New to house hacking in the Denver metro area
New to Real Estate · Denver, CO · Member since 2024 · 10 posts · 3 votes
New to house hacking in the Denver metro area
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Tanner PileBusiness Member
Real Estate Broker · Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2019 · 388 posts · 326 votesI would avoid doing any major construction on your first houses hack. Keep it to a bathroom refresh or adding a bedroom at max. Anything too much has larger room for error on your first property since you are new to real estate and learning how to work with contractors and tenants.
Tanner Pile4.931 Reviews
15 Replies
- Real Estate Agent · Denver, CO · Member since 2022 · 68 posts · 31 votes2y
Hey Steven welcome to BP! This is a fantastic place to gain some insight into the REI world, particularly for those starting out.
House hacking is a powerful strategy, and where many including myself have started out. It helped my wife and I save up money to continue investing.
I’ll give you one very important DO. Do you due diligence when selecting renters!
- 2yEric DeNardoPro MemberReal Estate Agent · Denver · Member since 2020 · 364 posts · 151 votes
Welcome to BP! You have come to the right place for real estate investing! House hacking is a great way to start investing and you could find a place that needs some rehab that you can upgrade over time. With that, you will be living in the home you rent out, so the first thing to do is be very clear what type of living situation you want, or if you have a spouse, what they want to. That will help you move forward in the path that best fits your needs and not waste your time pursuing strategies that sound great, but not work for you. Would be happy to chat more about different strategies to successfully house hack!
- 2yTanner PileBusiness MemberReal Estate Broker · Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2019 · 388 posts · 326 votes
I would avoid doing any major construction on your first houses hack. Keep it to a bathroom refresh or adding a bedroom at max. Anything too much has larger room for error on your first property since you are new to real estate and learning how to work with contractors and tenants.
Tanner Pile4.931 Reviews - New to Real Estate · Denver, CO · Member since 2024 · 10 posts · 3 votes2y
Thanks Tanner, I’m mostly interested in learning about construction so that when I view homes I have a general idea as to how much an imperfection, like a torn carpet, might cost. I wouldn’t do the work myself, but hire a contractor. If you know any good contractors or handymen in the Denver area let me know!
- 2yJeff WhiteBusiness MemberRealtor · Denver, CO · Member since 2016 · 278 posts · 371 votes
@Steven Mendiola Welcome Steven! House hacking is the most powerful way to get started in real estate investing, and it sets you up for success because you learn so many things: dealing with contractors, how to screen tenants, lease negotiation, but most importantly, your goal should be to reduce or eliminate your housing cost, and there are a lot of ways to do with house hacking depending on your flexibility with strategy: rent by room, Section 8, mid-term rental, STR, etc, and you can combine multiple strategies too.
The big thing is to not shoot for the home run deal on your first one. That's great if you got a home run deal, but the reality for your first one is to try and live for free, and then get better for HH #2, and then incrementally better for HH#3, as you progress in your investing career, you will be able to recognize those great deals, but it is much harder in the beginning since you have a huge learning curve.
- 2yJames CarlsonPro MemberReal Estate Agent · Colorado | stan.store/JamesCarlson · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
Biggest advice for the house-hacker in Denver? Don't overthink it.
I see too many people wait for a year to buy while they try to learn everything. Don't do anything exotic. Narrow down to some areas you like. Work with a house-hacking agent in Denver that seems to know enough and who's personality you can stand. Start seeing homes and buy in a few months.
The sooner you buy, the sooner you start the clock on lending to allow you to buy again. (You can't move earlier than a year and get another primary residence.)
If you buy a 4br in the $500k range and put 5% down, that's likely $3300/mo or so. You can rent a room for $800-$1000. Rent the three extra bedrooms and get $2400/mo. Save, save, save. Put that in a high-yield savings account, and in a year or two, buy again, rent the previous home and repeat the house-hacking in your new place.
After five years or so, you have maybe three places. Then you can get more creative if you want.
Now, within house-hacking, there are variables to consider. Duplex? Home w/ basement apartment? Straight-up rent-by-the-room? And also, what about buying in an area that allows for non-owner occupied STRs, so you can Airbnb or short-term rent the place when you move out? These are all ideas around the edges, but the big thing is to buy something that allows you to offset your mortgage with rent income and then save that for the next.
Anyway, good luck in your search!
- 2yRene HosmanPro MemberRental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2024 · 583 posts · 653 votes
Quote from @Steven Mendiola:
Hi everyone! I’m Steven and am new to BP. I’m looking to house hack my first home in the Denver area. I’d also love to learn about house construction and other investment strategies that have helped you guys out. Any do’s and don’ts would be greatly appreciated. I’m here to learn and just happy to be here!
Hey Steven! I'm in Denver as well, I started my journey by house hacking, and I continue to house hack currently! I'm in the middle of a live and flip so if you want to talk house hacking or construction happy to answer any specific questions.
A few resources that might be useful for you given what you're looking for, I know they've helped me:
The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs by J Scott
The event and meetup forum here on BP for finding IRL events to go and meet other local investors and soon-to-be-investors
Setting keyword triggers here on BiggerPockets for things like Denver, House Hack, etc so that you don't have to go out and search for the information, the information can find you! Instructions for how to set up keywords on the forums here
- 2yWale LawalBusiness MemberReal Estate Broker · Houston | Dallas | Austin, TX · Member since 2018 · 5k+ posts · 2k+ votes
House hacking in Denver involves calculating cash flow, obtaining financing, finding rent-potential properties, and planning for vacancies and expenses. Realistic rent calculations, local laws, and tenant management are essential. Work with an experienced agent and explore other investment strategies like BRRRR, short-term rentals, or multi-family investing.
Good luck!
NETWORTH BUILDERS5236 Reviews - Lender · Seattle, WA · Member since 2022 · 482 posts · 768 votes2y
HI Steven,
You can start househacking by living in one UNIT or ROOM and renting out the other vacant units/rooms to offset your monthly mortgage payment.
There are several ways to run and make sure you are maximizing your rental income while keeping your living expense as low as possible. Try looking into zillow/Redfin and see what your potential rents you can get near the neighborhood by filtering the bedrooms/bathrooms of the intentional property that you are planning to buy. This will allow you give a reference point on how much potential rent you can receive. (Max vacated rents - your monthly mortgage payment) = +/- net cashflow. Happy to connect and assist you in your real estate investing journey.
Happy to connect if you are interested to expand your portfolio
- New to Real Estate · Denver, CO · Member since 2024 · 10 posts · 3 votes2y
Quote from @Rene Hosman:
Quote from @Steven Mendiola:
Hi everyone! I’m Steven and am new to BP. I’m looking to house hack my first home in the Denver area. I’d also love to learn about house construction and other investment strategies that have helped you guys out. Any do’s and don’ts would be greatly appreciated. I’m here to learn and just happy to be here!
Hey Steven! I'm in Denver as well, I started my journey by house hacking, and I continue to house hack currently! I'm in the middle of a live and flip so if you want to talk house hacking or construction happy to answer any specific questions.
A few resources that might be useful for you given what you're looking for, I know they've helped me:
The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs by J Scott
The event and meetup forum here on BP for finding IRL events to go and meet other local investors and soon-to-be-investors
Setting keyword triggers here on BiggerPockets for things like Denver, House Hack, etc so that you don't have to go out and search for the information, the information can find you! Instructions for how to set up keywords on the forums here
Thank you so much! I’ve been looking for a good book like this!
- New to Real Estate · Denver, CO · Member since 2024 · 10 posts · 3 votes2y
Quote from @Jeff White:
@Steven Mendiola Welcome Steven! House hacking is the most powerful way to get started in real estate investing, and it sets you up for success because you learn so many things: dealing with contractors, how to screen tenants, lease negotiation, but most importantly, your goal should be to reduce or eliminate your housing cost, and there are a lot of ways to do with house hacking depending on your flexibility with strategy: rent by room, Section 8, mid-term rental, STR, etc, and you can combine multiple strategies too.
The big thing is to not shoot for the home run deal on your first one. That's great if you got a home run deal, but the reality for your first one is to try and live for free, and then get better for HH #2, and then incrementally better for HH#3, as you progress in your investing career, you will be able to recognize those great deals, but it is much harder in the beginning since you have a huge learning curve.
Yeah, the more I look into HH the more I realize my cash flow for HH1 will only be a few hundred dollars or just breaking even. Denver is pretty expensive at the moment.
- New to Real Estate · Denver, CO · Member since 2024 · 10 posts · 3 votes2y
Quote from @James Carlson:
Biggest advice for the house-hacker in Denver? Don't overthink it.
I see too many people wait for a year to buy while they try to learn everything. Don't do anything exotic. Narrow down to some areas you like. Work with a house-hacking agent in Denver that seems to know enough and who's personality you can stand. Start seeing homes and buy in a few months.
The sooner you buy, the sooner you start the clock on lending to allow you to buy again. (You can't move earlier than a year and get another primary residence.)
If you buy a 4br in the $500k range and put 5% down, that's likely $3300/mo or so. You can rent a room for $800-$1000. Rent the three extra bedrooms and get $2400/mo. Save, save, save. Put that in a high-yield savings account, and in a year or two, buy again, rent the previous home and repeat the house-hacking in your new place.
After five years or so, you have maybe three places. Then you can get more creative if you want.
Now, within house-hacking, there are variables to consider. Duplex? Home w/ basement apartment? Straight-up rent-by-the-room? And also, what about buying in an area that allows for non-owner occupied STRs, so you can Airbnb or short-term rent the place when you move out? These are all ideas around the edges, but the big thing is to buy something that allows you to offset your mortgage with rent income and then save that for the next.
Anyway, good luck in your search!
Thank you! I’ve considered living in a trailer and renting out every room to increase cash flow. Denver’s expensive right now so I’m hoping to at least break even on the mortgage and save the money I get from my full time job.
- 2yRene HosmanPro MemberRental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2024 · 583 posts · 653 votes
Quote from @Steven Mendiola:
Quote from @Rene Hosman:
Quote from @Steven Mendiola:
Hi everyone! I’m Steven and am new to BP. I’m looking to house hack my first home in the Denver area. I’d also love to learn about house construction and other investment strategies that have helped you guys out. Any do’s and don’ts would be greatly appreciated. I’m here to learn and just happy to be here!
Hey Steven! I'm in Denver as well, I started my journey by house hacking, and I continue to house hack currently! I'm in the middle of a live and flip so if you want to talk house hacking or construction happy to answer any specific questions.
A few resources that might be useful for you given what you're looking for, I know they've helped me:
The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs by J Scott
The event and meetup forum here on BP for finding IRL events to go and meet other local investors and soon-to-be-investors
Setting keyword triggers here on BiggerPockets for things like Denver, House Hack, etc so that you don't have to go out and search for the information, the information can find you! Instructions for how to set up keywords on the forums here
Thank you so much! I’ve been looking for a good book like this!
Of course! You didn't specifically mention this but I just finished Start with Strategy by Dave Meyer a couple weeks ago and while it's a great book for anyone at any point in their investing journey, I WISH I had read that earlier because it's so helpful. If you're more of an audio book person, you can get the whole BiggerPockets collection of ALL their audio books + podcasts ad-free for only $100 (both Start with Strategy and estimating rehab costs are included in this membership + 30 other books)! And you still get access to all the worksheets that come with the books.
Audio membership link below!
- 2yJeff WhiteBusiness MemberRealtor · Denver, CO · Member since 2016 · 278 posts · 371 votes
Quote from @Steven Mendiola:
Quote from @Jeff White:
@Steven Mendiola Welcome Steven! House hacking is the most powerful way to get started in real estate investing, and it sets you up for success because you learn so many things: dealing with contractors, how to screen tenants, lease negotiation, but most importantly, your goal should be to reduce or eliminate your housing cost, and there are a lot of ways to do with house hacking depending on your flexibility with strategy: rent by room, Section 8, mid-term rental, STR, etc, and you can combine multiple strategies too.
The big thing is to not shoot for the home run deal on your first one. That's great if you got a home run deal, but the reality for your first one is to try and live for free, and then get better for HH #2, and then incrementally better for HH#3, as you progress in your investing career, you will be able to recognize those great deals, but it is much harder in the beginning since you have a huge learning curve.
Yeah, the more I look into HH the more I realize my cash flow for HH1 will only be a few hundred dollars or just breaking even. Denver is pretty expensive at the moment.
If you are willing to rent rooms, it is a simple equation and you can live for free, it literally is just finding a house where you can add multiple bedrooms and turn a 4 bedroom to a 7 bedroom or a 5 to a 7 bedroom and you take the smallest room or a trailer and renting out 7 rooms, you can definitely achieve cash flow. The difficult part isn't finding that property; the difficult part is finding quality roommate tenants and having good systems for screening, setting up rules and maintaining your future investment to achieve the best results.
I've had many clients utilize the rent by room strategy to great success.
- Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2024 · 9 posts · 3 votes1y
Volunteer with habitat for humanity they teach you how to fix up houses, its how I learned!
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