All Forum Posts by: James Ross

Thanks very much for keeping us updated!  I've been following from a distance since I have no short term rentals as yet in the Springs, but I and a friend have been considering it.

Thank you all! That's great information. I'm reading the books provided on bigger pockets now and haven't yet checked out the calculators. I'll certainly start there. And I'll look at building contacts (a friend of mine is a realtor, but I don't know any contractors, so I'll have to look there).

There is a Colorado Springs property I would like to run by more experienced investors (I have just started learning). There is a house in Colorado Springs that has been on the market since November, which is a very long time in this market. They have dropped the price a couple of times. The house is 4 bed, 3 bath, 2500 square feet, 2.5 acre lot on a cul de sac, and is just outside the city limits. It has a few problems that I know of, and possibly others as it was built by the first owner in 1963. The garage was turned into a rec room and the basement has had problems with flooding. It is listed at $500,000. I don't have direct comps, but other houses in the area, updated ones, have sold for closer to $700,000. What is the best way to determine if this is a deal or would require too much to fix up to be worth it? Or would a buy and hold be better (my personal preference, if the deal is right)? Another catch is this is outside what I can afford a monthly payment on myself, but I know some people who could possibly go in with me. I am very new and don't know how to go about finding these things out so any help would be very much appreciated.

Hello Joshua and Phillip,

I appreciate your responses and the offers of help!

I'm mainly interested in passive income with as low maintenance from me as possible.  I'd be content with the house being no extra expense to me, managed by a property manager, and just letting tenants pay off the mortgage.  Any extra cash flow would be a welcome bonus.  My thought is to have at least one investment property paid off 10-15 years from now, use that income to pay down the remainder on the next, and so on.  

I have not yet decided if I'm more interested in multi-units or single family homes.  I like multi-units as I've heard vacancies aren't as hard to cope with, especially if you can have the mortgage covered by half or two thirds of the units.  I'm more familiar with single family homes, but not by much from an investing perspective.

Fix and flip and other more active forms of investing are interesting to me and I may branch into it later on, but I'd like to start more in the long game.  

Thank you!

James Ross

Hello Bigger Pockets!  I'm a brand new real estate investor in Colorado Springs!  Or I suppose I should say I am not yet an investor but want to learn to become one.  I own a house myself and have a roommate paying some rent, but I can't rightly say that I've invested in real estate yet.  

I am mainly interested in passive income and do not plan on being a full time investor as I have a full time job that I plan on keeping, at least for the foreseeable future.  The ultimate goal, of course, is to have enough passive income to get out of the rat race, as Robert Kiyosaki would say, and not have to work.

My big questions are how do you get started?  How do you recognize deals?  Figure the value of a home/apartment/etc? Work out an investment strategy?  The main thing holding me back is that houses and other forms of real estate are expensive and I'm afraid that if I make mistakes with my first deal it will cripple my ability to invest in the future.  Additionally, Colorado Springs is an insanely fast moving market at the moment.  Even when house hunting for my residence a house would be gone within days of being listed. 

I look forward to learning! Thank you and it's a pleasure to be here!

James Ross