24 y/o out of Denver. Looking to network and start REI (finally)

[Jack Ryan]

Hi guys, in 2018 I joined Bigger Pockets on a different account. At the time, I was a digital marketing manager and luxury real estate assistant (licensed out of CA) working out of North County for a great agent. Life was good. Managed to save $16k intending to invest, was finishing school, and surfing and training jiu jitsu every day. Truly living the life. I had intentions to go do real estate full time in my area in a partnership with the agent I was working with but that didn't pan out..

November 29th, 2018, my life changed forever. At 12:50pm that Thursday, my neck was broken at C4-C5 by the instructor and was subsequently paralyzed from the neck down. I lost everything. My legs, arms, hands, my ability to breathe, bowel control, and even had a stroke from cutting the vertebral artery. By all accounts, my life was over at that moment. I spent 2.5 weeks in the ICU before being sent via private medical jet to Craig Hospital in Englewood, a world class Spinal Cord Injury rehabilitation center. There are many more details, and there will be a book and documentary made some day but the story is still being written..

I spent 4 months at Craig. I was told I would not walk out of there. I said **** that and through a lot of luck, suffering, grit and a do or die mentality, I walked out of there 3 months later before spending a month on my own in Denver while rehabbing in outpatient. I then came back to San Diego and never used my wheelchair again.

During those months, I kept tabs on the Denver market. To me, being from Socal, it's super cheap in my mind and with the 5% increase to Denver growth per year, I feel like there's a lot of opportunity. But the passion for REI remained. I spent the majority of 2019 getting back on my feet (literally) and figuring out my new body, disability, and life.

One year later, I've moved back to Denver for work. The same mountains I stared at daily from my hospital room are the ones I stare at from my office downtown but I have a goal to get out of corporate and back into real estate by end of year (I'm a nomad and surfer at heart). 

Currently, I'm re-establishing my emergency funds (shooting for $6-8k by April, saving $1500-2000 a month) and learning and networking as much as possible. 

My mentality is this: If I can do what most considered impossible which was walk again (I was worst case scenario) than I can do literally anything and that my word carries weight. I'm one of the lucky unlucky ones but my perspective is wildly different compared to a lot of 24 y/os.

I would love to connect with those interested in BRRR (currently reading J. Scott's book) and multi-family. Open to coffee or networking events. I have a lot to offer in terms of digital marketing skills as well! Cheers guys, thanks for reading.

[Craig Curelop]

@Jack Ryan - Welcome to BiggerPockets and HOLY S**T your story is incredible! Pumped that you made it to Denver and are in full blown recovery. 

House Hacking is definitely the best way to get started in real estate and especially here in Denver. If you don't house hack then you are looking at putting $80k to $100k down in the Denver market. Unless of course you are going to go about raising money from other people... in which case you'll need to raise $80k to $100k. 

Typically with a house hack, you do need to live there for a year... but if you have a life event (i.e. job change, something happens to family, or you move) then you do not need to wait that full year. I have a few friends that have done this very smoothly (moved to Michigan). 

Once you get into a house hack, you'll likely be doubling the savings rate. If you are looking to grab coffee with other investors and house hackers in the area, shoot me a message! I'm always down to chat real estate with Denver people.