Real Estate Rookie

388: How to Save Your Cash Flow When Dealing with a “Problem” Property w/Ashley Robinson

Apr 3, 2024

Experienced investor Ashley Robinson shares how she overcame challenges with a unique rental property in Salida, Colorado. Topics include converting residential to commercial, working around short-term rental caps, getting approved for commercial loans, and managing financing obstacles.

47:22

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Episode guests

Ashley Robinson

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Quick takeaways

Overcoming zoning and land use constraints by creatively converting a residential property to commercial, sidestepping rental caps and bypassing costly hotel requirements.

Successfully navigating financing challenges, including low property appraisals, to refinance and pull out substantial cash flow while maintaining positive rental income.

Deep dives

Navigating Zoning Restrictions and Creative Solutions

Ashley and her husband, military vets turned full-time real estate professionals, encountered challenges with a property in Colorado due to short-term rental caps and zoning restrictions. By creatively changing the property's use to a lodging/boarding house, they avoided the need for a costly fire sprinkler system required for a hotel conversion.

Introduction

4min

Exploring Tertiary Real Estate Markets

4min

Property Analysis and Tenant Screening

5min

Navigating Building Codes and Zoning Laws in Real Estate Investments

8min

Navigating Renovations and Financing in Property Conversion

5min

Creative Financing Strategies for Property Purchase

14min

Overcoming Short-Term Rental Restrictions

7min

How many things can possibly go wrong with ONE rental property? Well, you’re about to find out! Today’s guest had to flex her problem-solving skills on multiple occasions to get her “unique” rental up and running, and in this episode, she’s going to show you how she pulled it off!

Welcome back to the Real Estate Rookie podcast! Investor Ashley Robinson bought a triplex in the little town of Salida, Colorado, with plans to live in one unit and rent out the other two. Despite her thoroughness during the due diligence phase, however, she ran into several problems along the way—from rental caps and building code issues to financing troubles and poor home appraisals. But Ashley persisted, creatively working through each hurdle until she was finally able to launch her cash-flowing rental property!

If you’ve ever hit a roadblock in your investing journey, this episode is for you! Ashley shares how she chose her investing market, changed her property’s use to sidestep rental caps, and got her building fully up to code. She also talks about the ins and outs of commercial loans—getting approved, coming up with large down payments, and refinancing when your property’s appraisal comes back low!

In This Episode We Cover:

How to convert a residential property to a commercial property

Zoning versus land use (and how they work together)

The biggest advantages of investing in a smaller market

Short-term rental caps explained (and how to work around them!)

How to get approved for your first commercial loan

Funding a LARGE down payment for a commercial property

And So Much More!

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