What should be my next step?

[Logan Ashley]

I am new to the Bigger Pockets community and what a wonderful resource it is! It's awesome to find a community and resource like this when you are just getting started as I am. My husband and I are in our 20's and we are now realizing that we don't want to live our lives in the same way our parents have done (trading our time for money). We are taking the preliminary steps of reading, listening to, and learning everything we can to inform our actions and next steps in the process of acquiring our first investment property. At this point, I would say that the hardest part of getting started is understanding what your next steps should be. So far, I have read almost all of Robert Kiyosaki's books, played the cashflow game, purchased some gold and silver, followed podcasts/online educational resources, and am currently reading Ken McElroy's book "The ABC's of Real Estate Investing." I am also following along with the action steps and investing time into studying the Denver market in order to get an idea of how assessing markets and submarkets should be done. We have made a goal of purchasing our first small multi-family  property within the next 12 months. We are deciding what our strategy should be which is most likely going to be househacking perhaps in combination with STR. I am currently learning about creative financing/ low and no money down options because we aren't going to let our lack of capital hold us back when we know there are ways to make it happen. I think now, we just need to meet more people who are out there doing what we want to do!

[Jeff White]

@Logan Ashley 

Hi Logan! Welcome to the forums, you are in the right place to ensure your success long-term.

Denver is a fantastic place to invest, we have had amazing appreciation these last few years, so it is more challenging to cash now than before. The most important thing is being open-minded to creative strategies beyond just 2-4 unit properties. It is still possible to cash flow here, you just need to approach it differently.

Househacking is a great option since there are lots of ways to accomplish that here too. I've successfully done it personally multiple times and I have clients that have done it as well.

First step would be to take to a lender to get pre-approved, that will determine what properties that you can look at and what price points. They will be able to determine that based on your income and reserves. You can find a few local lenders here in Denver, or if you need one, I'm more than happy to recommend a few.  Great news for you and your husband is that you are utilize plenty of first-time home buyer programs. 

Next step would be to determine which property type fits your goals. There aren't many multifamilies here in Denver that cash flow due to the high purchase relative to rents, and most of them need work and have trouble qualifying for a FHA Loan.

The three best strategies for house hacking right now in 2022 in Denver:

1) Rent By Room - buy a large house (5+ bedrooms/3+ Bathrooms) in the Denver metro area (Thornton, Northglenn, Westminster, Lakewood and west Denver work great) and live in the master room and rent out all the other bedrooms. This strategy works great because there is a huge need for affordable housing here in Denver and paying 750 for a bedroom is a good deal for people that want to live here but can't afford a one bedroom apartment. With this strategy, you can expect to live for free and make $500-$1000 per month cash flow. It is a little more work in the front end (ie. furnishings, finding 5 tenants, signing leases), but it is worth it!

2) Airbnb - similar to the above strategy, Airbnb is a fantastic one as well since Denver gets a lot of tourists. I've seen clients live upstairs and rent out the basement on Airbnb, so you get the best of both worlds, privacy and your own space while the lucrativeness of Airbnb, so you can definitely live for free or close to it with this strategy, but you have to know which areas allow Airbnb after you move out, and it is a good idea to have a 2nd option if the city or county changes their policies and you Airbnb anymore.

3) Combination- you can easily do both strategies if you find a house with a walkout basement or separate entrance to the basement, and if you are willing, you can Airbnb the basement and then rent out the rooms upstairs. This strategy you will probably cash flow the most at over $1k per month, but it would be the most amount of work, but worth it for the right people.

You are in a great position, and Denver is a fantastic place to live and invest.