Typical questions about Vancouver/PNW (Camas, Lind: sales, rent, HOA)

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by cyberous

How exactly?

this oughta cover it. Works fine for me. (I have a 60 - 70% buyer acceptance rate doing this, I seldom pay anywhere near market, except for prime view / re-zone props))
GIS info is readily available in most counties / states.
https://gis.clark.wa.gov/gishome/property/

Beats spending 4 - 8 hours / week in the courthouse making notes. (As we did 30+ yrs ago)

I only spend about 4 hrs / yr doing this now and have way more available properties than I ever need. I refer a lot to friends. One friend buys ~ 80 houses / month in Vancouver / Longview / coast / Ptld metro region (off the market). They have a staff to coordinate the purchases and reselling. Most of their purchases are in Clark county

[alaskaflyer]

Looked at Camas. Had I taken the job I would have certainly moved there and taken the short commute to Vancouver. Check it out.

[texasdiver]

Stealth is just pointing you towards the county records office. Which tells you nothing about who might be interested in selling a house that you would also be interested in buying.

There are ways to find deals online, but I wouldn't do it like that. You can use Zillow and other sites to drill down into neighborhoods that you are interested in and find houses that were previously listed. That is what we actually did 6 years ago when we bought our Camas home. We knew which neighborhoods and types of houses we were interested in. I spent a lot of time drilling down and checking out all the individual houses on Zillow including those that were not actively listed and discovered that you can see any houses that were recently listed and not sold. One particular home that was exactly what we were looking for had been listed that year and the listing had expired without being sold. I contacted the owners to see if they were interested in selling. It turns out that they had a disabled child and were looking for a single floor home which are difficult to find in Camas. And they had let their listing expire for fear of selling the house without having one to move into. We had a nice talk and I told them if they can find a house to move into we will buy theirs. Our schedule is flexible. We ended up cutting a deal for a fair price without paying real estate fees which worked out perfectly for both families. It was a good and fair price and a good deal for all involved, not some spectacular deal where we were taking advantage of them. Which seems to be what Stealth is looking for.

When you are buying rentals or investment properties it is simply a numbers game. If you are buying your own home there are so many other factors involved beyond just finding the lowest priced home for the money in the county.

[StealthRabbit]

And... Make sure any property you buy is suitable for your primary home, and can be rented without feeding it. As you may be stuck for many many years in any RE investment.

[cyberous]

GIS, yes I’m very familiar with it as it’s a useful tool for sure. Also, a great tool to just be a nosey neighbor lol.

I don’t have the stomach or desire to send people letters or knock on their doors to see if they want to sell their homes. We are looking for homes in Ridgefield/Salmon Creek area on acreage in the 750-1mm range. We do have a leg up as we are cash buyers but the market is on steroids right now so we will just wait. I think we can all remember 2008 right? Its just a matter of time before we get a much needed correction.

[StealthRabbit]

You and anyone can do whatever they want to locate and buy props, including being amoung the hundreds of buyers who pay 20- 100% more than valuations/ (Spend $1m for a $500k property. )

Happens everyday, and far more frequently than those who research and dig up their own deals (Paying $1m for a $2m, property).

There are many strategies to find and purchase properties that are not listed for sale... Or you can hold the hand of your friendly () agent and be led down the typical path. (one of hundreds of willing and able buyers)

Definately do what ONLY you can sleep with .

Join the crowd, enjoy the 'S-l-o-w process' (and the disappointments that come with it )

[TurcoLoco]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

You and anyone can do whatever they want to locate and buy props, including being amoung the hundreds of buyers who pay 20- 100% more than valuations/ (Spend $1m for a $500k property. )

Happens everyday, and far more frequently than those who research and dig up their own deals (Paying $1m for a $2m, property).

There are many strategies to find and purchase properties that are not listed for sale... Or you can hold the hand of your friendly () agent and be led down the typical path. (one of hundreds of willing and able buyers)

Definately do what ONLY you can sleep with .

Join the crowd, enjoy the 'S-l-o-w process' (and the disappointments that come with it )

Hi Stealth,

Thank you for the GIS info, I didn't know about that site but how exactly do you use that site?
I found couple of properties on Zillow where one of them said it was even owned by Zillow (didn't know they actually bought houses, conflict of interest or monopoly, not sure but didn't sit well with me) and I checked those properties on that link you gave and their values were like 25%-30% less than what Zillow had them listed.

I realize the properties prices are on drugs right now but how does the GIS listed value help a buyer?
Would your method still be quick and practical to someone who would be buying their first home?

There is still some time before I can relocate so I am thinking if the market is gonna "normalize", it will happen before I actually move or shortly after. I am going to rent for a while to scout the area even if the prices came down already. I'd like to learn what exactly you are doing and if it'd be suitable for me time wise, too, then I'm definitely going to give it a shot as I have no problem doing some dirty work to save $$ and find a place that I like and can built the way I want, if it needed any work.

Cheers,
TL

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by TurcoLoco

Hi Stealth,

Thank you for the GIS info, I didn't know about that site but how exactly do you use that site?
I found couple of properties on Zillow where one of them said it was even owned by Zillow (didn't know they actually bought houses, conflict of interest or monopoly, not sure but didn't sit well with me) and I checked those properties on that link you gave and their values were like 25%-30% less than what Zillow had them listed.

I realize the properties prices are on drugs right now but how does the GIS listed value help a buyer?
Would your method still be quick and practical to someone who would be buying their first home?

There is still some time before I can relocate so I am thinking if the market is gonna "normalize", it will happen before I actually move or shortly after. I am going to rent for a while to scout the area even if the prices came down already. I'd like to learn what exactly you are doing and if it'd be suitable for me time wise, too, then I'm definitely going to give it a shot as I have no problem doing some dirty work to save $$ and find a place that I like and can built the way I want, if it needed any work.

Cheers,
TL

I can't speak for Stealth, but I imagine one use would be to drive around and look for unique houses/lots that exactly fit your needs and then use the county web site to locate the owners and contact them directly. That is probably a more effective technique if you are looking for things like rural acreages for a shop and land than ordinary carbon copy late model homes in ordinary subdivisions.

[TurcoLoco]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

I can't speak for Stealth, but I imagine one use would be to drive around and look for unique houses/lots that exactly fit your needs and then use the county web site to locate the owners and contact them directly. That is probably a more effective technique if you are looking for things like rural acreages for a shop and land than ordinary carbon copy late model homes in ordinary subdivisions.

I see. That is kind of what I thought but idea of contacting someone who didn't even have their property listed seemed a bit odd. I also feel, the owner of the property might get spoiled or feel you have a special desire for it and try to ask more than what they would normally.

Despite being an awkward approach, usually this type of out of the box thinking will yield the most successful results given you have the time and the aptitude it may require.
I agree, at least with its potential to be more profitable as I have used similarly awkward methods when looking for a job. you make a list of the companies/places you want to work at within your desired area and do some social engineering online and offline to find the right contacts and contact them direct. Preferably by phone but email usually works too. This approach definitely more time consuming and painful because you hear "No" 95+% of the time but when you do get a yes, it is so very sweet. Once you get the job, you are set!

Stealth seems to know his schnitzel. I will keep that in mind when I am ready to purchase.
Hopefully, he will chime in and share more tips....but also he might not, thinking he already said too much!

[SusVelo]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

I can't speak for Stealth, but I imagine one use would be to drive around and look for unique houses/lots that exactly fit your needs and then use the county web site to locate the owners and contact them directly. That is probably a more effective technique if you are looking for things like rural acreages for a shop and land than ordinary carbon copy late model homes in ordinary subdivisions.

I just can’t imagine cold calling the owners with below market offers works 60-70% of the time. Must be something else to this.