All Forum Posts by: Jordan Lindsay

@Luke Stewart - I definitely agree that it's tight, and would cause a lot of other investors to hesitate on a deal like this. Though the cash may be minimal, the other returns are pretty good, in my opinion, and will help push my wife and I forward much faster than if we had just stayed in our first property (we're profiting an additional $900/mo by moving out of there). That would mean we got this during a very slight downturn in the market and didn't have to fight too hard to get the house.

I can't say there is a very specific plan in place for this property, other than we are extremely flexible and could use a refi, 1031, or other strategy in the future. I have a feeling we'll be able to refinance to a lower rate next year.

Lastly, I'll say, renting by the room has shown far better rent rates than traditional leases and is quite popular in the Denver Metro area. That, combined with renting out the other rooms while we live here, we're able to save up much faster as well as have a pretty low living expenses to mitigate the risk of larger capex situations. Not everyone's situation, by far! I appreciate the input and will definitely keep the risk in mind when budgeting our savings rate. 

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $529,900
Cash invested: $38,138

Single Family Home with 5 bedrooms and 3.5 baths and 2,700 sq ft in Southwest Aurora CO. This is my second House Hack (HH#1 purchased 13 months ago) with a great layout in a popular area. Closed November 2022.

Purchase Price:
Originally listed for $549,000 and falling out of contract a couple of times, we closed at $529,900

Cash Invested:
DP - $26,495
Seller Credits - -$8,000
Total Cash at Close - $31,600
Furnishings and Appliances - $5,000

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We bought our first HH in August of 2021, which was also 5 bedrooms and we were able to rent out the basement while living there. That allowed us to save money quickly to buy this second HH, which has a much better layout for my wife and I. The basement is about 800 sq ft with everything we need and separates us from the main floor (kitchen and living rooms) and 4 bedrooms upstairs. We were also able to rent out all 4 bedrooms within just a couple of weeks, because the area is very popular.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

This was on the MLS (big shock) and we worked with Stacy Rozansky with the Envision Advisors. This was only our second offer put in during our search, and it was an unexpected find on our part. Stacy did a phenomenal job negotiating as well as discussing her opinions and recommendations. We initially offered $15k in concessions, which was decreased to $8k, but then we got nearly 100% items on the inspection report resolved before closing.

How did you finance this deal?

We put 5% down on a conventional loan with monthly PMI. We bought points down using the seller concessions, which brought us below a 7% interest rate... We plan to watch the market and refinance when it makes sense.

How did you add value to the deal?

We chose this property because it was recently renovated and move-in ready, which is unlike our last property. We needed to furnish the shared spaces, and prepare the bedrooms with curtains, but otherwise didn't have to put in as many projects as before. We did, however, have people moving in within the first two-weeks of living there, which made it far more difficult to get everything setup as quickly as we would have liked. We're still in the process of smaller stuff, but we found tenants that

What was the outcome?

We're currently paying around $1,100/mo to live here because we offered lower rents in order to get the rooms filled more quickly in this down-market of a winter. We expect to raise rents to market value within a year. That being said, we're super happy and excited about this deal because it offers a better living situation for my wife and I and our first property will be making $1,700/mo before utilities. This will hopefully lean into us getting a third property in under 18 months.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Here are details of Jordan experienced screening tenants for rent by the room

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Envision Advisors: Stacy Rozansky, Ben Einspahr, Jeff White, Cheryl Lawson
Castle & Cooke Mortgage: Joe Massey, Dawn King
Everyone was simply incredible

Investment Info:

Single-family residence other investment.

Purchase price: $485,000
Cash invested: $14,500

Single Family Home with 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms in Northglenn CO

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

My friend and I have been listening to the Denver RE Investing podcast for years. After he bought his first House Hack in 2019, my wife and I decided we wanted to go the same route.
This house offered a decent layout where we had a large master bedroom with en-suite bathroom and an office upstairs, while we rented out 3 bedrooms downstairs.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

This was on the MLS and we found a Realtor® through Your Castle Real Estate to help us in the process. There wasn't much negotiating, as we were pretty new to this type of business transaction. We did get the furnace replaced before closing, which helped a ton.

How did you finance this deal?

We put 5% down on a 2.75% interest rate conventional loan, with $17,500 in grant credits through Bank of America. This allowed us to invest under $15,000 to acquire the property!

How did you add value to the deal?

We had to do all the typical cosmetic renovations: painting, carpets, and landscaping. We then furnished all the shared spaces and prepared the bedrooms with curtains and a new egress window in one.

What was the outcome?

We lived in this house for just over 12 months before moving into our second (current) HH. The house now cash flows $1,700 before utilities.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

We still have a lot to learn, and are dealing with vacancies in this area this winter, but are extremely satisfied with this property! We learned some valuable lessons in tenant screening and protecting ourselves as landlords, already, so I think we'll see some major improvements to our management and stress levels in 2023.

Hey @Quincy Knighten I am actually in the same exact process myself and saw that same exact Redfin position. Small world haha. I am keeping my full time job until I have held my license for a little while (maybe 6 months) and then jump in full time and work on getting my first RE Investment during that time as well.

I was going to reach out to the online instructor of my RE classes to see if anyone has knowledge of my area and recommendations/referrels for brokers that would be a good start. 

Good luck to you, my friend.