Looking to network w/Denver investors

[Benjamin Taylor]

Hello everyone,

My name is Ben and I'm a 25-year old with 1 investment property in the Lakewood area looking to connect with successful real estate investors in the Denver area to learn what it takes to expand. I'm currently a Business Development Manager for a software company and am interested in networking with local investors.

I bought my first property in Lakewood when I was 22 as my primary residence and later on decided to rent it out to a tenant to cut expenses and build wealth faster. I was immediately hooked on real estate investing after I received my first payment from my tenant and I've spent the past few years doing extensive research on the subject. Out of college, I was a founding employee at one of the fastest growing start ups in Silicon Valley at the moment with a likely IPO in the next 1-2 years. I'm currently on pace to make 1M+ from my investments in the company and that capital will be accessible once an IPO occurs (I could sell on the private market but that wouldn't be a smart idea financially). I would've liked to buy additional properties since my first property but most of my capitol has had to go towards exercising my options in the company to save a tremendous amount in taxes in the long-term.

I'm getting close to buying the maximum number of shares, and once I have, my primary focus will go towards preserving capital for real estate investing. According to my estimations, I'm about 10 months out from having 20% for a 200k property. I want to get some solid experience before I receive the large amount of money in the coming years, as well as I understand how important it is to start investing at a young age, especially in a fast growing market like Denver.

 If you're interested in connecting, please leave a comment and I'll reach out. Thank you!

[James Carlson]

Originally posted by @Matt M.:

I'd be careful advertising your windfall on an internet forum. I'm sure you'll get some messages, etc, so be careful. 

Whaaat? So cynical. ... Totally unrelated note: Hey Benjamin! I can help you invest that million bucks!

 Seriously, I'll just add that in my opinion, what's more important than finding "a good deal" is getting into a deal sooner rather than later. Time in market, not timing the market, that type of thing. I see too many people spend six months, one year, or longer "researching" and "getting my team together" or whatever else BP gurus promote. Meanwhile, in a market like Denver or Colorado Springs, prices have gone up 10% or more, and you've lost $60,000 worth of potential equity. 

Find a good agent, figure out a plan, and take some action. Make some mistakes, learn from them, buy again. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Good luck!