All Forum Posts by: James Beckman

I second @Dan Guenther about Colorado. Although we chose to live in Longmont, the front range in Colorado is a great place to be. You'll find the mountains and activities that you want and there are plenty of groups to get involved with outside of the bar scene. The RE market is stable, and although not necessarily cheap to enter, house hacking with an FHA loan is doable and an excellent place to start. Come visit us in Longmont, visit greater Colorado, and see what you think.

I currently live in Longmont and will second what @Garrett Jordan said - I love it here, it is far more affordable than Denver or Boulder, and I love the quality of life.  The ADU regulations were recently changed to be more lenient, which opens up your options.  Check out Longmont

Thank you @Mindy Jensen for pointing out that @Kyleigh Morgan should deal with the Longmont permitting offices - I linked to Boulder County previously, which isn't as useful in this instance.  

@Kyleigh Morgan Hello from a fellow Longmonster! We live in Longmont but are actually in unincorporated Boulder County, which is fairly strict about building and permitting. I highly recommend calling the county offices and talking with them about what you want to do and what they require permits for - establish that relationship now and also, hopefully, relieve some anxiety. Many permits can be applied for online and my experience with inspections has (so far) been painless. The scheduling can be annoying, but hire good contractors (or do good work yourself), and the inspections should be smooth.

Boulder County has a lot of permitting information online that you can educate with, and you can apply for permits online here:

https://www.bouldercounty.org/property-and-land/land-use/building/ezbp-building-permits/

Personally, I find getting permits worth any extra hassle since it's a check on the work done and it makes selling easier. I hope this helps!

Chiming in here since I live in Longmont and I'm curious what input others may have.  How many banks/lenders have you talked with?

@Michele King, there is also the Saint Vrain Real Estate Investors Meetup in downtown Longmont, which meets at the Mr. Money Mustache HQ. The meetings have been sporadic lately but are becoming regular again, with the next meeting on the evening of Tuesday, March 10.  I hope to meet you there.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/812402-real-estate-investing-w-zeona-mcintyre-3-10-20

This is held by the Saint Vrain Real Estate Investors Meetup group  

Come network and talk real estate investing with other local Longmont investors. Our speaker is Zeona McIntyre who went from student to financially independent in 2 years with Airbnb.

@Leanna Mansour I moved to Longmont from the Bay Area last year, PM me if you'd like to talk

@Brett Denner Glad to hear it!