It started in 2018
The first house I ever bought
In November 2018, I bought a ranch style house in Arvada, CO. It was my first house to house-hack by renting out the basement that was completely finished with it’s own separate entrance, full kitchen, and it’s own washer and dryer that’s tucked under the stairs.
It was a great starting property to buy, rent part of it, and save up for the next house-hack to kick off my real estate investment journey. I was paying very little mortgage payments with the help of my roommate and tenants and saving up for my next house.
I remember being so nervous when I bought my first house. I decided that I’m ready to close on the first house after a year of attending every free real estate course I can find in the Denver area. I also read some helpful investing books that helped me feel more at ease.
Luckily, my landlord who I became friends with at the time was working with a Real Estate team that offered free classes on different real estate investing strategies. She referred me to: Denver Investment Real Estate that is now expanded to be called REICO.
House No.2
The second house I bought in Denver, CO
Fast forward two years, it’s 2020, in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic, like many other, I did not travel or spend much money so I saved up enough money to put a down-payment on this cute Yellow/green Denver bungalow. When I went to see it in person the first time, I was very worried. The house looked dated inside and out and needed lots of work.
I wasn’t sure if I can take on this big challenge. It was a 3 bedrooms 2 bath house and needed a bit of work. Especially for my second house hack. I then walked outside the house and walked around the neighborhood and immediately saw the potential. An excellent neighborhood, great house structure from the 1920s, and a nice layout for a future rental. The house was getting ready to be posted on the MLS, so it was under the “coming soon” status with an asking price of a bit over half a million at the time. So I decided to make an offer and it was accepted!
The basement of this bungalow was partially finished with one new full bathroom and a new bedroom. So over the two years of living in this house, I slowly started finishing the basement. I also renovated the bedroom upstairs, painted the living room, kitchen and cabinets, the office, and the two bathrooms. I moved in the basement the first few months to get the upstairs renovated first. We’re still in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic so I was barely socializing with anyone, we played boardgames with few of our friends so on my abundant free time I would work on the house. Here’s the kitchen before and after painting:
By then, my partner moved in with me and helped me with my mortgage payments as my renter/tenant. He’s also a landscape designer and I love gardening and collecting house plants as a hobby, so we both teamed up to give the yard of this cute bungalow a makeover!
We spent two summers planting new plants, reorganizing the yard, installing drip system, reviving the lawn area, and pruning the shrubs. We expanded the succulent rock garden in the front to minimize the water needs and maintenance. It did not feel like work, rather a fun project and an enjoyable productive pass time. It’s nice when your hobbies align with your goals. It doesn’t always happen! Here’s the front of the house in the summer of 2022:
Second House After installing the succulent rock garden
“Success is the sum of small efforts – repeated day in and day out.”
-Robert Collier
House No.3
The third house I bought in February, 2023
I got to know the neighbors in the new house and I noticed that the house next to me was vacant. I was watering the plants outside when I saw the owner of the vacant house next to me just enjoying his backyard one day, so I started talking to him.
I learned that it’s his parents house and he was taking it care of it but not living there. The house was vacant for at least a decade and at the end of 2022, the owner posted it for sale. It was well over of my price range so I didn’t really pursue it. Then the “For Sale” sign went away and no new owners showed up.
I called my neighbor to ask him about the house and he said that he didn’t get any offers he liked and he wanted to get the house sold, since he already did the estate sale and was having some health problems. So I mentioned that I’m interested in buying the house from him and that I was pre-approved for a loan amount that is significantly less than asking. He texted me to just make him an offer that morning and in the afternoon, the offer was accepted! I couldn’t believe it at first.
This is now House No.3 in my house hacking journey and it continues.
The third house has 3 bedrooms and one bath only on the main level and a late 70s finish in the basement, a perfect set for the show Stranger Things on Netflix. I’m planning on renovating the basement space as soon as I save up enough in the future. Buying houses is an expensive process, but buying older homes that need work can be expensive and very overwhelming.
I used a Home Equity Line of Credit or a HELOC to place my down-payment on this house. As a W-2 worker, my company offered Employee Stock Purchase Plan or ESPP, this plan allows the employee to purchase company stocks at a discounted rate. So I used the ESPP offered as additional funds to do some renovation on this new house. I’ve replaced all the old carpeting in the main level as it was old and smelly and the fir hardwood underneath was full of permanent stains. Here are some before photos:
I did not do the flooring work myself, that’s a lot of work, I got 3 quotes from 3 vendors and decided to go with Express Hardwood Floors since the move to the new house was time sensitive. They did a good job overall and in timely manner which is crucial. I had to get this house ready quick to move into and move out the old house for the new tenants to move in. That part was very stressful. I also painted the walls soon after but I took some photos before the walls were painted as well. Here’s how the new flooring looks now (after photos):
Moving to the third house and renting out the second house had to be done within two months or less. So this time period was extremely stressful but with proper planning ahead of time and a good attitude we managed to pull through.
I’ll be sharing my ups and downs in this journey in future posts to document the challenges and for others like me to learn from my mistakes.
Thank you for reading!
