All Forum Posts by: Account Closed
Account Closed has started 1 posts and replied 34 times.
Post: Tenant wants extension - you will not believe the reason
- Investor
- Aurora, CO
- Posts 34
- Votes 11
Exactly, I cut my losses and moved on, cost of doing business. It was a huge learning experience for me, and looking back there were a lot of red flags with this particular tenant. We were just starting out and made a huge mistake renting to her, but kept positive and found a good tenant instead.
Post: Tenant wants extension - you will not believe the reason
- Investor
- Aurora, CO
- Posts 34
- Votes 11
Post: Denver neighborhoods and architecture
- Investor
- Aurora, CO
- Posts 34
- Votes 11
Hi, welcome to Denver! A few things:
Tonight is First Friday around the Denver area, most notably the Sante Fe Arts District. It's close to downtown, some new construction and some really neat old homes.
As far as other areas to visit:
Tennyson Street is really neat. I actually never even knew this place existed until just recently (I think I need to get out more lol)
http://denver.eater.com/2014/10/27/7076745/is-tenn...
Old South Gaylord (near Wash Park). Lots of cute shops and coffee shops
Highlands/LoHi - Linger and Little Man Ice Cream are fun
RINO - Galleries!
Have fun!
Post: Military Move - Rent or Buy in Denver
- Investor
- Aurora, CO
- Posts 34
- Votes 11
I have lived in SE Aurora for 25 years. Personally, I prefer Denver for properties, but you can still find some less expensive properties in Aurora if you do your research. In my area (Mission Viejo, Meadowood, 80013-14 zip), there are houses that are usually fixed up for around 310 or so. These would be 1970's ranch or bi-level homes. Mission Viejo falls in the Cherry Creek school system, which is a great selling point (schools are wonderful). Meadowood side is Aurora Public Schools and some of the schools are great and others, not so much. I have been trying to figure out that 1% rule too, but I don't think you could apply it to Denver metro because the prices are so high. Even if you purchased in Aurora, you will probably only get max about $2200 or so for a 3 bedroom home. Your market would be middle income, blue collar families.
Aurora has kind of a bad rap for a lot of people. It's really a great city, very diverse, safe, family oriented but there are areas that are "bad" and those are the areas which come to mind when you say you want to live in Aurora.
So, the areas I would avoid would be right around the Denver/Aurora border. You would definitely be able to find homes under 300k and you may be able to find an older duplex (if that is your goal), but I would use caution when investing in those areas as there is lots of crime, not the best schools, etc.
With that being said, they are developing quite a bit around by the Children's Hospital/CU Medical/VA hospital area (around that area and off of Colfax) and I was thinking that might be an interesting area to take a look at. Lots of apartments, restaurants going up like crazy, although you go in a few blocks off of Colfax and it's still pretty rough. I have also heard that the area around by the City Center (used to be Aurora Mall back in the day, Chambers/Mississippi and 225) is really growing like crazy. They just put the new light rail station in and there are tons of condos and apartments going up around that area. Another part to look into is right around by Parker and 225. They just tore down an entire shopping center over there and are in the process of putting up new development. Not sure when or what yet, but with the proximity to the Nine Mile Station, it might be worth looking into.
As you go further south (Southland Mall area), the houses are newer, better schools, more appealing to renters, you will find houses in the low to high 400's. You might get a bit more for rent, but still not going to come close to 1% rule.
If you have any other questions about Aurora, I would be happy to help you. Good luck!
Post: High Cap Rates in Colorado
- Investor
- Aurora, CO
- Posts 34
- Votes 11
My husband and I are small time investors as we only have 2 properties, so I may not be the best judge here... That being said, we live in Aurora, and even though the prices are high in Denver, we opted to purchase something there instead of elsewhere (currently going through a 1031 exchange on both properties). Yes, I would agree, you could probably find something cheaper in places like Fort Morgan or Pueblo, but why would you want to have a rental property so far away from where you live? Since we are very hands on, I want to be able to get to our rentals within 15 minutes max. I also see so much development going on everywhere in Denver, so I am confident that even though the prices seem high now, they will continue to climb. The majority of our renters have been young millennials from both west and east coast and they don't seem to have a problem paying rent.
On another note about the job situation, there are jobs out there. Someone here mentioned Charles Schwab. Why would they leave San Fran and set up office in Lone Tree? Google, Amazon, same thing...Something to think about. If large companies are moving here, they realize this is a great place to find good talent.
Good topic! Does down payment on a property change how the 1% rule applies?
Post: living off rental income
- Investor
- Aurora, CO
- Posts 34
- Votes 11
Interesting topic! My husband and I only have two rentals but we have always dreamed of being able to have more that so we could eventually live off the rental income. How are you all able to get the financing in order to purchase more properties? Since I work full time and manage the properties part time, i usually have to use the bulk of my day job in order to qualify for a mortgage. I have never actually gone outside of conventional financing because I don't know much about how that would work.
Also, what would be a good net return on a rental? I see figures all over the place from $100 per unit and up. Is this the net after all expenses, taxes, maintenance, etc.?
Thanks!
Post: Tips for Real estate investing debt free?
- Investor
- Aurora, CO
- Posts 34
- Votes 11
@Travis Sperr
Right, I agree. I think because the prices have gone through the roof it's very difficult to purchase with little down and get a decent net each month.
When the market was not great, we really struggled with breaking even sometimes. We would get a property cranking along and then get hit with a huge repair which would pretty much take us right back down to ground zero.
I also agree with your statement about town homes and market saturation. This does worry me somewhat but then I see what happened with LoHi and I feel as though as long as our population goes up, inventory is low, then prices should go up. I remember LoHi used to have homes priced so low, now it's insane!
There are areas with lower prices homes. We live in SE Aurora and you can still purchase a property for around 300k. We thought about that route too but being a landlord for awhile, I kind of like marketing to the younger singles in Denver. I also see that even though the purchase price is cheaper, rents are also cheaper. A single family in my area would probably rent for about 1600 or so.
Thank you! Good luck to you as well
Post: Tips for Real estate investing debt free?
- Investor
- Aurora, CO
- Posts 34
- Votes 11
On another note, we purchased both properties in up and coming areas, more risk. First one was NE Denver and back then it was kind of dodgy lol. Getting good tenants was difficult, often ended up with section 8 and lower rents to float the property.
Second property, same thing. Funky area that has started to change over the last few years. Most of the older properties are being torn down in liu of higher end duplexes. Since the property needs work, the only people interested in purchasing it were investors. They will probably keep it rented for a bit and then scrape it.
Post: Tips for Real estate investing debt free?
- Investor
- Aurora, CO
- Posts 34
- Votes 11
Travis,
Sure! We purchased the second property about 8 years ago for $210,000. We are selling it for $415,000. The buyer is an realtor/investor and waived her commission. So net is about $215-220. We have a mortgage on it now at about $180,000.
Purchase price of new property is $490k. Mortgage, party wall agreement, taxes, etc. will bring the mortgage up to about $1900 or so (this is my rough estimate).
New 2 bedroom/2 bath townhomes are currently renting for about $2700 in the area. There are actually two new townhomes half a block away with a third bedroom that are renting for $3300.
Rent in Denver has really gone through the roof. To put it in perspective, when we bought the property (it's a duplex), we got $800 for the upper unit and $500 for the bottom unit. Now we are getting $1400 for top and $650 for bottom (bottom tenant has been long term so kept rent low for her.) Mind you, these rents are below market for the area.
The first property was purchased about 15 years ago for $130k. We currently rent it for $1400 (also below market). It is a 2 bedroom/1 bath.
I want to sell it for about $350 and plop it down on one that is about 400 or so. Rents for the newer townhome should be about $2200 for area. Hoping to get about 600 net per month.
Also, for this property, we started out at about 600 a month and were barely breaking even back then.
We are lucky to live in an area that is growing, this was not always the case.