Jake Collins, who had just moved in to Denver a year ago, have already fostered his opportunities as a short term rental host. This goes to show that with the right people who can contribute to your mindset growth, you could step out of your comfort zone and pursue the career you’re eyeing on!
In this episode, Ian Jimeno gets to be with another outdoorsy person who had an amazing roster of recommendations, from activities to food choices. Moreover, the duo also delve onto the nature of short term rentals and the process that goes behind it. So stick throughout the episode and ease any holiday blues in the mile high lands of Denver!
Key Takeaways:
[00:04] The wonders of lake Evergreen: Jake introduces his love for hockey!
[08:38] Why is Denver worth settling in?
[18:50] Jake’s mindset shift from ripping through to seeking a real estate guru
[28:36] Ian and Jake talks about testing the waters prior acquiring a first property
[37:07] Set the stage towards being short term rental hosts!
[41:50] Jake shares his efficiency on utilizing direct bookings
[45:13] On building rapport with other realtors: Ian’s encouragements on meetups
[51:04] Crunching Jake’s numbers with short term rentals
[52:49] Ian looks back on what made him stay in Denver
Resources:
Stay in touch with Ian Jimeno and Jake’s social media handles. Make sure to follow them for more real estate with a dash of lifestyle goodness!
Jake Collins
Jake’s Instagram
StarDrop Properites
StarDrop’s Website
Ian Jimeno
Jake Collins, who had just moved in to Denver a year ago, have already fostered his opportunities as a short term rental host. This goes to show that with the right people who can contribute to your mindset growth, you could step out of your comfort zone and pursue the career you’re eyeing on!
In this episode, Ian Jimeno gets to be with another outdoorsy person who had an amazing roster of recommendations, from activities to food choices. Moreover, the duo also delve onto the nature of short term rentals and the process that goes behind it. So stick throughout the episode and ease any holiday blues in the mile high lands of Denver!
Key Takeaways:
[00:04] The wonders of lake Evergreen: Jake introduces his love for hockey!
[08:38] Why is Denver worth settling in?
[18:50] Jake’s mindset shift from ripping through to seeking a real estate guru
[28:36] Ian and Jake talks about testing the waters prior acquiring a first property
[37:07] Set the stage towards being short term rental hosts!
[41:50] Jake shares his efficiency on utilizing direct bookings
[45:13] On building rapport with other realtors: Ian’s encouragements on meetups
[51:04] Crunching Jake’s numbers with short term rentals
[52:49] Ian looks back on what made him stay in Denver
Resources:
Stay in touch with Ian Jimeno and Jake’s social media handles. Make sure to follow them for more real estate with a dash of lifestyle goodness!
Jake Collins
Jake’s Instagram
StarDrop Properites
StarDrop’s Website
Ian Jimeno
Jake: Hi there. I'm Jake Collins. I'm a short-term rental host and hockey player. My favorite Denver activity is pond hockey on Evergreen Lake.
Ian: Hey, that is not a bad gig, Jake. I mean, as far as like hockey itself, I've never played hockey. To be honest, I don't think I'm that great on blades. I find it to be counterintuitive for, I guess, myself. Why there specifically as opposed to any other lake in the mountains?
Jake: That's a great question. It's really the lake I've spent the most time on. It's close to Denver. It's only a 30-minute drive. There are quite a few other lakes you can play pond hockey in in the Denver area. But you may have to get all the way up into Breckenridge and Keystone area, which is about an hour and a half. No traffic. Usually, you're fighting the ski traffic to get up there. Whereas people aren't exactly skiing in Evergreen. So, it's about as short of a drive as you can go and still get good ice that's well taken care of for most of the year and get into some pond hockey, which is always a great time.
Ian: I love it. For those that are not familiar — I don't know what they're listening to right now — this is the Invest in Denver podcast. Thanks for listening. I have Jake Collins here, and I'm really stoked to get the conversation going with him.
I want to go back to that hockey situation. I know you, yourself, you've been playing hockey it sounds like for all your life. You coming from the Alabama scene, people don't usually tie hockey to Alabama. So, what really got you into the hockey scene?
Jake: Yeah, great question. I get that one a lot for that exact reason. I actually grew up a little bit all over. I lived in Ohio, New York, Alabama. Then I went to college in Alabama, then Texas, then into Colorado. When I was growing up in upstate New York, we were about three hours from the Canadian border. So, hockey was the football equivalent for Texas. That was what it was in upstate New York. So, it was what everybody played. It was cold most of the year, so you could play it a long time. That's what got me started.
Then I did end up playing club hockey in college for Alabama. I throw that club in there because I was not NCAA. I was good, but not that good. I enjoyed it. I got to play there for four years. Now I play beer league, where all hockey players' careers go to die slowly. I'll be doing that for the next, hopefully, 30, 40 years and getting out on frozen ponds whenever I can, just play as much as I can.
Ian: Let's go back to the whole Evergreen scene as well. I know we're sort of going back and forth. But the main tie between the two is hockey.
Jake: Sure.
Ian: How did you even find this place? Did you maybe find a couple of people that were like, "Hey, I know a sick spot. You should go with us."
Jake: Yeah, that's a great point. I actually found Evergreen by accident. I looked at a lot of the other more famous pond hockey tournaments where people travelled in from all over the country. Those were all booked up. So, I ended up stumbling on Evergreens for a tournament. I just went up there with some friends that flew into town. We went up and had the tournament there. Immediately, just how close it was, how beautiful the lake is up there.
We actually kayaked in that lake not long ago in the summer. It's as beautiful then as it is when it's frozen. But we found it by accident and just loved it ever since. I love the city, city town of Evergreen. Beautiful downtown area with like — it's really cool small mountain town. But like I said, I just love that it's so close to Denver. You feel like you're in the mountains. You're surrounded by nature. There's elk going through the city at all times. Just being that close, it's really been awesome.
Ian: I know you're sort of being on the humble side with saying 'club hockey' versus the collegiate status. But I've seen some pictures of you with the actual Roll Tide uniform. You looked pretty legit on the ice with the official A and everything on there. What was your experience like that over in the Alabama scene, and just college in general?
Jake: Yeah, I love Alabama Roll Tide always. It was just a fantastic place to go to school, but it's actually a really great place to play hockey as well. We were in the top division of club hockey that you can play in. We were fortunate and unfortunate. Our rink, our home ice rink, was about an hour from campus. So, it was a real pain to drive to practice in games.
But because it was an hour from practice, we were in the city of Birmingham. There's no professional sports in Alabama. There's only college. So, there are just diehard college sports fans everywhere. So, we actually ended up getting a cult following in Birmingham just for being Alabama. We would play Auburn every year for like a three-game tournament. We'd have 7,000 or 8,000 fans per game at those games. It felt like a real — I mean, it was a crazy atmosphere. You don't think hockey when you think Alabama, but it's a really great place to go for it.
Ian: Yeah, no joke and the only hockey that I was really into at the time. I'm from San Diego. The hockey team over there is the goals. You have some really diehard fans over there. I did not realize — I remember going to a game. I don't know if this is true for every hockey game going forward or whatever anyone else's experience. I've only gotten to one in my whole life.
Let's say, you go up to go to the bathroom, and you want to go back to your seat while the game is going. They do not let you go back to your seat. So, there's some sort of pause penalty. I don't know if there's timeouts.
Jake: Yes.
Ian: I had no idea. I was like, "What am I doing here?" Everyone was just fixated in watching the puck the whole time and not giving me the time of day until a goalie caught it or something happened. So, that is the thing, it sounds like. Yeah?
Jake: Yeah, that's funny. One of those things, I wouldn't have thought about. But yeah, you're absolutely right. It's because the actions, it can go on two, three, five minutes without a whistle. It's so fast paced that if somebody walks in front of you, you can miss a goal or something like that. Where football, it's like three hours long. But I think they only play 15 minutes of actual action in that time. I love football. Don't get me wrong. But it's much easier to get up and down watching a different sport.
Ian: For sure. Most of the time, people are chilling and drinking beers. Anyways, we're waiting for the next play.
Jake: Exactly.
Ian: With that being said, I know you're a hardcore hockey guy. So, you stoked for the Avs. I'm sure you were stoked with them winning the cup.
Jake: Yeah, it was awesome. I moved to Denver a year ago. I said I was going all in on the Avs because in all the states I've lived, I've never really lived in a hockey town before. So, I lost my hometown who I would root for. I just have to point out, I went all in on the Avs before they won the Stanley Cup, not after they won the Stanley Cup.
I love going to Avs games. No better hockey to go to. Denver, in general, Denver University won the NCAA Hockey Championship last year. I think that was the only time that's happened, where the college and the professional won the Stanley Cup and the national championship in the same year. So, pretty cool. Pretty good time to be a hockey fan in Denver.
Ian: No joke. What a time to be alive in general. That's sweet, man. It sounds like you were here not too long ago. Maybe if you could give us a quick synopsis of — I know you mentioned that you grew up in several different places — maybe how long did you stay in each of these places? What eventually led you to Denver?
Jake: Yeah, great question. Growing up, my dad actually ran amusement parks. Kind of a weird job, but we traveled a lot. We traveled around a fair bit because of that. I was in New York till I was about 12. Then we moved and did a couple years in Alabama, where my older sister ended up going to Alabama.
Then I was about at middle school, we moved to Ohio. I went to high school there. That's where I call home. That's where all my family is from. So, I lived there through high school and college in Alabama. Then I spent about three years in Houston. I really loved Houston. It was a great city. But after a few years in Houston, the biggest complaint is there's no nature whatsoever. It's just 100 degrees in the summer, humid, hot swampy. Everything you could want in a major city from sports and theater and everything like that and the food there is unparalleled. It's probably the best food city I've ever lived in.
But we were ready for something new. My, at the time, fiancé, and a group of our friends actually made the trip up here to Denver just for a weekend trip. My now wife and I just fell in love with it. We were like, "As soon as we can, if we're looking for a new job, Denver is going to be at the top of the list for where we're going to get to look." That opportunity came along, and we took it. We moved to Denver and have not regretted it for a minute. So, it's been great.
Ian: What year was that?
Jake: We moved in August of 2021.
Ian: Oh, for sure. So, about a year.
Jake: A year ago, yeah.
Ian: Wow. Look at you. All right. I came by in August of 2020 during COVID. It was a struggle making friends at the time.
Jake: I could imagine.
Ian: At the time, too, I was into real estate and investing and all that good stuff, which I'd love to talk about with you later on in the episode. But at the time, when I moved to Colorado or moved to Denver, I know the beer scene was almost unparalleled. San Diegans will fight me for this. But I will say that, me growing up in San Diego, a lot of the beers, there's some A top notch consistently great beers that are like award-winning.
But then, you get these some microbreweries that like to take their chance in beer. They are — for lack of a better term, they're just not as good. I know with Denver, there's something about the water. There's something about the elevation or something about that where the culture just ingrains itself in the beer.
Consistently, no matter what brewery I've been to, it seems like it's just been a solid B, B plus or higher. I've never seen any that have been C or C minus or lower or something like that. Is that something you can attest to? Because I know you love your beer around these parts as well.
Jake: Yeah, I do. You're absolutely right there. I don't know how many years I would have to live here to be able to hit every brewery in town. It's a very long time. I've never seen so many breweries in such a concentrated area. Yeah, every one I've been to, they all have something going for them, whether it's amazing beer or in a hole in the wall type, strip mall type venue, or just an amazing spot overlooking the mountains with less good beer. But just you don't care because it has amazing views of the mountains. Yeah, I would agree. There's tons of really, really good beer and no shortage of options.
Ian: The moment that you said even if the beer is not that great, the view is stellar, right? Although their beer is great and the view is stellar, I am a huge advocate for New Terrain over in Golden. It sounds like you're nodding your head. Yeah?
Jake: Yeah, definitely. I have their hat somewhere around here. They have great hats, too.
Ian: It's a great spot. They got a bunch of food trucks, dog-friendly. They got outdoor patios. I think sprinklers were on, where overhead, they have those misters. They accommodate for everything over there, and the kids love it as well. Definitely go check out New Terrain, guys. Is there any other breweries that you would recommend newcomers, or just something that you're a fan favorite of?
Jake: I'm sure we'll talk about it a little later. I live in Arvada, which is a suburb on Northwest. There's this awesome area called Olde Town Arvada. Tons of restaurants. It, itself has two breweries, which I believe are both offshoots, like a second location of other breweries. But I love Denver Beer Co, and I love their — what is it? Denver Gold is probably my favorite beer in Denver so far. That would be my recommendation for sure after New Terrain. New Terrain is amazing.
Ian: Yeah, no joke. I've never tried that place before yet, but I have been in Arvada's Olde Town. There's this pizza place on one of those popular corners. I forgot what it was exactly, but it was like prosciutto, arugula, and some sort of olive oil dressing with it too. It was amazing. That combination, I've never even tried before. But it was stellar pizza.
Jake: Yeah, very interesting. I think that's Homegrown Tap & Dough. It's their name. They have some really cool, really good pizza.
Ian: Nice. I dig it with the beer and the food. The last thing that we need to talk about with the whole Denver scene is the activities and the outdoors. I know with you being a hockey guy, especially playing pond hockey during the winter, and going kayaking and things like that, there's so much to do in the outdoor scene activities.
People see Denver just being as a mountain town. If I were new to the town, I need to know what is out there. I don't want anything too strenuous just because I'm not used to the altitude or something like that. This isn't me personally. I like to go hardcore.
If I was new to the scene, let's say coming from Houston where you're close to sea level, now you're a mile high, right? If I was looking for something a little bit less strenuous but something with spectacular views, is there something that comes to mind when I mentioned that?
Jake: Yes, absolutely. I'll give you two just because. The one hike that we did that literally convinced us to move here was when we visited — we went into Boulder. It's called the First and Second Flatiron's trail. It's right above Boulder. It's the Front Range, so it's the first mountain you can see from the very flat part of Denver. We did that trail. It's like two and a half, three hours. It's basically the same elevation, as Denver is so not — we were still huffing and puffing from flying in and doing it the next day. I would definitely recommend that one.
Then if you want more of a completely surrounded-by-mountains feel, we recently did one. I think it's pronounced Berthoud. Berthoud Falls. It's right up I-70. It's about an hour. It's a six-mile round trip, but you can basically go up a mile and you're at the peak. Then you walk along this ridge line. It has some of the most beautiful, beautiful views I've seen yet. Though we've truly never had a bad hike in Denver, they're all — you can't go wrong.
Ian: I can truly attest to that, to be honest, especially with the Flatirons. You being so close to Boulder, as soon as you get done with that, go straight into town, and enjoy the food scene over there. Pearl Street is excellent. Especially if there's a farmers markets going on, there's really not anything bad to say about that scene. Maybe just parking. It's the only thing that I can think of.
But during the wintertime over in the Flatiron area, sledding is huge over there, too. That was the first time I did legit sledding. Usually, it's just like snowboarding or going to the resorts or whatever. I had so much fun just not bringing that much gear, but just going down and having a good time. Have you done something like that over there?
Jake: No, I think my eyes went a little wide when I heard about it. That sounds awesome. We've only sledded all the way up in Breckenridge or something like that. But now that you mentioned it, that area, I can picture exactly what you're talking about. It'll be amazing for sledding.
Ian: Yeah, pretty close to the base. There's not that many trees. It's not like anyone's breaking their arms or something like that. The first people, after the powder, they make that trail for you. So, it's a really nice scene. Of course, you write when you're done. You're pretty much in the parking lot too. All right. I'm done. I get to go eat after this. It's kind of nice.
Well, outside of that, I would love to just talk about the real estate journey that you've had so far. I know we've met a couple times through Blake Street, with the FI Team meetups and things like that. I guess, before we get into your properties and why you started real estate investing, I want to hear what was that mindset change? I mean, it's not every day that you run into someone that's like, "You know what? I will invest in real estate. There's some sort of catalyst that gets you to that point. Was there anything that you can attribute that mindset to? What was that like?
Jake: Yeah, that's a great question. Thinking back, even back when I lived in Texas, it's probably been a good three, four years now that I've had the full-on real estate bug. I think what happened was, in college, I actually got an engineering co-op, which essentially means that you go to class for two semesters. Then for one semester, it's a bit more involved internship where you get paid like an actual employee, and you work 40 hours a week for a semester. So, it extends out your graduation date by about a year. But you get that real-world work experience.
I was doing that in college. I did that for a full year. I think doing that for a full year and then going back to school and living on campus, I spent maybe all about $1,000 of it in one year. So, I was just ripping through. In hindsight, as college, do I regret it? No, I had some great times. But it was not a sustainable lifestyle for sure. I think I just was looking into — originally, the thought was like, "How do I make more money? Then is there a way to get ahead of this equation of just spending everything I make, and having a great time but not really getting anywhere?"
I somehow stumbled on a number of podcasts. I think I actually first found Set for Life, the book by Scott Trench from BiggerPockets. In there, he casually mentions BiggerPockets. I got just obsessed with the podcast there. Basically, that was four years ago. So, that was really the trigger that got me into it. Ever since, I've just been figuring out.
I saw the potential power of real estate. I was always somebody throwing in my 401K, maybe throwing in a little bit more into stocks. But I saw really just the power of real estate investing to allow you to get there a lot earlier. Access investing money prior to 59 and a half, which just seemed forever away. That was really just a turning point, I'd say. I've been all in on real estate ever since as my future vehicle.
Ian: Got you. What time period was this? I know your current wife, Padgett, she's into the game as well. Was there any convincing that had to be done? Was she into the game as well? I know a lot of people at this day and age, they would love to invest in real estate. But the harder part of that equation is getting your partner on board. Having two people versus one person investing both sides of the income and the investitures and all that good stuff, it's much more beneficial to have two versus one and working against each other. Was that at all a hard task for you, or was she fully onboard as well?
Jake: Yeah, that's a great question. She was not fully onboard to begin with. I think she, looking back, is very fortunate. She was actually a much better saver than I was, and was very conscious of keeping a budget, which was great when we were first dating. But I think it took it took quite a long time.
Thankfully, I think we were in the stage where we were really saving. We saved for a good two years before we could really do anything. During that time, I was just basically putting on audiobooks on my way to work every single day, and just hearing through books and podcasts.
I talked to her off about it for about two years. I think she was just definitely tired of it at first. Maybe she definitely probably still gets tired of me talking about real estate to this day. But I'm thankful every day that when we first got our first home, she wasn't 100% onboard. But she trusted me enough to take the leap even though she was very scared. I was nervous. But she let it, anyway.
I think now that we've gotten into it, and we've seen some of the returns and the power, she's definitely a lot more onboard. I'd say she's fully onboard and actually starting to take more of an interest in learning about the power of real estate going forward.
Ian: She has drunk the Kool Aid. I love it.
Jake: Yes, slowly but surely.
Ian: I love to hear it, man. Everyone's situation is a little bit different. It's a struggle at first. Luckily, Kat and I, my wife and I, we sort of saw eye to eye. We went in it together, especially learning about it together and understanding what is the main point of investing, first of all. But then, why real estate after that? For me, it was financial independence and getting that financial freedom, getting that passive income to pay for our bills to actually live the life we want.
It's not about the accumulation of money. It's not about what my number says on a screen, like how much money I have in my account. It's all about the life I want to live. If my utilities, mortgages, car payments equal $8,000, my passive income takes that $8,000, and it covers it, then I can live whatever I want to live or wherever I want to live, however I want to live it. My why is just for that time freedom. Is that something that you resonate with? Is there any sort of why for you that spoke to you and Padgett?
Jake: Yeah, I think that totally resonates with me a lot. I think it came from a place of, first, having been in situations where a parent loses a job. Then within two weeks, money is just tight, and it's a stressful, stressful time. Being there myself, leaving a co-op in college and quickly being like, where'd all that money? Just not wanting to feel that stress, but also working towards what could be.
I like the idea of optionality. I enjoy my job now. But if I ever, one day, don't and I want to quit and pursue something radically different, go learn how to be a teacher or something along that — which I don't think we pay teachers enough — being able to take something, lower salary like that for the reasons of just really wanting to do it, I definitely wanted to have that. I think I'm also just, to an extent, I work hard to be lazy. I would just love to not have to work. I will work so hard to not have to work. It's crazy.
Ian: I 100% agree with you on two fronts. Number one, working hard to be lazy. I feel like one of my why's is so I can play video games for at least four hours a day. I feel like it's been ingrained in me ever since I was a teenager, and I can't let go of it. I feel like it's in my DNA right now. So, I wouldn't be able to do that if I didn't have my investments, if I didn't have my assets. Work our butt offs now, so that we can live the life we want later.
The second point I want to touch on as well is the education portion of it. I totally agree with you that teachers are not paid enough for being the leaders of the future generation. We need people to see that salary and not have that be a driving factor. But the better people that are great educators, that put the time and the effort into this stuff, need to be compensated appropriately. But the people that are going into it, sure, they have the love and the drive for it.
But the thing is that they don't have the resources, or stuff at home is going on. Their mind, it's split two ways. So, if you were to have those investments pay for your worries, like daycare or paying off your car or something like that, there's a lot less worry. You can dedicate a lot more time to having a more fulfilling experience for those kids in the classroom.
A lot of people see that time freedom. But what does that mean? That's what I mean. It means like making sure that your worries are left at home or elsewhere, and you can fully dedicate your time and your energy into the next generation. I like that, man. Good answer. I don't know if you want to expand on that a little more.
Jake: Well said. No, I think that was a bit of a mic drop moment for you there. That was really good.
Ian: Well, thanks for hanging out in the Invest in Denver Podcast. I'm ending it right now. Just kidding. Well, sweet. Yeah, I totally agree with that. I know you've touched on what your portfolio is like right now. Before we even get to that, I'd love to hear your journey of how you even started that whole process. What's it like to work with a realtor, maybe a proper lender? What were you pre-approved for? How did you even find this property?
Jake: Yeah, great question. So, I started out — Padgett and I, when we moved to Denver, we were moving in August, I was starting my job the next month. It was a quick turnaround. I think maybe I had five weeks between when I left my old job and when my new job started.
So, we took a trip out here. We'd looked in different areas. We spent all day in the car. I think we did a — we arrived Saturday morning at 5 AM. We drove all day just checking out different neighborhoods. It was just exhausting and overwhelming. Then the thought of buying our first house at that time, too, with that limited information, was just overwhelming. So, we decided to rent when we first moved here — which in hindsight, I wish we would have bought earlier because the market went crazy shortly after.
We learned in the areas that we really loved. I'm hopeful that podcasts like this can hopefully put somebody in a space where they know some of the great areas to look at, as opposed to just flying in and driving everywhere ahead of time so that they can make that decision. But we decided to rent. We found a great place near Olde Town Arvada that we loved. We would walk there.
We started to look. I mentioned the Set for Life previously. I had the convincing your spouse. I had convinced Padgett that we would at least look for an area that we could house hack to some degree, separate off part of the unit, and live in the other to hopefully cover some or most of the payment.
So, we had started looking. Actually, the reason I got more serious about buying was we found this just absolute slam dunk house hack deal that was going to be amazing. I was like the numbers are too good on this. We could be getting paid a lot. It had an opportunity to have three units that we could long-term rent one, Airbnb the other, and live in the other. It had a good layout for it. So, I just scrambled and started — I was not ready. I had been wanting to go to meetups. I had not gone to any meetups yet. So, I just started reaching out on BiggerPockets.
I quickly remembered an episode of the podcast where they interviewed Craig Curelop about his experience. I remember that he was a realtor in Denver. So, I reached out to him. He responded that a member of the FI Team would reach out to me. His name is Chad Rocke. Chad is awesome.
He reached out to me. We went and toured this property. I started getting some lenders that he suggested, that I started having discussions with. We actually put in an offer on that house way higher than we ever wanted, like ever thought we would put an offer, Just the numbers look so good. We didn't get it. We actually technically had the highest offer, but we didn't get it because the seller had just bumped into another buyer and talked to them about it. He liked them better than us, I guess. So, he ended up going with them.
We didn't get that property, but it clearly set us on. Okay. Now I have a realtor. Now I have a lender. That timing for us was terrible. I think we had just moved into our apartment like two months previous. We had an eight-month lease. The timing was terrible. We weren't prepared. But the deal looks so good that we want to take a shot. But we recouped, and we resettled and then started looking again in February or January.
Ian: Sorry to interrupt a little bit, Jake. But before you go into what you actually ended up with, there's a lot of good stuff here. You're exploring. You're understanding the world of buying a piece of property. At this time, would this be your first home together, with you and Padgett?
Jake: Yes, it would be our first. We had almost bought one in Houston, but we didn't end up going for it.
Ian: Got you. The whole concept of house hacking — I know you mentioned that it's the concept of mitigating your mortgage as much as possible, trying to make your house an asset versus a liability completely. As far as the mortgage payment, that's a liability. But how you can generate income on off of it is an asset.
When you look at that portion of it, what made the numbers look so good? What were you projecting at the time? It seems like you were about to go above and beyond what the asking price was in order to land this deal. So, the numbers must have looked insane.
Jake: Yeah, they looked great. I guess, I would clarify. It was like a house that had three separate units. It had an upstairs that was a 3/2. Then the downstairs, they had converted into two separate units. Looking at it, in hindsight, it probably wouldn't have worked for us due to the fact that it wasn't in an accessory dwelling unit. It may have been — for lack of a better word — illegal to go off renting those out, or to use when they weren't permitted. But we would have either had to go through that process to get it permitted, which I think we would have figured out. Or we could have done one unit as a long-term rental and one unit as a short-term rental. Because it would be a partial house, short-term rental, not a separate unit.
Basically, we would have been doing a private room. But with those two under units, I think back when interest rates were friendly, the total payment on this house, it was like, I think we offered 625, which was right at the tip top of what we could qualify for. We offered that the payment would have been somewhere around 3,200. There was a two-bed, one bath unit in the basement and a one-bed, one-bath.
We were looking in the neighborhood. We could probably get 16 to 1,800 for the two bed and another 1,300 for the one bed or something along those lines. I don't remember the exact numbers. But it worked out to that. Long term rent would basically cover the entire property. We'd be living for fully free. That would cover mortgage, insurance, taxes — our entire payment essentially.
We had been only really finding places where we could get maybe half to three quarters of our rent paid for. Part of that is because we have very specific criteria. We wanted to live in Arvada. There are other areas where you could get a lot closer on that spread to maybe even cover your whole mortgage. But we found this place. It was in a great area. It was a weird house. They had a detached four car garage that was like a workshop. They had chicken coops everywhere, even though it was in a residential neighborhood. It was a strange spot. But we liked it. So, we went for it.
Ian: Love it.
Jake: The numbers were great. We took lessons.
Ian: You put in an offer. You were working with Chad. You got pre-approved. I feel like the stage is set for you to find that next property. It was only just a matter of time until you found something that was perfect for you guys. Maybe not that unicorn where you had the four-car garage, three units at the same time, but something that still pay the bills.
It's funny. You mentioned that like, yeah, we were going at 625. Our monthly payment would be 3,200. Nowadays, seeing what interest rates are at 6%, almost 6.5% for some people, it's kind of insane. Because that 3,200-mortgage payment you're looking at, maybe low 500s. It's pretty insane nowadays. Anywho, I'm sorry. I just want to just delve onto that. But you can continue on with how you found that next property, your first house hack. We'll go from there. I'll ask some more questions once you get to it.
Jake: Yeah, sounds great. Once the winter passed, we started looking again. Man, it was slim pickings for sure in the area. Everything was flying off the market. People were going 70 or 80,000 over asking which I never — just growing up in the Midwest and Northeast, I'd never grown up with anybody offering asking, let alone 80,000 over. So, that was crazy.
But it got to the point where I was essentially looking at every offer. Everything on Zillow, I could look at for our area within Arvada and Westminster and Sherwood that we would want to look at. I could look at literally every listing. It wasn't that big of a lift.
We ended up actually finding this place because the listing for our house — which is a five-bed, two-bath — was actually showing on all of the Zillow, Redfin as a zero-bed, zero-bath. So, I think a lot of people were missing it because their filters would say three plus beds, whatever. This was listed as zero.
So, I called Chad. We toured it. We ended up making an offer at asking in February of 2022, which was pretty crazy in hindsight. We got it. We then spent a couple — we spent a month or so fixing it up, and then started our journey as short-term rental hosts in April.
Ian: Way to go. I know with me, even personally, I set up some filters in order to find the perfect properties. I don't waste my time having to scavenge and try looking at the virtual tours and things like that. Maybe you mentioned already, maybe I didn't pick it up. But how did you find this one that was just misrepresented on Zillow?
Jake: Just basically by — the market was so hot, I just turned off all my filters. I looked at every house available. There were not that many available. So, I happened to find it. In hindsight, maybe a lesson learned. Going forward, I'll probably check all zero-bed filters going forward to see if there's any that look like they don't belong there. But kind of a weird situation to have that.
Ian: What's funny is that you're not the first person to tell me that the property itself was misrepresented on the MLS or Zillow. Maybe it's that diamond in the rough situation. You guys look out hardcore with having the February 2022 madness, that is the hot seller's market.
Especially with the really low interest rates and going in at asking price, that is almost unheard of during that time. Because I was going 30k, 50k, 70k above. I'm sure you were looking at the same thing. Just being outbid, all the offers not going through. So, I commend you with your extra diligence in trying to find that property that's perfect for you guys. So, kudos, man. That's really good. Now that I know that you have your house, are you currently living in there right now?
Jake: Yes, I'm currently there. We currently are. We live in the upstairs, which is a three-bed, one-bath. We are Airbnb-ing the basement, which is a two-bed, one-bath.
Ian: Lovely. This is where we get into your Stardrop Properties. I love the website. I love that there's that aspect of like, "Hey, you can privately book this place outside of Airbnb." But maybe there's some additional, I guess, reasons why you have your own personal website for this specific property.
For those people that are familiar with Vrbo, Airbnb, booking.com, and things like that, why the heck would you have your own private website for short-term rental like this one?
Jake: Yeah, great question. I've got a few reasons. But I would say the main one is, I've recently been converted to believing in the power of needing to grow your own direct bookings. I think Airbnb and Vrbo are great platforms for doing that. When I travel, it's the first thing I look at.
I think one of the main things that I'm looking forward to is offering return guests, "Hey, if you ever want to come back, book it through me directly." Airbnb charges guests a lot more fees than they charge hosts. But they charge both. So, there's a lot of money on the table there. I could even potentially charge a little bit more to a direct booking. They would still be saving an exorbitant amount, upwards 10%, 15% in fees that those online travel agencies offer.
That's one of the reasons I built up the direct booking. The other is, I am currently trying to grow short. I am going all in on short-term rentals and trying to grow that. So, I'm using the website, too, as a landing page for my business of doing Airbnb consulting, for maybe doing some rental arbitrage, or cohosting, for basically property managing a short-term rental for another investor.
My website is a catch all right now, but will eventually be separate — the direct booking of the properties with the co-hosting and management side of things.
Ian: When people search for short-term rentals, it's so easy for people to get out there and search Airbnb or Vrbo. How do people find Stardrop properties?
Jake: Great question. It's one that I'm hoping to learn a lot more about. I have not really dive too much into the marketing piece of getting people to really find my property. I'll be completely honest. In the current standing, where it's a two-bed, one-bath basement unit, I don't know that that many people are going to be searching for that outside of Airbnb.
Our longer-term goal is to eventually move out of this place, rent the whole house, and rinse and repeat. When we do have a full house in Arvada, I think it'd be a lot easier to start driving, maybe doing some creative marketing around the property that I hope to learn a lot more about. Yeah, getting the word out there is super important, and it's something that I don't know a lot about right now. But I'm hoping to really drive the marketing of the direct bookings piece in the future.
Ian: Speaking of getting the word out there, I feel like meetups are the next best thing for you to tell people about your properties, tell people about your situation, and get other people that are trying to get into the real estate space or house hacking, or whatever. Meetups are the place to go for you to just understanding, pick other people's brains, their expertise, and things like that.
I know you're a huge proponent for meetups as well. Why? Why meetups. You're just getting some beers with some other people. Sure, you're having conversations with them. But what do you really get out of that? It seems to be a good place for people to congregate and hang out. But is there more to it than just having those simple conversations?
Jake: Yeah, that's a great question. I would say too, for me, after I moved here, Chad, we had that experience with that first house. Chad invited me to tons of meetups. I never went. I just couldn't bring myself to get up and go. I just felt like I wasn't ready. I couldn't provide a lot of value, so I just never went.
Then finally, once I had bought the house, I felt like I was in a place where I could finally go. I could add value. I totally regret that. Because I definitely should have started going sooner. Honestly, for the reasons exactly you said, in hindsight, I love beer. I love talking about real estate. Why would I not go to a place where they give you a free beer, and you're talking about real estate?
Most of the time, you're buying a beer, and you're just talking to people. It's huge. I think it's just making connections. I think the word connection gets a bad rap. Because anyone can connect with you on LinkedIn. It seems like LinkedIn has made it less personal. But it's really just making friendship, for a better lack of a better word.
Just talk to somebody. See if you guys click. If you don't, I don't know if you'll work together anyway. Because it's going to be a grind to go through all your conversations, but it's really just finding people that you can chat with. You're chatting about a common interest. I've definitely already made some good friends through the meetups that we've been going to. I love having a beer and talk in real estate.
I do want to mention one thing, too. Just because my biggest fear, I think, before going was like, "Well, how do I even start a conversation with somebody?" I'm a little bit of an introverted extrovert. I love talking to people, but I am terrified for that first initiation. I finally realized that just the first thing you say to someone is always going to be garbage. You have no reason to talk to a stranger ever. So, just go in and say, "Hi, I'm Jake."
Especially at meetups, people are so accommodating. They know they're in the same boat. They will welcome you right into the conversation. You just go from there. But getting over that initial fear, I think, is an important thing for starting in meetups, for sure.
Ian: 100%. I feel like the question I asked you was more of a softball question, because I know you love those meetups nowadays. I do as well. But the thing is that I agree with you with that first initial interaction. The first initial interaction is a little bit of a nerve point for a lot of people. But I like to remind myself and maybe other people too, maybe like you, Jake, where it's not what you say that people remember. It's how you make them feel.
Going to these meetups, knowing that you've provided value for someone else, or solve the problem for them, or connected them to someone else who might help them out, that feels really good to them. They will forever remember you. "Hey, Jake. You introduced me to Chad. Thank you so much for that connection. I'm about to buy my first house hack."
Now they relay you as that gatekeeper. Well, I guess, open gatekeeper. You're not keeping anything away from anyone. You're introducing more people. But it's really nice to know that sentiment behind it and your intentions behind it. All in all, you're just there to have a good time and bring other people up.
I could tell, just from your personality, that you want to give so much to the community. That's probably why you didn't go to your meetups earlier on. You're like, "I have nothing to give." But the thing is, you were already so far ahead than people that weren't even pre-approved yet, that weren't even house hacking yet, or weren't even consuming the same education that you were thinking about too.
So, I like to also think about that for myself. I might not be the best, but I'm three steps ahead of someone else. I could bring them along there with me. So, there's a lot more to it than providing the exact answers for every single person there. Just go out there and have fun and see. Even if you don't connect on a real estate real level, connect on a personal level. Hey, I like hockey, too. Sick. All right.
Jake: Yeah, definitely. I think that sometimes that can be a little hack itself. If you're at a real estate meetup, and it's later in the night, talk to somebody about something other than real estate and find a common interest. Because some people are tucked out by that point. That's how I've had luck — with just pivoting with, "Oh, you live near us. Do you know any of the good restaurants?" No, we just moved here. "Oh, here. Let me give you the rundown in the ranking here." I definitely agree with that.
Ian: I absolutely love it. Jake, thank you so much for just hanging out, man. You've already provided so much value for people out here. I guess, one last thing before I turn the tables and give you the mic, what are the numbers looking like for the short-term rental? What does that look like compared to your mortgage?
Jake: Yeah, great question. Our total payment — mortgage taxes, insurance, all that — is about almost 3,000 even. We have been renting out April, May, June, July, August. We've been averaging about 2,300 a month. We've had two months. We had one month where we rover. We made 3,200. We had one month where we were like right at 29. It basically broke even.
I know comparatively, like a long-term rental, we'd be looking at maybe somewhere 17 to 2,000 for that space. So, we were doing a little bit extra work. I think there's a lot of automation you do in an Airbnb, which you could cover in a whole separate podcast. We're very happy with it to be able to pay. We were renting for 1,600 a small two-bed, one-bath place. Now we own a home. Our dog has a yard. We pay somewhere around 500, 600 a month on average.
Ian: I love those numbers, man. You're owning the place, building the equity, getting the appreciation factor, learning how to run a business. There's so much benefit to it. Before I go on that soapbox again, I'll end it at that because that's a really good place to end on. So, I will give the mic to you, Jake. Is there anything that you want to ask of me?
Jake: There is. Many questions I want to ask you. I'll try to distill it as much as I can. I'm curious what brought you to Denver?
Ian: For sure. A couple of things. My wife and I, we grew up in San Diego for 30 years of our lives. In 2019, after we bought our first property over there, house hacked it. We rented it out. We were like, "All right. There's so much of the world and so much of America that we have yet to see." I feel like we've only seen 1% of the world if even.
We're like "Where do we have family?" My brother and my parents were already living here in Denver. My brother was in Stapleton at the time, and my parents were in Parker. So, we're like, "You know what? Yeah, let's go over there. See if we can house hack over there." Plus, BiggerPockets is here, too. I feel like that was another big point as well.
Then we realized that, hey, we were just struggling with the whole house hacking thing. We needed to work with a realtor, find a proper property. I asked my parents like, "Hey, do you mind if we just take a bedroom out and live with you for a couple months?" They were like, "Sure, you can stay in the basement."
Basement? Oh my god. You guys have basements? That was a mind-blowing thing. We just wanted to have that mountain experience, live in Denver. We never experienced winters below 40 degrees. So, it was a whole new experience for us. To be honest, I don't think I'm moving anytime soon. Denver is the new home for us.
Jake: Awesome. I get to meet somebody who's frustrated with Denver who has been here for — I've yet to meet somebody who's been in Denver for more than five years. It seems like everybody's moving here, and everybody's loving it. So, that's awesome.
I'm curious. You, as a real estate agent, working with investors, have you noticed? Are there any big drivers other than just Denver's awesome, that are really driving a lot of people here? Anybody that you've met or anything like that?
Ian: Yeah, good question. I'm glad you're asking that. Because it really is an economic factor for the appreciation of the city. That's the main three things that I look for in a property whether I should invest in it or not. Economic growth, which means our jobs moving here, our businesses moving here.
Number two is population growth. Are people moving here in general? Then also, crap, I forgot the third. But I'm sure it has to tie in with those other two, right? If jobs are moving here, and people are moving here, why not invest in it? Because more growth, there's more cyclical velocity of money is what David Green is saying. So, that's what I see in Denver.
To answer your question fully, a lot of the hospital and medical fields are moving here as well. Anschutz is huge. UCHealth, that's huge as well. So, I'm seeing a lot of nurses stay here. That's why medium-term rentals are becoming such a hot thing here in the Denver area. Because traveling nurses need a place to stay. They're getting a stipend for living. In order for you to accommodate for that, you need to have some sort of just understanding that you need to furnish the place, you need to understand how to automate the process so that you're not dealing with that mess or whatever it is.
Yeah, as far as investors go or the reason why people are looking to invest in here, medical and also tech. There's a lot of tech that's coming here, especially in the Boulder area. I'm also seeing a lot of connection between the three major cities here over in the Front Range. You have Colorado Springs, Denver, and the Fort Collins to the north.
There's becoming less of a gap between those cities. Instead of them being completely separate, there's now this sort of amorphous blob of population density. I'm not seeing it stopping anytime soon. I see my money staying here.
Jake: Awesome. Yeah, that makes sense.
Ian: You just got to keep investing in Denver. Give one shout out for the podcast.
Jake: It's the name of the show.
Ian: Drink. Cool. Anything else, Jake? No rush or anything. But if there's any burning questions for you?
Jake: After doing the intro of my favorite thing in Denver, is there a favorite restaurant or a favorite brewery? You just mentioned New Terrain. But any any favorites there that maybe I haven't hit yet?
Ian: Yeah, totally. A couple of other people have asked me this, so I'll try to give some new answers. A couple things. My parents live in Parker. I heard about the Cherry Creek Trails. Oh, cool. There's like a paved trail that runs along the Cherry Creek. Little did I know that the whole trail is like 30 miles. It spans from Castle Rock all the way up to downtown Denver. I was like, "Oh my god. This is amazing." People could run marathons and end up in the downtown Denver area. I was baffled by that.
For people that are not familiar with the scene of trails, I feel like the first thing that Coloradans develop are the trails and the open space portions of the neighborhood. So, they take so much pride in the open space and the recreational activities here. Cherry Creek Trail, I'm a big fan of it just because of that sentimental value as well.
As far as restaurants go, I'll mention something that I haven't mentioned yet. Two things. I love my dessert. So, I have to give a shout out to two places, two ice cream places. One doesn't have a brick and mortar. It's Pint's Peak, a play of Pikes Peak. Definitely, pick up a pint from there. Also, Right Cream, who has a brick and mortar pretty recently, over off Larimer and 31st, I believe it is. Right in the heart of the RiNo area.
Then as far as the restaurant goes, check out Mister Oso — great Mexican fusion and great drinks as well. Go check out their cocktails.
Jake: Awesome. Great suggestions. I haven't been to any of them, so I'm excited.
Ian: It's all for you, man. Sweet. Anything else for you?
Jake: I think that's it. This has been a lot of fun. Thanks for having me.
Ian: Nice, Jake. Dude, it's been a genuine pleasure. Thanks for hanging out with me, and for being a great host as well for holding the mic and everything like that. If people were to reach out to you and maybe even try to find your property on Stardrop Properties, how can they reach out to you?
Jake: Great question. The best way is probably on Instagram. You can find me @jake.real.estate and then you can also check out my website at stardropproperties.com. That's star and then drop, and then properties. Hopefully, it's easy enough to spell. Yeah, those are probably the best two places.
Ian: Love to hear it. I am @ian.realestateagent. I'm on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube. I post up some weekly videos on YouTube — whether that's vlogging, house hacking, things like that — or I go into vacant properties and see what the ideal analysis is like, how you can make this a house hacking property. Or, if it's not a house hacking property, I tell you that I don't think it is very viable. So, it's very educational stuff.
Come for the memes, but stay for the education. If there's anything else that people want to reach out to me, my number is 720-704-3552. I don't care if people text me, call me, or whatever. Just reach out to me if you got any burning questions.
With that being said, leave us a five star, like, subscribe, review, whatever comment. We want to hear from you. What do you want to hear from the Invest in Denver Podcast? With that being said, thank you so much for being on, Jake. Thank you for being here, man.