All Forum Posts by: Ben Einspahr

@JC Leach it is never too late! I had that same challenge with my wife. At first, she was not a fan at all. I would spend countless unsuccessful hours trying to break out the numbers to show the long term benefits. 

The turning point was when she heard it from someone else haha. Now we are a year into our first house hack/vacation rental together and she absolutely loves it.

Ben

I am going to have to second the rent by the room model. It seems to be very successful here in Denver where cost of living is pretty pricey. Plus, renting by the room does not have to be a long term thing. 

The sacrifice you make sharing your living space early on your investing career with roommates pays itself off when thinking long term, especially if your goal is to repeat this process multiple times (buy a home, living in it for 1-2 years while renting out a spare room, basement, or mother-in-law suite to save up money for your next house hack, then turn first property into rental) 

My wife and I are currently on #2. Great way to get your foot in the door with rental property investing. 

Best of luck!

Ben

Great work Laura! Way to think outside the box. House Hacking is an excellent avenue to decrease living expenses and build long term wealth.

My wife and I got our first house hack up and running last summer. We absolutely love it! Ended up doing all of the remodel labor our selves. Relationship building 101 :)

Keep it up!

Ben

Hi Franklin,

My wife and I worked with Chris last year right around this time. Found us a stellar investment property. He was excellent to work and very knowledgeable of the Denver real estate market. Would highly recommend working with him and his team.

Feel free to PM me if you would like to discuss house hacking or our experience working with Chris in more detail.

Ben

Hi @Jesse Park. Chiming in a bit late here. I will have to second @Chris Lopez advice regarding your first house hack does not need to be a grandslam. He helped my wife and I land a great house hack in Arvada earlier this year. We absolutly love it! 

My personal opinion, which I know contridicts a lot of others out there, is if you own a home in Denver with a mortgage under $1000/month, thats a win in my book. Those are the numbers I used while searching in the Arvada area where we currently live and ended up outkicking our coverage by a long shot just thinking outside the box and getting creative! The key is what do the numbers look like after you move out.

Feel free to PM me if you would like to discuss house hacking in more detail over a beer or coffee. I always enjoy networking with likeminded investors!

Best of luck!

Thank you all for the excellent advise. Returning the pet deposit in full and taking any repair costs out of original security deposit  and not referencing anything regarding "pet" is an excellent idea. I do agree, this is a bit of a gray area and good lesson learned on my end as landlord moving forward when signing lease with tenants that have pets.

Hello BP Team,

Reaching out for a little advice needed for some tenant issues we are having.

We are having some tenants moving out that have a pet. They paid their refundable pet deposit of $250 and signed our lease prior to moving in. In our lease we have a section that calls out that tenants with pets have to pay a non-refundable pet cleaning fee of $250 prior to moving out. That $250 is primarily used for cleaning out duct work and any other odds and ends that need to be touched up. This typically is just taken out of the refundable pet deposit.

So here is the kicker, they have documented proof that shows this pet is an “emotional support pet” so they do not need to pay for any cleaning fees as a result of their “emotional support pet”. There has been numerous times when questioning them and they say, I will need to talk with my layer. I personally think this is something they are throw out just so we don’t question them and I am guessing they have never been challenged.

The good thing is we currently hold their pet deposit and initial deposit security deposit. A pet is a pet and whether it is an emotional support pet or just a pet, we are incurring they same amount of damages as owners.

I know this post seems a little bit ridiculous but I am just trying to do as much due diligence on the front end as possible.Thank you in advance for any advise provided.

Ben

Thank you for your service @Jason Reed! I just recently closed on my first house hack in Arvada, CO with the help of @Chris Lopez. He is excellent to work with and very knowledgeable! 

I live right in your back yard and always enjoy meeting up and discussing real estate with like-minded investors!

Ben

@Christian Wilson if you were not already bought in through some of the great feedback you received in this post, I would highly recommend reading Scott Trench's book Set For Life. I actually just closed on my first house hack in Denver, CO. 

Best of luck. Looking forward to seeing your success story in the forums.

Separately,  I actually have rental in Omaha I bought 2 years ago when I lived there for $145,000. My all in was about $15,000 w/ 5% down. Monthly mortgage is $1050/M.

Ben

Hello BP Team,

If anyone is interested getting started in real estate investing in the Denver market, I would highly recommend you contacting Chris Lopez with Your Castle Real Estate! They helped my wife and I turn a "OK" deal, into a GREAT deal!

www.denverinvestmentrealestate.com

Before I dive into the details of the property, I am sure some of you out there can relate that the most challenging part of real estate investing is getting your significant other on board.  Over the years I have always been bringing it up to my wife how much of a benefit house hacking would be for us financially down the road. The tipping point was when she heard it from someone else and was able to see the long term numbers in detail. It was actually at one of Chris' house hacking education classes! (Next one is coming up on 5/21/19 if interested)

So, a little bit about the property:

Listed Price: $425,000

Purchase Price= $435,000

Details= 4 Bed/ 3 Bath. Main living area has 3 Beds/ 2 Bath. 1 Bed/1 Bath 650 SF Mother-in-Law suite above garage. 

Cash invested= $40,000 +/-. That includes $10,000 estimated for rehab cost to a kitchen and bath in mother-in-law suite we will be starting in the next few weeks. Planning on doing most of the labor myself so I am hoping to end up well under that. Estimated completion, 6/1/19.

Estimated Rents= 

Main Level= $1,800/M. 

Mother-in-law= $1000/M for long term lease, or if AirBnb'ing, $1,600/M.

Both of these numbers are being very conservative by listing below market in an effort to get more traffic.

Our original plan was to live in mother-in-law suite and rent out main living area leaving us with a monthly mortgage of roughly $700/M. However, my wife and I made a last minute decision on moving day to move into main level and rent out one of the rooms to family along with renting out mother-in-law suite.

At the end of the day, we will be able to cut our living expenses in half through house hacking and putting me one step closer to my long term goal of quitting my job in the corporate world and pursuing a new career I am actually excited to wake up in the morning for. (As per suggestion in Scott Trench's book, SET FOR LIFT, to achieve F.I.R.E)

I know these are very vague details, but I can not stress enough that none of this would have not been possible if Chris would have not reached out to me. If someone like me can invest in an expensive market like Denver, than anyone can.

Ben