New to real estate investing!

[Danya Kafai]

Hello! My name is Danya. I moved to Denver about a year ago and currently work remotely at a financial technology company building software for the Healthcare space. About a month ago, I had a family member introduce me to real estate investing and I've been hooked ever since, trying to read and learn as much as I can to make my first move and kick start my investment career. I'm currently interested in learning about all types of real estate investing but thinking of starting off with house hacking or flipping. If any of you are in the Denver area and would be open to grabbing coffee or know of any meetups, please let me know! Would love to connect. 

[James Carlson]

Quote from @Danya Kafai:

Hello! My name is Danya. I moved to Denver about a year .....

Welcome to Colorado! If you don't currently own your primary residence, then yes, house hacking is the way to go. There are a few options for that -- a duplex, in which you live in one side and rent the other long-term. Or a SFH with a separate entrance type setup that would allow you to rent a basement either as a long-term or short-term rental. You could also do rent-by-the-room, which might make the most money but also gives you the least privacy.

Also, be aware of a few things. 

-- If you're house-hacking by Airbnb-ing or short-term renting a portion, the city laws in Denver and surrounding suburbs all vary on how you can do that. (For instance, if you live in one side of duplex in Denver, you cannot STR the other side, but you can do that in Wheat Ridge, just west of Denver.)

-- If you're buying a SFH that has a separate entrance setup, you can totally rent that basement while you live there, but that most zoning does NOT allow you to rent two separate spaces once you move out. So the best-case scenario is to find a SFH with the right zoning (R2 in a lot of metros, or "TU" in Denver).

Final thought on this: Biggest problem I see new homebuyers in Colorado make is not buying the wrong home; it's overthinking it and taking a year or more to buy (and losing equity in the meantime). Do your research, for sure, find a solid real estate agent that knows the ins and outs of what you want to do, run some numbers ... but then make a decision. The quicker you buy that first one, the quicker you make money and can move out and repeat by buying the second one.

Good luck!