All Forum Posts by: Jessica Mead

Hi @Aaron Costantino! I have a great handyman that could help you out and save you tons of money on using a GC if you would be interested. He helped us finish a basement earlier this year and we passed all of the inspections easy peasy on the first go. He was fast, and everything came out really good! He didn't sacrifice quality to hit deadlines, but was up front if he knew he might run past a deadline. He is now our go to for most remodel projects. I'll DM you his info! 

Hi @Mike Davis! Very good point. I think in general, the one tenant has been really great and it is actually moreso the other tenant that has generally been more of a problem. With that said, I also know that this time of year is harder to rent in our area so I think eviction might be a risky play right now and leave me with a couple months of vacancy potentially. Thanks for the advice though! Lots to think about! 

Hi @Michael K Gallagher! Thank you for the advice! We would like to try and keep the tenant that wants to stay since the cat was not hers. It gets tricky with the lease though. Is there anything that needs to be done to end the current lease before starting a new lease with the one existing tenant and whatever new tenant she finds to move in? Is it as easy as a signing a new lease, which means it will supersede the old lease? 

Hi everyone! I have a tricky tenant situation that I could really use some help navigating! What better place to turn than BP, right? :) 

Here's a little context - 

I have a new build townhouse in southern Colorado Springs currently rented out to 2 younger women on a 12-month lease from October 2021-2022. They are friends who decided to rent the place together to split the rent. They moved into the property about 4 months ago and have been somewhat of a headache ever since. Besides constantly requesting things that typically fall under the tenant's normal maintenance responsibilities, one of the tenants had a situation where their ex came and threw a rock at the front window and broke the pane. Not a huge deal really, as she was open and up front about what happened and we went ahead and got it fixed and charged it back to her. 

However, the current situation is one that I haven't encountered before! Here's the scenario - Sunday morning I woke up to a text message from one of the tenants (let's call her Lisa) telling me that the other tenant (let's call her Holly) has had a cat in the property since day one. We were adamant that cats are NOT allowed at all, but we do allow dogs with a monthly pet rent and upfront pet deposit. In addition to this, she has also been allowing someone to stay with her on a regular basis for the past 2 months. Ever since the guy moved into the property with Holly, my tenants have not been getting along with one another. Lisa said that Holly is going to be moving out and there are damages from the cat and other things that will need to be taken care of before she moves out. Lisa wants to stay in the property and has asked me for permission to look for another roommate, or else see if we can just qualify her as the sole tenant. Unfortunately, she doesn't have a great credit score to begin with and also lives paycheck to paycheck as it is, while supporting 2 kids as a single mother so not sure we would be comfortable with just her living there and trying to cover the rent. 

Being in Colorado, I know we have stricter eviction rules than most, and just trying to navigate the waters the most effective way to avoid going through the entire eviction process if possible. I would love to figure out a way for Lisa to be able to stay in the property if Holly intends to move out, but not sure how this affects the security deposit and lease. I also need to figure out how I can use the security deposit to help with the damages from the cat and other things that Lisa has said need to be addressed. I will be going down there on Thursday for a walkthrough and to talk to Lisa about the situation but for now, this is as much information as I have available. 

I would love any advice I can get on how to best handle this situation! Thanks in advance!!

@Heather Hall It sounds like a beautiful house! I would start by researching the STR laws where the property is located. In late 2019, the City of Colorado Springs passed legislation which does not allow for non-owner occupied short term rentals (with a few small caveats). The city's website has a zoning map which should help you determine the viability of the STR strategy. Another thing to think about is zoning - if you can't turn it into a STR, could you rent out the top and bottom separately?

My next step in analyzing the trade off between selling versus renting would be to look at the numbers. What is your monthly PITI and what do you think you can rent it for? If you turn it into a LTR, what do the numbers look like? Will it cash flow after you pay all expenses and account for reserves?

Hope this helps!

@Gearold White I missed it, but caught the recording on Facebook! It was a compelling talk for sure!

And yes, Brent also hosts a meetup on the 1st Tuesday of the month starting in June, but I believe will still be held on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday's in May.

For anyone interested, it is held at Brent Bower's co-working office space located at 2708 E Fountain Blvd. It's always a good time as well!

@Jeremy Gaal Yeah! The next meetup is next Thursday, May 6th. We meet on the 1st and 3rd Thursday's of every month at Oskar Blues in Downtown Colorado Springs.

If your interested in coming, I definitely recommend checking out the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/182182256782569/?ref=share

@Jasmine Murray The more the merrier!! You should definitely come check it out. It's somewhat informal and a really great way to meet some like-minded people!

Hi @Lindsay Massengale!! Welcome! I live in Colorado Springs and am about as green as they get as well! I am actively looking for my first property that will not be my primary residence. Being that you are in Denver, I would definitely recommend listening to the Denver Real Estate Investing Podcast with Chris Lopez! I think they have some great points about the market there that could be useful! Like @Andrew Rosenburg said, free to reach out if you need a sounding board!

@Brandon Shaffer Nice to meet you! I live on the east side of town near the Powers corridor. Things are exploding out here but the military presence makes it a great market for the buy and hold strategy or BRRRR if you can find those rare deals. What kind of properties will you be looking for here?

Hi @Mason Adelman! Nice to meet you! Your goals sound totally reasonable! I am in the same boat right now, constantly consuming content and getting really excited about every single deal that comes my way but still looking for the right one. I have decided that no matter which way I spin it, the best thing I can really do to help me get started, is to actually do a deal! Nothing fancy, just go through the buying process from start to finish to learn how it works and also build some relationships with lenders, agents, contractors and other investors along the way! 

If you are anything like me at this stage, maybe this article will help you pinpoint which direction you might want to go! https://www.biggerpockets.com/... I found that I was having trouble deciding on a direction, which made it hard to take action as everything just looked like it was the way for me, but answering some of the questions that come up in this article can be really helpful in the long run.

Good luck on your journey!