Hello & Appreciations - From Fort Collins, Colorado

[Colton Davis]

Hello & Thank YOU!

My name is Colton Davis and I'm a Fort Collins native and aspiring real estate investor (and just an average joe trying to build wealth). I'm an avid listener of BP for about 6 months everyday. I'm also HUGE fan of the some of books that have come to light through BP as well - Miracle Morning, Rich Dad Poor Dad's, & Think and Grow Rich & all the other books we've heard through the podcast that I'm still in the works on.

I've come to BP after being in the stock market through various means over the past 6 years. I've decided to refocus my efforts into something that is more physical, hands on, and a potential future career for myself & family. I have no plans to leave my career anytime soon.

If there's anything I've learned it's to set goals (unreachable ones at that), be prepared & educated, and get started (which is by far the hardest part of this journey for me). So, with that being said, by 32 I'm looking to create enough cash flow through buy and hold (SFH & Multi) and potentially house hacking to be financially free (not retired). Being who I am i would not stop at that time in my life, but it's the goal I've set and stuck to. In the meantime, my short term goal is to own 2 properties (multi family, that meet the ~2% rule - more specifics to come) by the end of 2019.

I have a career (of 5 years) that allows me to move freely through out the US in typically larger cities and pays well.

In the recent times I've found that the CO market near me is insane. I'm definitely having some troubling times finding a property that meets the fundamental "rules" that help ween out some weaker properties. I did however finally take the first step and contact a great connection & agent who's in the midst of helping me find the first property.

A big part of this post is to express my gratitude to all the consistent posters, hosts (Josh and Brandon), and all the amazing guests that have devoted their time to create such a supportive community and have been so unbelievably inspiring and knowledgeable. It's made a big impact on my life and I look forward to being able to provide the same inspiration and knowledge for the future generations / community.

I'm excited to finally hop in (both in the forums and into the market) and even more excited to meet you all in the near future.

Gratefully,

Colton Davis

[Brandon Hunsaker]

Welcome Colton!  I'm a Colorado native too but am living out in Utah right now.  I also got into BP about 6 months ago too!  I have found similar challenges in Utah with the housing market being very expensive so that many of the traditional rules of thumb don't work really well.  To be able to keep moving forward I relaxed some of those rules of thumb such as the 1% rule.  I have a townhome under contract right now that I will be househacking.  (I'm single so I will be renting out the additional rooms).  I liked what Brandon Turner has said about how your first deal should be more about gaining experience than making money.  Obviously you don't want to lose too much money but I felt it was worth the plunge if I could find a househack where my monthly living expenses were about the same as what they are now and if I could gain experience from that househack to help me in the future.  

For example, with the townhome I currently have under contract, I found that my monthly expenses would increase by about $220 a month from what they are right now. That doesn't sound super great, but the townhome has a basement with a large greatroom that has the potential to be converted into another bedroom and bathroom for one more tenant. If I were to finish off this bedroom/bathroom in the basement and rent it out for $425 a month then I would go from losing $220 a month to saving $195 on monthly living expenses. I'm not quite living for free yet but at least I've reduced my monthly expenses and also by remodeling my basement I'm gaining experience of working with contractors which will help me with my goal of wanting to learn how to BRRR down the road. I'm also gaining experience of having tenant too. Your situation may be different from mine where you may or may not be able to househack like what I'm doing, but I found that I was able to find a lot more properties to work with once I shifted my focus from trying to make money on my first deal to gaining experience.