All Forum Posts by: Dylan Wright

I'm looking at multifamily homes in Kansas City to live in and rent out the other side, hoping to generate cash flow on an FHA loan. Right now I'm eyeing a triplex in the Northeast, on Independence Ave. It's at 109k and from the pictures and listing it looks to be recently remodeled, ready to rent. If I got this one, I would probably live in the smaller unit on the third floor and rent out the others. Rentometer says a 3 bedroom unit should rent for around $725 in the area, so it seems renting just one of these units would pay for the mortgage, and the other one would more than cover expenses.

Thing is, it's been on the market for 120 days. There's something about this place that's driving everyone away and I want to know what. Surely it's not just the neighborhood? I drove by and it was rough but it wasn't the worst I've seen. The house next door was boarded up and looks to be involved in drug activity, could that be the cause? The numbers on this place check out but people are avoiding it like it's radioactive. 

I've been looking at properties all around the Denver/Boulder area trying to find a cheap place to start a long term buy & hold strategy, and one sticks out. It's been on the market since at least early August, it's gone down in price $6500. By the 2% and 50% rules, this thing seems like a great buy. It should cash flow immediately. But there it sits, unbought. What am I overlooking, why isn't anybody touching this thing?

I'm finding houses on zillow.com in the 40-50k range with estimated rents of 1000/mo in sterling. Are zillow rent estimates usually inflated or could I expect to rent a small 3br for that? 

Yeah, sterling and Pueblo wouldn't be too bad if I had the money to drop a down payment and manage the property remotely. But it looks like I'm going to have to go the FHA route, which means I have to live in the place for the first year right? I have an awesome job with offices in Boulder and Denver, I don't want to leave. So condos - only a good idea if the HOA is reliable. But that's the main problem right? As long as the Financials look good and I'm comfortable with the HOA, there's no other major pitfalls?

Are condos ever a good idea for a buy and hold strategy? Or even just to start building equity so I can afford a down payment on something more substantial? 

Hi, I'm 22, single, with very modest student loan and car debt, living in the Boulder Area. I don't have a lot of money, but I'm making enough to get by. What I want to do is buy a single family home, live in it for a year to satisfy FHA requirements (and if at all possible rent out all the extra rooms during that year to help pay for the mortgage), and then rent it out. Problem is, Denver is nuts right now. And so is everything within 50 miles of it seemingly. Are there any neighborhoods where I can still find houses under 70-80k? I don't care about the property value bubble in Denver right now, but I want to take advantage of that sweet sweet 3% vacancy rate. Anything within a half hour commute to Boulder or Denver would work.