All Forum Posts by: Walker Hinshaw

I am looking to buy a property in Denver to tear down and build a spec home in its place. I was wondering what are the things I need to watch out for/be aware of besides lot location and size when picking a house to buy and demolish? Things like old trees (for permitting purposes), neighbors with loud dogs (for selling purposes), etc. 

@Kyle Doney The property was approximately break-even but in the Denver buy and hold market right now, breaking even is fairly difficult to find. I decided not to buy the deal because I would have to deal with section 8 tenants, I would be blowing basically all of the money I have to invest and the property does not seem to be in the path of progress. Add the fact that I can't even look inside the property until I have it under contract and it is a no thank you from me.

@Justin Daoust Hello and welcome to Bigger Pockets! Not sure if you have discovered some of the following areas of the site but figure I'll shoot you the links just in case.

Start here: http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere

Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: http://www.biggerpockets.com/meet

Set up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts

Read the Beginner’s Guide:http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing

Check out the BP Podcast: http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/category/podcast/

Last but not least, don't underestimate the power of participating in the forums! Welcome people to the site, congratulate people on their successes and contribute to real estate discussions where you can. Set up a keyword alert for your area and interact with the other people in your area as much as possible. This will help build your local knowledge as well as your network.

Good luck and hope to see you around the site!

@Shawn York, great to hear!

Another quick tip is using the @ to mention people so they get a notification to come check out your post whenever you are posting a reply to them.

Simply type @? to bring up a list of everyone who has posted in the thread you are currently posting on or type @ followed by the first three letters of the person's name you would like to mention/notify. 

Besides people who have posted on the thread you are currently on, you can also use this feature to mention anyone who is your colleague on Bigger Pockets.

@Bill Dexter

I know this may not be what you were looking for, but listen to @Travis Sperr and keep your wallet at home. 

Don't let them up-sell you before you check out all the great resources that Bigger Pockets has to offer. 

In fact, I encourage you to dive in with some of the links below. I hope the seminar gives you a great head start but know that no matter how much you learn, you can never know it all and this is a great website to build on your new-found knowledge. 

Start here:http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere

Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: http://www.biggerpockets.com/meet

Set up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts

Read the Beginner’s Guide:http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing

Check out the BP Podcast: http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/category/podcast/

Good luck and hope to see you around the site!

@Daniel Levine

No doubt the cap rates are low and the margins are slim all along the front range. 

Personally, I would pick cities where I had trusted boots on the ground to do some scouting for me and then start analyzing deals using the Bigger Pockets Rental Properties Calculator to see where I would get the best returns, then handicap those returns using population and demographic trends - 

Basically I would find the best place to purchase buy and hold properties where I had someone I could trust on the ground. 

Then I would build a team (property management, real estate agent) by asking for recommendations on BP and start buying properties. You could do the same with flipping, I'm just more of a buy & hold guy myself.

@Ben P.

 Hello and welcome to Bigger Pockets. If you haven't already, make sure to check out some of the following links to help you get started on the site

Start here: http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere

Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: http://www.biggerpockets.com/meet

Set up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts

Read the Beginner’s Guide:http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing

Check out the BP Podcast: http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/category/podcast/

The buy and hold deals are definitely scarce in Colorado at the moment but I bet you could go to a place like Pueblo (an 1.5 to 2 hour drive) and find deals that work. This would make it feasible to drive by properties on the weekend to do your due diligence without having to trust someone else to have your best interest at heart. Once you buy, it would also allow you to drive by to make sure your property management company was holding up its end of the bargain.

Good luck!

@David S.

 Owner-occupiers could be bidding up those duplexes as well. People who want a house but can't afford one on their own and are forced to get a duplex to help them subsidize the cost.

@Anson Young and @Dan Mackin you both make great points about the Denver area. It is impossible to make your money back as a builder right now unless you are pricing your inventory above $350k because there aren't any scalable building options. 

While I think Denver's owner-occupier crowd is definitely bidding up prices, I also think investors in Denver have started investing for appreciation due to the ridiculously high appreciation the market has seen in the past year. If you buy a $400,000 property and it recognizes 10% appreciation in one year, you suddenly made $40,000 in one year off of $80,000 if you put 20% down. That is a massive cash on cash return (50%!) and I think there are plenty of people out there willing to risk it at the moment considering Denver's strong growth and demographics.

@Shawn York

 Hello and welcome to Bigger Pockets! I always love to see new people from the Denver area joining the site. Below are a few links that I hope you will find useful. Also, don't underestimate the power of interacting in the forums and going to meetups if you want to start getting more serious about real estate. Hope to see you around the site!

Start here:http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere

Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: http://www.biggerpockets.com/meet

Set up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts

Read the Beginner’s Guide: http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing

Check out the BP Podcast: http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/category/podcast/

@Matthew Schroeder, @Anson Young, @Roy N.

Thanks for putting my mind at ease! Just saw it had been sitting longer than I expected for a property that seems like it may be a decent buy and hold and thought that may be the reason. I'll have to drive by the neighborhood to determine if there are other reasons people have stayed away up to this point.