All Forum Posts by: Catie Lawrence

I worked for a Healthcare IT company for years - habing a high-paying W-2 while my husband and I aquired, flipped, BRRRR'd houses was key! I was able to save, fund, refinance. Quitting your job to pursue fulltime isn't a great idea in my opinion, until you have a safety net!

Hi Priti, 

Welcome to the community! So great you're diving in. 

Agree that a primary/househack would be your best bet - lower interest rate and you get to have somoene else help with the mortgage! 

Would love to chat with you more about your specific goals - feel free to reach out and we can grab coffee or jump on a zoom. 

Catie Lawrence 

@Andrew Dincola lots of good stuff here! As flippers, we always add egress to non-conforming windows in basements. Just the right thing to do.

Love the office idea, potentially could charge a bit more for one person to use it exclusively?

Good luck!

@Doug Marsh great points made above. We used a HELOC for a flip a few years back - interest rates weren't great on it, so definitely a factor. That being said, if you're buying a STR, that should cash flow more, so you could pay it off faster. But from a calculated risk perspective, maybe only pull half & save up half for the down payment.

Good luck! Where is the STR? Just curious!

Congratulations! 

Real Estate is one of the best ways to build wealth - and financial freedom! I was in your shoes as well, although didn't make quite as much ;) Through real estate, I was able to leave my W-2 last September and go full-time into the RE world. We short-term rent our house, and have short-term rented our investment properties as well. It's a great way to get in the game and get big returns. @James Carlson had great advice that I definitely echo. AirDNA is a great resource for the STR market.

I'd factor in seasonality as well - perhaps using the rental yourself in the lower seasons. Talking to local resources is key - agents and maybe reaching out to Airbnb hosts in the areas you want to be to see if they'd be willing to talk to you. I love the Fraser area, spend quite a lot of time there - and have a friend who just purchased a condo in WP. She does pay the management company to run the Airbnb - think a lot of the HOA's up there mandate that.

Cheers to you and feel free to reach out to chat more! I'm in Arvada.

Love this question! 

I'm an extremely frugal person, who is also extremely social, so here are a few of my top tips to save money - and still have a life! 

Stop eating out! Cooking in is not only healthier, but it's extremely less expensive. If you want to make it fun, choose a few new recipes a week that you meal plan/shop for. Batch cooking/meal prepping/only shopping for what's on your list also helps. 

BYOB Dinner Parties! Being social and getting together with friends is awesome - but it can get pricey! Start hosting bring your own booze dinner parties, where you swap who cooks, everyone brings what they want to drink, and it's a fun night out. 

Airbnb out a room in your house! Depending on where you live, this can be a great option to subsidize your mortgage/utilities/expenses - and you can control the calendar. Yes, you have to make some adjustments, but the amount of money you'll bring in will help ease that weirdness. 

Get a side hustle! Making more income to pay down debt/save for your next investment property is a must. Do some freelance on the side or start your own business - bring in more income is key! 

Hey @Ben Einspahr - I've found this to be the most challenging, frustrating part of real estate investing as well! Have been running our real estate investment biz since 2015 - and have had 3 CPA's - this last one is pretty good and really understands what we're doing. We have rentals, do flips, have construction projects for clients, and STR our primary when we travel. We are set up as an LLC, so all pass through my husband and I's personal expenses - so he doesn't take a salary....

Ok, I'm rambling - but we use Singular CPA - https://singularcpa.com/ - he's understood our business (cap gains, depreciation, etc) and has quarterly meetings with us to make sure things are running correctly - and we can reach out to him about our strategy before we purchase properties. Feel free to reach out with any follow up questions - and good luck! 

Hey, welcome welcome! There are so many ways to connect with this community  been meaning to get to these too @Bryan Balducki! Another awesome meetup is the Bad *** Real Estate Investors group - there's a coffee one and a beer one, so pick your poison! Here's more info - hope to see you out and about!  - https://www.meetup.com/BadAssR... 

Chip - welcome! You've chosen wisely my friend, this community is chocked full of knowledge. I'd check out @Anson Young 's Youtube series on Bigger Pockets on analyzing markets for deals - he also wrote a book and it's full of goodness. 

My two cents....

1. Get in forum posts/threads where you want to invest - I know you said you're still figuring that out, but I'm sure you have a short list. Start engaging with those peeps in those markets. 

2. Speaking from someone who has 2 rentals here, 1 long distance - there are benefits to both. Cash flow is a little better in my LDR - but the appreciation/mortgage paydown in Colorado is unreal. Just saying.....buy-in is tough though, so I get it! 

3. Think finding an agent who is investor-friendly/invests themselves is key too  - they can help point out the good neighborhoods in the cities you're looking at. 

4. Practice makes money. Practice analyzing deals in this market, because you know it, then take those skills out-of-state when you have properties to look at. I'm saying this for myself as well - practicing analyzing makes you uber comfortable with it and once you land on a good property, you'll feel confident with the numbers. 

Hope that helps - and super exciting!!! 

Catie

Hey Jay, 

Just my two cents.....

1. I believe all of those areas, especially due to the good schools, will hold value - especially because you're looking to hold for 10+ years - here's a rental analysis of the Denver market (local agents could provide detailed info) - https://blog.recolorado.com/re...

2. Agree with some others on here - Arvada is a great location, we have two rentals and live here - and our properties have continued to appreciate 

3. I don't think it's ever too late to get into real estate if you have the funds - especially because you have long-term goals/holding plans 

Good luck with the search - Colorado is amazing!