All Forum Posts by: Ben Rhodin

Hey @Mike C.! Welcome to the space and be prepared to be bombarded by people wanting to recruit you. Personally, I don't believe there are any "investment-minded brokerages", so what is it that you are actually hoping to get out of your brokerage and life as an agent? The biggest difference between brokerages will be splits and fees, and the support you'll get. I personally hung my license at eXp because of the low fees, and good splits and the team I joined when starting out was here so I had to. But am personally breaking off shortly. If you feel that you need in-person support, and more of a traditional brokerage model eXp won't be for you. But if you want low cost, but still have access to that then it's great, as well as all the pyramid scheme programs involved with it :)

Personally, I'll agree with @Dan Guenther, that the actual brokerage won't make a huge difference, it is more about who you surround yourself with. If you want to be an investor-focused agent, then join an investment-focused team, and whatever brokerage they are with. Or just go to whatever brokerage affords you the most flexibility and just start networking with investors and investor agents to build that support system.

As a part-time agent the last thing you want is high desk fees or other junk fees, since you may not be producing a ton in the beggining.

Hey @Chris Arling! Welcome to the community, and you won't find any shortage of info here. If you have already been studying the podcasts and reading some books you should be pretty set up already. I would be cautious about getting stuck in the "learning" phase. There is no replacement for action. 

My personal recommendation would be to look into a house hack for your first purchase. Being in FoCo you'll have some more restrictions to fight through but there are numerous ways to do it. Or if you are willing to move out of FoCo into either Loveland or Greeley, you can get some solid options for lower prices and easier regulations. Get with an Investor minded agent and strategize your goals and current situation to see what is achievable, you'll probably be surprised that you are more ready than you think. The agent will be able to hook you up with a great lender to see where you stand. 

Then just get into something and start investing! Happy to connect and chat, Help numerous investors up in the Noco Market, and there are some great opportunities currently in the market!

Hey @Priti Gupta! Welcome to the community, it is a pleasure to have you! 

Personally, I would definetly think about doing a house hack in the area first. For a few reasons...

1. It is investing on training wheels. If worst case scenario happens you are just paying your own housing expense. 

2. It porvides you the basis of management, the purchase process, and other areas of investing.

3. It is typically the best ROI you will see, due to the better lending terms and low downpayment.

4. You start to build equity and momentum in an expensive market like Denver, which is what builds the wealth, not the cashflow.

A live-in flip is a form of house hacking, so choosing between that and renting out a portion of your house could be done in conjunction. Maybe you but a place with some cosmetic fixes get that done and then rent out some rooms. Or possibly a duplex where you rent one side, live in the other one while you fix it up, and then once that one is done, vacate the other unit, and switch and repeat. There are numerous ways of going about it, and honestly, it will come down to your personal financial situation and goals. If you want to accelerate your savings rate, and open up further opportunities then finding something turn key and renting part of it will be best, to offset your housing expense. But if you'd rather build the equity, learn more, and have a strong financial cushion, then a live-in flip can be a great opportunity.

Happy to connect and strategize further in your particular case. There is no one size fits all, but a house hack will help you get to a place where you can then invest out of state quicker and more confidently. It's not an or question, ask your self how can I do both.

Hey @Alice Huang! Welcome to the forum! Would be happy to connect, I am a local investor and realtor in the area. Sounds like you only have a few more days here. Is there anything in particular that you are wanting to get to know about our market?

Hey @Victor Solomon! Some great information in here already, and yes definitely get started by finding out what you can qualify for. Getting started is always the biggest hurdle.

Definitely speak to a CPA about the cost seg, to best understand the cost vs savings.

Finally, one note on the FHA loan is that you can only have one active at a time. So when it comes to year two and on, you may be unable to purchase another multifamily, without refinancing out of your FHA loan or putting 15-25% down. So keep that in mind, and maybe you want to look at something with value add potential as you'll need 20% equity to refinance out of the FHA loan. You will want to refinance anyway out of your FHA as the PMI stays for the life of the loan.

Just something to keep in mind, that you'll either need to change strategy to a single family, or put more down in year two in order to keep going.

Hey @Denise O'Connor! Welcome to the community. With your Denver property, I would definitely think about repositioning that one. It may be producing solid cash flow, but your ROE will be next to nothing after owning it for 20 years. So either looking at cash-out refi, a line of credit, or selling and 1031ing into a larger easier to handle multifamily may be a great option. Or even a couple of properties.

Happy to connect and chat! I'm also a realtor and investor however down here in Denver and have quite a few investors investing in NoCo. If you want to connect and strategies would be glad to! But I think your best bet is repositioning that Denver property, I am happy to show you how I analyse a sell or keep scenario with clients.

Hey @Andrew Maldonado! Welcome to the great big world of Real estate. You will find no shortage of great info and talent here. Sounds like you are ready to go and have a very relatable story. I've heard great things regarding our neighbor to the north, Cheyenne recently, and I think you may find it a good market to get started in. Otherwise, Colorado definitely has some great opportunities and up-and-coming areas in the northern part if you are a bit more mobile or remote.

I would definitely recommend you dive as much into the resources on here, as well as listen to podcasts, read books, and hit up some meetups. Surrounding yourself with like-minded people is the best way to get started, but remember that there is no replacement for experience, so even if you don't feel ready, I would jump in sooner than later. Personally, I would look for a House Hack first. It will be investing on training wheels and you will be able to minimize your living expense. A great option to minimize your risk, and out-of-pocket expenses :) The first steps would be finding an Investor Agent, and getting to know your local market.

Hey @Chris Desmond! This is definitely a great way to go, however, what is the goal of doing the construction yourself, vs buying something that is pre-existing and either renovating or leaving it as is? There are quite a few A-frames in the area, and you can save yourself the headache, and pain of dealing with counties, cities, and so forth and just get into something and get the cash flow going. 

I have explored this with different clients, and it can be pretty straightforward and easy depending on the county. STR regulations will definitely be the biggest factor. In most cases, if you are doing in mountain areas you will just do septic and a well, instead of connecting to city utilities. Other than electric possibly. The other thing to note is financing can be complicated in these types of deals. You'll need a specialty loan and not a lot of lenders lend on raw land. I do have a lender that has a pretty strong construction loan that could work for you.

With that much equity in your property, I would suggest pulling a HELOC on it and then looking into the next house hack to start. Then you can start planning for that property, from a good stable financial position.

Hey @David Napier! If you want a local here in the area, I am happy to help. Not sure exactly what you are looking for regarding the process, but I assist numerous clients each month in balancing and restructuring their portfolios. Personally, I would look at the properties you have here, and see if it's worth selling, or pulling your equity in another way. Then, find your ideal market and start building a team there to see what returns, and cash flow you may be looking at. Then you can compare apples to apples and see what your best move is. You may find it best to just sell off what you need and 1031 into a larger complex here in Colorado instead. It will come down to your goals and exact portfolio structure. You'll also need to get in contact with a 1031 intermediary to handle all of that. And then work with two solid investor agents in both markets to make sure you can have everything lined up as well as you can!