

This purchase was a way to compromise with my wife on our first real estate investment. I wanted to owner-occupy a small multifamily property and she wanted to live somewhere that is "nice." Our unit was updated by the previous owner which fit my wife's criteria, so I got to buy a duplex! This was a great "starter" duplex that did not require very much work at the beginning and I was able to introduce my wife to the best thing on Earth, which of course is investing in real estate.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

This deal was listed on the local MLS. It was listed for $600,000 and we ended up paying $575,000 after negotiating the price with some items that came up during the inspection.

How did you finance this deal?

Since we were going to owner-occupy one unit we used a 20% conventional loan program.

How did you add value to the deal?

Renovated our other unit and increased the rent.

What was the outcome?

We reduced our monthly housing costs significantly compared to us paying rent somewhere else. When we move out and rent our unit, we will cash flow about $500-$600 per month.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The biggest challenge was finding somewhere that my wife not only wanted to live but felt excited about living. As much as I wanted a multifamily property, I did not want to hate where we lived and this was a great opportunity to enjoy our home and have it be a good investment too.

The biggest lesson I learned was inheriting tenants is usually not going to work out. Sometimes inherited tenants may not be up to your standards and can cause problems soon after you buy the deal.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Liz Soucie with Fairway Independent Mortgage is incredible and gets deals done. She has helped numerous of my clients invest in real estate!