All Forum Posts by: Craig Curelop

@Justin Bourn - If you are trying to house hack, I highly recommend the suburbs of Denver. You get more bang for your buck and significantly more cash flow. 

Westminster, Thornton, Arvada, Englewood, Littleton, and Aurora are all places I or my clients have successfully house hacked time and time again. 

@Joe Wang - Multi-family is tough to make work here in Denver. I am not sure about you, but I don't get out of bed for any cap rate below 7%. 

I have found the most success by taking single families, adding mother-in-law suites to them and renting out the main house & the mother-in-law. As an out of state investor, you'll likely make more than $1,500 over the mortgage and cash on cash returns of well over 10%. 

This way you benefit with significant cash flow in a high-appreciating market. Win-win. 

@Eric DeNardo - Wholesaling in Denver is extremely tough. Same with BRRRR. Reason being is that there are a lot of big-time investors in Denver with hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars in cash. So they are able to put down cash with quick closings in ten days or less. Something that newbies just can't compete with... without having major risk.

@Jake Couzens - Denver is a great place! And in my opinion, one of the best places to house hack. I am going on my fourth house hack, have helped hundreds of others around Denver, and thousands of others around the nation! I've never heard anyone regret getting into a house hack. 

It is 100% possible for you to get a house hack with your criteria. You will want something that is pretty turnkey because you won't have much left over for a rehab. 

DTC is a great area and you won't have much trouble getting renters. However, property prices do tend to be a little higher down there. 

You will not be able to get a loan while in forbearance. So... I would recommend continuing to make payments on those student loans if you are able to. 

Hope this Helps! 

@Eric DeNardo - Thanks for starting this thread. There are a handful of strategies that work here in Denver. Some are better than others. It all depends on what you are looking for. For a new real estate investor, here is what I am finding that has worked best. 

1. House Hacking: Maybe I am a little biased here. But house hacking is the best way to get into this market and not be over-exposed. If you don't know what house hacking is, it's when you purchase a 1-4 unit property live in part of it and rent the other parts out such that the rent you pay covers your mortgage and you live for free. This is a strategy that is hard to lose. 

If you are looking for optimal cash flow. The best thing to do is find a large single family home (5+ beds). Live in on bedroom and rent out the rest. Some neighborhoods and houses are better than others. This is where having a good team comes into play. 

If you need to be a little more comfortable. You can always find a place where you live in the top and rent out the basement that has a separate kitchen, etc. That way... you have your own space. 

2. Rental property -- same as above, but you don't live there. You will need to put 20% down (instead of 3% to 5%), but that strategy works well. 

3. BRRRR/Flips - Hard for newbies to get into in the Denver market. It's very competitive, there are a lot of cash buyers, and a lot of ways to go wrong.

Hope this helps! 

@Carolyn Chupa - Congratulations on going under contract!! I do agree with @Matt M. that your agent should be helping you with this process. Otherwise, they are simply getting paid far more than they deserve. I presume that he or she is and you are just asking for added advice from the community. Here are my responses with deal breakers in bold:

• Install gutters - If there are no gutters at all? This is a must. Can be costly (~$2,000 to fix) and you don't want water pooling around the foundation. 
• Cracks in brick- need to get a structural engineer to come and look -- This usually isn't a big deal. But try to get the seller to have a structural engineer come out to confirm. If they don't agree to getting one out there, it might be worth you doing. $350 for a structural engineer is worth the peace of mind and/or knowing you won't have a $50k+ expense down the line. 
• The foundation is partially visible from areas of the crawlspace- need to have structural engineer look at this -- Same answer as above. 
  
• "Medium cracks" in sewage line -- This is a big problem. Could be an expense up to $10k to excavate and dig up the sewer line. Not to mention, the repair would add little value to the property. I would have the seller fix. 
• Plumbing supply lines consisted of multiple materials to included galvanized pipe and potentially lead pipe - I would have the seller replace these as well. However, if they are serviceable right now, you may have a hard time convincing them. 
• Water heater 20 years old - Try to get them to replace. May have a hard time if it works. - About $1,500 installed. 
• Furnace is 20 years old - Try to get them to replace. May have a hard time if it works. - About $3,000 to $4,000 installed. 
• There is a negative slope at one side of the home that increases the potential for water pooling - This is a pretty easy fix. You can ask for it, but definitely don't think it will be a deal breaker. You just add some landscaping to make the slope positive. 

Hope this helps! 

@Sheronda Nichole Williams - $135k will not get you very far in the Denver metro area. You might be able to pick up a one-bedroom condo in Aurora that is not updated and not in the best area. I would try to find a lender that can help you qualify for a little more! If you can get a signed lease before closing perhaps? 

@Jason M. - If you are looking to house hack. Then I would recommend keeping money reserved for a down payment on the house hack. You won't get a better return doing anything else. 

If you are going for a traditional rental (25% down), your return is going to be much lower. If that is the case, I would pay down the high interest loans first. Especially if this is your first investment. You don't want to be over-leveraged. 

@Jason M. - I use @Linda Weygant and she is great! Really knows her stuff about real estate. 

@Priyaa Kalyanaraman - I moved from San Francisco to Denver in 2017, started investing in real estate and never looked back! Three years and (almost) four properties later in Denver and I am financially independent. 

The process isn't as hard as you think as long as you have the right team of people and are willing to make some sacrifices over the next couple of years.