All Forum Posts by: Ben Rhodin

 Totally! The COS area is a great investment ground, and I know a lot of people who do great down there. If you are up here in the area currently, have you considered your next investment as a househack? Especially in today's market, it's a great way to get in and for a low entry point compared to putting 20% down.

Hey @Xavier Leal! Welcome to the community and congrats on already being an investor! I think your gameplan is great, and you have zeroed in on some good markets. Just going to throw it out there, if you have a property here in the Denver Metro already, what is keeping you from re-investing here? Are you currently located up here? 

Hey @Travis Tinnes! Welcome to the BP forums, You've definitely come to the right place! Seems like you already have a good path forward, and flipping can still be profitable in today's market and into the future. Personally, I continue to flip and have numerous clients doing them as well. It is also a great way to build up capital for your STR purchases, or blend the two and start doing BRRRs. Once you have the process down, it can just keep chugging.

Before diving into flips and STRs and investing in general, I would sit down and figure out what your skill sets are and where you can provide or bring value. If you have no experience in the construction field and have never taken on a rehab, then maybe it's wiser to partner up with a more successful flipper and learn from underneath them. A bad flip is the best way to lose money investing in Real Estate. 

Hi @Denise Hogue! Super exciting that your daughters are approaching the great big world of real estate, and they are lucky to have supportive parents like yourself!

The Denver area is a great space for them to get started, and essentially what they will be doing is House Hacking. Kayla already nailed the best loan product for them, which is the FHA loan, unless they happen to be veterans and have access to the VA loan. As for other programs, Seller concessions are the most straightforward option, however, Colorado does have numerous grants and programs for first-time buyers for downpayment assistance. Happy to connect you to a lender to see if these would be viable for them.

One thing to note when pursuing 3 and 4-unit properties as an owner-occupant, is the self-sufficiency test for an FHA loan. In short 75% of the total rents need to completely cover your PITI otherwise the loan won't go through. This essentially kills any house hack for a 3-4 unit, especially with today's rates. This does not come into play with a duplex, however, so if they want to stick in that space they are able to.

There are also numerous ways that you as their parent could get involved and take advantage of the real estate investment as well. Happy to chat more if you want to shoot me a DM!

Hey @Anthony Hidalgo! between all your investments you should be in a good place to pull out enough cash for the downpayment for your next primary. Assuming that you are using a low downpayment owner-occupied loan, or a VA loan (If you aren't currently out on that). I am assuming that one of your CO Springs homes was your primary before you moved, I would have recommended pulling a HELOC on those before you move out of them, as those are just generally a good thing to have. You can pull LOCs on the investment properties still but terms and rates are worse, and if you are using it long-term money (Down payment) I would recommend a cash-out refi instead. I have a credit union that has a very competitive second cash out option, so you don't have to refinance your current loan. Let me know if you want that contact!

Morning @Kevin Taylor! I'm a realtor/investor out of Denver as well, and always happy to connect with other individuals. Hit me up anytime you want.

Hey @Carrie Brauninger! You've already gotten your answer here. I would definitely recommend starting in your backyard, for a couple of reasons... 

1) You make an easy transition into a rental by converting your current primary, meaning it's low risk for you.

2) If you get a multifamily or something that acts as a multifamily you can also subsidize your housing payment and put more savings into your pocket. 

3) You get to take advantage of the high appreciation of Colorado, which is one of the major building blocks for wealth.

I would definitely get set up with an investor-minded agent, and lender that can help guide you in your search so that you don't have to go at it alone. and plan to get into something this fall/winter and get a low risk way to figure out if you like to be a landlord.

Hey @Dillon Taylor Lindsey! Welcome to the community and congrats on taking the first plunge. This is a pretty typical partnership I see, and you just have to figure out how to sell a partner on it. In the end, you are bringing the ability to only put 3.5% down, get a nice owner-occupant loan, and will probably be managing the property and the other partner brings the capital. That is the value you are presenting to the partner. Now the issue is, that this property won't cashflow while you live there, and not getting an ROI is what will be tough to sell a partner on. So either you have to pay your portion of the "rent" to not make your partner pay that until you move out, and basically break even during that first year, or structure it differently.

The easiest way would be getting gift funds from a family member or relative for the down payment. You could structure it as debt outside the transaction and pay them back over a year or whatever time period.

Hey @Thomas Key! Great idea to look for ways to improve the value of your property. I've got extensive experience with this coming from flips, and assisting flip and BRRRR clients. In the end, Appraisers are mostly concerned with cosmetic items, and mechanicals will not give you the ROI that you may think. As they are simply comparing it to neighboring comps. Mechanicals can help provide context if you have receipts and records of what you completed. But doing a $5000 new electrical panel won't get you $5000 in value. The biggest value adds for properties are either adding livable square footage, or renovating the cosmetics in the kitchen, and bathrooms.

But what I would do first, is reach out to either your real estate agent or another one and ask them to run a CMA. Then you can get an idea of what different quality homes are selling for and what you can expect from yours. Then find the top 3 or so that sold for the highest and were the nicest and try and copy them as much as you can.

Hey @Sara R.! Without knowing the exact details of the property, and what you may be asking for it, I would definitely agree with @Ben Einspahr, there is still a great amount of demand in and around Denver. Sure investment properties have gotten hit harder due to the rising interest rates and buyers not being able to make their numbers work. So as a seller, you may need to readjust your expectations. But I can tell you right now, if the property is correctly positioned, I would have at least a handful of investors, or house hackers that would gladly snag it. I wouldn't necessarily think about avoiding the MLS, but that is your choice. I personally approach it both ways, go off-market to the network first, and if it doesn't manifest before you get to the market, you aren't losing time. Completed sales like this all the time.

I would be happy to shoot it out to my database and see what I can do if you are open to it. Ill shoot you a DM.