All Forum Posts by: James Orr

I am a Realtor in Fort Collins, CO. My best friend is looking to move to Salt Lake City area and I am looking for a great Realtor to refer him to. Any recommendations of a good agent that understands single family homes as investments?

Although not required, it helps if the agent knows about the Nomad investing strategy.

Thanks.

Back by popular demand... this is a special class on how to use Self-Directed IRAs (SDIRAs) and Self-Directed 401Ks (SD401Ks) for your real estate investing. Our investing experts will go over the details behind how to use your own or other people's to do your investing. RSVP early... this is going to be amazing.

Since 2003 we have been teaching classes on real estate and real estate investing through the Northern Colorado Real Estate Investor Group (NCREIG). These classes are open to everyone and curated through MeetUp.com. For additional details and to RSVP to this class please visit us at Northern Colorado Real Estate Investor Group. It’s free and all are welcome, space permitting.

Want to learn how to determine the value of a property? This is THAT class! Join us as one of our expert instructors deconstructs the process of comparing properties to determine value when buying or selling real estate.

Since 2003 we have been teaching classes on real estate and real estate investing through the Northern Colorado Real Estate Investor Group (NCREIG). These classes are open to everyone and curated through MeetUp.com. For additional details and to RSVP to this class please visit us at Northern Colorado Real Estate Investor Group. It's free and everyone is welcome, space permitting.

Thanks Stephen. I assume your asking @Benjamin Wishart for a recommendation since you just named him. If you need anything else, let me know.

Thanks @Stephen Spradley!

> Phenomenal! Thanks for the help guys.

You're very welcome; my pleasure.

> Though the lease is up in April, I'm not opposed to shacking up with family for awhile if I have to, or even doing some type of lease extension to find a halfway decent deal.

Perfect. That will help give you additional options.

> @James Orr I'm going to attend one of these get togethers and start treading the waters a little bit.

Excellent. I think you'll like them.

> On another note, what is a nomad in terms of real estate?

If you're coming to class I can give you a copy of the Nomad book when I see you that goes into detail.

Thanks @Stephen Spradley.

> Hello all, I wanted to put my plan on the table for you guys and get some feedback and advice.

Excellent.

> I have never invested in real estate (let alone owned a home), and have really just been reading and researching for almost a year, as well as coming on these forums every now and then with questions.

Glad you've been learning and are ready to take action.

> My apartment lease is up in April,

You're going to want to get started right now... our market is still really hot and you'll need to be under contract no later than March 1 with a 30 day closing if your lease is up on April 1... AND... what you're looking for is unusual so it will take you some time to find it. See more below.

> and I am wanting to acquire a duplex and rent out the other part to hopefully live for much cheaper than my 1,000 dollar single bed and bath apartment that I am in now.

From what I've seen in our local market, that will be tricky (especially in Fort Collins) unless you're also willing to get roommates. If you're willing to get roommates (in addition to renting out the other unit(s)), you can reduce your rent to below $1,000.

> I will most likely end up using my VA loan and going from there.

Yes. That's a great strategy for acquiring your first multi-family. I'd would even argue the best strategy... especially for Nomads.

> In preperation, I plan on trying to see what I can get pre qualed for, so I know what price range I can work with.

Yes... that is your first step. If you need a lender recommendation, let me know.

> I have been using Zillow to look around for them but can only seem to find a few in my surrounding area (Fort Collins, CO) and they are ridiculously expensive compared to buddies I know in other areas who have gotten them, most being in the 350k-400k range.

You're right... I just taught a class on this on Wednesday (the video is available on the meetup site for our Fort Collins investor club) and showed what you're seeing. 

Not a lot of duplexes in Fort Collins:

And, you're also right that they've gone up in price quite a bit recently and are expensive:

> Essentially, what I'm getting at with this post is this... - Given my market, does this seem feesible to some of you more seasoned guys?

It *is* feasible, but it will take persistent effort to do it and you're going to make some hard trade-offs to do it... especially in Fort Collins. A little easier to do if you open up your market and consider any where in Northern Colorado as you'll have more deal flow... especially in your time frame.

If you're planning to use this as a stepping stone to acquire more properties, consider Nomad as well.

> Any advice is always welcome - Any recommended resources to help educate myself?

You should come to the Northern Colorado Real Estate Investor Group (NCREIG) classes that you can find on Meetup.

> Anybody have experience with the VA loan think it is a better choice than regular financing?

Yes... as far as comparing low and nothing down options it tends to be a good choice... if you're trying to buy a multi-family (2-4 units) with less than 25% down, VA and FHA are the only choices that I'm aware of. And they require you to owner occupy one of the units.

> I want to thank you guys ahead of time for any feedback or constructive criticism!

You're welcome. Hope that helps.

Join us for this long awaited class on portfolio optimization. Using a detailed example scenario we'll dig deep into what properties to hold in your portfolio for a long time as well as how to optimize the number of properties (a higher number of leveraged properties versus a smaller number of free and clear properties) you own. We will discuss cheap properties, expensive properties, single family homes, multi-family homes, and much more. We'll also talk about using variations of the Nomad Real Estate Investing Model to acquire properties. This class is going to be amazing and one you definitely won't want to miss!

Since 2003 we have been teaching classes on real estate and real estate investing through the Northern Colorado Real Estate Investor Group (NCREIG). These classes are open to everyone and curated through MeetUp.com. For additional details and to RSVP to this class please visit us at Northern Colorado Real Estate Investor Group.

Have you ever dreamed about getting into real estate investing but the thought of buying even a single property (let alone several) seems overwhelming or financially out of reach? Then this is the class you've been waiting for.

In this class (which James has written a book on with a very similar title) James will walk you through the entire Nomad model of real estate investing which starts with a one-time up front down payment of $3,000. He'll show you the detailed math behind parlaying your initial down payment into future down payments for additional Nomad properties. We will discuss using lease option exits to mitigate or, in some cases, completely eliminate capital expenses while improving cash flow. We will model cash flow, down payments, depreciation, appreciation, debt pay-down plus much more. You'll walk away with a clear plan on how to acquire a multi-million dollar, cash flow portfolio of rental properties starting with just a single $3,000 down payment for markets that have starter homes priced around $300,000 or less.

Since 2003 we have been teaching classes on real estate and real estate investing through the Northern Colorado Real Estate Investor Group (NCREIG). These classes are open to everyone and curated through MeetUp.com. For additional details and to RSVP to this class please visit us at NCREIG-Greeley.

@Derek Perez

Looking forward to meeting you the NCREIG Greeley. This will be our first Greeley meeting; we've been doing the classes in Fort Collins since 2003. You're welcome for the stats. Happy New Year!

@Chris Lopez

Thanks Chris! I do appreciate it. Happy New Year!

Hi @Derek Perez...

> Multi- Family buy and hold is the model that most interest me. It’s what I’ve done the most studying and research in.

Yes. Makes sense to me.

> However when I speak to local brokers, bankers, and general investors, there is little to no knowledge or interest in the field.

While Greeley does have a larger number than most of the other parts of Northern Colorado, there are not *that* many multi-family that come up for sale each year.

For example, if you're looking at Greeley duplexes, triplexes or fourplexes to stick with non-commercial financing, here's a chart showing the number of listings per year going all the way back to 1997.

> I’ve even been told that multi family doesn’t work in Colorado for various different reasons.

It works.

> I’m from a smaller town (Greeley) in Northern Colorado and although there are several larger and smaller multifamily properties there doesn’t seem to be a major player.

There are definitely folks that have major holdings so not sure I quite follow what you're saying here.

> Does anyone in the BP community have a lot of knowledge or know of someone who has had success in the Multi-Family space in the Colorado market?

Yes to both. In 2017 alone, I just went and counted and we helped clients buy 36 units in various configurations of duplexes, 4 plexes and one larger unit.

If you're looking for some pricing history, here's a chart that shows historical pricing for multi-family in Greeley as well.

Let me know if that helps.