The Seattle Deals We're Buying in 2026 (And the One We Walk Away From)

Christian: [0:00] Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Awesome in Seattle podcast. This is your host, Christian Nossum, of the Awesome Nossum Group at Wilson Realty Exchange, Inc, and today I am joined by my beautiful, lovely wife, Miss Shannon Nossum.

Shannon: [0:13] Hello, hello. I'm glad to be here.

Christian: [0:15] And you have a nice raspy voice- I know 'cause you're just getting over a cold where- Our kids- … you lost your voice.

Shannon: [0:19] Yeah, our kids got me sick, so I sound kind of, I don't know, different than normal, but- You

Christian: [0:24] got

Shannon: [0:24] a rasp … it's me. It's really me, I promise.

Christian: [0:26] It's not AI with a rasp.

Shannon: [0:28] Yeah.

Christian: [0:29] Um, all right. So today's episode, we are talking about our personal buy box in 2026, and the reason why is because we get people that ask us this all the time. And we're also going to talk about a reason or a s- specific deal that we recently backed out of, and why we didn't buy it, and the lesson that we learned during that. So you will learn something in this episode. It's not just us talking. Uh, we're gonna explain why we choose our buy box, how that can also help you figure out yours, and then, um, talk about that deal that we backed out of. So let's get right into it, Shannon.

Shannon: [1:05] Yeah, so we, um, wanted to first start with what we're actually doing. Mm-hmm. What are we buying right now? Um, because I feel like that's… People sometimes share, like, their wins afterwards, but they don't talk about often, like, "Oh, I just bought this deal and here's why."

Christian: [1:19] Mm-hmm.

Shannon: [1:20] Excuse me. So we pro- purchased a live-in flip, which is a house that we are hopefully going to move into. We remodeled it. We're gonna live in it, and then we also built a DADU in the back. Mm-hmm. So this is in northeast Seattle, and that's a deal that we bought about eight months, eight or nine months ago-

Christian: [1:38] Yeah

Shannon: [1:39] at this point. So why did we buy this particular house? Well, one, we really like northeast Seattle, 'cause that's where we live, and if we're gonna do a live-in flip, then we wanna do that in the area that we already live so our kids don't have to switch schools. Yep. So that ticked off one box. The next box was that it had a house that was the right size and in need of, like, some layout changes and some cosmetic updates, so ticked another box. Mm. And it ticked our third box, which was that we would wanna build a ADU or DADU in the back, so detached accessory dwelling unit, and so it ticked off that box too. So that's one of the properties that we bought and that we've, are almost done on that project.

Christian: [2:17] Yeah, we're

Shannon: [2:17] like- Now- … Speaker: 98% done right now. Yeah. So that's the project that we're finishing. Mm-hmm. But as you can tell from what we just bought, we also just bought a property in Magnolia with a similar type situation. Mm-hmm. So the house-

Christian: [2:30] And we just closed on that two days ago.

Shannon: [2:32] Yeah, we just closed on that two days ago. So it's a house that needs remodeling, and it's not huge, huge structural stuff. There's some layout changes- Mm-hmm … but it's probably gonna be, um, a lot of- It's more cosmetic … cosmetic layout adjustments just so it lives better.

Christian: [2:46] Fin- finishing off a basement- Mm-hmm … you know, adding additional square footage. The bedrooms are kind of funky, and the bathroom's a little funky, so we're just gonna, like, rearrange stuff, make the flow a lot better, and then finish off that unfinished square footage.

Shannon: [2:59] Yep, and then we're also gonna build a DADU in the back. So you can see kind of the similarities- Mm-hmm. The trend … of things that we like buying. Um, and we have other things in our buy box too, but that's one of our main pillars is- Mm-hmm … these type of properties. So this one's kind of interesting because- Yeah, this is a fun

Christian: [3:13] one

Shannon: [3:13] we, um, were brought this deal by another investor who doesn't typically build DADUs-

Christian: [3:19] Mm-hmm … Shannon: but is a great house flipper and also does Airbnb. Yep. And so they brought us this deal, um, and it wasn't in their buy box, 'cause they don't like doing DADUs. Mm-hmm. We do. Um, and we ended up deciding to partner with this other investor and- And we didn't have to. So we easily could have just taken this on ourself, done the flip, done the DADU just like we normally do. In this one, we kinda felt like she brought us the deal. We like her. We trust her. We know that she is good, and so we offered to let her flip the house. We build the DADU, and then we'll kinda split the difference, um, or the profits at the end. Yeah. Again, we didn't have to let her in on this, but we chose to 'cause it just felt right, and it made sense.

Shannon: [4:04] Well, also I was gonna say that one of the things about your buy box is what are you really, really good at?

Christian: [4:09] Yeah.

Shannon: [4:10] And one of the things that we are really good at is doing the DADU part. Mm-hmm. We're good at flips, but she's better at them. Yes. She's really, really good, and we're just really-

Christian: [4:19] Okay … Shannon: good, okay, good. Yeah.

Shannon: [4:21] Um, and the other factor on this one is, so we are going to do a custom DADU because the laws have changed, and now you can build a bigger-

Christian: [4:28] Mm-hmm … Shannon: DADU. So we're gonna do a more custom DADU on this one. So it's gonna take about six months for us to design and permit that before we can break ground. So part of the benefit of partnering with this particular investor is that she's really good at Airbnb. Yeah. She has Airbnbs all over the country, but she has some in Seattle, and so what we're gonna do is during those six months while we're waiting for the DADU permit, we are going to Airbnb this property, and then when the DADU permit comes, we're gonna start construction on the DADU and then construction on the house flip 'cause the house flip doesn't take a year. No. It takes, like, five, four months. Yeah, a few months. Yeah.

Shannon: [5:04] So w- we want to be able to utilize that property because it is livable. This isn't one of the- Mm-hmm … ones where it's like a hoarder house and there's poop everywhere. No. Like, it's- … it's just not the most pretty house, and also has a bad layout. Mm-hmm. But it's totally fine for Airbnb. It's a clean house.

Christian: [5:18] Mm-hmm.

Shannon: [5:19] It's gonna be fine. So we're excited to do that, and that's- It

Christian: [5:22] actually has a remodeled kitchen, probably within the last-

Shannon: [5:24] Yeah, 10 years … Speaker: three or five years or something like that. So- It's a very bad layout of the kitchen- Yes … but it is new cabinets. But it's newer,

Christian: [5:30] yeah.

Shannon: [5:30] So yeah. So that's kind of our plan with that-

Christian: [5:33] Mm-hmm … Shannon: is to Airbnb it for six months during peak season, which is- Yeah, and FIFA is coming in. The World Cup's coming in. Mm-hmm. And so it's like this just kinda makes a lot of sense. Let's just Airbnb it over the summer. As soon as we get the permit, we can shut down the Airbnb, start flipping the house, and building the DADU both at the same time.

Shannon: [5:50] Yeah. And typically Airbnbs are not in our buy box 'cause it's- Mm-hmm … not something we're really good at. Yeah. But since we have this partner, it works.

Christian: [5:57] Yep. All right, so that said, we still want to take on more deals. Um, and here's kinda what we're looking for. So the biggest thing that we like, as you probably can tell, we like DADU lots, mostly north of downtown. Um, I'll go over areas in a minute. Uh, second, we like flips that need more of a layout change, um, and cosmetic inf- improvement. We don't necessarily wanna do a lot of structural or foundation things. Um-

Shannon: [6:26] Typically, the things that we buy are in a certain price range. Not to say- Mm-hmm … we can't go outside of that. Obviously, if something's cheaper, that's always a win. But we've noticed that the things that we buy are typically between 600,000 to 1.4 million. Mm-hmm. And the reason they're in that range is because like Christian said, a lot of those are in Northeast Seattle, so just a lot, even if it's a terrible lot, is gonna be, you know- At a minimum an expensive lot. Yeah. Um, and so I think it's important to know not only, like, how much money, when you're figuring out your buy box, like-

Christian: [6:58] Mm-hmm … Shannon: okay, so I'm gonna use my own capital for this. Mm-hmm. How much money do you have? And then if you're gonna use private money, meaning you're gonna use other people's money for your down payment or for the monthly hard money payments, you need to figure out how much you have access to. And that kind of will determine how high a price you can actually do feasibly. Yep.

Shannon: [7:20] Um, and so I think that's something you need to figure out before you dig too deep into your buy box is, okay, so in, in reality, what kind of money do I have and can I get access to? And then you can work backwards from there to figure out a purchase price that is kind of the height of what you can do.

Christian: [7:36] Mm-hmm. We can do another episode maybe one day about how to figure out your budget, how hard money loans work, how all that works- Mm-hmm … how you can use private financing from other lenders, um, gap funding, all that stuff. Maybe that's another episode we should talk about- Yeah, we should … so you can figure that out. Um, so that's kind of our purchase price, and on the active investment side, that's kinda what we're looking for. On the more long-term rental side, what we specialize in, if you follow us, you probably already know this, but we love U District rentals, so student housing. Um, anything around the University of Washington, um, that even if it's not currently set up for that, but maybe there's some unfinished space, that's something that we love. We've taken a two-bed, one-bath house and turned it into a nine-bed, three-bath house, and it's actually really nice. It's crazy to think about. It sounds crazy, um, but it is kinda perfect. Um, the other thing that's even better, the next step up is if there's DADU potential and it's in the U District and can be turned into a student housing, um- That would be ideal, and we've done that a couple times at this point, and it works really well for us. So if you got anything in the U District, let us know. Even if you don't know for sure if it's gonna work, we might actually see some potential that other people don't. Um- Yeah … that n- the one that we turned into a nine-bed, three-bath, that had sat on the market for three weeks-

Shannon: [8:59] Yeah … Speaker: in a hot market. Mm-hmm.

Christian: [9:01] So we definitely spot opportunities that others don't see.

Shannon: [9:05] Yeah. So one thing you talked about is areas.

Christian: [9:07] Mm-hmm.

Shannon: [9:08] So we kind of pinpointed on this before, which is we obviously love Northeast Seattle, 'cause that's where we live. Yep. But also, and we, the deal we just, um, are finishing is very close by to us. So I think we- We can

Christian: [9:21] literally see it from our living room.

Shannon: [9:22] We can.

Christian: [9:23] It's

Shannon: [9:24] right around the

Christian: [9:24] corner.

Shannon: [9:25] Um, so and if you follow us on Instagram, you will have seen that we moved a fridge from our house to the flip. Yeah. So- By

Christian: [9:31] foot.

Shannon: [9:32] By foot. Not in a truck.

Christian: [9:34] No.

Shannon: [9:35] Um, so why do we like Northeast Seattle? Um, access is important to us. We have three kids. We have a lot of businesses. Being able to go visit our projects is helpful, and I'm almost willing to take a slightly less return- Yeah … if I can have a project that's super close by.

Christian: [9:52] Super close, yeah. ' Shannon: Cause I get to keep a closer eye on it. Mm-hmm. I get to see how the progress is going, and I feel like I'm gonna save money ultimately, 'cause I get to go over there so often. Yep. Um, and also, the other thing, when we're doing data deals, our benchmark is that we want to make, like, 750. On, like, the, the, not make. So, whoa.

Shannon: [10:13] He's like, "How much money are we making?" Yeah. Um- Are

Christian: [10:15] you keeping something from me?

Shannon: [10:16] No. You cannot make that on a Dadu deal. I- The Dadu's ARV-

Christian: [10:22] Yeah, there you go … Shannon: is 750. Yeah, minimum. That's, that's what we want the ARV of the Dadu to be when it is completed. Um-

Shannon: [10:28] That's what I want my profit to be. It is not.

Christian: [10:30] That would be great, yeah. It

Shannon: [10:30] is not that.

Christian: [10:31] No, no. So some of the other areas that we're looking at mostly are basically anything north of downtown. So that can be, you know, Magnolia, Queen Anne, Capitol Hill, north to the city limit of Seattle. We mostly focus on Seattle. Um, we have looked at stuff in West Seattle and, like, North Beacon Hill. We did used to live on North Beacon Hill- Mm-hmm … so we know that area really well. Um, so we're open to other areas as well, but typically, that's kind of our core area, uh, north of downtown. We do really like Magnolia. We've done multiple deals there at this point. Mm-hmm. Um, it does seem like we just, I don't know why, but we can- I'm- … spot some deals there a little bit easier I think

Shannon: [11:12] I know why. Okay. It's 'cause Magnolia, one, the Dadu market's pretty solid.

Christian: [11:16] Mm-hmm.

Shannon: [11:17] So Dadu markets are interesting because if it's too nice of a neighborhood, like Laurelhurst, for instance, you don't wanna do a Dadu deal in Laurelhurst. That doesn't make- You couldn't anyway- … sense

Christian: [11:26] because it's so far … 'cause they have their own HOA that permit-

Shannon: [11:27] Exactly … Speaker: doesn't allow it, but yeah But, like, there's certain neighborhoods that are just so expensive as family homes- Mm-hmm … that it doesn't make sense to do it there. And then Magnolia is kind of that sweet spot where, like, the Dadus can sell for a lot, and it is a nice neighborhood that, like, really does have high prices. But they also have a lot of alleys.

Christian: [11:45] Yeah.

Shannon: [11:46] And that's why. Beacon Hill has a lot of alleys- Mm-hmm … and Magnolia has a lot of al- It's those, those areas that have lots of alleys that make access-

Christian: [11:53] A lot

Shannon: [11:53] better … feasible.

Christian: [11:54] Yeah. Yeah. The issue with both of those, N- North Beacon Hill and Magnolia, is there are a lot of hills. The one that we just closed on in Magnolia is on a slope. Thankfully, it's not a steep slope, and we'll talk about that in a second, too. Um- But that slope actually can benefit you when you are building, uh, when you have a square footage limit of 1,200 square feet, which that's what the DADU limit now in Seattle is. Uh, you can take advantage of that slope to increase how much square footage you actually have, 'cause they don't count it if it's underground. Mm-hmm.

Shannon: [12:26] So,

Christian: [12:26] um, let's talk about some lot size and stuff like that. We, we kinda talked about it already, but, uh, it really depends, like how big of a lot really depends on the strategy that we are looking at. Mm-hmm. And this is how you should look at it too. So if it's a flip, I don't care about the lot size necessarily, unless it's, like, an area where a yard is a must, and if you don't have a yard, you're not gonna sell as much. That's the only time that I'm really gonna care too much.

Shannon: [12:55] Yeah, I was gonna say, as long as the flip has parking-

Christian: [12:58] Mm-hmm

Shannon: [12:58] and a yard, and, like, functional outdoor space, not just, like, a yard that's a big old hill you can't even- Yeah, no … it's like- Like a usable yard … some sort of usable- Yep … space for the yard and parking, I don't necessarily care how big the lot size is.

Christian: [13:10] Exactly. Exactly. But if-

Shannon: [13:12] And same with our, our U District deals.

Christian: [13:14] Mm-hmm.

Shannon: [13:14] We actually prefer to not have a yard, unless I can build a DADU. But if, if I'm not gonna be able to build a DADU, I don't want a yard there. Yeah. So I don't really care how big the yard is or what the situation is.

Christian: [13:24] Most likely we would turn the yard into parking anyways- Mm-hmm … in the U District, 'cause it's so hard to park there, and that can be a huge plus, um, an asset for you. People

Shannon: [13:32] even… And when I went to UDub, people would literally be like- 40 years ago? Shut up. It was 20.

Christian: [13:40] I love you

Shannon: [13:40] It was '20, that was when we met Yes, I know Um, people would literally call each other and be like, "Oh my gosh, there is a spot outside." Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so they would go stand, and they still do this. I see this- Mm-hmm … all the time. Mm-hmm. People will stand there- In the street … like a starfish. Yeah In the street- Like, on the side of the street … holding a parking spot- Yeah … for their friend. Mm-hmm. Because that is how much there is no parking. Yes That people will stand there and hold it

Christian: [14:04] Yeah, exactly. Um, that said, if we're looking for a DADU opportunity, obviously the lot size matters a lot more. So that's where, um, for us, I mean, we've done them on a 4,000 square foot lot. The house has, the house that's currently there has to really be pushed toward the front and there needs to be an alley in order to make that work, usually.

Shannon: [14:26] It has to be basically perfect-

Christian: [14:27] Yeah … Shannon: to make that size work. That's a pretty tough one to make work. Generally, over 5,000, maybe 6,000 square feet, that's kind of the sweet spot what we've seen. There's been some 6,500 square foot lots. We've done that a couple times.

Shannon: [14:39] Mm-hmm.

Christian: [14:39] Both houses get a really good size yard at that point. Um, but that's also where now it might make more sense to build multiple DADUs versus just one- Yeah um, when you do have a bigger lot, so. I

Shannon: [14:49] was gonna say, when you get past 6,000, you're probably thinking multiple- Yep … ADUs, which we're not opposed to doing. I think- No … we would wanna do that.

Christian: [14:57] Mm-hmm.

Shannon: [14:58] Um, but I do think, and this is something I've been thinking about a lot for 2026, with these new laws, I think a lot of people are thinking about cramming as many things- Yeah onto the lot as possible. And I think while that's great, and you have to do your math and run the numbers, I think there's a danger in that because as we're seeing, townhouses are not selling well. Mm-hmm. People don't really love being crammed in. They don't love having no yard. And

Christian: [15:21] I- They don't love having a shared wall

Shannon: [15:23] That too. So I think when you're talking about putting these units super close together and not giving them, um, a little bit of breathing room or any kind of yard, you're kind of putting yourself in that- Mm-hmm … very congested category. It can be fine, and the numbers can work out. You just have to make sure you discount for that.

Christian: [15:41] Yep. And Varun and I actually talked about this a little bit more in depth on our 2026, uh, real estate prediction, Seattle Real Estate Predictions episode. Um, so if you wanna look back and listen to that one, um, and actually, it might've been in the 2025 as well. I don't totally remember. Yeah. But we went kind of in depth about it because- Yeah, I don't need to really go in depth about it. But it can, when you have too much congestion, people are gonna pay less. So you ultimately might sell or might profit less by adding more units. Um, so it's just some- a way to, to look at things. Yeah.

Shannon: [16:15] You gotta run it through a calculator.

Christian: [16:16] And- Let's talk about red flags, Shan. Um- Okay … what, what makes you nervous in this market right now? What are you not looking for or, or I guess looking for so that you know not to get into that deal?

Shannon: [16:28] Yeah. I think for us, really expensive luxury flips-

Christian: [16:32] Mm-hmm … Shannon: are probably something we wouldn't do. I think the market is- Luxury for us is probably over two million. Like-

Shannon: [16:38] Yeah, luxury is probably above two million for us. Mm-hmm. I think that's something I'd be wary of just 'cause it's a little bit, um, more of a flexible market. And the other thing I really don't like is ECAs. Mm. And I don't like that. If it was a U District deal, I wouldn't care.

Christian: [16:55] Yep.

Shannon: [16:55] But if it's a flip or it's a DADU- DADU play … for sure, I care about that a lot. So an ECA, why do I care about that? Um- What is an

Christian: [17:03] ECA?

Shannon: [17:03] Yeah. An ECA is an environmentally critical area. Mm-hmm. That means that they're gonna look at your plan of what you wanna do kind of with a fine-tooth comb. Mm-hmm. And they're going to be concerned about how much dirt you're moving and what- Mm … your plan is with drainage and all these th- there-

Christian: [17:19] Soil stability and-

Shannon: [17:20] Soil stability and-

Christian: [17:21] Retaining walls and all this extra stuff

Shannon: [17:22] it can be very, very expensive, and also more than even being expensive, 'cause that you can write into the deal, right? Mm-hmm. And you can know what the answer is. And, and if it still makes sense, great. The problem is that the permit timelines are so varied-

Christian: [17:36] Yeah … Shannon: when you're talking about ECAs. It's a big unknown, and it's hard to underwrite when it's such a big unknown.

Shannon: [17:40] Mm-hmm.

Christian: [17:41] So you have to go super conservative in your underwriting just in case it does take that long, which can often kill the deal.

Shannon: [17:48] Yeah, absolutely. And so we have built a DADU on an ECA, I'll say that- Mm-hmm … and that was in a unique scenario, which I would do this again if it was this scenario, which is that we bought a property that was a long-term hold in the U District, then we were building a, a DADU in the back. It took a long time to get the permit. Mm-hmm. We had to do a couple extra things. But in the end, that was fine because we weren't doing holding costs, right? Yeah. Our tenants were paying the rent. There wasn't all these holding costs that we were-

Christian: [18:16] Mm-hmm … Shannon: having to hold not knowing how long it was gonna be. So I think in the scenario where it's a long-term hold, you could do an ECA if you feel comfortable. I think when you're in the scenario where you're trying to get these things in and out as fast as possible, it is a risk. Yes. Um, the other things that I am looking at for this year is- Negatives, right? So I think anything with, like, really big impact, negative impacts is hard. If the market isn't as hot, things that have negative impacts are the things that don't sell first. Yep. So when you're talking about negative impacts- Yeah, what are some examples? … those are

Shannon: [18:53] things like, things like no parking-

Christian: [18:54] Mm-hmm … Shannon: no yard- Mm-hmm … congestion, bad layout, and particularly one that I think a lot of people forget about, bad layout for a family house equals the primary bedroom is not on the same level as the other bedroom. You have to have at least one other bedroom on that level. At least, yes.

Shannon: [19:13] And people do it, and they do sell. I'm not saying it's impossible.

Christian: [19:16] Mm-hmm.

Shannon: [19:16] But it makes your house a lot less desirable for families. As somebody who is just, like, exiting the little kid era-

Christian: [19:23] Mm-hmm … Shannon: when I talk to other parents, this is a number one for them. Yes,

Shannon: [19:27] agreed. I need to have my primary on the same level as my little-

Christian: [19:30] Little baby- … Shannon: littlest kid … Speaker: or under two years old, three years old, something like that.

Shannon: [19:33] Ideally, three bedrooms on the same level, that's the, like- Mm-hmm … ideal scenario. But you have to at least have one other bedroom.

Christian: [19:39] Yep.

Shannon: [19:39] Even if it's tiny. Yeah. Just give them something.

Christian: [19:42] So I have- We have, I have helped so many people buy houses over the 20-plus years that I've been doing, uh, being a real estate agent and, or broker, whatever you wanna call me, and that is when I'm helping families buy, that is one of the bigger things that they are saying that they need. And that second room could literally be a huge walk-in closet. Um, and I've s- helped d- like, a few people actually- Mm-hmm … buy that. 'Cause it was their first house, they had just had their very first kid, it was all they could afford, and it was literally a huge walk-in closet, or a big walk-in closet. That's actually perfect for a baby, because- Yeah, you don't want windows … there's no windows. It's dark. Um, you shut the door and it's very quiet, yet it's right next to your bed- Mm-hmm … like, your bedroom. Um, so you get some separation, but you don't have to walk all the way around the house to get to the other, you know? Mm-hmm. So that can be, like, a bare minimum. Obviously, a bedroom would be better. Two bedrooms plus the primary would be even more ideal, and then if you can find four bedrooms on the same floor, that's even better, but-

Shannon: [20:48] Yeah … Speaker: that's a bigger hi- higher price point, stuff like that. One negative impact I forgot to mention is, uh, busy roads. And so one thing when you're looking at houses as an investor or even an end buyer is- Mm-hmm … if you wanna see if a house is on a busy road, if you look on the Google Map and you look at the road, if there's two yellow lines-

Christian: [21:06] The double yellow … Shannon: double yellow is- Mm-hmm … your signal, like, red flag in your mind. Like, oh, this is, this is a busy road. Yep. Like, I need to add that in, maybe decrease my ARV- ARV … like, 10 to 15% for- Mm-hmm … the busy road. Now, that said, if you are building a DADU in the back and there is an alley, so alley access for the DADU, that's not going to impact the DADU- Mm-hmm … nearly as much as the front house value is going to be impacted. 'Cause the DADU is, at that point, their front is the alley, not the busy road, and so that's where you can actually find some opportunities. I'm sharing my secrets at this point, but that's where you can actually find some opportunities, 'cause everybody else is looking past that 'cause they do see the busy road. Mm-hmm. You just gotta be very conservative in your underwriting of what the ARV of the original house is gonna be after you flip it.

Shannon: [21:55] Absolutely.

Christian: [21:57] Let's talk about the deal we didn't buy.

Shannon: [22:00] Well, there's been a few.

Christian: [22:01] There has been

Shannon: [22:02] a few. I mean, there's been lots. But, like- Well, yeah … there was two deals recently that we were under contract for- Mm-hmm that we ended up having to back out. So I feel like we should go over, 'cause th- we thought those were gonna be good deals. Yeah. We obviously went under contract on them, and we're not people… I think there are some investors who go under contract on a lot of deals and, like, back out. That's typically not our process. I think

Christian: [22:20] we've backed out of two that we were under contract in, like, the last three or four years. Like-

Shannon: [22:24] Yeah … it's

Christian: [22:24] not

Shannon: [22:24] something that we do often. And these are the two. Yeah. So we can kinda go over those.

Christian: [22:27] Yeah, so the first one, um, it seemed like it was gonna be a great deal. It was on an ECA, but we weren't, at the time, originally, we weren't thinking we needed to do anything with the foundation or anything that would cause any issues in that regard. We were gonna go up, but the foundation looked like it was sturdy enough that it would be fine. Um, it was in Northeast Seattle in View Ridge. Uh, it had insane sweeping views- Amazing views … unobstructed sweeping views of the lake and Mount Rainier. Like, you could see Baker and Mount Rainier and the lake all in between. It was awesome.

Shannon: [23:05] It was killer.

Christian: [23:06] Um, the issue arose when we were doing our due diligence, um, that the foundation actually had a huge crack in a corner, um, where the whole house had

Shannon: [23:18] tilted. Which we, when we walked it, couldn't see. Yep. We originally walked the house, and there was still a tenant in there. Yep. And they had stuff piled to the ceiling- It

Christian: [23:26] was packed to the ceiling,

Shannon: [23:26] yes … basically. So we couldn't see that at all- Yep … until they moved out, and then we were able to have somebody inspect and take a look at that.

Christian: [23:32] Yep, and that's when we noticed that. So then we were like, "Ooh, that's not good." So then we had, um, somebody come out who looked at that and said, "Oh, you're gonna need pin piles." So then we look, we went deeper into that, found out that at the end of the day, we were gonna need to spend, uh, about $225,000 for pin piles just to shore up the foundation. 'Cause they were ha-

Shannon: [23:54] they had to be super deep. Yeah. They were, like, crazy pin piles. I've never even heard a bid- Yep … for that deep. And we ha- asked numerous people. It wasn't just one person. No, no, no. Yeah. I think we got three different opinions on this.

Christian: [24:03] Yep, and they all said basically the same thing. So that killed that deal. Um, we really wanted to do that deal, 'cause again, it's in View Ridge, our neighborhood where we live. Um, we have friends that live on that street. Like, it would've been cool to do, and, like, it would've been fun. Well,

Shannon: [24:18] also the view is just killer. Yeah. Like, you never, also y- I think it's- You can base your ARV with a view. Like, you can guess it, but there are times when you get a bump that is unexpected- Yep … because that view really captures someone.

Christian: [24:31] Exactly.

Shannon: [24:31] So we were, you know, we could have gotten some nice bump there on that view, but ultimately, when we put it in the calculator, with that high of a n- nobody's like, "Wow, beautiful foundation. I think I'll pay more."

Christian: [24:43] Exactly, no.

Shannon: [24:44] So we looked at it and we're like, "No. This, this- Mm-hmm … this is not mathing anymore." We went back to the seller. We told them what we found out. Yeah. And we said, "Hey, here, here's our math," and, and they were like, "No, that's not acceptable to us- Mm-hmm … this new price." So we unfortunately had to leave the deal.

Christian: [25:01] Funny thing- … they came back to us three or four months later, um, at a much- Which- lower price.

Shannon: [25:08] Yeah, still too high to do

Christian: [25:09] the deal. Still too high for us, but a much lower price. Mm-hmm. And we still were like, "No, we can't," 'cause we know what the numbers are gonna be. Um, actually, it's been probably two months since that, since that. I don't know if they ever actually sold.

Shannon: [25:21] Well, we'll find out.

Christian: [25:21] We'll find out. We'll keep you tuned in. Maybe

Shannon: [25:23] we'll still do this deal. Who

Christian: [25:23] knows? I know, exactly. You never know. If we can get it at the right price.

Shannon: [25:25] We could've got our permits by now, had we- Well, we wanted a long close, remember? Yeah. And we're like, "We just want, we don't wanna close until we have the permits," 'cause of the ECA.

Christian: [25:33] Mm-hmm.

Shannon: [25:34] Which they were like, "I don't know." And now it's been so long, we're like, "We totally could've done this."

Christian: [25:39] Yeah.

Shannon: [25:39] It would've helped.

Christian: [25:40] Yep.

Shannon: [25:40] Um, not fixed all the problems, but we could've maybe got there.

Christian: [25:44] Yep.

Shannon: [25:44] So.

Christian: [25:45] All right. Why don't you talk about the other deal we didn't do?

Shannon: [25:47] Yeah, so the other deal we didn't do, um, a deal was brought to us off-market by another agent, which we do this all the time. Mm-hmm. Agents bring us deals. Yep. We buy them from them.

Christian: [25:55] So even though I'm an agent, I am still happy to pay an agent-

Shannon: [25:58] Mm-hmm … Speaker: to, that brings us a deal. I'm not gonna cut anybody out or anything like that. Like, I wanna take care of you. You bring me a deal, I'm gonna make you happy, so. Yeah, and we've done list backs, co list backs, so you know, there's- All sorts of different things it depends on the type of deal and the scenario.

Christian: [26:11] Always make sure that agent gets paid.

Shannon: [26:13] Mm-hmm. So, um, in this scenario, they brought us this deal, and it was a development play, so it had a house, but we thought we could put, put one or maybe two DADUs on this lot. It was a great lot. It had access. It was on an alley. The house was good. I beli- I feel like it had a garage in the front. That's always helpful. Mm-hmm. There was all these things that were tick, tick, tick, right? No ECA. Everything was good. Except there was a tree, one tree-

Christian: [26:40] Mm-hmm … Shannon: that was just placed perfectly wrong. Yes. Basically. It was right in the middle of where you would want to put the daddy or daddy-oos. It was literally smack dab in the middle of the backyard. So if you-

Shannon: [26:53] Who plants a tree there? I'll, I'll- So I have a question about that. Who's like, "I would like a tree right in the middle of my yard."

Christian: [26:59] It might not have been planted. It might have just been there already- That's true. Okay … and then the house was built.

Shannon: [27:02] Yeah, that's true. I'm like, "Why would you do that?" Yeah. Put it on the side. No. Put it, whatever.

Christian: [27:07] Yeah.

Shannon: [27:07] So we really wanted to buy

Christian: [27:08] this deal. And we, we thought the tree was actually in poor condition because it had, the, the tree had actually split down the middle, and there were now two trunks going up. Um, and it looked like it was rotted. The seller swore it was rotted. The agent so- swore it was rotted. Um, so we had a tree person or an arborist out. Um, they said, "No, it's in fine shape." Then we found another one to come out. We spent, I don't know, 1,200 bucks or something like that. Lots

Shannon: [27:34] of money on these

Christian: [27:34] arborists. 1,600 bucks. Yeah. I don't remember what we spent on

Shannon: [27:36] it. More I think. But they came out, and then they were like, "Okay, let's test the tree."

Christian: [27:41] Mm.

Shannon: [27:41] So there was some kinda test they could do.

Christian: [27:42] I don't remember what it was. They tested the roots to see if it had a disease- That's right … and all this other stuff. So we- Anyways, at the end of the day, the tree was fine, and, uh, the city wouldn't allow us to get rid of it, um, because it was in fine shape, and we're not gonna take down a tree that's fine 'cause, one, you're not allowed, but two, it just wouldn't make sense. So.

Shannon: [27:58] Yeah. So we were sad 'cause we were really excited about that deal. Mm-hmm. But, you know, sometimes nature-

Christian: [28:04] Yeah … Shannon: says no. Yeah, yeah.

Shannon: [28:06] Yeah.

Christian: [28:08] Okay. So- The next thing we wanna talk about is that, I guess we kind of alluded to this already, but we will take a deal from literally anyone. So we've bought deals that friends have told us about, like their neighbor around the corner wanted to sell, and they didn't wanna come on the market 'cause they were getting divorced, and they didn't really want it to be public, and so we ended up buying that. We have bought deals, like the one we just closed on, again, another agent brought it to us. Um, actually the investor brought it to us, but the investor w- it was brought to them by an agent who was a buyer's agent, not the listing agent. So there were two other agents already involved. I don't care. Like-

Shannon: [28:48] If the deal makes sense, it makes sense. Yeah,

Christian: [28:50] exactly. We're gonna buy it anyway. Exactly. Yeah. So, um, and I know a lot of agents that are investors won't do that, um, which, I mean, whatever. It works for us, so. Yeah. Um, other-

Shannon: [29:01] I was gonna say, one thing that I think is really important, if you're an investor, and we can say this as, like we, Christian's an agent, we have a team of agents, we work with investors.

Christian: [29:10] Mm-hmm.

Shannon: [29:11] Please, if you're an investor, do not sign a BBSA, buyer brokerage services agreement, with an agent that is exclusive-

Christian: [29:20] Exclusive … Shannon: in general. Now, if you have to sign one, which we do all the time, the house that we just talked about that we- Mm … bought from an agent, they asked us to sign one for that property- Mm which we did- Mm … 'cause that's just the property. Yep.

Shannon: [29:32] But I think I see a lot of investors signing these. There are some investor agents that require you to sign this to work with them, and I think it really inhibits your growth and your ability to take deals from anyone.

Christian: [29:45] Yeah.

Shannon: [29:45] And it's not typical for an investor to do these agreements.

Christian: [29:48] Mm-hmm. I

Shannon: [29:49] mean, don't you agree that it kind of

Christian: [29:51] stunts your growth? It's not in your best interest to sign an exclusive buyer brokerage services agreement with any agent if you are an investor. If you're a home o- buyer, like a regular old home buyer, it's a totally different deal.

Shannon: [30:02] Absolutely.

Christian: [30:03] But, um, if you're an investor, you need to do non-exclusive. That's the best way to go, 'cause you wanna be able to buy a deal from anyone that brings it to you. Um, don't limit yourself, 'cause you're gonna limit yourself and the number of deals you can potentially buy.

Shannon: [30:16] Yeah. And I think that's a good distinction, versus a traditional

Christian: [30:21] buyer- A traditional buyer- That i- that- that is looking- … should be signing that They should be signing an exclusive- Mm-hmm … because you wanna know that that agent is looking out just for you, and you have that one-on-one relationship. Um, that's, that's a totally different deal though.

Shannon: [30:34] Yep

Christian: [30:35] So we'll buy deals from other agents, we'll buy them from other investors, we partner with other investors, um, we JV with people, we have gotten- Wholesalers. We- Wholesalers, yeah. Mm-hmm. We have, um, we've partnered on lots of deals. Um, we've partnered where people just provided the funds and we did the work. Like, it really just depends on the situation and the amount of profit, and we're kind of open to anything. Yeah. So if you have anything that you think might work for us, don't hesitate to bring it to us. We would love to look at it. If it works, great, we'll make sure you're taken care of. Um, and if it doesn't work, no big deal. So-

Shannon: [31:12] Yeah. And just a little summary, if you're an investor and you want to do your buy box-

Christian: [31:16] Mm-hmm … Shannon: some of the things you need to consider, how much cash do you have? How much cash can you get access to? Figure out what that budget is. Figure out what your niche is. What are you good at? Yeah. And so that's why we talked about what the things that we do. We wouldn't do probably a huge structural flip. That's not what we're good at. Mm-hmm. We're good at layout changes, and we're good at making it pretty. That's kind of what we're good at. And then we are good at the DADUs, and we're good at the, uh, U District properties. But if you're good at multifamily value add, or you… You know, you need to know the things that your construction team is good at, and maybe it's really big houses, or maybe it's smaller houses or medium houses. Yeah. Maybe it's cos- cosmetic or really big structural stuff. And so when you know what you're good at, you can make your buy box based on your money, based on what you're good at, and based on your timelines that you're comfortable with. Maybe you don't want to have a flip that goes for a year. Yeah.

Shannon: [32:09] Like we, a lot of our deals do, 'cause development takes a long time.

Christian: [32:13] Mm-hmm.

Shannon: [32:13] And maybe you're more comfortable with a shorter timeline. And so you need to develop your buy box. For 2026, I think the big takeaways are negative impacts are huge. Yep. Pay attention to those, and make sure you're not buying anything with negative impacts. Mm-hmm. The market is, you know, I would say a little bit unpredictable at the moment- Yeah I think. So you might wanna add in a little bit more hold time. Mm-hmm. You might wanna add in a little bit more contingency than you normally would.

Christian: [32:38] Yep.

Shannon: [32:38] And-

Christian: [32:39] And be a little more conservative on your ARV, because you don't know what this market is bringing. Sometimes we're seeing multiple offers on places that are for sale right now. Other times, places are sitting for three months. So it just depends on the specific deal. Um, so all that said, if you have a deal that you think we might be an interested buyer for, please reach out, bring it to us. Um, you can text me the deal. I will give you my number right now. It is 206-949-3048. That is my cell. Just text me your deals. I would love to review it. Um, I think that's it for this episode- Yeah … of the Awesome in Seattle podcast. Thank you so much for listening, um, and I hope you learned a lot. I'm sure you did. Stay tuned for our next podcast coming out soon. See ya.

Shannon: [33:27] Bye.

Christian: [33:27] Bye.