All Forum Posts by: Ryan Riches

I am partial to the Downtown area of COS. I own two rental properties there and it has been a great experience. A lot of new development in the area and high demand for walkable properties. I would recommend looking for something you can house hack! Whether that is by the room or finding something with a walk-out basement/guest suite. 

Good Luck!

$745k is a great deal for a 4 plex in Loveland! Congrats on the purchase. Are you living in one of the units or renting them all out?

I agree with what has been said here. My philosophy with my rentals is to hold on to them as long as I am able. If you can afford to purchase your new home with what you have saved, it may not be worth it to sell one of your properties. If that capital is needed for the purchase then I like the suggestion of the HELOC as long as the numbers work on your end.

I think @Ben Rhodin is right about the correction/stabilization vs crash. I don't see a reality where Denver real estate values decline, but I do think it is reasonable that we see the market start to return to pre-pandemic metrics (3-5 offers on a house instead of 20). It's true that you would be able to sell very quickly right now, but also true that you will be able to sell for more in 5 years. 

Ultimately it all comes down to your financial situation and what you are comfortable with! Seems like you've made some great investment moves so far. Good work!

The property is Zoned R4. Still set up as a SFR but renting it as two units.

Welcome to Denver @Amanda Johnson! I am an agent in Denver and have investment properties in Colorado Springs. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you!

@Jonathan Stone you are absolutely right - It provided great return while we were living there, and we still had the option to keep it available if we had friends or family coming into town to visit!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Colorado Springs.

Purchase price: $355,000
Cash invested: $5,000

Purchased this property as our primary residence with the intention of House Hacking. The house has a walk-out basement with 1 bed 1 bath and a full living area.We furnished the basement and rented it through Airbnb - the income fully covered our mortgage and utilities! After living there for a year we moved out and rented it as a duplex. We have Long term renters on the main level, and rent the basement to travel nurses.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

After discovering Bigger Pockets I became fixed on the idea of buying a house that would minimize our living expenses! After a lot of searching and many duplex tours, we finally found this single family property that could easily be converted to House Hack in the short term. Since it was zoned R4 it has investment potential for the future as well!

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

We used a Realtor in Colorado Springs and found the property on the MLS.

How did you finance this deal?

We put 5% down and used a conventional loan.

How did you add value to the deal?

We installed a kitchenette in the basement and added a door to the stairwell to separate the units.

What was the outcome?

The house hack covered our expenses while living there, and renting the space as 2 units increased our cashflow.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Always get a sewer scope. We found that the sewer line was broken and ended up costing the seller close to $20k to repair.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

JD Gunter did an exceptional job guiding us through the process, and Ashton Brooks at Fairway helped us work out the financing.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Colorado Springs.

Purchase price: $355,000
Cash invested: $5,000

Purchased this property as our primary residence with the intention of House Hacking. The house has a walk-out basement with 1 bed 1 bath and a full living area. We added in a Kitchenette to make it a full guest suite. We furnished the basement and rented it through Airbnb - the income fully covered our mortgage and utilities! After living there for a year we moved out and rented it as a duplex. We have Long term renters on the main level, and rent the basement to travel nurses. This provides great cashflow for us and our tenants have been great so far!

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

After discovering Bigger Pockets I became fixed on the idea of buying a house that would minimize our living expenses! After a lot of searching and many duplex tours, we finally found this single family property that could easily be converted to House Hack in the short term. Since it was zoned R4 it has investment potential for the future as well!

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

We used a Realtor in Colorado Springs and found the property on the MLS.

How did you finance this deal?

We put 5% down and used a conventional loan.

How did you add value to the deal?

We installed a kitchenette in the basement and added a door to the stairwell to separate the units.

What was the outcome?

The house hack covered our expenses while living there, and renting the space as 2 units increased our cashflow.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Always get a sewer scope. We found that the sewer line was broken and ended up costing the seller close to $20k to repair.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

JD Gunter did an exceptional job guiding us through the process, and Ashton Brooks at Fairway helped us work out the financing.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Colorado Springs.

Purchase price: $260,000

Purchased this 3 bed 2 bath house as a primary residence in 2017. Lived in and rented out our spare bedroom on Airbnb. After just over a year I purchased a second property and moved into it, turning this property into my first true rental property!

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We purchased the house with little intention of it being a long-term, cash-flowing asset for us. We started renting our spare bedroom on Airbnb just to pay off some student loans, and the income nearly covered our mortgage. That's when I discovered bigger pockets and started dreaming about expanding our portfolio and rental income.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

We found this on the MLS and worked with a Realtor to purchase the property. We went under contract in November 2017 and competed against 6 other offers.

How did you finance this deal?

We put 5% down and used a conventional loan. We paid PMI upfront to decrease our monthly expenses.

How did you add value to the deal?

We furnished the space and left it as a furnished rental to get above market for our rental rate.

What was the outcome?

Currently cash flowing about $350 a month and have had the same great tenants for 3 years.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The biggest challenge/learning curve for this deal was outsourcing the maintenance once we moved to Denver. It was not possible to drop by and take a look at something. While it was intimidating to start having plumbers or handymen handle maintenance requests, it freed up a lot of time and stress having to deal with it myself.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

We worked with Ashton Brooks at Fairway Independent Mortgage for the lending and can't recommend him enough. We also worked with Bet Llavador, now based in Crested Butte. She is stellar if you are looking for a mountain property in the Gunnison/Crested Butte area.

Plenty of posts about this already. Search the forums for more in-depth conversations on it. Key things to consider will be restrictions in the area you want to buy, financing (make sure you're lender will allow STR income to be counted), and if you will self manage and coordinate cleanings or hire a company to do that.