Relocating to Denver area and ready to invest!

[Petie Ehm]

Thanks to Bigger Pockets, I have gained a great deal of enthusiasm for REI and hope to relocate from the east coast to Denver in the next several months. We are close(ish) to retirement -- maybe 5 years -- so our first inclination is a buy and hold strategy with the aim of building cash flow to supplement eventual retirement income as well as equity that would likely be useful 15-20 years down the road. We will have a decent amount to invest initially (this must also provide me housing... could be live and flip, house hacking) but ultimately once our current residence sells on the east coast we could add a fair amount to this for future investments.

I see in the Denver area there aren't a lot of great deals at the moment. We are not restricted to a particular area and will invest wherever the potential for us is greatest.

I am very curious about Commerce City. What is interesting to me is that there are some pretty rough properties sitting on quite a bit of land. Not having reviewed zoning codes, I don't know if additional structures could be added onto some of these properties. In some cases these are in areas where the schools don't have terrific ratings, but depending on a future renter (or small dwelling buyer) this might not be too much of a negative??

I am also curious as to whether others are offering short-term rentals in Denver, particularly near hospitals where traveling nurses might frequent.

I have a lot to learn! I will join the Meet-Up once we arrive - hopefully in a few months. Meanwhile, research, research, research.

Thanks for any ideas.

[Brendan M.]

I might recommend taking a look to see if investing in Colorado Springs (60-90 min from Denver) fits your lifestyle and investment goals. The market is much more affordable here and a lot of the appreciation and market rent increases that Denver has been notorious for can be felt here as well. Inventory is pretty low here at present, but if you keep your eyes on the market and ear to the grapevine it's not impossible to identify a value-add opportunities in the realm of 10+ cap.

To your question above, school zones will certainly incentivize a certain kind of renter. But if you're looking for cash flow, the type of renter and quality of neighborhood that typically facilitates strong cash flow will likely be in those less-than-stellar school districts. Especially in the small multi-family market, I would be surprised if school districts were a major deciding factor for renters. Personally, I would place more emphasis on looking for safe neighborhoods (which will correlate to some degree with school ratings) for both you and your tenants' sake.