All Forum Posts by: Scott Trench

 HAHA!  Love it.

This is my personal favorite so far!  Thanks Ned!

Thanks for the awesome feedback everyone! As an update, I kind of grouped the responses into a couple of categories so we can see where the "AHA!" Moments come from (:

Some type of "Networking" moment - 18 of you

Some type of "Podcast" moment - 16 of you

Some type of other "Learning" Moment - 11 of you

Someone else's "Success Story" - 2 of you

"Teaching Others" - 2 of you

"My Friends hang out here" (or something like that) - @Ben Leybovich 

Even as someone who spends all day, every day thinking about BiggerPockets and constantly striving to make the community bigger and better, I still have a TON of trouble quickly explaining who and what we are to friends, family, and strangers.

BiggerPockets is so huge and has so much to offer to Real Estate Investors that it sometimes seems impossible to meaningfully describe our platform to an outsider within 30 seconds or so.  We have a network of investors large and small, awesome educational content like our Podcast, Blog, How-To Guides, and of course our incredible forums that have millions of posts - not to mention our books, tools, and the dozens of other resources that we have available.

Here's my challenge:

Can you meaningfully describe the BiggerPockets platform, and all that we are in less than 30 seconds?  How about in 10 words or less?  

I'm excited to see what we come up with.

Having just bought a HomePath property as a first time investor, I have to say that I think that your strategy is somewhat against the point of these rules.  The goal is to encourage homeownership and it sounds like you are deliberately going against the intent of the rules.

The first look program gives people like myself with no experience one advantage of just 30 days to analyze properties - and believe me that makes a difference - to get our feet wet before competing with more experienced investors on future properties.  You guys just move so much faster than first time investors.

Personally, I think you should either buy the place and live in it, or follow the rule as designed and wait your turn.  I think that decision is up to you, but you risk financial consequences, risk future opportunities, and at the end of the day you are gaming the system against first time homebuyers.

Welcome Drew!  Great to see so many more investors here in Denver!  Best of luck!

Hi Payton,

I just invested here in Denver (within the city limits) and I have to say that the growth here is astounding.  Most of the nice areas near Denver won't give you those nice Price/Rent ratios.  That said, the area is growing so fast, and appreciateing so fast that long-term rentals near the city may be a good bet.  It's amazing to see the new buildings, infrastructure, and people that seem to be a constant theme.  Focusing on price to rent ratios in smaller cities and towns in faraway corners of the state might cause you to miss out on where the true growth seems to be occurring - here in Denver.

Hey @Dave Crussel - I recently bought a property through HomePath.  I'd recommend sitting back and relaxing.  It took me almost 3 months to close because every time you ask for a change, you are treated to a two week delay.

Hi Jeremy!  Welcome to the site.  I was in your exact position last year here in Denver, CO.  If you'd like, I'd encourage you to connect with me and I can tell you about the research, networking, and actions that I took to get started  I currently house hack in Clayton neighborhood about 1 mile northeast of Coor's Field.

@Landon Dolezal 

First, I think that you should read through Brandon Turner's epic House Hacking Post here:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/11/02...

I'm using this strategy myself and think that it offers new investors one of the best ways to dip their toes in Real Estate while giving you the ultimate in exit strategies - you can just live in the place a little longer than planned if things work out sub-optimally!

A couple of notes on your specific points:

0% Down may be very difficult without getting super creative. The advantage to house hacking is that you can use owner-occupier financing like an FHA loan. For single families, that can be as low as 3.5%. For a small multifamily (2-4 plex), you will likely need to put down at least 5% or a little over $16,000 in your case for the $325K triplex.

You'll also be paying ALL of the expenses.  Tenants pay nothing for that in most cases.  You are a landlord after all.  The good news is that between the two other sides' rent, you should be able to cover all or most of your mortgage, making your house hack a huge cashflow win over renting or buying a single family.