All Forum Posts by: Jean Bolger

I can't give legal advice, of course. There are things that are not legal for me as a licensed agent that might be legal for you.  A quick search on this site will turn up a LOT of threads discussing whether this or that approach is legal/illegal. It's as bad as politics, we all have our "facts" that line up with the way we want things to be, LOL!

It's true that the CO market is really tough right now. Inventory of houses for sale is at an all time low, at least in the Denver metro, so there aren't a lot of people needing to get out of a property at an under market price. I think things are not quite so tight in El Paso county. In fact a lot of Denver investors have started looking at Co Spgs for potential cash flow or flip properties. 

I don't know what type of training you've done, but no one approach is going to work infallibly at all stages of the real estate cycle. 

@Quoc Tran those fees vary based on the size of the unit, I think the lowest are 350 or something. But it includes a lot of things you'd be paying for separately anyway in a SFR like property insurance, heat, water, maintenance.
I understand where @Thomas S. is coming from, but in Denver it's actually cheaper to buy than rent in a lot of cases. I would be terrified to be a renter going in to retirement on a limited budget in our rental market, even if I had a nest egg.

So competitive for small multi-family right now. I agree with Matt that a condo might be a better fit, both financially and personally. I'm actually pretty familiar with Windsor Gardens and it is still a very good value for retirees although prices are going up there. Refi and renting out the bigger home seems like a good  line to look in to.
As far as the numbers, and whether you'll be able to hit that extra $1000/mo, so much depends on the neighborhood and condition of the house. LMK if you'd like me to run a few quick comps for you.

@Susanna Carbaugh sure, I'm happy to chat. There are all kinds of approaches to investing.  Ultimately, a good real estate deal is one that solves everybodies problems. If you stick to that as a core guideline you're probably on solid enough ground.

There are different laws in different states.  In Colorado it is illegal to broker real estate without a license. (This excludes selling your own property). I suppose you could possibly make an argument for the property being 'yours' if you have a lease option although to me it sounds shaky. However, Jon Goodman, a respected local real estate attorney, has written in his blog "This author knows of no situation where, absent harm to a consumer, a person encountered litigation or criminal prosecution for the unauthorized practice of brokerage."

So there's that. I guess you'll have to decide what you are comfortable with. I would note that he specifies "absent of harm to a consumer". If you do anything that could be interpreted as harmful  you are much more liable to get into trouble 

I'd talk to a few mortgage brokers who aren't affiliated with a particular bank, just to be sure it's not some overlay that this lender has with their underwriting. We have ADU's in our area too and I haven't heard any tales of it having an impact on financing.

Hi Shane!

 I think your idea of working in those outer parts of the metro area might be a a good one. There's a lot of competition in the city, but most of us don't have a lot of knowledge about the more rural parts. I've seen some nice properties come up in the Elizabeth area for example, but I'd have to do a ton of research to know if they were practical as a flip. 

You would probably have to budget for longer holding periods on a flip like that though since those properties tend to not move as fast

Welcome (prematurely) to the area! You're right, it's pretty brutal right now. Are you relocating for a job, or do you just do real estate?

Brokers Guild is great. They have a plan where you have no monthly fees and only pay (something like) a $395 transaction fee per deal. If you are doing more than a deal or two a year there's another plan (with a monthly fee) that works out to be cheaper.

There are several managing brokers which means there's likely to be someone you can reach  if you have have an issue come up

As far as what rent you could get: that's just a matter of what's happening in your market. How high is the demand? What kitchen amenities do the units you are competing with have?

as far as whether it's worth upgrading: Take the cost of your updates and divide it by the number of months it would take to pay it off. So if you spend 3k, it would take fifteen months to break even.  You might want to factor in the cost of the time the unit would be vacant while you did the upgrades as well

I am doubting that it would be worth it. If you are not currently covering the mortgage you may be better off selling it and investing in something else that would get you some cash flow