Newbie Hailing from Denver, CO

[Kevin Vo]

Hello BP,

Excited to be posting for the first time in the BP forums. I'm 27 working full time in IT here in Denver, CO. Like a lot of others, reading Rich Dad Poor Dad was a paradigm shift for me. It changed how I viewed money and the time used everyday to obtain that money. My best buddy and I are looking to purchase our first property in the near future with the intention of putting in lots of sweat equity so we can fix and flip it or to BRRR. My long-term goal is to be able to have the option to leave a W-2 job for a 9-5 that I create myself.

I am excited for the opportunity to learn from everybody and to have my name out here on the forums!

-Kevin Vo

[James Carlson]

Welcome @Kevin Vo! Awesome to hear you're taking some big steps. I agree about house hacking in Denver. It's one of the easiest ways to get right into the game and have a relatively easy win.

I don't know if I'm the lone wolf on this, but I'd steer clear of flipping or going BRRR. I know it's the sexy thing here on BP, and it's what you hear about on the podcast all the time, but Denver's a big pond to be playing that game in. The prices are so high, even properties that need love are not priced that low. If I see a property that likely needs $50,000 in work, it's probably priced around $50-$60,000 under market. That's no margin to get anything for yourself on the back end. 

You've got to find off-market deals to really be successful. And how do you do that? You could use a wholesaler, but even then -- sorry wholesalers -- I see inflated rental numbers and inflated ARVs. So you write letters or drive for dollars, but even then you're competing against people who are doing this full-time, writing 1000s of letters a month and having their systems down. 

I don't mean to be wholly discouraging. Everyone who's good at finding flips starts somewhere. My person preference, though, is to find that "easy win" for a first deal so that you're excited and want to replicate it quickly. A single-family home that you house hack by the room in an outer ring of Denver or a home with a basement apartment that you can rent on Airbnb. 

That's my two cents. I wish you the best in this whatever direction you go.