Everyone's talking about how are our kids are going to afford anything when they graduate. Skyrocketing rents, a housing market that feels out of reach, student loans piling up before they've earned their first paycheck.I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I have kids heading to college, and like most parents, I want to set them up — not just emotionally, but financially. And the more I thought about it, the more I kept coming back to the same answer.
Buy a piece of Eastside real estate. Do it now. And make your kid part of the whole thing.
Let the Tenant Pay the MortgageHere's the foundation of the strategy. You purchase an investment property while your child is in college. A tenant moves in and covers your mortgage payment every single month. You're not writing checks out of pocket — someone else is building your equity for you.
Meanwhile, the Seattle and Eastside market does what it has consistently done over time: it appreciates. Constrained supply, world-class tech employment, no state income tax drawing in-migration from California — the structural drivers of this market are not going away. Over a four to five year window — right about the length of a college career — that appreciation can be substantial.By graduation day, you've built real equity. And now you have options.The Tax Benefits Are Real — and SignificantWhile the property is appreciating and the tenant is paying your mortgage, the IRS is quietly working in your favor.
Depreciation alone is a powerful tool — you write off a portion of the property's value every year as a paper loss, offsetting your taxable income even as the property grows in value. Add in deductions for mortgage interest, property taxes, insurance, repairs, and property management, and you're looking at meaningful tax relief every single year your child is finishing school.You're building wealth and reducing your tax burden at the same time. That's a hard combination to argue with.
Make Your Kid Part of It.
Here's the part I feel strongly about — and the part that makes this more than just a financial strategy.Bring your college student into the process. Let them sit in on decisions. When it's time to repaint between tenants, let them help choose the color and coordinate with the painter. When a repair comes up, walk them through how you find a reliable tradesperson, get a quote, and make the call. Let them understand the lease, the cash flow, the tax documents.Give them skin in the game.By the time they graduate, they won't just have a financial asset — they'll understand how it works. They'll know what it takes to manage a property, work with contractors, and make smart decisions. That education doesn't come from a classroom. It comes from doing.And honestly? There's something powerful about a 22-year-old stepping into the world already knowing how real estate works from the inside.---
What Graduation Day Looks Like
By the time your child walks across that stage, you've got a property that has appreciated, been maintained, and generated equity — with someone else footing the mortgage the entire time.Now your kid has real options:· Move in — and start adult life without the pressure of sky-high rent· Sell it — pay you back your initial investment, and use the remaining equity as a down payment on their own place· Hold it — keep the tenant, keep building equity, and start their own investment journeyAny of those outcomes is a remarkable head start. And you've paid yourself back in the process.This Is How We Answer the QuestionPeople ask all the time — how are our kids going to be able to afford anything? This is how. Not by waiting for the market to get easier. Not by hoping something changes. But by making a smart investment today in one of the strongest real estate markets in the country, letting time and appreciation do the heavy lifting, and bringing your kid along for the ride so they actually learn something along the way.
Let's TalkIf this is something you've been thinking about — even loosely — I'd love to sit down and talk through what it could look like for your family. The right property, the right neighborhood, the right price point for your goals.I'm doing this myself. And I'd love to help you do it too.
