All Forum Posts by: Daniel Walker

Interesting points raised in the comments section include:

• the strength and diversity of the region's economy
• Great Recession of '08 barely made a dent in metro Denver housing prices and they recovered quickly
• the disparity in prices between CO and the states where the influx of people keep coming from is too high

With regards to Fort Collins specifically, I would be tempted to add: the continuing expansion of CSU.

Ahhh...should have searched the forums first (doh!). Thanks @Travis Sperr!

http://www.denverpost.com/2017/04/16/denver-northe...

I'd be interested to hear anyone's thoughts on the article above which cites the following prediction from a Connecticut-based company "Scout Vision":

The comments on the article present some opposing views for reasons such as:

• the strength and diversity of the region's economy
• Great Recession of '08 barely made a dent in metro Denver housing prices and they recovered quickly
• the disparity in prices between CO and the states where the influx of people keep coming from is too high

One other factor I can think of is the continuing expansion of CSU. What do you folks think of the "end of party" prediction?

@Adam M. thanks for the info. I will be attending some face-to-face meetups over the next few weeks and will get more perspectives like this. From what I've read (and it seems pretty obvious) investing out of state is something that usually isn't recommended for someone with a lack of experience and always requires a strong and trustworthy property manager. I'll keep talking to people and look forward to getting more perspectives!

@Adam M. I should preface this with the fact that I'm very new to this and haven't yet got a clear idea of the various strategies I could pursue and all of the following is just an initial idea.

That being said, the current idea that's still not fully in focus yet is to find non overpriced (or if at all possible underpriced) town homes in the 250-350k range with at least two bedrooms, and then buying to hold for at least a few years. At least two separate homes. It doesn't need to be in Fort Collins but would most likely be somewhere between here and Denver with halfway decent access to I25. I don't have a crystal ball, but if I can at least avoid overpaying for something then I expect we'll accrue equity in the properties, perhaps a little (probably quite small) income, whilst at the same time having a chance at some non-insignificant appreciation.

Thanks for the question! I have lots and lots to learn. But we will have quite a bit of cash on hand and are in no particular rush so hopefully that puts us in a strong position.

@Holly Baum Thanks, I'm going to be there. Need to move a piano lesson out of the way but since it's: a) the first meetup with you guys, and b) at Zwei Brewing that will be no problem!

@Dan Mackin great thanks! Just joined the BadAss REI group! The hold was intentional, and for the time being at least our plan is to continue to hold. We've been lucky timing-wise to have had the appreciation we've seen. That was certainly not foreseen by us. However now we have a whole different set of choices and priorities for beginning to scale our REI. I'm looking forward to chatting more with everyone both here and in "meatspace" ;-)

Thanks for the welcome @Kayla V.. I'll be having to balance the changes in the Colorado RE market against my current constraints of both time and experience.

Thanks for the links and warm welcome @Veni F.! I'll be going through these later tonight.

Hi Everyone,

My name is Daniel Walker. I'm a software engineer of 15 years with a little break in the middle serving as a weather forecaster in the U.S. Air Force. This is where I met my wife. We live in Fort Collins, CO with our two cats, two dogs and a horse.

We bought our first house in 2011 and after moving out in 2014 became first time landlords. We've used a property management company at 10% to take care of everything. We have around 260k equity in the house and are now considering the options for putting some of this money to work.

This will likely involve refinancing rather than selling. I'm in the early stages of exploring the options for reinvestment. I have some specific questions accumulating which I'll likely share soon on this site.

Thanks for reading my intro!

Daniel