Coming Soon in Lakewood
Inviting 2 Bed / 1.5 Bath Townhouse. 1,036 SQ FT
3135 S Estes Street, Lakewood, CO 80227
Congratulations Emily – First time Homebuyer!
This young lady is only 22 years old and buying her first home. After Covid19 restrictions were lifted we started her search with a quick deadline. I canceled my weekend trip and we got busy, looking at many different homes and neighborhoods. She decided on a property within close proximity to her office where she can drop-in during her lunch break to take her dogs out. The townhouse had been completely updated with large vaulted ceilings and a two-car attached garage. There was a complication with the HOA getting a new roof and an incompetent listing agent but we were able to take advantage of the situation. It gave Emily the confidence to meet her new neighbors during inspection who had nothing but wonderful things to say about the HOA community. Enjoy your beautiful new home, Emily!
Congratulations Kelli on buying your first home!
Buying a home in Denver is not an easy task. I originally met w/ Kelli January. After eight years in her Capitol Hill apartment, she was ready to buy her own place. She is a landscape architect in RiNo and wants a dog, so an outdoor space was important to her. We got bet out by stronger offers on the first two properties she loved and then Covid19 shut the world down. Finally, we were able to get under contract on a house, but the inspection did not go well and she terminated for good reason. We lost one more offer and finally, her journey lead her to the perfect little place biking distance from work, fully updated, with a one-car garage in my favorite neighborhood… Skyland! Welcome to the neighborhood Kelli!⠀⠀
New Listing in Uptown, Denver
New Listing:
1760 N Franklin Street Unit #5 Denver, CO 80218
1 BED / 1 BATH
697 SQ FT
$290K
Charming second story one-bedroom condo in the walkable Uptown neighborhood with an open concept living area and master suite. Admire the historic charm of exposed brick, original woodwork, and high ceilings with modern updates in the kitchen bathroom. The kitchen with butcher block counters overlooks the dining room with sightlines into the living room area. The oversized bedroom has a walk-in closet and en suite updated full bathroom. A shared balcony overlooks Franklin and laundry is right outside the unit door. Bike downtown in 8 minutes or walk to City Park in 10 minutes. Walk to great restaurants nearby including Dos Santos, Humboldt, White Pie, Steuben’s, Watercourse Foods, Potager, and One Fold. Stroll to a different local coffee shop every day of the week; Weathervane, Whittier Cafe, Link Coffee Bar, St Mark, Fluid Coffee Bar, Café Miriam at City Park, and Lula Rose General Store are all nearby. Feel a sense of community with the self-managed HOA and build great relationships with other owners in the building. HOA has banded together recently and tackled sealing the roof, installing a new sump pump in the basement unit, and repainted the exterior. The concrete in the front will be replaced the first weekend in July and they have plans to replace all the windows. Please note that the HOA does not allow AirBnB, owners may have one pet, and there is one community parking space.
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Featured Business Partner – Colorado Joe’s
Colorado Joe’s – Jodi & Joe
Since 2012, Colorado Joe’s has been handcrafting custom cornhole boards, outdoor games, and home decor. They use top quality materials, craftsmanship and our continue to develop new techniques and processes that have made them the number one builder in Colorado and one of the best builders in the country. Each item is custom made which allows you to add your own personal touch to each piece.
I love giving my new homeowners a custom cornhole set from Joe and Jodi if they have a backyard to enjoy the fun game. It is important to support local craftsman and it is also convenient because they live nearby in Park Hill! Looking for a great gift? Go to www.coloradojoes.com
SOLD in Stapleton
This beautiful Stapleton home was sold off-market and closed in two weeks during the Covid19 quarantine period – offer sight unseen. I became aquatinted with the owners by watching their beautiful golden retriever named June. The homeowners have since moved to the East Coast and offered the home for rent on Zillow. They found a West Coast renter who was interested in purchasing the home, so they came to terms and I helped them with the contract and guided them through a transaction for a flat fee. It was a very smooth process and I enjoyed working collaboratively with the seller and buyer through open communication. Let’s meet in the middle…Colorado where East Coast and West Coast come together!
3509 Xanthia Court, Denver, CO 80238
Kassidy Benson, Seller’s Agent
Learn more about this listing
SOLD – 420 Raleigh Street
Taylor initially helped the sellers of 420 Raleigh St purchase in December 2019 with the intention to fix & flip. It was listed at $310k but the property was overlooked due to poor pictures and inaccurate information not counting 800 ft.² in the basement. After a bit of negotiation, they got the property $10K under asking. They were hoping to sell around $450K when they embarked on the rehab. Despite Covid19 they decided to push the market and list at $460K the first weekend showings were allowed in Denver after the “Stay at Home” order was lifted. Taylor created hype around the property through social media along with reaching out to hundreds of agents. Even before hitting the market, the property had an offer at $475k. Raleigh ended up getting seven offers and was under contract within three days. Nothing like it had ever sold at that high of a price in the neighborhood and appraisal came in $20K low. Not a problem because their savvy agent anticipated this obstacle and negotiated that the buyer would pay $20K over the appraised value before they went under contract. The home ended up closing at $495K. Including all renovations, loan fees, and real estate fees, the sellers put approximately $100K into the project and made a profit of $95K within 6 months.
420 Raleigh Street, Denver, CO 80204
Taylor Whitton, Seller’s Agent
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Denver Real Estate Stats: What you should know!
Some information can be misleading. Take this post shared Thursday, June 4th by a very credible organization, the Denver Board of Real Estate Agents. They call this information the “June 2020 Market Overview” but it is important to understand that the data is based on homes closed in May 2020. You may or may not know that once you find a home you love and put in an offer, you are typically “under contract” on that property for at least 30 days giving you a due diligence period before you close. So the homes that closed in May 2020 were put under contract in April 2020. On March 23rd Coloradoan’s were ordered to “stay at home” and by April 8th, all in-person showings were shut down. Real Estate agents adopted virtual showing strategies, but showings did not resume until the beginning of May. So now you know that June 2020 stats should really be labeled April 2020 stats. Now that you understand that our stats are a lagging indicator, you can understand how the graphic actually shows what happened to the Denver real estate market during the “Stay at Home” order in Denver.
I have better sources for my data and I’m on the front lines and I can tell you our real estate market has come back really strong since “Stay at Home”. The graph below shows data from the beginning of the year. Covid19 really started to impact our market mid-March and the worst of it was mid-April. As you can see, by the first week in May we got back on track and closing just started bouncing back last week. That makes sense right? Homes close 30 days after the showing is completed and the contract is signed. Showings started at the beginning of May, so we would expect closing to follow 30 days later at the beginning of June. Understanding that our data is always lagging by 30 days will really help you navigate real estate stats or you are welcome to JUST ASK ME!
My Real Estate Investment Plan
My goal has been to buy a new primary residence every two years in order to own five properties that are all cash flowing $1000/month within ten years. That will allow me to have a passive income stream of $5,000/m and I could have the opportunity to retire in ten years. My strategy requires moving every two years. I do this in order to purchase the property as a “primary residence” so I can put less than 20% down. This makes it easier to save enough money in two years to afford the next down payment. You don’t have to be a real estate agent to execute a similar strategy for yourself.
I’m now on my second home and just concluded my first year of being a landlord. It was a learning experience and I hope my tips above help you create a real estate portfolio that gives them passive income so they can enjoy life, instead of working until they die.
I can help you build your real estate portfolio. Considering keeping your existing home as a rental instead of selling it? I can help you through the process of renting it at no additional cost if you use me to help purchase your new home. Typically I charge one month’s rent for this service.
What I learned my first year as a landlord:
1. Buy darker carpet and doesn’t show stains.2. Leave a print out of the trash pickup schedule for the tenants.
3. Make it clear that weeds exist and when they grow above one foot the tenant is responsible to pull them.
4. Don’t allow renters to put holes in the walls to hang up things. You will have to paint and patch every year. Also, paint all the rooms the same color.
5. I prefer managing myself than having a property management company. A brand new shower enclosure shattered on my renter. She was fine, it was tempered glass. I was able to figure it out pretty quickly and the glass was still under warranty. I imagine if I had a property management company the phone tag required and it makes me dizzy. There is no doubt when issues arise that the property management company is going to call you, so why wouldn’t you just save the money and deal with the call directly from the tenant.
Running a Rental
Over the last two centuries, nearly 90 percent of the world’s millionaires have been created by investing in real estate. Getting started is easy: buy your first house! Growing a real estate portfolio that creates passive income is more difficult. It requires that you play the role of a landlord at least long enough until you understand the role and can hire a property manager.
Eight Easy Steps to Rent Out Your Home
1. PHOTOS – I would start by getting professional photos of your home. Ask your realtor for a recommendation or go with a company like www.virtuance.com that will give you wide-angle images with brightening filters and a floorplan that will make your home stand out online. It is important to plan an ideal time to get photos when the house looks best. Ideally, take photos when the home is furnished nicely, cleaned, and during the Spring months when everything is green. You might use the same photos for years, so it is worth the investment (about $150). You don’t want to try to take photos with messy tenants.2. ZILLOW – Zillow has made being a landlord EASY. In Denver, most rental are not listed by a real estate professional on the MLS and no commission is paid. It is common practice for private landlords list on Zillow which also puts the listing on Trulia and Hotpads. Enter the basic information and upload the photos. Zillow also allows you to upload a “walk through” tour of the home and 3D tours. Once online, you should start receiving inquiries right away. If there isn’t much interest, you need to lower the price. If it is too overwhelming, you priced too low and should consider increasing your rent.
3. SHOWINGS – Pick one time per week in which you will allow showings and stack multiple showings into a two-hour window. You can even set the availability on Zillow. I recommend telling all inquires the showing window is Saturday between 11-1 pm. Most people can accommodate and space them out so you will have a chance to meet all the potential renters to tell them about the home. You are interviewing the caretaker of your biggest investment, so make sure you are asking lots of questions to make sure they are qualified and would be good stewards of your home.
4. SCREENING TENANTS – Zillow has a very nice platform for renter applications and they will also provide and credit report and background check for free. It is important to call a few references if you’re having any doubts about a candidate.
5. WRITE YOUR LEASE – Get a lease from a friend (I’m willing to share mine, email me) or you can find a template online. I would then customize the lease in google docs to make sure it works well for your property. Zillow does have a lease available through “rental manager”, but I found it to be too generic. Make sure your lease covers property maintenance, especially if you own a home with a large yard. You also might consider giving the renters an option: The expectation at the advertised rent amount is that the tenant would handle all lawn mowing, weed pulling, watering, leaf raking, and snow shoveling. However, you would be willing to hire a landscaping service for an additional $100/m.
6. COLLECTING RENT – You should start a separate bank account and LLC for your rental property. Set your mortgage, rent payments, water bill, and any expenses to go through this account and you will have a better experience when filing your taxes. If you are collecting a security deposit, it should be held in a special “escrow” account separate from your operating account. The security deposit is typically required upon accepting an application. Make sure that you’ve established clear expectations if multiple renters are contributing to the rent, the collective rent payment should come from one person in the group in a consistent payment form (establish this in the lease). You can use Zillow to collect rent payments. I prefer ACH direct deposit.
7. ORIENTATION AND WALKTHROUGH – Make sure your tenants know all the intricacies of your home and how things work. Even things like trash pickup. Take time to show them everything so you don’t have random questions coming your way in the middle of the night. You also want to use a walkthrough checklist to document the condition of the property to make sure if anything is damaged it has been accounted for. I like this list I found online.
8. SIT BACK, COLLECT RENT, AND FIND A GOOD HANDYMAN. Questions and issues will come up. It helps if you have good renters, a quality home, and live nearby. Given the monthly income, even if you spend time managing the place every month it is a good deal. The biggest time suck is finding new tenants, so work on keeping your renters happy and you will save yourself time and money.
Making a good investment:
My favorite way to analyze the performance of a rental property is to use the “Cash on Cash Return” equation (see the visual below). When you purchase a home, even as your primary with no intention of renting you should make sure that your mortgage is less than you’d be paying to rent a similar home in the area. If you are buying primarily with the intention of renting, I would aim for 5-10% annual return. The appreciation of home values is just the icing on the cake. You can count on monthly income, you can’t always bet on appreciation. Cash on Cash return over 10% is really good in the Denver market. Below is a simple example of a condo. Need help? We would love to help you find a good investment property.
