All Forum Posts by: Chris Bunya

@Lynne Bowers I'll be out of the country for this one but I should be around for the next one.  Thanks for putting this together.

We live in Cartersville and I was going to the meetings.  However, the attendance fell off until it was just me.  We've only been here about a year so our knowledge is limited but I'm willing to help any way I can.  We'll be traveling this fall but we're available to meet up some time this month if anyone is interested.

Julie, congrats! My wife and I moved back to GA and bought a place in Cartersville late last year.  We're looking to buy again this spring. We like this area as well. We initially looked at Kennesaw, Acworth, and Rome but eventually settled on Cartersville. It's motivating to hear real stories like yours. Keep up the good work. By the way, I'm the sole earner in the family as a sole proprietor and we're on Medi-share with one child. Honestly, it's been better than when we had insurance. Also being in control of your own time to some degree is something you can't put a price on. Godspeed.

Hey @James Carlson, we're doing well.  I would have asked you directly but I didn't want to hammer you with all of my questions.  I figured I would let the BP community shoulder some of that burden.

Since we don't intend to live in the house long-term, we'll probably focus on a duplex but we won't rule out a single family with an ADU in a TU, RH, or MU zone in Denver.

Thanks for the help.

@Bill S.,

Sorry for the confusion. The type of houses I'm talking about in particular would be a single family home with an ADU. Sometimes these ADUs could be a basement suite with kitchen or an apartment with kitchen built on top of a separate garage. Regardless, these houses are not zoned for duplex and are only zoned for single family. Thanks for helping me sort out the vocabulary. It seems like in this industry one misunderstood definition can derail your entire investment.

Everything you said, Bill, was absolutely correct. Knowing now that it's considered an ADU, I was able to dig up a few things in the most recent version of the Denver zoning code that I found interesting.

Section 11.7.1.2.A.3 Such use shall not include residential occupancy in a detached accessory structure offered for rent or for other commercial gain. Residential occupancy in a detached accessory structure is permitted by members of a household occupying the primary structure, or domestic employees and the immediate families of such employees.

If I'm reading this correctly, in the separate garage apartment scenario, I wouldn't even be able to legally rent out that space to someone other than a family member or employee.

Section 11.8.9.2.A.2 The second kitchen shall be used only by the residents or domestic servants; and

So if you decide to add a kitchen to a basement suite but don't get it legally permitted as an ADU, then you basically can't rent that out to anyone.

Thanks for your help, Bill.

I'm considering the best options for house hacking in Denver and the surrounding areas.  My wife and I are going back and forth on the pros/cons of a duplex vs a single family home with an in-law suite.  However, I can't seem to find any definitive information on what the city of Denver or the surrounding areas (i.e. Littleton, Lakewood, Arvada, Golden, etc.) will allow for an in-law suite.  We would like to owner occupy for the first year or two and then move out.  We would plan on renting out both the primary space and the in-law suite.  Based on what I've read so far, I'm starting to think most local authorities will not allow you to rent out both spaces.

Can someone please help me find something definitive that describes the allowed uses for an in-law suite in Denver or the surrounding areas?  I've scoured the Denver planning and development site but came up empty.

@Jeff Dulla we would be open to an 80/10/10 as well.

That's interesting what you're saying about PMI. We've been told that "if you put less than 10% down, PMI will last for the life of the loan. If you put more than 10% down, it would last 11 years." I always thought it would drop off after you hit 20% in equity. I'll have to do more research to see how each scenario applies.

Our thinking was to get an 80/10/10 or 80/15/5 and pay off the second loan in the next couple of years so the total monthly payment would drop and we could avoid PMI.

@Jared Bouzek this is the first time I've heard of Home Possible.  I'll look into it.

Thanks for your help.

My wife and I are looking to buy our first home (duplex) and start house hacking in the Denver metro area. We have outstanding credit, no debt, and a good bit of savings. We've been approved for a conventional 30 yr 80/20 loan but we would prefer an 80/15/5 so we don't have to use up all of our cash on the down payment and we'd like to avoid PMI. Are these types of piggyback loans still available? If so, how do we go about finding a lender that can provide one? Our potential lender seems to be pretty fixated on a traditional 80/20.

Thanks for the input everyone.  This really helps.  I'll start my search to just west of Denver and just north of Denver. I'm curious to see how the new light rail going out to Longmont will impact the housing market in those areas once it's complete.  I've checked the rail website, but you can't really rely on government timeline projections.

We would like to buy something as soon as possible, but I'm not familiar with the market yet and we have a few other things to take care of before we can pull the trigger.

My wife and I are planning on moving to Denver, CO in early January. We have been traveling outside of the US for the last two years. We plan on renting for 6-12 mos while we research the area, get involved with the local REI community and network. We would love to house hack and buy a multi-family property in the 400k plus or minus 50k range. Our plan is to hold onto the house forever and eventually buy another one. I understand the Denver market is hot and highly competitive but we're just hoping to put our feet in the water, make a little money, learn a lot, and repeat.

I'm trying to narrow down our research to a few neighborhoods where we can focus.  Because we'll be living in the house for awhile, we're looking for a few things in particular:

1. Safety.  Must be a safe neighborhood for my wife.
2. Close proximity to the commuter (or light) rail.  I hope to be working in downtown Denver and would love to be able to hop on a train or ride a bike to work.
3. Long term investment.  I'm not looking for a quick buck, so I'm okay with slow, steady growth.
4. At least average public schools.

Can anyone recommend any good neighborhoods in the greater Denver area where I should be focusing my efforts?