All Forum Posts by: Mike Wadsley

@Jeff White is spot on. A client of mine couldn't qualify for a mortgage on a townhome, because the HOA was $550 per month.

State wide, the taxing system is the same where residential property taxes are determined by the taxing authorities mill levy. I see that you're in Denver, so that piece is the same as Denver. 

El Paso County has a pretty good breakdown of the local mill levies for the area where your property is located. For your particular property, you can look up the total mill and how it breaks down.

https://property.spatialest.co...

Chances are the taxes won't go up significantly in the near future, but as Erin mentioned, the Gallagher amendment is a bit of a wild-card. 

@Basit Siddiqi - Yes, the state in which you create your entity will determine how your income is taxed in the state where you create your entity. The state of New York puts its hands in everyone's pocket.

Hey @Shane W. Chapin - There are many advantages to starting your own LLC. If you go down that path, there are many flavors of LLCs depending on where you create your entity. Each entity has benefits and drawbacks.

Definitely consider what it does for your tax situation and estate planning. You can save on taxes by having the income coming in to a state with no state income tax. You will have to pay tax in whatever state you're doing business in, but there are ways to mitigate your tax liability. For estate planning, you can leave assets to your heirs through thoughtful estate planning using trusts and LLCs.

My advice is to check out the book "Start Your Own Corporation: Why the Rich Own Their Own Companies and Everyone Else Works for Them (Rich Dad Advisors)" by Garrett Sutton (Lawyer). It was published in 2013, but does a great job of describing the basic premise behind creating corporations and what type to use. It's a pretty easy read that you could get through in a few days. After that, spend a few bucks and consult a lawyer. Books are great, but a live person will give you the best up to date information. I was reluctant to spend money on a lawyer, but in the end, glad I did.  She was able to help me avoid doing some dumb stuff.

Hey @Chai Jonn 

I like visiting Phoenix to visit family, but there is NO substitute for Denver.

There are a number of communities being built in the Denver area. For a SFR, most base model homes start above $400k. There is one community being built in Commerce City that would meet your price range for the base price. They start at $325k The only challenge there is that you'll easily be over $350 for a single family home.

Let me know if you want to talk more about the opportunity. 

In Colorado, writing a letter, often referred to as a "love letter" is strongly discouraged and mist agents don't even share them. Save your plea for pitty and go for pulling other levers.

The biggest thing is to have your agent ask the listing agent what is most important to the seller. A good agent will get on the phone and have the conversations that will make you more competitive. I've been able to win contracts for my clients by offering non-traditional perks in the contract. Throwing money at everything is a tactic that everyone uses. Make sure you've investigated every level that you can pull.  I've offered to pay for a hotel room for the seller until they can get in their new home. Once I even moved up the priority list on an estate sale because I was willing to help the seller take stuff to be donated and rent a dumpster for cleanup.

It's all about helping the seller solve their biggest concern in moving.

Definitely change up your insurance and ask that your friend get renter's insurance, as well. Friends are friends until money or things cause feelings to get hurt. Having something objective between you will help to smooth things out, if things go sideways. Tell your friend that you're protecting everyone.

Breck is way overpriced. I have a condo there, but mostly for my own use and to be able to take a loss against my taxes. For a secondary market, try Steamboat, as well. It's not as accessible from the Denver area, but still great skiing and decent affordability. 

Steve is absolutely correct. The volatility in the price of crypto makes it prohibitive in providing a fixed bid offer on a property that can take at least a few weeks to close. Take for example the cost of bitcoin the past week has gone up over 14%. In this case, the buyer is going to pay more for the property than the original bid. You would have to bid in US dollars and agree to transact at whatever the appropriate price at a specific point in time would be. The logistics would be maddening.