All Forum Posts by: Scott Trench

I've deactivated the duplicate account.  Thank you for the clarification here.

 Makes perfect sense to me - I just never would have considered it as I'm not married haha

Personally, I use this app:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/podcasts/id5254630...

I then download 10-20 at a time whenever I'm in wi-fi and listen to them until I'm through them.  I'd imagine that will be enough for you - should work great on most modern iPhones.  Downloading ALL 117 Podcasts might be quite a bit, but I'm sure you can get enough content for even several days of driving with this app's downloads. 

If anyone else has additional suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

Personally, I think you'll be waiting for 30 years for the price to rent ratio to improve.  I don't see people leaving Denver, but I see a lot of new faces every month.  

I won't cash flow negative on a property I buy, but I'm certainly willing to a sacrifice a few points on my cash on cash return relative to what I'd get in Memphis, TN, or Milwaukee, WI on a rental for a chance at appreciation by buying in great neighborhoods here in Denver, CO.  Especially if I buy it initially as a house - hack, and rinse and repeat once I'm confident in the cash flow.  We are in a growing city.  Perhaps I'm young and naive, but I see that as a GOOD thing -  not a bad one for the savvy investor.

I struggle with questions like these every day:

How can I get more done?

Will getting more of THAT done make a difference?

What are the highest impact actions I can take NOW?

Well, the latest BiggerPockets Podcast seeks to answer those questions and provides valuable insights from one of the most respected business authors around - Mr. David Allen.  He's led a massive movement increasing both business and personal productivity and wrote the best selling book Getting Things Done.

If you aren't sure what action you should be taking now, then perhaps the highest impact action you can take is... listening to this show!

You can listen right now via this link:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/04/09...

@Jared Chipkin

A couple of things in response to this.  First of all, I recommend extreme caution when considering investing in condos.  Condo construction has been stifled due to some laws and aggressive law firms that are (in my personal opinion) very trigger happy suing builders for defects.  This has resulted in a long term shortage of condos in Denver, relative to similar markets around the country.  These laws are likely to be relaxed soon, and I'd expect a flood of newer, better condos to come on the market over the next 5-10 years.  Because I expect this to occur, I do not even consider investing in condos, as I don't want my purchase to be competing with newer, bigger, and better condos for market share in the next few years.

As far as purchasing properties in the low $100s, I recently purchased a duplex in the Clayton Neighborhood a few months ago.  I outlined how I did that here - I hope that provides some value to you as you define your search parameters and strategy.

The key for me was that as an owner occupier, I was looking at multifamilies that other homeowners weren't interested in, and I bought a property under HomePath's first look program where Fannie Mae only allowed people who intended to LIVE in the property to offer on it for the first 30 days.  This combination shielded me from competition from both homeowners and investors, and I think allowed me to get a great deal.

@Rob Z.

Accounts are generally closed for violation of our terms of use.  While we are a forgiving community, the thing I see that most often results in people getting their accounts shut down is either blatant disregard of our no solicitation policy, or a disregard for the spirit of our community over the long haul.  

Bragging, self-congratulatory posts, and snide comments that hint at how much better off others will be after someone's "course" tend to be the most common examples of this "breach of spirit" of our community.  If you've violated our terms, AND have this type of outlook, that's a no brainer decision for me in terms of shutting down an account.

Everyone makes mistakes, but folks that ignore the values here at BiggerPockets and focus on promoting themselves tend not to last long..

@Brandon Turner is a legend.

@Amanda Cook Thanks for that feedback! I expect those skills will be valuable, but I wonder if personally I won't learn most of those things outside of a school environment.

@Jeff S. I'm 100% with everything you said there - credentials help, but I'd have to believe success is the key metric when it comes to raising other people's money.  I also think that if you really want it the nighttime MBA makes sense, though only if you would otherwise be doing less productive things.

@James Park I plan to do everything in my power to be Financially Independent over the next 5 years.  That said, if I were financially independent, I'd probably want to blog about personal finance and help others succeed in real estate all day long... so it looks like I might be here at BP for a very long time ;)

@Galen Herbst de Cortina Now that's a response I wasn't expecting - getting credibility with the wife.  That seems to be a theme on the forums lately.   Also, perhaps my estimation of the value of the core skills of the MBA is skewed - I studied finance in undergrad, and believe that I'm getting valuable business as I've started investing in real estate.

@Toby Bergstrom I'll be sure to check that book out!  Thanks!