Feeling a bit lost on the housing situation here. Not sure what the right decision would be. Ideally, I would like to have a source of passive income, and I'm looking into owning multiple rental properties in the Seattle area. However, I just started my journey, and need to purchase a home. I am single, mid thirties with no kids, so I am flexible on the location a bit. I have a low TC, so looking into jobs which pay better and might need me to commute to work, so closer to Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland would be great for primary home purchase. However, if I buy a SFH here close to a million bucks, and a very old home, built prior to 1980s, I will be putting everything I have into a single basket, and there goes my investment property dream.. Strategy I: Buy a home in a prime location such as Bellevue, Kirkland, Seattle as a primary home. Pros: 1. Will allow me to take a better paying job with commute 2. Potential for good appreciation even within just a few years. Cons: 1. Tie me down to this location 2. Will not be able to afford any other properties / have an investment property portfolio. 3. If I ever get married, might end up losing half the property if the marriage doesn't work out. 4. If I plan to sell the home in a few years to diversify, this may not be the best bet. 5. Super old homes can have unexpected expenses, repair works, health concerns(lead/asbestos/etc), they give me the creeps even though they are renovated, since there's potential for exposure. Strategy II: Purchase a home in far off areas such as Bonney Lake/ Port Orchard/Monroe, etc. live there for at least an year, then rent out, and repeat. Pros: 1. Can allow me to have atleast SFH homes as potential retirement homes. 2. Potentially have multiple homes and have a rental stream going & build up equity in the homes. 3. Will be able to get new homes with most of the things I want 4. Not a good school district in case I have kids/family/etc. Cons: 1. Quality of life will be lower. 2. Job opportunities will be limited to fully remote positions that could be low paying. 3. If I want to purchase a home closer to Seattle 3-4yrs from now, the housing market would be even more out of reach. TC: 170K NW: 1.5M Please advise on what I should do, would love to hear your thoughts and opinions. If you have a multiple property portfolio, or aim to get one, how would you go about doing that in today's market conditions? #housing #mortgage #seattle #investment
Have you considered other markets besides the Seattle area? I live north of Seattle but I invest in Midwest markets where prices are much cheaper and rents are still high. All properties I buy are around the 80k mark (with rehab) and rents for 1200/month average. Each of these will cash flow 200-400 and I now have 9 doors. I plan to hit about 15. I work with a team on the ground that helps out of state investors like me by sourcing off market deals, project managing rehab and providing property management. Happy to share more if you are interested.
That’s impressive! Do you have property managers looking after the upkeep on those?
How long have you had these properties for?
How you have NW of 1.5M with 170K TC? Considering you are in 30s
I have been working since I was 22. My TC was much lower, but I was investing a little on the side.
Nice. I would suggest to go for sfh in South Seattle