All Forum Posts by: Norberto Villanueva

@Jeffrey Hayes - Thanks for posting. Self-serving perhaps but, lagging a bit behind Denver, Colorado Springs is definitely the better market for affordability and upside potential. However, with a $255k median price, you might want to shift your $195k projection a bit to include rehab so that you're more likely to come in at a 75% ARV all-in. Definitely in the winter season, we're seeing average days on market climb to 40 from a low of 28 in August 2016, still better than the 60 DOM it was this time last year, which will help keep holding costs down in the process.

All the best!

@Jacob Ziegler - With established wholesalers spending 5+ figures a month in advertising (direct mail, SEO, PPC...) you are on the right track - networking to find off market deals. Please put us on your buyer's list. All the best!

@Joseph Graeve - With all due respect, a single asset's capitalization rate will be no indication of the area's, good or bad. This said, acceptable cap rates tend to be in the 5 - 6% range yet, as a case in point, we have one coming on the market showing 7.5%, maybe 8.1%.

@Lauren H. - thanks for the post. It's a little known fact licensed brokers can help with the preparation of commission approved forms, which include DOTs. This said, message me and I will provide you a reference to an excellent, local real estate attorney/investor. All the best!

Cutting both ways, I also wholeheartedly disagree with MTM. 

With a population growing at a rate of 7%, now the 40th largest (http://gazette.com/colorado-springs-moves-up-to-no.-40-in-the-u.s.-but-growth-overshadowed-by-denver/article/1576497) and the seventh fastest-moving market in the country according to Trulia (http://www.krdo.com/news/local-news/colorado-sprin...), Colorado Springs rental rates have increased upwards of 10% compared to 2015 in some areas. Yet, take a look around and you don't see many cranes i.e. apartment new construction, creating increased demand on a limited housing stock...no "relief" in sight. And this is good. Increased demand and limited supply drives prices upward, thus the seller's market we find ourselves, which is naturally making its way into rentals.

Those with assets in play did so based on a plan to build long term wealth. Stay the course, you'll make the way. 

And those on the fence? Get some!

@Canneton Howard - Tenants know market rents and would rather not move to achieve the inevitable. Where getting market rent is rule no. 1, fear of vacating your place in the process is understandable. So, make sure they understand the market and maybe only raise rents by half the difference in exchange for a lease that expires in the spring/summer of 2018 to get what you expected at purchase, if you can wait that long. 

If not, know that we posted a 2/1 unit in a less than desirable area of town using what I just sent to your inbox and had more applicants than we could handle. Now rented for over a month, we are still getting inquiries. 

Hope this helps.

Like rules, generalizations often fail due to a phenomena called exceptions. No spring chicken, over the last couple of years I've sold homes and investment properties to more millennials than any other demographic and I attribute this to a fundamental strategy - positioning myself as a real estate professional knowledgeable of the local market and its conditions. The rest just happens. 

This said, and though the Colorado Springs market didn't make the list, whether millennials are buying (or not) is all about another fundamental, which actually doubles as a rule with no exception I know - location, location, location. 

Hope this helps. https://smartasset.com/mortgage/millennial-homeown...

Thanks Paul. Using the term "mentor" lightly some, not many, provide a valuable service, few free. My experience is that most fall into the latter.

An attendee of one of our Real Estate Investment Hour Meetups meets with me some time after for lunch and agrees to work with me. During our meeting, we touched upon his having attended a guru workshop (you'd know it if mentioned), paying tens of thousands for their advanced blah, blah, blah, blah, BLAH!

After notifying the client of an opportunity to acquire a bank owned single family residence zoned R-2, which will allow the conversion to a duplex by partitioning a walkout basement, he excitedly meets with me at the asset, workbook complete with rehab estimates and more in hand, feverishly noting this, that and the other. Good stuff. 

I contact him by phone shortly after to go over comps, during which I get the impression he's yessing me to death, only halfway engaging. Afterward, he contacts me to explain his findings put value considerably below mine to justify a low ball offer while offering to send me his comps, which I accepted. It's only worth what a buyer's willing to pay, I said, agreeing to write up the offer. 

Then I saw the "Free Comp Report". Noticing three of the five comps are half the square footage of the subject property, one on the other side of a major thoroughfare and in a different area of town, I advised the customer to be careful about using just any comp, as it may end up with money left on the table, or worse. I know that, he says.

Folks, this is a disaster waiting to happen, time and time again. Determined to save commissions by cutting out the licensed broker, or using them to get what they want and no more, countless would be investors accomplish not much more than accumulate stacks of workbooks, cost sheets, strategies and credit card debt with no assets to show, head in hand, tail tucked. 

Do yourselves a favor, take the tens of thousands these so-called guru's charge and apply it towards down payment, closing and holding costs after aligning yourself with licensed and/or knowledgeable real estate, finance, trades and other professionals, and resources such as this, committed to your success with little to no upfront costs.

@Chris Provolt - Welcome to BP! You will find a wealth of knowledge here and from knowledgeable professionals in all walks of real estate, such as @Travis Sperr with Pine Financial. For example, if you haven't already, hover over Tools above and take a look at the Rental Property Calculator, Tenant Screening resources and more! 

All the best in your endeavors.