All Forum Posts by: Logan Chierotti

If you want to go conventional then your gonna need to look at your tax returns and see what your writing off that could be lowering your Income. While it's great to pay less taxes it also makes it so you can borrow less. Lenders will base your DTI off your tax returns, credit report and pay stubs. Sometimes just paying off a credit card or not writing off certain expenses on your tax return will bump up your income.

you're never too young! I started when I was 20 or so and I looked 16, the hardest part was no one took me seriously cause how young I looked but I pushed on and proved the na sayers wrong. You're better off starting young then old my friend 

@Tyler Stephens that's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is; all those cranes and high-rises you see going up are being built by big hedge funds and REITs that have done extensive market research, paid hundreds of thousands of dollars on research to tell them what cities will return the biggest return on their investment, they've chosen Denver. Usually wise to follow the big players.

MMJ has brought a lot of people to Denver, just as technology brought a lot of people to Silicon valley. Just because technology spread to other states doesn't mean Silicon valley real estate slowed down any. Denver and Colorado have solidified themselves as the pioneers in the pot industry and I think MMJ companies and entrepreneurs will continue to come to Colorado for these opportunities.  

I also don't think MMJ is the only reason people are moving to Colorado at rapid rates. It's part of it, but not all of it. People no longer have to live and work in NY, Chicago or San Fran to have a good job. With the majority of companies now allowing people to work remotely, people can choose to live in places like Colorado that have a better quality of life at a cheaper cost. People are moving here from NY and CA and Denver is inexpensive to them. They're able to enjoy the outdoors, mountains and ski etc. I believe Colorado has much more going for it then just MMJ. 

Companies like Google and Twitter are opening offices in Boulder. Colorado is becoming a place people want to live.

Thats my two cents!!

Originally posted by @Jared Bouzek:

@Tom Horan I think you will find it difficult to time the ups and downs of any market. If you have a long-term investing perspective, I would anticipate that you will benefit from the growth of Denver over time. We have a great economy that is attracting many employers to the area. Plus with our current rate of population growth and lack of housing inventory, I don't see a pull back in prices on the near horizon. 

Since you're looking for a place of your own, you might consider house hacking a multifamily property where you can rent the other units out and cut costs by self-managing.

I agree with Jared,  you're only 28 buy and hold. Forget about timing the market, not likely you will ever see another 2008 in your lifetime. That was the biggest recession we've seen since 1929, if you look at the grand scheme of things, we're just crawling out of that recession. The market it's only been 6 years since 2010 when things started to flatten out. Barring any major war, we are at the very bottom of an upward trend thats likely to continue for 20+ years at least. 

Buy, hold and forget. Denver has a lot of growth ahead before we see any cooling off or market dips. People sitting on the sidelines now waiting for a 10 or 20% correction are going to be kicking themselves in 15 years when prices have gone up 100%+.  Timing the markets is a suckers game. Put yourself in the position to buy now and buy if the market comes down (unlikely anytime soon). 

Speaking from personal experience of having lots of liquid cash after selling a business. I would recommend taking your time and finding niche rentals that can generate good monthly cash flow with long term appreciation. I got into buying vacation rentals and some other niche rentals. I generate over 15% returns on my rents and am getting another 3% to 5% return in appreciation. Don't jump into anything to quickly. Go to some local real estate investing groups, don't tell people you have that liquid cash. Ask around for what type's of rentals are generating the most returns etc. 

Use loans to leverage your buying power, but keep yourself in a comfortable position. Thats my two cents.

I personally converted several of my long term rentals into vacation rentals. If you have the time and are capable you don't need to hire a property manager. That being said, the vacation rentals require a ton of work and time. You need to be prepared to communicate with guests regularly, coordinate cleanings, make sure the house is stocked with clean sheets, towels, toilet paper, paper towels etc. 

I make more $ on my vacation rentals, but they also require much more work. 

It depends on the area you're in. I personally converted a condo I was renting long term into an Airbnb and get double the $ that I was getting long term.  That being said, the Airbnb is a ton of work. It's like running a hotel, you have to schedule cleanings, checkin's and checkouts, make sure the place is stocked with supplies (toilet paper, coffee, paper towels etc) and communicate with guests. If you have the time to manage the Airbnb and you're in a heavily populated good area it's probably worth it.

I would recommend researching what others in your area are charging per night and how booked out they are. The more people you're able to sleep the more you can charge. If you can get a sofa-bed in the living room that will allow you to sleep 2 more people which allows you to demand a higher nightly rate. 

Good luck

Hi Timothy,

I personally own several vacation rentals, they require a lot of work as compared to long term rentals. It's similar to running a hotel, it's more work then most think. I would personally recommend getting started in long term rentals and then moving into vacation rentals. 

I agree with others on checking the local ordinances, I believe Chicago has some strict laws regarding vacation rentals. 

If you're going to get hard money, hire a lawyer to review the contract. A lot of hard money guys put things that can negatively effect you in the contract. For example I have a friend that does hard money loans, in his contract he can call the money due at any time. This is good for him, but not for the borrowers. Spend the money on having a lawyer review your hard money contract. Hard money lenders aren't regulated like regular lenders.

I personally had a terrible experience with Smartmove. I recently rented to a tenant that Smartmove showed only had 1 arrest for possession of MMJ. Months after renting to the tenant and having nothing but problems we ran a background check with the state, the tenant has an 8 page criminal record with over 8 arrests, somehow SmartMove managed not to show any of this. I personally will never rely on SmartMove again and would highly recommend against this service.