All Forum Posts by: Jeff White

@Nathan Crankfield Fantastic, that's wonderful that you have a plan. Englewood is definitely a hidden gem due to its proximity to so many things, and you will still get plenty of interest on sites like Airbnb and travel nurses too. Are you allowed to utilize your VA loan twice or do you have to switch to conventional loans for your next purchase?

@Phillip Austin For listing the rentals, Zillow doesn't allow roommate style rentals, so you can't use that for listings.

I use Facebook Marketplace, and all the sub groups (ie. Denver Creative Housing, Denver Sublets, Roomies, Roommates, and so on, there are a few good ones)

Also, I use Roomies as well because it is a site specific to finding roommate tenants, and there is a huge demand for it as well, so it is a great alternative to fill vacancies for houses if your owners are open to it and you price it correctly. 

@Nathan Crankfield Congrats on your 1st deal! Englewood is a great spot close to hospitals and Denver, and south Broadway bars/restaurants, so it will be a solid STR in the basement and give you good returns long-term.

Are you planning on living upstairs and just Airbnbing downstairs?

@Phillip Austin I self-manage my properties including some where I do rent by room as a primary strategy, and it is very effective if done well with good screening in place.

The difference is starting with shorter leases for me. 

Because they aren't traditional tenants in the sense with a 1 year lease and to determine fit for the house, I like to start everyone on 2-4 month leases and see how they perform. Do they pay rent on-time?  Do they pick up after themselves?  Do blast music at midnight every night?  Etc. Renting to people that aren't friends can be great, but also, one tenant can make everyone's lives miserable, so that's why I start with short leases in the beginning. 

If they pass that initial trial period, I offer a 6-12 month renewal. 

So far, it's been an effective strategy, and I've gotten some really good returns utilizing it.

I think more property managers should consider it. Surprisingly, you get a good mix of tenants. I've had some blue collar ones all the way up to software engineers and everything in between. 

It would be huge in this market to offer more property management to this tenant subgroup. 

Personally, I enjoy self-managing and screening is my favorite thing, so I'm not in the market for PM services, but a lot of my clients that I work with and other fellow investors would be interested in it.

@Jessica Tse

I would put it in perspective, what are you goals?  What do you want with to accomplish with real estate investing? Can investing in Colorado accomplish it?  Indiana?  Illinois?  

It is a very personal decision, and whatever you decide is the right decision. 

For me, it is pretty simple, invest where you live and don't try to time the market by waiting for the perfect deal. The perfect deal doesn't exist on your first few deals anyway since you are just starting out and learning how to analyze deals, deal with tenants, contractors, etc. 

Also, like Ben mentioned above, you can always purchase a house hack here, and then still move back to the midwest later on and get a property manager to manage it out of state. Or, you could 1031 exchange it into something in the future city that you live in. Lots of options, but the biggest power of house hacking is eliminating or reducing your housing cost. The second best part of house hacking is how it compounds your savings rate by eliminating that housing cost, and getting hands on education on self-managing a property. 

When I first started out, I thought of something similar because I was going to do my MBA out of state and I held off purchasing a property because of that mindset, and eventually, I didn't need to get an MBA, so it was a waste all of those years renting. 

No matter how you look at it, buying now has its benefits, and you can still refinance later on if rates do come down. If you ask any experienced investor, none of them say, I'm so happy that I waited so long to buy real estate. They usually say the opposite, I wish I bought more when I was younger. 

@Jacob Munson An early welcome to Denver!  

Regarding the LLC, check out the Due on Sale Clause in your loan documents for your condo.

Technically, the lender could potentially call the loan due if you transfer title from your personal name to an LLC.

Most likely, you have nothing to worry about, but it is a possibility.

Also, an LLC doesn't provide any additional protection with liability since it is a single member LLC.

LLC don't provide asset protection, tax benefits, or really any benefit that would make it worthwhile to get an LLC.

I like the above poster's suggestion with increasing your liability insurance for your rental before moving to Colorado, and then getting an Umbrella Insurance Policy.

@Jessica Tse

Welcome to Denver!  I'm a local agent here that specializes in house hacking, and it is an amazing strategy that will help you accomplish your financial independence much faster than just pursuing index fund investing.

Since you are looking for single family property , have you thought about finding house with ADU, house with separate entrance, house with mother-in-law apartment?

Based on my experience, those are the most ideal house hacks since you can find more or those properties in Denver metro than just multis.  

Do you have timeframe?  What are you goals?  Live for free ?  Any specific areas ? 

@Jordan Lindsay Crushing it man!  I'm a huge fan of Northglenn, and you setup you and your wife very well with this purchase. Each deal will get better since you have lessons learned from every one, and I'm looking forward to hearing about HH#3 and so on:)

@Jen Girard Hey Jen, congrats on closing on your first house hack!  Welcome to the BP community.  There are lots of ways to handle it, for me, I prefer venmo, paypal, zelle or direct deposit since a have a electronic trail if I ever get audited and it is easy to reconcile books at the end of the year.  No physical checks or cash.

Also, to keep it simple, I have one checking account for rental properties and one credit card for rental properties. It makes it easier again. You don't have to make it hard on yourself.

For screening tenants, I use Turbotenant.com, but more importantly than what screening system you use, you have to verify everything on that application. Screening is what separates the good landlords from the lazy landlords. You have to be great at that. The better you are at screening, the better tenants that you bring in, and the better cash flow you will have long-term. Don't rush that process. 

For advertising for normal rental units, Zillow is the best place to post for a rental ad, especially in the Denver metro area, but I wouldn't just rely on that website, apartments.com, rent.com, redfin.com, zumper and facebook marketplace are all good places too.  You want to cast a wide net to find the best tenants.

@Dan Guenther Hey Dan, I don't have any S8 in Boulder County, but I can speak on Denver County.