All Forum Posts by: Scott Trench

I thought we were getting a Jennifer?

@Allison Leung @Brandon Turner @Joshua Dorkin 

@Anson Young Thanks - I agree that it will be tough to find something affordable in the BP HQ.  If that is an absolute requirement, however, what do you think that the best way to invest is?

It may simply be that I should find a nice cheaper place to rent out, and purchase a rental out of market.

@Bill Schrimpf  

You make a really good point in the sense that a buy and hold is less likely to cripple me financially on a first time purchase than a fix and flip.  AND that I can wait out a mistake over a longer time period, with monthly cash outflows, instead of owing a huge mortgage with no cashflow.

I think I'm going to take your suggestion and wait for a 2-fourplex to come around.  It's frustrating to have so few options that meet other investor's criteria.  For future purchases I expect to go out of my market to find great cashflow properties.  With my primary residence, however, I need to live close to work.

The money I save from biking to work as opposed to driving is over $100 per month if I live 5 miles away ($0.55/mile*10 miles per day* >20 workdays/month), or even more when I factor in the fact that I can make do with a cheaper car and less insurance.  Because of this, I'm not willing to move farther than about 5 miles away from the office I work at.

Thank you @Scott Nipp

I'll keep my eyes open - I like the open minded attitude.

Newbie on the BiggerPockets team here and I had a quick question about the Denver market.

First: A little background on my Real Estate Investing Strategy:

I originally planned to get started with a buy and hold strategy, using the "How to Hack Your Housing and Live for Free" strategy Brandon suggests here:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/11/02...

BUT, after looking around it seems that deals in Denver are few and far between on these types of properties, especially in the area that I want to live in.

Here's my question - should I change up my strategy and go for a fix and flip?

Inventory is low and houses are being sold rapidly (often above asking price).  I'm probably more of a DIY guy and would do most of the repairs myself on the evenings and weekends.  I think I'm going to have an extremely difficult time finding a property that can be turned into a buy and hold rental in the Denver metro area (where I want to live).

Pros of this strategy - I get experience in the requisite types of construction that will help me out when estimating repair costs in future investments AND I won't have to settle for a property that almost certainly won't meet the "2% rule" (or likely even a 1% rule).

Cone - This is no longer a passive investment.

What do you guys think?  Is there another creative way to make my first purchase of a primary residence an investment in the hot Denver Real Estate Market?

Hey Curtis,  

I actually just set up an LLC in Colorado a few days ago. I followed the instructions at this link and it was very smooth (took less than 30 minutes!) AND it cost me $1. Pretty sweet.

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/colorado-fo...

Let me know if you have any questions.

-Scott

Welcome to the community - I love the Howard County presence as a Clarksville, MD native!  

You mention you want to start marketing.  Check out the "Real Estate Investor Marketing" forum to get some ideas on how to get started.  You'll get great responses to any questions you might have on that topic.  There are also a few podcasts on how to make the most of your marketing campaigns.

Finally, there are some really great members from Ellicott City. You might try reaching out to them and saying hello!

-Scott

Thank you!

@Michael Faulk

@Michael Faulk

@Dmitriy Fomichenko

See what I did there?

Jeff,

I gathered rent data informally in several locations from various sources:

Friends living in these areas

Driving around the neighborhoods and asking about rent prices on properties for rent

Rentometer.com + Zillow.com + Craigslist.com

In the coming week or so, and depending on the specifics of what becomes available, I plan to purchase reports from sites like rentrange.com to have more data points. I may also door knock.

Thanks for the welcome!

-Scott

Also - for future reference how can I insert the "@Jeff M." in posts to ensure that you are notified of my reply?

Hello Everyone,

My name is Scott Trench and I have a very limited background in Real Estate Investing, having worked a few months for an investor several years ago. I just moved here from my hometown near Baltimore, MD, after graduating from Vanderbilt University last May. I currently work in Financial Planning and Analysis for a large company.

I am hoping to begin building a Buy and Hold Real Estate portfolio of properties within 100 miles of Denver over the next several years. BiggerPockets has played a big part in my Real Estate education. Currently, I have made my way through most of the BiggerPockets podcasts, I have read the Ultimate Beginner’s Guide and relevant links, and I have begun networking by joining a mastermind group, several members of which are involved in Real Estate Investing in the Denver area.

At this point, I have saved enough money to qualify for conventional financing on properties priced at or below $200K. My short term goals are to make bids in the areas that I have conducted rent surveys in near downtown Denver, with the objective of procuring 3 properties by the end of the year (my second property purchase is planned to be a Duplex and I plan to live in half of it).

I’d love to continue meeting investors, agents, wholesalers, and anyone else that would be gracious enough to pass on their knowledge. I hope to give back to the community as I begin making transactions and building a portfolio.

Thanks,

Scott