All Forum Posts by: Wesley Wong

Interesting to hear that this is both normal and not normal!

Requiring an offer does sound logical as to not bother existing tenants unless it's a serious buyer. I guess if the offer is not accepted, no harm no foul. If the offer is accepted, then either discounts can be made if the inspection finds something or the offer is rescinded and I would lose the inspection cost, which would be considered the cost of doing business.

Thank you for the responses. There's no indication that this property is FSBO. My realtor said that the buyer will not show the place until I put in an offer, so it's not just making sure I'm qualified to purchase.

We're interested in a duplex with tenants in WA and was wondering if it's normal that the buyer requires an offer to be presented and accepted before they are willing to show the place? Buying our home, we were able to view the place first before offering, even when there were tenants. This is the first time we're planning on buying a duplex for investment purposes and are not sure whether this is how it works when buying investment properties.

If an offer is required first, does this mean that our only way out of the contract if we don't like it is to wait and pay for the inspection?

@Trevor Ewen Thanks for the clarification. Have you been able to invest in and around NYC with all the rules and regulations or do you invest out-of-town to avoid all the restrictions?

@Trevor Ewen That was an amazing summary of the issues you are facing on the east coast. As far as I know, Seattle is nowhere close to those regulations. As a renter, I feel like I am at the mercy of my landlord, not the other way around. Interesting information to know though since one day, we may invest in the east coast.

@Penny Clark Thanks for outlining a roadmap for buying, living, renting, then rinse and repeat. This is definitely something we've been thinking about as well. Unfortunately, the areas we would like to live in don't seem to be good for rental investments. We may have to think about giving up on living in one of these desirable places for the short term. We definitely have some decisions to make.

@Patrick Britton Very interesting thought. When you ask whether we could stand living in a less desirable place for 366 days, it kind of puts things into perspective. For me, home ownership has always meant long term and has been drilled into me by more traditional teachings. We will have to take a long hard look at this approach and see if it might work. Thanks!

@Austin Davis Great clarification that it's not a hard-and-fast rule. Sticking to this rule only would mean missing out on a lot of deals.

@Trevor Ewen Thanks for your great post and the link! It's interesting to think about your home as a liability rather than an investment. I'll have to keep that in mind. When you mention being on the right side of the political view by being a renter, what benefits are you referring to? I can see this would be great if the renters were being protected, for instance, by rent increase limits. However, in Seattle, there are no rent increase limits. I completely agree with you about it being cheaper to rent in nicer areas than buying in the same place, although Seattle's rent prices seem to be creeping ever higher and it's getting fairly close now. Thank goodness that Seattle's property taxes are nothing like NJ! That just sounds insane!

@Patrick Britton Interesting thought about the doomsayers. It surely doesn't feel like Seattle is heading downhill anytime soon. We have considered a multi-families, but the only ones available within our budget are areas we don't want to live in. We wouldn't mind considering it for investment purposes, but not for our home.

@Joseph Quarto Thanks for the offer. My wife and I still need to figure out what we'll be doing before jumping in head first. I'll PM you if this is the route we want to take.

@Michael Lee Thanks for the words of encouragement. Knowing that you have a home paid for in full is definitely a great feeling and one of the main reasons we want to own early. Great advice on not depending on appreciation and treating it as a bonus. This is definitely something I will need to keep reminding myself as I start down the path of a real estate investor.

@Christy Yogerst Thanks for sharing your experience and insight with a short sale. That sounds like a lot of stress to work through, but it also sounds like you have some good support around you. Plus the immediate equity gained isn't bad either! Good news is that after talking with our landlord, we're good with 1 month notice without penalty. This definitely takes some stress off us.

@David Muir I'm genuinely curious as to why you think that's the best advice you've gotten to date. I've actually been learning the opposite. There seem to be many places that I wouldn't consider living, but also understand that there are lots of people who are willing to live there. Buying only where I would live is actually something I'm trying to unlearn!

@Phil Bottfeld I definitely agree with you about treating an investment as an investment. Something I'm still trying to remind myself is to put myself in my target market's shoes, and this target market may not be the same market I'm in. I also agree with you that it doesn't mean buy anything and everything. There's definitely a cut off point where you just don't want to play in. And thanks for reminding me to always be thinking about the numbers. Emotions can run high, especially in this market right now!

@Christy Yogerst Good to hear we're not the only ones struggling to make all of this work. Great job on sacrificing the short term for the long term! This is a route that we've considered and isn't out of the question. How was your experience with the short sale? I've heard that it can take anywhere from 3-6 months or more to finalize the deal. Best of luck on your journey!

@Jay Hinrichs Interesting thought about SEA being the next SFO. I definitely see some parallels with all the large tech companies setting up shop here and expanding. However, I think SEA will be less crazy than SFO since the city allows high rises. SFO has a lot of restrictions that "artificially" increase the prices.

@Arthur Schulte Definitely agree about the fact that it's hard to find cash flowing properties. Good thing with investments though is that you can invest further out from where you want to live, or invest in areas where you wouldn't want to live but know others would. Thanks for pointing me to the other cities. Have you been able to find anything out there? I was checking around Tacoma and there seems to be a lot of multi-family properties out there that aren't moving fast.