All Forum Posts by: Laura S.

The bill says that the new lease has to be "reasonable", but doesn't define what that is. Could be a battle to determine what kind of rent increase is "reasonable." And, the full text of the bill says that a landlord can't increase a tenant's rent to circumvent the requirements.

The full text of the bill also calls out that tenants paying late is fine as long as it's not more than 10 days late more than three times. That is a LOT of late payments!

Here's a good video analysis of the bill I just found: 

Unfortunately, Colorado has just passed HB 24-1098, the "just cause" eviction bill, which requires landlords to offer lease renewals to their tenants unless one of a few specific criteria are met (if the property is going to be sold, substantially repaired, or renovated, or if the landlord’s family plans to move in - but basically you can't put it up for rent to anyone else for at least 90 days). I am horrified by this overreach, and trying to figure out my best path forward. Luckily I only have one rental property in Colorado, but it's my second home where I rent out a room rather than the whole house, so it's really important to me to be able to give reasonable notice to a tenant that isn't working out, since I have to share the house with them when I am there.

How are others responding to this? I am considering switching the property to six-month lease terms, so that I maintain the choice of whether to keep renewing...

Full details of the bill here: https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb24-1098

This thread is immensely helpful - thank you all for the advice! @Chris Lopez, how might I get a copy of your Denver specific calculation spreadsheet?

@Jared Bouzek I'll definitely be looking at multifamily; thanks!

@Heather Rudy My preference would be to not do STR unless there's a benefit (e.g., being able to use it on the off days), as it's a lot of hassle otherwise. So locally wouldn't make sense for me for STR, but I'm considering it for the mountains.

@Bill S. Thanks for the site tip! Was writing from the plane before with slow internet, so the popups weren't working. With regard to the cash flow: I'm definitely pretty conservative, and I always assume no increase in rent at all - so any year to year is a bonus. And to your point about reserves, that's exactly why I want at least some cash flow. Things will pop up, for sure, and I want to make sure I have something to draw on when that happens rather than pulling the money out of pocket.

@James Wise Thank you for the welcome!

@Matt Yes, definitely starting to look now! I have an intermediary lined up as well. The rule is 45 days from closing to identify 3 properties, and 180 days total to close. I will be ramping up my search significantly once I go under contract on the townhome, but with how quickly the market in Colorado moves, I didn't think it made sense to search in earnest until I had a potential close in sight.

@Jared Yes, I have an agent who specializes in REI. However, he's the one who pointed me to those areas, which is why I got concerned that maybe this wasn't a viable option? Cash flow isn't king for me but I don't want to be losing money on a monthly basis.

@Dave thanks for the tips! I am not a fan of the drive to WP but love the Silverthorne/Dillon area, both for skiing and hiking. Do you have any recommendations for realtors who specialize in that area? My realtor only works in the front range and said I'd need to go elsewhere if I decided to go the mountain route. Alternately, though, a SFR on the I-36 corridor could work really well for me - nice and close to home.

@Bill Thank you SO much for these excellent tips! I am definitely looking for something on the easier side, particularly as I don't have a lot of extra time to focus on this. I will take a look into using IRR as a metric rather than cash flow. However, right now the cash flow on just about everything I found is not just low, but negative. To me, that's untenable to have to put money into a rental every month. Am I missing something?

@Tom One of the main reasons I'm selling my NY townhome is because I don't want the property to be somewhere I can't easily get to it / keep an eye on things. I would consider something in a remote location if there were other benefits (e.g., a vacation home that I wouldn't rent out full time and would get to use myself), but I don't really want to invest somewhere other than my home area otherwise.

Thank you all for the advice so far!!

Hello! I am new to BP and also pretty green when it comes to investing. I currently live in the north Denver suburbs (Superior), and have been really impressed with how much appreciation I've had in the last 2.5 years since I bought, particularly since I thought I was buying at a peak. The low inventory out here is really great for home values! However, I'm starting to learn that it makes cash flow tricky because of how cheap rents are in comparison.

I have a townhome in upstate NY that I just put on the market, and I expect to go under contract in the next month. I am planning to do a 1031 exchange with the proceeds and am starting to look at properties in the Denver/Boulder area. After checking out a few properties and neighborhoods in Denver (RiNo, Confluence Park, LoHi, and Berkeley) and running some basic numbers, it seems like it will be difficult to find something with decent cash flow.

I'm looking for something relatively turnkey for long-term rental, ideally condos or townhomes. I need to stay under $600K and my goal for the property is primarily to buy and hold. High cash flow isn't a requirement, but it needs to at least be positive! Haha. I've read a lot of the posts in this forum and it sounds like heading down south may yield better cash flow, but I would ideally like to stay either in Denver or the north / west suburbs, so it's closer to my home. Otherwise, I'm fairly open in terms of location in the Denver/Boulder area.

(As probably a side note, I originally also thought it might be nice to do a condo out in the mountains that I could have as a STR and then use personally some of the time. However, I understand that the market there tends to dry up in another month or so as sellers rent it themselves for another year if properties aren't sold by October-ish. I also think that a vacation rental would be WAY over my head with being so new to investing! Unless it seems like a mistake to do otherwise, my thinking was that I'd save up and pursue that option in a few years, when I've had more time to learn the ropes and know what I'm getting into in various mountain towns.)

I'd welcome any suggestions for areas in which to look, resources I may want to check out, etc. Thank you for any help you can provide!