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Laws are constantly changing, many of which can have a negative impact on you. Our guest today is Enrique Jevons, Regional Director for Mynd in the Pacific Northwest. Enrique is here to discuss with us a law that recently passed in the state of Washington, changing when a tenant can be evicted from a rental property.Steve Rozenberg: Hey, everyone. My name is Steve Rozenberg with Mynd Property Management. I'm joined here with my good friend, Enrique Jevons, who is the Regional Director for Mynd for the Pacific Northwest. Enrique, thanks for joining me today. I appreciate it.Enrique Jevons: Yeah. Thanks. Good to see you again soon.Steve Rozenberg: So today what I want to talk about is a law that recently changed. I want to make sure this is correct. I understand that you no longer can issue a three-day notice to vacate in the state of Washington. Is that correct?Steve Rozenberg: Yeah, exactly. So just this last year, another law was passed. This was a statewide law and it changed the notice to vacate the Pay or Quit Notice. And it changed it from a three-day pay or quit, which is what most states across the country have. There are variations out there. It's up to each State to decide what they want to do. But that is, on average, I took a look at other state and it is pretty average.Well, Washington now change it to be one of the two most restrictive states. It's now a 14-day notice to pay or vacate. So 14-day notice to pay or vacate—to pay or quit. It's one of those things where you have just got to make sure that you are staying on top of all the laws that occur, that are applicable to you, whether it's a federal law, state law, city ordinance. You got to make sure you're on top of these things—HOA’s, condo association rules. Because if you fall out of compliance, it can be really expensive.If you, just out of pure ignorance, you've been serving for many, many, many years, a 3-day notice to pay or quit, and the person is late and you send them that 3-day notice pair quit, now they can come after you. They can sue you for that. So you want to make sure you don't put yourself in that position. So now, state of Washington, 14-day notice to pay or quit. It's more restrictive. It doesn't mean you can't evict. You can still evict the individual, but it's all the more reason to make sure you get that notice to them right away as soon as their rent is late. No waiting around because it is going to be a little bit longer now to get that individual out.Steve Rozenberg: Is there a reason behind them doing it? Was there something that happened, or is it just they voted and that's what they voted for.Enrique Jevons: The primary reason why it came about is that the cost of housing is just going up. So you have a lot of people, especially in the city of Seattle, but there's a lot of other cities within the state too, where just with the cost of housing rising, and also with the homeless population rising, people are looking for answers and they're also, unfortunately, blaming, a lot of times, all of the wrong people. So are blaming landlords for homelessness. Well, landlords aren’t causing homelessness. If anything, landlords are providing housing.Steve Rozenberg: They’re providing housing for people, yeah.Enrique Jevons: That's really the reason why this, this came about. Okay, so we have a tough situation there. But, as I mentioned in previous conversation, hey, at least we don't have rent control. State of Oregon passed statewide rent control. So there's a lot going on in lot of states. It doesn't mean you should sell your real estate. Now, real estate is still, right now, one of the number one ways to create wealth. So you just have to be smart about complying with the law and making sure you're aware of the law. If you're not going to be able to keep up on the law then you really need to hire an expert, such as a property manager. A property manager, whose sole focus is property management so that they will also keep you out of hot water.Steve Rozenberg: Yeah, that is so true right there. So, Enrique if somebody wants to talk to you, I mean, obviously this is serious stuff it's changing all the time. This is an ever-fluid market and ever-fluid industry and you've got to be up on the laws. It's so important. If somebody wants to get ahold of you and learn more about the laws that have changed, what's coming down the pipeline or just want to hand over their properties to someone like you, an expert in the Pacific Northwest, how do they do that?Enrique Jevons: Sure you can email me. Definitely feel free to email me any questions. I'm happy to shoot off answers for you. Enrique.jevons@mynd.co is my email address. So it’s e-n-r-i-q-u-e.j-e-v-o-n-s at m-y-n-d.c-o.Steve Rozenberg: If you want to join our Facebook group at Mynd, it's called the Mastermynd Real Estate Investment Club. Investors just like Enrique and myself are in there, along with a lot of other investors, talking, engaging, chatting on. So please join that and if you'd like to know more about Mynd, go to our website mynd.co. M-Y-N-D.C-O. Everybody, thank you for watching. I am Steve Rozenberg. My good friend, Enrique Jevons in the Pacific Northwest. Talk to you later. Bye-bye.Enrique Jevons: Thanks, everybody. Bye.A changing law can have a major impact on any business. This is especially true when renting a property. A recent law was passed in the state of Washington giving tenants 14 days to vacate a property rather than the national average of 3 days.Passed due to rising rents and growing homeless population throughout the state, this law gives tenants more time to vacate a property and, ultimately, puts the onus on the property owner. Laws such as this one prove that every property owner or manager must always keep up-to-date on changing laws and how those changes may affect them, both positively or negatively. Neglecting to do so will inevitably cost needless time and money in the long run.

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Many rental tenants have and pay fees for having pets; however, new changes to federal law have the potential to change this fact completely. We are speaking today with Enrique Jevons, Regional Director with Mynd for the Pacific Northwest, about emotional support animals and how changing laws can affect how landlords can charge tenants for keeping an animal in a rental property.Steve Rozenberg: Hey, everyone. My name is Steve Rozenberg and I'm the Vice-President of Investor Education here at Mynd Property Management and I'm joined here with my good friend, Enrique Jevons, who is the Regional Director for the Pacific Northwest area. Enrique, thanks so much for joining me today. I appreciate it, buddy.Enrique Jevons: Yeah, it's good to see you again, Steve. Thanks. Good to see you.Steve Rozenberg: So let's talk about emotional support animals. I know this is something that's been popping up. It's getting more and more prevalent and it can be some choppy waters if you don't know what you're doing. And I know in the Seattle area, Pacific Northwest, it's definitely something that's on the radar. If somebody has an emotional support animal, what are some of the rules and regulations that I need to know about as an investor when I have a tenant that has this?Enrique Jevons: Yeah, so with the emotional support animals, it's one of these really well-intentioned laws that unfortunately is being grossly taken advantage of. So essentially, you've got three different classifications going on. There are pets. Pets you can prohibit and you can charge pet rents depending on the particular city. They might have restrictions against pet rent. But in general, pet rents are allowed. Pet deposits are allowed, in general, unless a particular city ordinance that prohibits it. But the second classification is service animals.Now service animals are something we've all grown up with. It’s an animal, typically a dog, that has been trained for a very specific function in order to aid someone with a disability. Of course, the blind dog is probably the most obvious, but then there's also dogs that have been trained to, for example, their sense of smell can alert an individual who has diabetes if their blood sugar level is going low. So that’s another example of a service animal. So that's a trained animal. Service animals are allowed to go anywhere. There are no restrictions.So service animals can go to a restaurant. It can go to a grocery store. It can, of course, stay with you in a home. You're not allowed to either charge pet rent, pet deposit, any monetary fees whatsoever. You cannot charge in relationship to a service animal. if they damage the home, yes, you can charge them for damage. If that animal is biting, acting aggressively, yes, you can then impose your restrictions on your lease against an animal, even though it's a service animal because the individual must still maintain control of that animal.But, and then the third classification now is the emotional support animal. So the emotional support animal is federally now protected. So it is nationwide and it is protected in regards to housing. So an emotional support animal, you still are not allowed to bring into a restaurant, although, unfortunately, a lot of people do. I'm starting to see their hand-carried-around little poodles in Home Depot and other locations. While those are emotional support animals, technically that's up to the commercial establishment, whether or not they want to allow emotional support animals. But there's no law that says they do; however, there is a law—HUD—that requires housing providers to permit emotional support animals.So with emotional support animals, they don't have to be trained on anything, which means they don't even have to be a specific animal. So it can be a parrot, a snake, kangaroo, dog, cat, whatever because it does not have to be trained it all. The only requirement is that a medical professional writes a letter stating that you may benefit from having an emotional support animal. Well, how easy is that? I mean, that's obviously super easy, to go to any kind of medical professional and say, “you know what II'm not feeling it. I need, I need something…”Steve Rozenberg: “…I need this parakeet to walk me off the ledge…”Enrique Jevons: “…otherwise, I get lonely. And so, that person just says, “well, I believe that this person may benefit from having parakeets.” So it's a really tough one. Now I have, of course, spoken with lots of landlords who say, “oh, well, this is what I do to get around it.” My recommendation to you is, be very careful. I've spoken with my attorney about that asking that very same question. What can I possibly do to get around this. And what he stated to me is, it's not worth it. It's not worth the amount of assets that you've got. It's not worth getting into a lawsuit over because, he said, generally speaking, the tenant is always going to win. All they have to do is show the judge a letter from a medical professional that states that they may benefit, those are the key words, they may benefit from having an emotional support animal.So you cannot charge any kind of fees. You cannot charge deposit. You cannot restrict them. It's a real problem. So, but I would say, speak to an attorney if you think that you're going to try and get around it.Steve Rozenberg: My understanding, as well, is that you cannot ask them what's wrong with them at all. You can ask for documentation. I just need to see documentation that you have one. And then my suggestion to people is, at that point, I would go to fair housing.gov () just to make sure that all of your ducks are in a row, that you don't say the wrong thing, that you ask the right questions. And I think, more importantly, you have got to remember that you're running a business and you've got to remember that you being right does not mean that you're going to be right, legally. Just because you showed that they didn't really need that support animal and now you're in legal trouble is probably not the best way to handle this situation because the law says that they can have it. That's the law. We're in the landlord-investor business. It's the sandbox we’re playing in and you have to respect that.Enrique Jevons: Yeah, that's an unfortunate thing because your insurance company is not going to protect you. They're not going to cover if you get sued for discriminating against somebody who has an emotional support animal. Your insurance company is not going to help you with that one. You're just going to be hanging out there all by yourself. And you got to realize that just by virtue of having a property. You've got assets and there are also people who know this and target, specifically, owners who in their advertisements say no pets in their advertisement. All they have got to do is record themselves. They call up and say, “hey, I've got emotional support animal.” And if you say if you answer back, “no, you're not allowed,” or, “no, you got to pay pet rent,” right there, they’ve got proof that you’re discriminating.Or if you were to ask them, “well, what do you need the emotional support animal for?” Yes, again, you're not allowed to ask that question that you can't say, you know, “are you nutso? Why do you need that parakeet?”Steve Rozenberg: I get it, I get it. Well, okay. So obviously, you're the expert. So if somebody wants to know more about emotional support animals, service animals or managing their properties in the Pacific Northwest, how does somebody get ahold of you?Enrique Jevons: Enrique.jevons@mynd.co is the best way by email. So, Enrique.jevons@mynd.co. If you don't know how to spell it, if you type in any variation you Google Search me, you're going to find me since it's a unique enough name, which is nice. So do look me up. I'm happy to answer questions like this one and any other.Steve Rozenberg: And if you want to join us on Facebook, we do have a Facebook group just for investors. It's called the Mastermynd Real Estate Investment Club. Specifically, for investors. People like Enrique and myself are on there. We're engaging, conversing. We'd love for you to join. And if you want to go to our website, it's M-Y-N-D.C-O. I'm Steve Rozenberg. This is Enrico Jevons, I want to thank everyone for watching and we'll talk to you guys later. Bye-bye.Enrique Jevons: Thank you. Bye, everybody.Laws surrounding emotional support animals have changed the rental landscape. As with service animals, tenants can no longer be charged for keeping emotional support animals. And as there is no requirement that an emotional support animal undergo specific training, such animals can be varied and outside of the purview of a rental agreement. Likewise, it is important for landlords to remember that questioning a tenant over the nature of an emotional support animal or their reason for having it is out of the question. As such, it is crucial that property owners and managers remain up-to-date on any changing laws or regulations that may affect the relationship with their tenant or the property, itself.

Last Modified 09/11/2020

With such a diverse economy, Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, generally, are a great place for any new or seasoned investor to consider. Today we are speaking with Enrique Jevons, Regional Director for Mynd in the Pacific Northwest, about the reasons why he thinks Seattle and the Pacific Northwest is a great region to invest in real estate now and going forward.

Steve Rozenberg: Hey, everyone. My name is Steve Rozenberg with Mynd Property Management and I'm joined here today with Enrique Jevons who is the Regional Director for the Pacific Northwest for Mynd Property Management. Enrique, thank you so much for joining me today, buddy.‍

Enrique Jevons: All right. Good to see you again.

Why is Seattle Ideal to Own Investment Property?

‍Steve Rozenberg: Good to see you. So today I want to talk about being an investor and buying properties in Seattle Pacific Northwest. Now, you and I are both investors. We love owning real estate. You've got, I don't know, 4000 properties. I don’t know what you own. You've got a lot of real estate that you own. You're a big believer. I am, as well. Tell our guests, why do you think Seattle Pacific Northwest is the area to own property. What are some reasons, in your opinion, that it makes sense?

‍Enrique Jevons: Yeah, it definitely makes sense and, obviously, yes I am always purchasing. Right at the moment I happen to have 73 homes and apartments, but I've had up to over 200. So I've done things—I've partnered with other folks in the past. That 73 I own, those are currently ones that I personally own by myself without any partnerships. But I have partnered before. I've also repositioned and sold properties and so it just depends on, as the market has gotten really good, I've actually been more on a selling spree than buying spree.

But there is money to be made in either market going up or down. Seattle is a great area to buy in, as is the entire state of Washington. So the beautiful thing about Seattle, as is true of a lot of other cities—with San Francisco Bay Area, Portland others, you know, Austin, Texas—there's all sorts of cities throughout the United States that are booming and doing really well. So Seattle is one of the cities that is doing exceptionally well. Amazon has been on a huge hiring spree for many years now and continues hiring away like crazy. So thank you to everybody out there who is purchasing items on Amazon.com because that's benefiting myself indirectly and personally.

Seattle’s Cash Flow and Appreciation Opportunity

But because there's such a high demand, there's a couple of reasons to purchase rental properties. One is for cash flow. And certainly that's what's important for a lot of people is they want or need that immediate cash flow. And the secondary purpose is appreciation. And that's where cities that are doing exceptionally well like Seattle, appreciation is a huge play.

And it's a combination of both in many cases.

So the closer you get to the central nexus, the central hub of Seattle, of course, the property is going to be much more expensive. It's less likely it's going to cash flow; however, the appreciation is going to be there. However, when you buy the property, just because it doesn't cash flow today, doesn't mean it's not going to cash flow five years from now. And that's what I think a lot of people disregard or don't think bout is that, in the rental business, it's much more of a long-term play.

And so if you can purchase a property, add equity to the property by rehabbing it, repositioning it, getting those rents up and then you can refinance it to pull some of your money back out. It may not be cash flowing initially, but five years from now, as the market goes up, you're able to raise the rents appreciation goes up. Now it's going to cash flow. And it also makes it a great selling opportunity. So very much like flippers try and buy, rehab, sell within six months, well, I do a lot of the same, but I'm doing it in much slower pace, right? I'm buying, rehabbing, raising those rents, refinancing, but then also at that 5-10-year mark is when I'm also starting to sell properties.

‍Steve Rozenberg: So you are kind of doing a long-term flip. It’s like a simmer, I guess you could say. We'll call it a somersault. Not a flip maybe. But if you were to think of properties 30 years ago in the Seattle area, if you would have bought 10 properties in downtown Seattle 30 years ago, I think all of our lives would be different right now, right? It's safe to say. I grew up in Los Angeles. Same conversation.

The answer to me is that Seattle is a highly appreciating area. So you're not going to get the cash flow. You are going to get the appreciation, in general. And you and I both know, statistically, you don't normally get all of these. You don't get cash flow, equity capture, appreciation. You're only going to get a mixture of variation. Seattle right now is very much an appreciation play.

‍Enrique Jevons: Right, in the center core of Seattle. But the farther you get out, so you start getting an hour away, you actually can, today, purchase properties and they do cash flow.

Impact of Employers in and Around Seattle

‍Steve Rozenberg: Because you're in Yakima, you have a lot of properties in Yakima, right?

‍Enrique Jevons: Yeah, so I’ve got stuff in Yakima and that’s like two-and-a-half hours away from Seattle. And that is cash flowing day one. And it's appreciating so it's great. But it's more on the cash flow side. Also close to Seattle is the city of Tacoma. Tacoma stuff will cash flow day one and we're just talking about an hour drive south of Seattle. So there is stuff still. It starts to appreciate less but cash flow more the farther you get out, but, certainly, it's a combination of both. It's not an either-or. The other beautiful thing about Seattle and in some other major cities is that they have so many sources of income. So it's not just a one-business town. It’s not just Amazon. It’s not just Microsoft.

‍Steve Rozenberg: It’s stable. Different drivers coming in.

‍Enrique Jevons: Boeing is a huge employer. There’s a lot of little companies. But there’s also lost of shipping—huge shipyards with shipping coming in from China and such. And there's just so many other sources of income.

‍Steve Rozenberg: Tourism. You’ve obviously got a lot of tourism there so that’s stable.

‍Enrique Jevons: Tourism, yeah. And the cruise ship industry taking cruises to Alaska. Things like that. Yeah. So all those are things that you want to look for because that's going to be an indicator of how successful that city is going to be in the long run. And so, Seattle is one of those cities that has all of that.

Wrapping Up

‍Steve Rozenberg: That's great. So, Enrique if somebody wants to talk to you more about buying in Seattle or having Mynd manage their properties, how do they get ahold of you?

‍Enrique Jevons: Best way is going to be by email. So go ahead and pop off an email to me at Enrique.jevons@mynd.co. So it's e-n-r-i-q-u-e.j-e-v-o-n-s at m-y-n-d.c-o. Or just google it because—

‍Steve Rozenberg: —because he's famous.

‍Enrique Jevons: Yeah, you'll find me.

‍Steve Rozenberg: You'll find him. And for anybody that wants to know more about investing, I ask that you please join our Facebook investing group. It's called the Mastermynd Real Estate Investment Club on Facebook. People like Enrique and myself are actually on there, engaging and having conversations. We are investors just like you and we are in the “heat of battle.” We buy stuff. We deal with stuff. We are conversing and learning just like everyone else is.

Also, if you'd like, go to our website, mynd.co. M-Y-N-D.C-O and you can find out more information about us there and all the other markets that we service. I am Steve Rozenberg and Enrique, thank you so much today for being on the show. I appreciate it.

‍Enrique Jevons: Yeah, thank you very much. Really appreciate it.

‍Steve Rozenberg: All right. And we will talk to everyone later. Bye-bye.

‍Enrique Jevons: Thanks. Bye.

Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, overall, are an attractive region for both new and veteran investors. For those developed and more cosmopolitan areas such as the central core of Seattle, a purchased property may not provide an investor with much cash flow; however, the value of that property will inevitably appreciate over time. Likewise, in areas away from urban cores, such as Yakima, properties are likely to provide investors with cash flow immediately.

With so many major and minor companies in varying fields such as tech, shipping and tourism, the Pacific Northwest boasts a robust and stable economy that is great for anyone looking to jump into the investment game or simply expand their portfolio.