All Forum Posts by: Andrew Ross

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Aurora.

Purchase price: $425,000
Cash invested: $13,400
Sale price: $625,000

Sold this house earlier this year after my longest "hold" period on a property. I bought this beautiful SFH (for myself) across the park from my kid's elementary school but was still able to make a basement rental unit the entire time I lived there, covering most of the mortgage on the property.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

The market was hot in Denver however I came in at asking price BUT I wrote a nice letter with a picture of my family. The sellers had been original home owners and were touched by the personal letter and later told me they gave up significantly higher offers to sell to me. Sometimes the personal touch can pay off.

How did you finance this deal?

Traditional funding with a VA loan allowed me to get in for very little money.

Yes, it was because it was my primary residence.  And I emailed you back Karla so looking forward to connecting soon!

I rolled the profits from this into another mortgage on a larger/nicer single family (rented that basement to a friend) and stacked some of the cash for a property flip I did awhile later.  

@Tanner Sherman, you should just talk to your same lender from the first house and see what your options are. 

Hey @Marc Rice, probably pretty comparable to where you're at.  Let me know if you ever want to chat about some deals out here - compare notes!

Thanks @Steve Vaughan! I actually rolled 1/2 into a downpayment on a sweet, single family home for myself and family. With the extra cash I was able to buy above what I could qualify for with another VA (or I think I used FHA actually). I'd just had another baby and wanted some space.

The other 1/2 I used later on my first property flip and have been rolling the money ever since.  Now I'm full time in real estate flipping and selling turnkeys.   

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Littleton.

Purchase price: $319,113
Sale price: $425,000

This was my first property purchase ever! I spent a year researching the perfect deal and was able to find a single family home with a completely separate entrance to the basement. I turned the home into a duplex and kept the basement rented the entire time I lived in the house for the price of the mortgage!

How did you finance this deal?

I was able to utilize a VA loan with some first time home buyer program and NO money down so I ended up rolling around $100k profit into my next property after two years with literally ZERO dollars spent.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Littleton.

Purchase price: $319,113
Sale price: $425,000

This was my first property purchase ever! I spent a year researching the perfect deal and was able to find a single family home with a completely separate entrance to the basement. I turned the home into a duplex and kept the basement rented the entire time I lived in the house for the price of the mortgage!

I was able to utilize a VA loan with some first time home buyer program and NO money down so I ended up rolling around $100k profit into my next property after two years with literally ZERO dollars spent.

Hey @Tom Shallcross, thanks for the insight! 

Do you have to have the property rented before they will list or will they sell un-occupied properties?

I put in a listing and just got a message back that the earliest I can schedule a call to review the property (before it will even list) isn't for two weeks... That's not giving me a lot of faith in their expediency but I'll give it a shot. 

Hey @Travis Devine, I basically lucked into Kansas City through some local friends already in the industry that steered me in that direction.  I obviously did my own research to prove them right and looked at everything from property taxes to insurance rates and the job market to how landlord leaning they were with their tenant rights.  

At the end of the day, there are several midwest cities pretty comparable to Kansas City but is there bbq as good?  Doubtful.  

Basically what I'm saying is don't analyze yourself out of getting in.  Find a place that works and jump.  It's real estate so you can always sell it buy-in somewhere else. 

Personally, I started with a pretty turnkey deal that let me work with some local experts to get a feel for the market and start networking.  Shoot me a message if you want to chat sometime.  

Good luck!

When I decided to go full-time in real estate, I already knew Denver (where I lived) wasn't going to be the place to do it. Now I love Denver, don't get me wrong, but the average home price for Denver is over $500,000... Kind of a big barrier to entry for a new investor with shallow pockets and few lending connections.

So down the rabbit hole of finding a market that made sense I went, looking for reasonably priced homes with decent appreciation and a sustainable rental market. Was that asking too much?

No! Because I found Kansas City.

Kansas City had everything I was looking for in a rental market from affordable home pricing (average $200k!) to stable, blue collar, working class tenants that care about their homes and pay rent on time. I was quickly able to find and analyze my first deal, make an offer and close on my first out of state rental property.

Since that first deal I've continued to concentrate all efforts in the Kansas City market with incredible success on my own portfolio while simultaneously launching my first real estate business offering turnkey rental properties to other investors.

Wherever you are in your real estate journey, consider making the leap into other markets if the numbers just don't make sense in your area. It sounds stressful to be so far away from your assets but what can't you solve over the phone these days? During Covid, many of us transitioned to working almost entirely remotely - if you can manage employees from the comfort of your own home, why couldn't you manage a house that's been stable for 50+ years without you from the comfort of your own home?

Trust me, you can.