All Forum Posts by: Ben Einspahr

@Will Walker double check maximum unrelated parties for SFH in Aurora. Last I checked Aurora was 4. Denver 5. Is there an exception with the section 8 program?

 @Carrie Brauninger yes HOAs are high but your annual insurance cost is significantly less (almost half). Plus if there are any utilities built in the HOA you can bill those back to the tenant.

@Stephen Gibson Jr I want to start off by answering your last question first. The agent is one of the key members to building your REI team. If you find a good agent, they will bring you the rest of the team you need to successfully invest. They should be able to provide referrals for lenders, CPAs, PM, handy man, photos, etc. To say the least, they make a HUGE difference.

This is not the time to do your best friends a solid and use them to purchase an investment property.

Requirements I look for:

-solid track record. (this is not their first go-around)

-experience investor themself.

-can help you build your team (as mentioned above)

-willing to help out after the transaction has closed. Sounding board for any challenges that come up when screening tenants, listing properties, lease agreements, photos, etc.

I just wrote a post last week about steps you should take 6 months out from purchasing your first rental/house hack. You can view that here.

Best of luck

@Carrie Brauninger first off. Love your view on REI for more than cashflow! Cashflow is just the tip of the ice burg. Based on the details you provided, I would comment 2 different options.

Option 1: Traditional investment property with in a 2 hour commute

Not sure how much you have for a downpayment but here are 2 options. 

1. Pueblo rental. Our clients are still finding great investment properties down there that are not able to afford Denver or Colorado Springs.

2. Denver condo. This will not move the needle too much for you but it could be a great first step. You would get hands on property management experience and HOA traditionally covers all major cap ex that could come up. If I did not house hack for my first investment, I would have chosen condo.

Option 2: House hack while still maintaining your privacy

This would be the preferred option in my opinion. I think it is safe to say you are not wanting to share your living space with roommates, right? You have 2 options with this.

1. Buy a single family home that has some form of separate income suite (walkup/ walkout basement, Mother-in-law suite, ADU) and rent that out to off set your living expenses. Move out and turn into a rental at your desired time period (12 month min). That is with I do :)

2. Buy a duplex. Live in one end and rent out the other. This can be difficult in Denver because they come at a premium, typically renovations, and owner occupied financing can get tricky. Read this post I wrote last week covering owner occupied financing in more detail.

Separately, I self-managed a rental property in NE for 5+ years. Would not recommend it. At least for your first investment. 

I can follow up with a few Pueblo and Denver house hacking case studies you will find value in. Best of luck!

@Adam Gusky You are in a great financial position at your age! Excellent work! Yes, I would not recommend tapping into the roth + 401k. Great for diversification and rainy day fund.

I agree with @Jeff White. It is 100% possible to purchase a property in Denver but $60k will be tough for an investment property. At the deals I am seeing, you would need to put 30% to cashflow. 

I would 100% recommend house hacking. 

1.can get in for low down

2.hands on land lord experience

3.decreased living expenses

4. excellent ROI on the 5% down.

5. Live and flip options

... to name a few

Having a wife and wanting privacy (i can relate btw), I would aim for single family home with some form of separate income suite that you can rent out and still maintain your privacy. That is what my family has done a few times. Or, you could go the duplex route. Just keep in mind buying a owner occupied multi can get tricky with financing. Read this post I wrote last week covering the details.

Earlier this year, @Jeff White and I put together a 6 part webinar series covering everything you need to know about house hacking in the denver metro with a few case studies. Happy to share if you want!

Best of luck!

@Julien Jeannot Great advise. Do not overthink it and jump in! Nice work with the duplex. 

@Malcolm Ring. I would have to agree with @Andrew Postell. Be sure you are analyzing as stabilized rental, vs living there. That is when the liability (house hack) turns into an asset (rental) for low downpayment. From your post, looks like you already are?

Your market seems similar to Denver where it is very challenging making the numbers work on multifamlies to house hack. Plus the financing gets wonky. Read this post I just wrote about multifamily house hacking financing.

Are there single family homes that have some form of separate entrance/ ADU that still give you your privacy with out the premium price tag of a multi?

Example
https://www.zillow.com/homedet...

https://www.zillow.com/homedet...

@Calvin Berstler love the idea and separating yourself apart from the competition. I have personally never done anything like that but as @Richard F. mentioned, contacting your insurance would be great starting point. 

Also, add to your listing description, use at your own risk. Have you looked at other bnbs that have personal gyms? What do those descriptions/ terms look like?

I would also put gym hours (similar to quiet hours). You do not want anyone using gym at 2AM. You would be surprised. 

You could consider this another additional source of income. Example- scan QR code for xyz amount to get access to gym. Very similar to how other listings will rent bikes.

Speaking of HI! I recently stayed at a bnb in Maui that provided snorkel gear and paddle boards. They did not have anything saying to use at your own risk or sign any waver.

Best of luck!

Key Points:

• -Network
• -Education
• -Find an Investor-Friendly Agent
• -Find an Investor-Friendly Lender

Hello BP Community! A common forum post I often read is, "I am looking to house hack. Any advice?" With this being such a common question, I wanted to provide my two cents.

Assumptions:

• You already know the market you are looking to invest in.
• You have at least $15k in savings. If you don't, this will be addressed in a separate post.

Step 1: Networking

Get out there and network! There has not been one networking event that I have attended where I did not walk away with another amazing person to add to my network or a new tip/piece of information I was not aware of. When I first started out, my mentor Chris Lopez told me that networking is one of the most undervalued pieces of real estate investing. To this day, I still strongly agree with that!

Action: A great place to start is the events section under the learn tab.

Step 2: Education

This one goes without saying. Podcasts, books, masterminds, etc. Start learning about what you want instead of asking someone else what they would do. That's like asking someone what the best car is. It depends!

Action: Read "Set For Life" by Scott Trench. This was my rich dad book of real estate, finance, and personal development.

Step 3: Investor-Friendly Real Estate Agent

Find yourself an investor-friendly agent and start building a relationship, even if you are 6-12 months out. When I say "investor-friendly agent," I mean someone who has a track record of closing deals that you are interested in. Another bonus is if they are actively house hacking themselves or doing some form of RE investing. This is not a time to help out your best friend or brother's wife who just got their license.

Action: BP forums are a great place to start! Ask for recommendations in your area and interview 2-3 of them!

Step 4: Investor-Friendly Lender

A lender and agent are the Tier 1 of your investing team. Find yourself a good agent, and they will bring you a good lender. Connect with the lender, let them know your investing plan, and get an idea of what your buying power looks like. This will help you define your buy box and start analyzing deals.

Action: Same as Step 3. BP forums are a great place to start! Ask for recommendations in your area and interview 2-3 of them!

If I missed anything, please chime in. I would love to hear everyone's feedback and comments.

If you would like other education resources or referrals, let me know!

@Jack Hamm, searching multifamiles is a simple filter on Zillow. But i would not recommend at your age. Will take much longer at your current age to save up for downpayment (unless you already have downpayment assistance). I would recommend 2 options. House hacking a large single family home (4+ beds, 3+ baths) and living in master and renting out the others. Very easy to find those types of homes.

The other is a single family home with some form of separate income suite. Like a walk out basement with kitchenette, Mother-in-law guest suite or ADU. Almost like a duplex in the skin of a single family home. I have done that multiple times here in Denver. Happy to DM you more specifics. Let me know!

Given your timeline, my next steps would be find yourself a investor friendly agent (familiar with hh'ing) and investment friendly lending. BP is great place to start. Depending on your timeline, might need to have parents co-sign to improve your buying power.