Books

James is a featured contributor to the 2025 Guide to Colorado Real Estate Investing Strategies book. In it he writes about Hybrid Investing, Alternative Asset investing, Partnership, Meetups, and Content.

To save you time and money you can simply scroll down and read the chapter below.

If you’d like to read it and the other strategies, click here to order from Amazon for $10.22.

James Brown’s Colorado Real Estate Investing Strategy 2025

ABOUT ME

I caught the real estate investing bug when I realized the true power it had to transform my life. I also love infecting friends, family, and clients with the disease.

INTRODUCTION

I thought “Shiny Object Syndrome” would go away eventually when I first got started in real estate. I know a lot of people experience the same challenge because there are so many ways to make money in real estate. This book isn’t necessarily going to help this condition! My business partner Toby Hanson and I still struggle with it, but we also realize that markets are different, markets shift over time, and some seemingly different strategies can be complementary and powerful when combined. By combining strategies, you can protect yourself from downsides and take advantage of upsides. We understand there are risks in any kind of investing, and we can make tons of money quickly, but we, and other investors we partner with, say that it is paramount to focus on safety, security, and steady long-term growth. All investing has some level of risk, but we leave the high-risk stuff to others who have a stomach for that.

PARALLEL STRATEGIES

Investing is basically solving a problem and providing something of value in exchange for profit. We solve two main problems with CoLiving investing (helping renters) and Hybrid investing (helping buyers). I also mention alternative assets and other things we do below, so hang in there!

COLIVING INVESTING

CoLiving (rent-by-the-room) investing is providing affordable housing for the adult workforce. This is not to be confused with other group home models like student housing, sober-living (drug and alcohol recovery), assisted-living, halfway houses, re-entry from prison, or Section-8 homes. Imagine someone who makes $60k+/- per year and is barely scraping by. It may be a stretch to afford a $1,400/mo studio or $1,600/mo 1-bedroom apartment in Denver, plus the cost of owning and maintaining a vehicle, insurance, food, and clothing, and not having anything left for entertainment, let alone saving money to get ahead.

CoLiving isn’t a new model, but the way we do it is by taking it to another level of professionalism. I know many people that get started investing by buying a home and renting out the other rooms, also known these days as “house hacking”. It’s a great way to invest because if you live in the property, you can get a low-interest, low down payment FHA or VA loan and have roommates help cover the mortgage. If you rinse and repeat by buying another home and keep that original property as a rental you can build a portfolio and become financially free much sooner than most people if you start sooner than later. We call this “Nomad Investing” and I preach this model to every young, single person I meet that is smart enough to listen AND take action! It gives me a lot of pleasure helping people that see the light and want my help. I wish I had known about this strategy and did it when I was younger and more willing to live with roommates.

We take this model to another level in a few ways. First, we partner 50/50 with busy professionals and business owners who want to be passive by providing the funds while we handle finding the ideal properties, handling acquisitions, deal structuring, setup (adding extra bedrooms/baths, furnishings, kitchen utensils, cleaning supplies, security systems/cameras, keyless entry locks), finding and screening residents, move-ins/move-outs, payments/payouts, professional cleaning, maintenance, landscaping/snow removal and hosting. Acquisitions include identifying and converting existing long-term, short-term, and mid-term rentals that fit the model, or finding and buying properties that are currently available on market, or we market for off-market properties that we can buy creatively (subject-to the existing low interest rate or assumable loans). We also help people who want to house hack and get everything set up and running in with our professional systems.

HYBRID INVESTING

Hybrid (aka Rent-to-Own or Lease/Option) investing is helping people who want to buy a home and have gotten turned down by the banks for any number of reasons. Banks have strict guidelines, and a large portion of the population don’t check all the boxes. But many people have steady income and a chunk of money to pay upfront. That’s typically people who are self-employed and need a full two-years income and tax returns. Or they write off everything they can think of and don’t claim enough income, which is something I run into all the time. They just need to change their strategy to become bankable in a couple of years.

It’s a medium-term exit strategy. We get cash upfront from our resident-buyers. Then we get monthly cash flow from rent. And cash later when our residents get a bank loan to buy the home and cash us out. In the past, we exclusively focused on “buyer-first” where we find buyers who cannot get a traditional loan, and we buy homes for them. We still do that model because we get more cash upfront and do not have any risk of vacancy upfront. The problem is that we did not consistently find enough of those buyers so we added a proven property-first model because we can buy as many as we and our passive capital investors want. We can find more buyers since we require less down, but still enough for them to have skin in the game. What we like about it is we avoid doing risky remodels with high holding costs, dealing with contractors, or dealing with regular renters who do not have much skin in the game or the intention of becoming homeowners. We also reduce typical vacancy risk, capital expenses like maintenance and repairs, and paying for property management. Our returns are better than regular rentals too. Plus, we are helping deserving people become homeowners. There’s a lot more I could go into but those are some of the highlights.

ALTERNATIVE ASSET INVESTING

We love our Hybrid investing model but there are also other asset classes we like for different reasons. Diversifying within real estate is one reason. Another is because we, and our investor partners, need to have a full 20% down minimum and the ability to get bank financing for the rest when we buy single-family homes on-market, so that is a limitation. Of course, there are other ways to finance, like seller financing, buying subject-to existing loans, finding assumable loans, and DSCR loans. Sometimes, we just want to invest using the cash from our IRAs, home equity, or insurance policies for a straight return on debt without needing to qualify for a loan or put down $100k or more for a 20% down payment. So, we partner with experienced operators (GPs, aka General Partners) in real estate syndications. These operators are experts in buying, adding value, and operating specific asset classes like multifamily complexes (apartments) and have a track record in that space. Other syndication asset classes we like are self-storage, mobile home parks, and RV parks. All of the syndications we are involved in are outside Colorado (e.g. Florida, Kansas, Texas), but if the cash flow numbers work, of course, we’d like to have them here because we know that real wealth is built on long-term appreciation, which is historically strong in Colorado.

PARTNERSHIPS

We have formed partnerships in order to have “Family Office” level advisory support without having the full-time staff that is typically only available to ultra-wealthy families. As the saying goes “Your network is your net worth”.

Fund Managers: We are working with high-level fund managers who have a track record of getting double-digit returns with low treasury-level risk. They did even better during the last recession! I have a lot to learn about how they do it but that’s the beautiful thing about partnering with experts. We don’t have to know it all to be successful. 

Trust Experts: We work with a team that has 40 years of experience setting up trust structures that are designed and proven to provide tax savings, tax deferment, and asset protection. In the past, only the ultra-wealthy typically knew about or could afford to set these up and properly use them. We also like it because we never have to do a 1031 exchange again!

Infinite Banking Experts: Also known as “Bank on Yourself.” This is a tool that allows us to leverage the value of dividend-paying permanent life insurance policies. It’s a strategy that has become highly refined over the years to use specifically for real estate investing because the cash value is protected and liquid. We don’t have to wait for banks to approve loans or deal with underwriting. And the money in the account is always compounding.

SHOWS

2025 will be the second full year that I will host the “This Month in Real Estate Investing” show. I get to share and learn from a panel of three other experienced investors, where we talk about a wide variety of investing strategies, asset classes, and markets that appear in the news. I also Co-Host the Mr. Rent-to-Own Homes show with Domenic Danino where we dive into different topics related to, but not always, our rent-to-own investing strategies. I’ll also continue to be a guest on other shows where I primarily share my journey into our CoLiving and Hybrid investing models. A big part of investing is constantly learning, so hosting the shows and being a guest on other shows helps keep me on my toes. 

MEETUPS

Starting in 2023 we joined forces with the “Magnificent 7” (seven like-minded real estate experts) to run the Colorado Cashflow Club. It’s a monthly, in-person mastermind where we and our guest speakers share different investing strategies, eat free tacos, share haves and wants, and network with other weirdos like us who don’t mind giving up a night of binge-watching Netflix to build wealth. We emphasize getting to know each other to build real, solid relationships since investing is a team sport and trust in our partners is key.

CONTENT

I am gearing up to create and post more video content, sharing my knowledge with anyone who wants to join me on this exciting journey.

James is a featured contributor to the 2024 Guide to Colorado Real Estate Investing Strategies book. In it he writes about Hybrid Investing, Alternative Asset investing, Partnership, Meetups, and Content.

To save you time and money you can simply scroll down and read the chapter below.

If you’d like to read it and the other strategies, click here to order from Amazon for $7.14.

James Brown’s Colorado Real Estate Investing Strategy 2024

ABOUT ME

INTRODUCTION

I thought “Shiny Object Syndrome” would go away eventually when I first got started in real estate. I know a lot of people experience the same challenge because there are so many ways to make money in real estate. This book isn’t necessarily going to help this condition! My business partner Toby Hanson and I still struggle with it, but we also realize that markets are different, markets shift over time, and some seemingly different strategies can be complementary and powerful when combined. By combining strategies, you can protect from downsides and take advantage of upsides. We understand there are risks in any kinds of investing and we can make tons of money quickly, but we, and other investors we partner with say that it is paramount to focus on safety, security, and long-term growth. We’ll leave the high-risk stuff to other people that have a stomach for that.

HYBRID INVESTING

Hybrid Real Estate Investing is what we call the ways we invest in single family homes using Lease-Options (aka Rent-to-Own) as a medium-term exit strategy. We get cash up front from our resident-buyers. Then we get monthly cash flow from rent. And cash later when our residents get a bank loan to buy the home and cash us out. In the past we exclusively focused on “buyer-first” where we find buyers that cannot get a traditional loan and we buy homes for them. We still do that model because we get more up front and do not have any risk of vacancy up front. The problem is that we did not consistently find enough of those buyers so we added a proven property-first model because we can buy as many as we and our passive capital investors want. We can find more buyers since we require less down, but still enough for them to have skin in the game. What we like about it is we avoid doing risky remodels with high holding costs, dealing with contractors, or dealing with regular renters that do not have much skin in the game or the intention of becoming homeowners. We also reduce typical vacancy risk, capital expenses like maintenance and repairs, and paying for property management. Our returns are better than regular rentals too. Plus we are helping deserving people become homeowners. There’s a lot more I could go into but those are some of the highlights.

ALTERNATIVE ASSET INVESTING

We love our Hybrid investing model but there are also other asset classes we like for different reasons. Simply diversifying within real estate is one reason. Another is because we need to have a full 20% down and the ability to get financing for the rest when we buy on-market so that’s limiting. Of course, there are other ways to finance, like seller financing, buying subject-to existing loans, finding assumable loans, and DSCR loans. Sometimes we may just want to invest using the cash from our IRAs, home equity or insurance policies for a straight return on debt, without needing to qualify for a loan or put down $100k or more for a 20% down payment. So, we partner with experienced operators (GP’s aka General Partners) in real estate syndications. These operators are experts in buying, adding value and operating specific asset classes like multifamily complexes (apartments) and have a track record in that space. Others assets classes we like are self-storage, mobile home parks and RV parks. We are not exclusive to Colorado but if the numbers work, of course we’d like to have them here because we know, love and believe in the long-term health of the market in Colorado.

PARTNERSHIPS

We have formed partnerships in order to have “Family Office” level advisory support without having the full-time staff that is typically only in place for ultra-wealthy families. As the saying goes “Your network is your net worth”.

Fund Managers: We are working with high-level fund managers that have a track record of getting double-digit returns with low treasury-level risk. They did even better during the last recession! I have a lot to learn about how they do it but that’s the beautiful thing about partnering with people. We don’t have to know it all to be successful.

Trusts Experts: We work with a team that has 40 years of experience setting up trusts structures that are designed and proven to provide tax savings, tax deferment and asset protection. In the past only the ultra-wealthy typically knew about or could afford to set these up and properly use them. We also like it because we never have to do a 1031 exchange again!

Infinite Banking Experts: Also known as “Bank on Yourself”. This is a tool that allows us to leverage the value of dividend-paying permanent life insurance policies. It’s a strategy that has become highly refined over the years to use specifically for real estate investing because the cash value is protected and liquid. We don’t have to wait on banks to approve loans or deal with underwriting. And the money in the account is always compounding.

SHOWS

2024 will be the second full year that I will host the “This Month in Real Estate Investing” show. I get to share and learn from a panel of three other experienced investors where we talk about a wide variety of investing strategies, asset classes and markets that appear in the news. I’ll also continued to be a guest on other shows where I primarily share our Hybrid investing model. A big part of investing is constantly learning, so hosting the show and being a guest on other shows helps keep me on my toes.

MEETUPS

Starting in December 2023 we joined forces with some other movers and shakers to launched the Colorado Cashflow Club. It’s a monthly in-person series with an online community. The format is unique in that it is focused action-oriented exercises. We will have a variety of speakers including myself and the other organizers. We will cover a variety of investing strategies and encourage interactive networking both during the events as well as after the events in smaller groups or one-on-one to build real, solid relationships.

CONTENT

I plan to create and post more video content sharing my knowledge with anyone that wants to join me on this exciting journey.

Learn about the modern way to profit more with less risk in real estate. Forget about rolling the dice in the stock market. Forget about risky fix and flips like you see on “reality” TV. Forget about dealing with regular renters that can leave your property damaged or vacant. Forget about self-managing or hiring property managers that nickel and dime you without your best interests in mind.

Click here to read or download for FREE.

James is a featured contributor to the 2023 Guide to Colorado Real Estate Investing Strategies book. In it he writes about earned income strategies, stocks, revenue share, referrals, coaching, tax and asset protection strategies, infinite banking, networking strategies, shows, meetup groups, reverse lease options (aka Hybrid investing), private money lending, creative financing, fractional investing, and fund investing.

To save you time and money you can simply scroll down and read the chapter below.

If you’d like to read it and the other strategies, click here to order from Amazon for $8.99.

James Brown Colorado Real Estate Investing Strategy 2023

About Me

James Brown uses his knowledge of real estate investing strategies to create an Instagram-worthy Colorado lifestyle and a prosperous future for himself, his friends and clients.

Earned Income Strategies

COMMISSIONS

Investing can be done without using any of your own money, but it can really limit what you can do. Having a good W2 job or other solid source of income does open up a lot more opportunities. A big part of my overall strategy includes exponentially increasing my earned income and ability to get bank financing so I can use the power of leverage. To do that I am dialing in multiple lead sources to earn commissions as a licensed Realtor by helping primary home buyers and sellers, in addition to helping investors in my areas of expertise.

STOCKS, REVENUE SHARE AND REFERRALS

My brokerage is unique in the multiple ways it pays us company stock and actually shares revenue, not just profit share, which is totally different. These two things mean that I don’t have to rely solely on the hamster wheel of commissions to sustain my lifestyle until my investments outpace my income. My business partner Toby Hanson and I also have a brilliant strategy for creating very profitable referral business that can also lead to other investing opportunities.

COACHING

I am starting to help coach other Reverse Lease Option students in an official capacity alongside my mentor Jesse Mills.

Tax and Asset Protection Strategies

TRUSTS

Earning income from investing is fantastic unless you are needlessly paying huge amounts of income and capital gains taxes. Or lose it due to frivolous lawsuits. Luckily my business partner Toby specializes in helping people set up trusts that are designed and proven to provide tax savings, tax deferment and asset protection. In the past only the ultra-wealthy typically knew about or could afford to set these up and properly use them. One of the biggest advantages is that we never have to do a 1031 exchange again if we want to sell and then buy other properties. As anyone that has done a 1031 knows it requires hiring a Qualified Intermediary (QI) and it puts you under a ticking clock to identify and get your next property under contract. It is costly and puts you at a serious disadvantage in finding your next property and negotiating if the seller finds out you are under the gun. Yes, you can do a Reverse 1031 for more money to solve that problem, but why bother? The trusts also simplify and save time and money in reporting compared to using multiple LLCs. We are in the process of setting up two types of trusts for our own investing company.

INFINITE BANKING
We are setting up “Infinite Banking” for ourselves and our clients. This is a tool that allows us to become the bank by leveraging the value of dividend-paying permanent life insurance policies. As investors we benefit from the cash value being protected and liquid while being accessible at an attractive interest rate. We don’t have to wait on banks to approve loans or deal with underwriting. And the money in the account is always compounding.

Networking Strategies

SHOWS

Investing is a team sport and as they say “Your Network is Your Net Worth”. It is important for me to get to know, like and trust other investors in order to do deals and learn from each other. One of the best ways to meet high level investors from all different backgrounds is through “This Month in Real Estate Investing” – the show that I host every month. Many of those guests have their own investing shows and ask me to come on as a guest where we can continue getting to know each other.

MEETUP GROUPS

I’m one of the original founders of Pace Morby’s “Subto” Colorado accountability group where we have weekly Zoom calls and monthly in-person meetups to network and analyze deals. It’s a great way to meet others in the creative financing space that are actively marketing and doing deals.
Other meetups around town are ICOR, IRROC, John Fisher’s Breakfast Club, Badass Real Estate Investing and I hear the House Hacking meetup is good too!

Investing Strategies

REVERSE LEASE OPTIONS

If you’ve read my entries in previous editions, you know I focus on Hybrid Investing, which we also refer to as Reverse Lease Options. We have mostly created these deals for other investors but this year I want to focus on becoming the investor myself on more deals.

PRIVATE MONEY LENDING

We have recently started helping other investors through private money lending and I want to do more of that. I’m also starting to work with contractors and investors to do flips. I’ll help with acquisitions, private money lending and using our unique selling system to get the highest possible price when we sell on the market.

CREATIVE FINANCING

We’ve taken a break from direct marketing for creative finance deals like Subject To and Seller Financing but my passion lies there so Toby and I will continue helping others analyze deals and look for opportunities to fund them.

FRACTIONAL INVESTING

We’ve talked about some of the different investing platforms like Fundrise, Roofstock and Arrived Homes on my show. I’m going to dabble with that a bit just for fun. You don’t have any real control or direct contact with the decision-makers like traditional active real estate investing but I like the idea more than buying stocks, Crypto or NFTs.

FUND INVESTING

We are building relationships with high net-worth investors and fund managers that will allow us to take this to a whole other level with the creation of a fund that gets double-digit returns with Treasury-level risk. It’s based on a proven model so we aren’t reinventing the wheel. The future is getting interesting!

James is a featured contributor to the 2022 Guide to Colorado Real Estate Investing Strategies book. In it he writes about Hybrid investing, his 2021 goals, results and lessons learned. Then he dives into 2022 goals which include building relationships, leveraging short and medium term rentals and helping investors.

To save you time and money you can simply scroll down and read the chapter below.

If you’d like to read it and the other strategies, click here to order from Amazon for $6.99.

James Brown’s Colorado Real Estate Investing Strategy 2022

About Me

James Brown (aka “The Hardest Working Man in Real Estate!”) uses his knowledge of real estate to create a lifestyle and prosperous future for himself and others through home ownership and investing.

Connect with James at [email protected] or HybridRealEstateInvesting.com

About My Strategy

My main goal is to become financially free to be able to decide what I want to spend my time doing. That includes being able to donate time and money to charities that are desperately in need of support.

There are many strategies for building a financial future through real estate as you can see from this and previous editions of this book. It took me awhile to identify my personal goals and create a plan that works for me. It has changed over time, becoming more focused, but also identifying new opportunities.

My main focus and passion is helping people that can’t get financing get into homeownership without waiting to be fully approved by a traditional lender. We call this the Hybrid strategy. I work together with many other realtors, lenders and credit repair professionals, giving the buyers time and help to fix any issues that are holding them back. I let them pick out a home and approve it if it would make a good investment. I buy it for them and either lease it with the option to buy or offer them seller financing. I get cash now, cash flow and cash later when they buy typically in 1 to 3 years. Cash now means that I get cash up front in the form of a non-refundable option fee before closing on the property. That also means I don’t need to sink a full 20 percent or more of my cash into the property. The cash flow and purchase price in the future is also known and agreed to up front so I don’t have to guess what I can get for rent or the final purchase price. There is no vacancy because the tenants are ready to move in after closing. And none, or very minimal, property management is needed because the buyers have an owner’s mindset and treat the property like their own because it will be eventually. I make solid returns with way less of the downsides that come with regular renters that only have a small security deposit. I love the model because I’m helping people that were turned down by traditional lenders and thought they had no other options. I will build wealth through doing these deals myself as well as helping my investor partners benefit from the same strategy.

2021 Goals, Results, and Lessons Learned

My goal last year was to close an average of one deal per week but I didn’t quite get there. I helped a handful of people out of state and then spun my wheels with some more complex but also more profitable deals here in Colorado. It didn’t bother me too much because I filled in the gaps by helping people buy and sell primary residences as well as other types of investment properties. One of those investments was a sober-living home that is helping people in recovery and providing amazing cash flow. Along the way I learned that I needed to streamline my processes.

2022 Goals

This year my goal is basically the same as 2021. To get there I am going to focus on building more and stronger relationships with other realtors, lenders, credit repair and wholesaler partners. When we work together to help tenant-buyers we all make more money.

I also will leverage short-term and corporate rentals for myself and my investors. We can get even more creative by combining our Hybrid strategy if we don’t have the ability to get additional loans right now but want to pick up more investment properties. Personally, I am looking to buy a new primary residence where I can short-term rent a portion with a separate entrance. I also want to pick up other properties where they do not need to be a primary residence like they do in Denver County. I’ll be looking in the front range as well as coastal vacation destinations where my friends and I can go kiteboarding (Google it if you don’t know what that is!).

James is a featured contributor to the 2021 Guide to Colorado Real Estate Investing Strategies book. In it he writes about Hybrid investing, creative deal structuring, Nomad investing and helping people as a licensed Realtor.

To save you time and money you can simply scroll down and read the chapter below.

If you’d like to read it and the other strategies, click here to order from Amazon for $7.99.

James Brown’s Denver Real Estate Investing Plan 2021

About

James Brown (aka “The Hardest Working Man in Real Estate!”) caught the real estate bug and loves to spread the stoke for improving lives through home ownership and then taking it to the next level through real estate investing.

Connect with James at [email protected] or HybridRealEstateInvesting.com

The Foundation

Back when I was in college, my Dad suggested that I buy a duplex, live in one side and rent out the other. Great advice! Did I do that? No. I’ve come to regret not doing it back then. If you are that age and are actually reading this book, you are smarter and more motivated than I was! Learn the basics, get a plan together and take action as soon as you can. This book has some great strategies. Find something that fits you and your situation. Don’t overcomplicate it and avoid analysis paralysis.

Despite not buying a duplex I did buy a house together with my brother after college. Then, in 2006 I bought a fixer upper for myself in the East Colfax neighborhood. My plan was basically what is now known as Nomad investing. (See the 2019 version of this guide for James Orr’s detailed description of Nomad Investing.) Unfortunately, about the time that I wanted to refinance and buy my second property the 2008 crash dragged my plan to a screeching halt. It took years to come back around where I had equity in the house to refinance and buy a second property. I could have saved up for the second down payment, but didn’t do that either. I probably waited way longer than I needed to take next steps. I liked living without roommates for the first time in my life. But at one point I took in a friend that need a place to stay. He paid me $500 a month for a bit over a year and I got used to having that extra cash! Plus, he helped me hang drywall when I remodeled the kitchen. After he moved out, I started renting out that room and the second bathroom on AirBnB. I was clearing about $700 a month which paid the payment on my brand-new truck. The AirBnB required a lot of cleaning and there were a lot of people coming and going, but it took the sting out of the $700 a month payment on my new Tundra. Along the way I met some really cool, interesting people… and some weirdos.

One day I was chatting with a friend about investing and he turned me on to Bigger Pockets and down the rabbit hole I went. I listened to every podcast I could. That turned to learning from books, webinars, seminars, networking, and joining a multifamily syndication mastermind group hosted by Adam Adams and the Blue Spruce Group. My eyes were opened to so many investing strategies! But that was a double-edged sword because it took me a long time sort it all out and pick a direction.

Eventually I got more focused but grappled with deciding what to do with my primary home. It would have been fast and simple to refinance, turn it into a rental and buy another place to move into using the Nomad investing model. It was a charming brick ranch with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a garage and a big yard. On the other hand, it was built in 1936 and had ancient heating, electrical, plumbing and a crack in the sewer line. It was also in a high crime area with some nightmare neighbors on one side. I could tell you some riveting stories including testifying in court on one occasion. I didn’t want to live there anymore and couldn’t imagine decent renters wanting to stay there for long so vacancy would be a problem. I didn’t think the house would hold up to renters that were not as careful with the electrical and plumbing as I was so capital expenses would also catch up to me. So, I decided to sell it and deploy the proceeds into other properties. I also wanted a place closer to the mountains since I spend most weekends there and was getting tired of the extra 45-minute plus drive.

In the meantime, a good friend let me move in with him down in Castle Pines. I’ve been here for 2 years and, but my money is just sitting in a savings account so it isn’t even keeping up with inflation. The opportunity cost is high and I’m ready to put my personal plan into action.

Motivation

For the record, I’m single with no kids and just turned 51. The good thing is that I can be flexible and aggressive in my investing strategies without being concerned about keeping others happy. It’s not going to be easy either way, but the clock is ticking to make moves toward a comfortable retirement. I’ve had my own graphic design business for over 20 years and it’s given me a lot of freedom. Maybe too much freedom because I’ve gotten by while enjoying lots of adventures but not saving or investing enough. Reality has hit and I’ve realized I have to make some major changes to create a more stable and comfortable future.

Goal

Build a portfolio of properties that cash flow a minimum of $10,000 per month. I will probably always stay busy with some sort of business venture but my goal is to have the freedom to choose how I spend my time. I also want to have the ability to donate money and time to charities. I also want to spend time with family & friends, travel, and go dirt biking, kiteboarding, snowbiking, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, playing hockey, reading and playing music.

Major Career Change

During my real estate journey I was at an investor meetups and met Toby Hanson. We got to chatting about our personal situations and goals. Toby is close in age and was motivated to make some big moves in real estate. He had been focused on his digital marketing agency getting leads for Realtors, but decided to leverage his knowledge of real estate and marketing for his own goals. I was in a similar situation with a head full of real estate knowledge that wasn’t being put to use. Toby had researched different real estate business models that employ creative real estate strategies like owner financing, subject-to, wrap mortgages and lease-options. We kept the conversation going and decided to team up. Using some of the proceeds from my house we hired a mentor and dove into setting up and building our business. Along the way we pivoted to a strategy we call Hybrid Real Estate Investing as well as other creative acquisition strategies.

Strategy #1: Hybrid Real Estate Investing

This strategy is profitable while also helping people get into homeownership that can’t get financing…at least not right away. It’s a win-win. We pre-screen our buyers with our lender partners then we give them time and help to fix any financing issues that are holding them back. We let them pick out a home off the MLS and approve it if it would make a good investment property. We, or our investor partners, buy it and lease it to them with the option to buy in the future. We get cash now, cash flow and cash later when they buy from us. Cash now means that we get cash up front in the form of an option fee before we even close. That also means we don’t need to sink a full 20+ percent down into the property. The cash flow is also known and agreed to in writing so we don’t have to guess what we can get for rent. We make good returns with less of the downsides that you’d normally have with being a regular landlord. And the tenants are ready to move in on the day we close. Tenants also cover maintenance and repairs since they are going to own the home eventually, so we don’t need to hire property management or self-manage like the old-school way of investing. We love the model and will build wealth through doing these deals ourselves as well as helping our investor partners benefit from the same strategy. Our goal is to close an average of one deal per week by the end of 2021.

Strategy #2: Creative Deal Structuring

To build our long-term-hold portfolio we market to distressed sellers. Unfortunately, more and more people are finding themselves in difficult situations as the effects of Covid-19 ravage the economy. We have a toolbelt filled with a variety of ways to help distressed sellers dispose of properties that they can no longer afford to keep by paying cash, taking over their payments on their existing financing, partnering on remodels before selling, or selling with zero commissions paid to us as the listing broker through our unique online offer platform. These options can save sellers from foreclosure or bankruptcy and we benefit too. Our goal is to acquire one property per month in 2021.

Strategy #3: Nomad Investing

After a refresher class on Nomad investing that Chris Lopez put on, it sunk in how powerful this strategy is, even if it’s the only strategy a person were to implement. Starting out at a young age could be all one would need to do. And as James Orr calls it, being a “Catchup Nomad” can work for older people like myself. If you aren’t familiar with the strategy, being owner occupied I can get each house with low money down and low interest rates (3.5% down at 3% interest) versus a straight rental property investment (20% down and 4% interest). The downside of low-down payments is mortgage insurance. It’s a consideration but I’m willing to prepay that in exchange for leveraging my money to its fullest and having cash reserves. With the extra money I save I will be able to invest in the shorter term and higher returns of our Hybrid strategy both here in Denver and in some other markets with low money down and high cash flow (but low or no appreciation). I’ll also look at some lower down options and interest-only loans to consider for my non-owner-occupied investment properties. Pro Tip: Set up a HELOC with each house before buying the next property to unlock equity. An experience Nomad investor told me that not doing this was a huge regret because all her equity was locked up. My goal is to buy one Nomad property in 2021 to get the ball rolling.

Strategy #4: Licensed Realtor®

Becoming a licensed broker was an obvious piece of the puzzle. It allows me to make commissions by helping regular buyers and sellers. And if sellers want to sell without paying commissions to me as the listing broker, they can list through our online offer platform. Being licensed also allows me to help my investor partners close on Hybrid deals, as well as working with other agents, lenders and credit repair professionals to help them and their clients that can’t get financing but want a home of their own now. Everyone wins by working together.

Conclusion

If any of these strategies resonate with you, I’m happy to chat about them and how they might work to help you reach your goals.