All Forum Posts by: Maria Bakaj

@Kyle McGeough Outside of House Hacking, if you are looking in Denver County I would recommend being cognizant of zoning. If you find something with multi-unit or ADU zoning you'll be setting yourself up for some great investing options in the future.

Good Luck!

@Jordyn Moreno Awesome job, Congrats! I'm curious, how much does each half rent for? 

@Kyle Moore Not all lenders have the same requirements so I would try calling around to different lenders.  I know my preferred lender can do 20% down for an investment property but most require 25-30%.  You should ask about portfolio lending and in general let the lender know of your goals because they may have a different offer for you.  It's hard to find a good lender who is creative and thinks outside of the box so it may take a lot of phone calls, but it will be worth it.

Good Luck!

@Zach Fischer Have you checked to see if there are any issues with setbacks and having your garage door open up to the alley?  I know most garages that don't already open up to the alley sit right on the property line and don't have much or any setback from the alley.

@Stuart Grazier Finding a good lender is really difficult and it was something that took me quite some time( I had some bad lender situations with my own personal transactions); this is a great question.

1. Responsive: responds within a few hours and calls my new clients who want to apply the same day.

2. Communicative with Seller’s agent: will call and speak with the sellers agent on ever offer I wrote.

3. Creative: something who thinks outside of the box, not every transaction is strait forward.

4. Intelligent: Many of my clients ask complicated questions or ask questions in a certain way that many may not understand (engineer mind), the lender needs to be able to keep up.

5. Honest

6. Friendly

7. Has a large variety of products

8. Not desperate for business

@Charlie MacPherson If you google "new homeowner kicked out of house 19 months Denver", there's a 9 news article out there that would be of interest to you that is related to this topic. However, the title dispute described in that article does not appear to be related to any sort of larger organization, but rather just an individual and a series of mis-handlings and very unfortunate events- really it's a total nightmare situation. 

The 'title lock' you are describing seems like a scam.  I wouldn't trust anything that is not coming from a title company or attorney.  I haven't heard of the large scam either.  What Podcasts are you hearing ads for this on?

@Colleen Weldin 10 years is a lot of experience with fix and flips, very cool! Where have you done flips in the past?

@Eric H. The cash out refi is the sort of creative thing that investors need to do these days to help with cashflow.  I would do it, but I would also consider using the cash out refi as a downpayment to purchase another property.  Have you considered that/ are you interested in growing your portfolio?

@Chris O'Halloran I'm reading on Denver's permitting website that as a homeowner you cannot pull permits to do work "in" an ADU/townhome/condo/duplex. The verbiage is not clear about building but it does goes into saying you must pass exams, etc. To be certain, I recommend calling 311 (for any questions related to Denver County) and asking for the permitting Department. They'll need to call you back, but they will within a day or two.

If you can't pull your own permits, maybe you can find a GC who can work with you on doing some of the work (electrical/plumbing) but allowing you to do the rest and let you buy your own materials.  My GC allowed me to buy my own materials like tile, flooring, fixtures.  I had him buy others like drywall and insulation because I didn't want to deal with ordering and shipping those items. 

@Chris O'Halloran Given your background with construction, @Greg San Martin's idea of finding a lot zoned for ADU and building is a great idea. You can House Hack in the existing property while you build. Chaffe Park was just rezoned to allow ADU's which really helps open up options. Cash on Cash return, building an ADU is the best option in Denver and an even better one for you. To help with numbers, a nicely done 1 bed/1 bath ADU in Berkley with street parking (south of 70) rents for 1400/1500. Chaffe Park would get you slightly less.