All Forum Posts by: Mike Wadsley

Hey @Savannah White - welcome to Denver! The BP community in the area is pretty strong. The tools and info here are great! If you'd like to chat about the market, let me know. I'd be happy to set up some time with you!

You do have to be careful with where the property is in the foreclosure process. Colorado does have pretty specific laws set out in the Foreclosure Protection Act.
https://bronchicklaw.com/color... - Good read by a Colorado expert

Even if you get the homeowner on board, there are some things that they will have to do in short order. Most importantly, you'll need the owner to provide a written intent to cure to the county trustee and get them to make a request of the lien holder to stop the proceedings at least 15 days prior to the sale. If the homeowner has already done this once, it will go to auction. Arapahoe County her in Colorado does a pretty good job of outlining the details. https://www.arapahoegov.com/49...

The pandemic has introduced a whole new set of rules on foreclosures and evictions, including a moratorium on foreclosures through the end of the year. The rules are different if the notice was filed with the county prior to Covid guidelines going into effect. Bottom line, make sure you do your research before going in the door about what kind of loan it is, when the proceedings started and who the mortgage holder is.

I have been successful in the past at knocking on doors, but with COVID-19, I'm not sure that will work. In lieu of talking with someone directly, I have a flyer that I'll place under the doormat when no one answers. Calls always get ignored, so I use them as a follow up to dropping off a flyer at the front door. 

Any way you approach it, you have to present yourself as a compassionate problem solver, not charging a fee. Expect to get told no, a lot. These folks have been approached a lot by now by people promising to get them out of trouble.

Regardless of how you proceed, it is always good to have a local real estate lawyer on speed dial.

There are definitely areas in Denver with more favorable areas for rent. The cap rate in Denver isn't great, but appreciation remain strong. The north and east ends of the metro area are still strong rental markets for investment. Condos and townhomes are still affordable options for getting in the Denver rental market. I do think you'll see rent rates flatten out as more landlords work to keep their existing performing tenants in place and up to date on their rents. Like all cities, landlords are having to keep up on Covid restrictions almost daily. The governor has issued new executive orders across the board, including how non-payment of rent is handled. 

The trend I'm seeing a lot is moving out from the city centers because they don't have to commute as much and need more space for work from home and distanced learning. Denver is heavy on the tech employment industry, so a lot of jobs are able to be done remotely. 

I'm lucky to not have any tenants that aren't paying their rent due to Covid-19 reasons, but I've been seeing a lot of emails from various county governments offering financial assistance for Colorado residents.  With Governor Polis continuing to provide protection for renters through the end of the year, it's nice to know that some of our county governments are stepping up to help so landlords don't completely get the short end of the stick.

For example, check out Douglas County's Covid-19 assistance program.

https://www.douglas.co.us/emer...

Arapahoe County is providing some guidance as well.

https://www.arapahoegov.com/21...

Hope this quick tip avoids having to go down the eviction path for any of you.

We're still seeing appreciation in the Denver market, making for great long term appreciation plays. Because of high property values, cap rates aren't great, but you can still cash flow multi-family properties and vacancy rates are low for well kept units.

@Erin Snow Welcome to Denver! Having moved here from the mid-west almost 30 years ago, I get the allure to get here and never leave! I'd love to connect some time to see you want to talk about what's going on in the market here.

Welcome @Alexander Sadeghi! Cap Hill is a GREAT place to own in Denver! I'd be happy to be a resource to bounce your questions or help you with information about SFRs in Denver. Consider the BRR strategy for your condo. It's a hot area of town and could get you a jump start into other areas. There are a lot of properties that need TLC coming on the market where you could continue to rehab.

Also consider letting someone manage the property for you. I've done that and getting a call at 11 PM about a furnace short cycling was not fun! The cost is pretty low and it will allow you to focus on making money. I always try to prioritize spending my time on those efforts that will make money and let others do the busy work.

Congrats @Matteo Adler on thinking about your future this way. I don't think there is an age for too young to learn about the industry. I'm getting my 12 & 15 year old kids involved in some of the logic for what I do in creating passive income. I wish I had been able to learn what investing in RE early in my life would have done to prepare me for life where I am now. Absorb as much as you can on this site.

I'm guessing that you're talking about a traditional lender. A traditional bank will look at their liability and want there to be a person that could absorb the liability should something go wrong. Some credit unions have a little more relaxed rules. Most HML you talk to will want you to limit your liability by placing an LLC on title while personally guaranteeing the note.

Your lender might have a problem with your approach. Depending on how the note is written, they could invoke the due on sale clause of your mortgage. I'd run that one past a RE lawyer just to CYA.

@Josh Jack - You're definitely picking the most gorgeous state in the union. 

Being a licensed agent has ups and downs. Especially if you're going to be full-ish time, make sure you take a look at your fixed costs are. Getting your license isn't terribly expensive, but all of the bells and whistles can get costly in a hurry. Just know what kind of goals you want to achieve with your real estate business and set your direction from there

It sounds like a work/life balance is important to you. Being an agent will allow you to set your own hours, but your amount of time invested is definitely reflected in your results. My mentor always reminds me that real estate agent work is done on evenings and weekends. Technology makes it not as time consuming in some ways, but it still takes time to build a client base and work your business.

If you do decide to invest and become licensed, there are some advantages to being both. Things like tax advantages aren't apparent on the surface, but could benefit you in the long term.

It's good to have some additional income from other sources, since agents only get paid when we close.

Good luck. Let me know if you want to chat and compare notes.