Relo to CO, 5 doors already, seek 80/10/10 mortg +recommendations

[Lindsey Z.]

Hello BP, kindly seeking advice on 2 things:

1. best neighborhoods North/West of Denver, CO for long term appreciation and a good first time Colorado experience

2. lender recommendations for an 80/10/10 program

My husband and I live in Orange County, CA and started listening to BP 2 years ago. 29 and 32 y/o. Portfolio:

A duplex in Oklahoma city - 100% occupied

A half-duplex in Oklahoma city - 100% occupied for more than 1% rule

An SFR in Casper, WY - occupied by family at a good rate with very little vacancy risk

A townhome in Anaheim Hills, CA 3BR/3BA that has been our primary residence

We just received an offer to move to the Denver area where my company's second largest office resides. Many if not all of the relocation expenses will be taken care of and husband already has job offer as well. The dilemma - Colorado, although cheaper than CA, is not cheap!

Our plan was to buy 3 more doors this year, and we will be renting out our townhome in CA. It may drag between 0 and -$250 in negative cash flow but we want the option to move back as well as it's in a high rent area so if we can see it through to payoff (we are long term holders) it's a cash cow in retirement and it'll be paid off in our fifties.

Here's the plan we've been hatching:

1. use an 80/10/10 to buy an SFR in Colorado as new primary residence - keeping an eye on the 1% rule but knowing that this won't be a rental for at least 2 years, the reason we wouldn't be putting more down is houses are in the $350-450k range and we want to reserve enough cash to stay on track for #2 below. the piggyback would let us avoid PMI but also pay off the balance at our leisure with the added bonus of keeping a HELOC open as well.

2. Continue to buy 3 doors as we had planned

We don't want to rent in CO (we have a large dog, and outdoorsy vehicles/tools/etc). We have very high W2 incomes that allow us to continue to qualify for mortgages.  

Thoughts and constructive criticisms are welcome.

Cheers!

[Anson Young]

Lindsey, sounds like you are off to a great start already!  Welcome to CO!! 

Fair warning for Denver metro area... 1% is tough to find.  

The areas I like best that are North/west of Denver are: Arvada, Westminster, Erie, Boulder, Sunnyside, and Golden.

With your incomes and track record, finding an 80/10/10 lender shouldnt be too hard, 1st bank has some programs, as do a few others - If you need more recommendations just shoot me a PM.

I think your plan is solid from what you have told us!  

Anson