New Grads in Littleton Colorado.

[Zach Bagby]

Hey everyone! My name is Zach. My wife (Britt) and I recently graduated college and got jobs! I've been working since January in Highlands Ranch and my wife will start in August working in Englewood. I started my interest in personal Finance and Real Estate partway through college and have read many books and listened to many podcasts since then. I absolutely hate paying this much in rent for a one bedroom apartment. Our lease is up early next year and I would like to snag a small multifamily in the Littleton/Englewood area. I've seen a lot in the area while we drive around looking at open houses and going to estate sales. Since this is my first deal I would love to bounce ideas off someone and meet up with someone who has done this before. Are there any meetups in my area? I know my next steps are to find a lender and then start looking for deals while saving as much as we can until early next year. Could give me a quick idea of how to qualify for an FHA or FHA 203k loan? And then there is the whole finding a deal I would like some advice on. Should I go through MLS and find a real estate agent, send yellow letters, drive for dollars, talk to property management companies in the area, or talk with banks about foreclosures/preforclosures? Maybe all of them? Anyways, I'm really excited to finally get into real estate and to see what Denver has to offer. If there is anyone in my area who would like to meet up for lunch or anything else let me know!

[Dan Mackin]

@Zach Bagby you have quite a lot of questions! You're on the right track by trying to house hack and talking to a lender initially is always a good idea. You need to know what you qualify for first, before getting yourself in too deep and wasting time. As Steve said there is a meetup on the 24th. It's great to meet a lot of local folks and learn some good info. It's quite the crowd so just bring your notebook and be ready to listen. 

As far as what loans you can get that varies. You can play the FHA route if you want, but there are others as well like HomeReady and HomePossible which are 3%+ down conventional. Sometimes FHA makes sense and sometimes the others are your better bet.

Other than talking with a lender you'll need to truly determine what your end goal is. Are you trying to find a place that will cash flow you nicely each month or a place that supplements your payments and is nice to live. 

Feel free to send me a message if you want some lender info.