Full Circle with The Christi Reece Group
Compelling interviews and incredible tales from Colorado's Western Slope, from the mountains to the desert. Christi Reece and her team hear from the movers, shakers and characters of the Grand Valley and surrounding mountain towns that make the Western Slope the place we all love. You'll learn, you'll laugh, you'll love with the Full Circle!
Full Circle with The Christi Reece Group
Fort + Home - Jeff Zimmerman - Full Circle Podcast with The Christi Reece Group
Christi talks with Jeff Zimmerman, President of Fort + Home, about real estate investing, renovating historic buildings (including the beautiful Hotel Melrose in Downtown Grand Junction), and the exciting affordable housing project they are working on in Orchard Mesa, in the Grand Valley area of Western Colorado.
Learn more about Fort + Home at their website.
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Speaker 2:The Full Circle podcast, compelling interviews and incredible tales from Colorado's Western Slope, from the mountains to the desert. Christy Reese and her team here from the Movers Shakers, and characters of the Grand Valley and surrounding mountain towns that make the Western slope the place we all love. You'll learn, you'll laugh, you'll love with the full circle. Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Full Circle Podcast. I'm your host, Kristy Reese, and today I'm really excited to have as our guest, Jeff Zimmerman, president and development manager for Fort and Home , uh, real estate company with all kinds of arms in lots of different things. Right, Jeff? For sure. Okay . So we're gonna talk about a lot of your projects today. Um, you are a Grand Junction native?
Speaker 3:I am, yes. I was , I was , uh, born in Grand Junction and then , uh, grew up in , uh, silk , Colorado.
Speaker 2:Not too many people can say that. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Not too many. Yeah .
Speaker 2:And , um, and then how did you make your way back here? I mean, you didn't stay in Western Colorado , um, your whole life, but you , um, went other places and learned a lot of different , uh, skills.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I went to the University of Wyoming for school. Um, that's where I went to college. And then after that, I came back to Grand Junction and , um, I guess I was chasing the money bug , so getting in the oil and gas industry mm-hmm <affirmative> . And then also finished college at , uh, CMU while I was , uh, here in Grand Junction. And then , um, from there, you know, moved to Denver, did some development there , um, and then eventually went to Texas , uh, for oil and gas, and then went up to back to Denver and then , um, up to Montana to work on some projects, and then made our way back to Colorado. Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Speaker 2:I think a lot of people that will be listening and watching that get excited about real estate investing and , um, fix and flip or any kind of , um, venture in the real estate world, think. Okay. How did you do it? And, and I'm guessing that you took some of your profits from oil and gas , uh, and, and leapt into real estate, but how did you have the confidence to do that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's, it's much easier to invest in real estate when you have a W2 job. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . And , uh, banks like that. So , um, what I did was , um, when I was working in oil and gas, I would take the, you know, money from the site , any , any extra money that I had. And the first rental that I purchased was in 2008, which is not the best timing, but the good thing was , um, it was a duplex that I purchased, so then I had , uh, people living in the basement, and then I rented out about every room I could mm-hmm <affirmative> . Uh , to my friends . So , um, covered the mortgage. Um, and then, you know, once I realized that, you know , I could cover the cost of where I'm living and made a little extra money, I was , I was hooked. So , um, went from there to , um, working with you on purchasing a property and another one in Grand Junction right down the road. And I was always, you know, I grew up in the , where my, my grandfather was in the construction industry, so , um, I understood like the trade mm-hmm <affirmative> . And how to fix things up and things like that. So that helped me out quite a bit. So a lot of it was DIY mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, and then, you know , watching shows like HGTV and all that, you see, you know, that there's potential in other areas where maybe not in rentals, and we got more into the fix and flips mm-hmm <affirmative> . And that's where we did those more in Denver. And, you know, looking back now and looking at Grand Junction, I wish I bought more here because have the appreciation, but, and there's a little better cash flow too. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . I just got into , uh, um, it's called low high area in Sunnyside in Denver. And , uh, it's a historic area where , um, there's a lot of character to the properties mm-hmm <affirmative>. But , um, it's clo close enough to downtown to where people would spend, you know, a million dollars to live in a 1000 square foot house. So that helped on the profit side , um, but it wasn't the cash flow we were looking for, so that's when we transitioned over into more on the commercial side.
Speaker 2:And, and what does that look like? That's a big leap going from residential to commercial. It is,
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:I , I read that, I read about your project in Montana. I'm excited to hear about that, but yeah, talk about how you got from residential to commercial in the Denver area, and then how that translated to Montana.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so, you know, I was looking at it on the finance side, and when you're, when you're flipping homes, it's more transactional. So you put all the energy in all the work in , um, you know, to, to flip the home or to do a new build. And then once the transaction's over, you know, you have to pay heavy tax and then you're looking for the next one. So we wanted to get away from that, and that's why we went more on the commercial side. So we said , okay, we're looking for something where we can improve, you know, the NOI on a property, and that actually increases the value. So that's really what got me my mind thinking in a different way to where instead of just saying, okay, I'm basing it on comps, then I'm trying to build these properties, I'm actually increasing the cash flow , which should increase the value of the property. So that's really what it , the transition took place. And that was in 2017. Um,
Speaker 2:And, and were you , um, investing in some of these commercial properties yourself and keeping them, or were you kind of doing like a fix and flip on commercial ventures?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so it started out as a fix and flip. Um, and then we got into , um, where we were holding 'em mm-hmm <affirmative> . So , um, there's properties now that we still hold that , you know, we purchased in 2000 , 2018, and there's some that we've sold. So it really just depends on, you know, where that, where that property sits after it's finished mm-hmm
Speaker 2:<affirmative>. And exiting the Denver market and , and it was your next move to Montana.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So our last project that we did in Denver was 2019, and I felt that it was getting a little frothy, which it's not really the case because after covid , I mean, we , we wish we probably would've stayed in a little bit longer, but for me, I , I'm always looking at, you know, the risk side. And on that transaction of flipping homes, you don't want too many flips going at one time if the , if the market wants to go sideways. So purchasing my first property in 2008 kind of taught me that lesson early on to where, you know, a property can be worth, you know, 220,000 and then, you know, a year later it's almost cut in half. So , um, I guess it was good to get in early at that point just to have that understanding, but for us, you know, where we were looking after that point, instead of getting, we want to get away from the transaction side and more into commercial. And in any downside, you know, scenario, it's always good to have rent coming in, and especially with more units mm-hmm <affirmative> . And then also be diversified in the different types of assets that we're invested in. Mm-hmm
Speaker 2:<affirmative>. And , um, I feel like we're having our own little episode of BiggerPockets here. It's great. Um, what is, what is your , um, your best advice for someone that is wanting to get into real estate, adventures, ventures or adventures and , um, how to get started and, and, you know, I'm , it's really hard to time the real estate market as you were just talking about, right? You , you're always evaluating, but you never know what's coming ahead. And so a lot of people, you know, think about , uh, I don't wanna get in now, I'm gonna wait for things to improve, or I'm gonna wait for things to go down, yada, yada. So give some advice on all of those kind of things and, and how you can help someone that's wanting to get into real estate fix and flip or investing.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So the , the first thing I'd say is choose a niche. So we've flipped, we've done retail, we've done office , we've done multi-family. And I think the one thing that we've learned over the years is if you could focus on one thing and get really good at it , um, you'll be a lot better off. And there's some scale with that mm-hmm <affirmative> . Um, and then also making sure you have good relationships with lenders, investors, especially when you start getting into the commercial side, you almost have to have, you know, some sort of outside capital coming in to support on the projects. And I mean, I think that's, I mean, I , that's the big one, is just making sure that you're focused and then knowing where you want to be later on down the road, and then shooting for that and aiming mm-hmm <affirmative>. And also, there's no deal that's too big, right? So what we, oh , what I wish I would've learned earlier, which is instead of scraping together every dollar I have, and then every paycheck that I have for extra savings and fixing up a house, I , I wish I would've understood the finance side where there's people out there that wanna make money on their money, and you can scale with them together as a partnership. So they're making money, you're developing properties, you still have to put some skin in the game, whether it's sweat equity or, you know, money involved. But , um, I think it's just understanding that you can go big at the beginning if you need to, and surrounding yourself with good partners to where even like property managers or a good real estate broker, I mean, that's very important to have those people around you. Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Speaker 2:And, and developing those financial relationships really important. And especially in the bigger cities where you don't know everybody kinda like you do here, you know, like, you know who the players are here, but it's, it's really important here too, for sure. Yeah. Um, back to Montana. So how did that happen?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so it was, it was one of those where, you know, we were, we were working in Denver and we, my wife and I, so we actually met here in Grand Junction, and then we moved to , to Denver together, and we're in the business together. So she does more of the, the pretty stuff, right. So she's all into the historic architecture and fixing things up, and I'm more of the get it done mm-hmm <affirmative> . Person. So it's a good combo.
Speaker 2:Yeah,
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. It works out pretty well. And we just, we really, you know, had Montana on our mind. You know, we, we liked the national parks and everything up there, but there was a , a city or a town that kind of cut our eye, and it was on a Anthony Bourdain episode, and it was , uh, Butte, Montana, which is, at one point it was called the Richest Hill. So it had the most wealthy, you know, concentrated , uh, group of people in one area because of a large copper mine mm-hmm <affirmative> . And because of that, the real estate in the area is pretty amazing. Like, it's up , up on a, on a hill, and it's the largest historic district in the United States. Oh , I didn't
Speaker 2:Realize
Speaker 3:That. Which is , which is kind of rare to have in the middle of the mountains. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So we said, we gotta get up there and , and see what this is about. So we, you know, we made the trip up on one of our summer trips that we did, and, you know, we kind of , we just fell in love. It's, and people can see it actually what Uptown Beat looks like in , um, if they watch the Yellowstone Series 1923. And it's, I mean, it's still like stuck in time, like the, the architecture and the views. It's, it's pretty amazing. And
Speaker 2:So I love that series 1923, and I, I , now I need to go back and watch it and, and look for your building. Yeah. Do you still own that?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So what was the hotel Bozeman in, in the series? That's actually our building. We still own it. So Harrison Ford and I , I can't remember who the other, is it Meryl Streep ? Something like that ? No,
Speaker 2:It's , um, gimme a minute. I'll think of it. Keep going. Yeah.
Speaker 3:But anyway, they were, I mean, the , the scenes that they did it was pretty funny because Paramount actually rented our space from us. So they set it up to make, look , make it look like a hotel and everything. And they hung a sign on the outside that said Hotel Bozeman, which kind of upset the people in Butte because they're not like, Hey,
Speaker 2:It's Butte , come on. Yeah .
Speaker 3:But yeah, we still own that one. And then we , uh, developed another property, which was the first one we purchased up there, which is the O'Rourke building. And there was a 26 unit , um, apartment building, and at the, like, the time , and it was built, it was pretty, it was pretty luxurious. Um, I mean, all the details that , um, it , you know, they put into it when they built it, but when we purchased it, when the roof was caving in, it was pretty rough. So , um, we had, you know, the facade, and that's the important part to those types of buildings, because we, what we do is we go down to the studs anyway, so it wasn't that big of a deal. So we , we went in, we got it. And you know, luckily there's very supportive there in , in Butte , um, because it's , uh, you know, the largest historic district and there's a lot of credits and grants and things like that to where they'll help incentivize the development. Um, so, you know, we just went into it and most people call this crazy crazy, 'cause I mean, we went from flipping houses to, you know, 15, 20,000 square foot historic buildings. And the reason, you know, we were looking at it is 'cause it was affordable. Right. So, and I, I say that in quotes because yeah , it's a , it's affordable to purchase the property, but, you know, all that goes into it after the fact. It's not really. So
Speaker 2:Those , yeah, those old buildings are full of surprises, aren't they? They are . Yeah. You do one thing and then you have five more issues you didn't know about before.
Speaker 3:Exactly. Yeah . But I mean, the way that the building's turned out, it , it's pretty amazing. And I give most of the credit to my wife, you know, for all the details and everything that she put into it. And we had 'em all pre-sold by the time we were finished. And it was, it was kind of a nice get away from Colorado. 'cause we purchased the buildings in 2017, 2018 range. But during Covid we moved up there, and at that point we only had one daughter. Um, so it was nice to kind of separate from what was going on in Colorado, and it was just a little more of a small town, and it was quiet there in Butte. So it was nice to, you know, work through those projects. And , um, our second daughter was actually born in Butte, so , um, yeah , so we have some other properties there as well. So Multifamilies and, you know, retail , um, condo conversions that we've done. And, you know, we just got to the point where when you have young kids, it's uh , it's sometimes nice to be close to family. So we, we realized we were a little too far away. So we moved back to Colorado and at that point , um, that's when we were looking at some other projects. And you know, we, my wife and I, you know, we were , um, we went to college here and in Grand Junction, I'm from the area and , um, I have multiple generations of family members here. So, you know, this is kind of an area where we are looking at, we say, Hey, this is, you know, a path to progress and we're to Butte . And , um, that's when we purchased the, the Melrose, the Hotel Melrose. And yeah, it was , uh, it was pretty rough as well. Um, but there's something about the historic buildings, because you can't really, I mean, it's all about what they say is location, location, location. And with historic buildings, they're pretty much in the best locations, right? They're on the main streets, they're downtown. So, you know, we wanted to , uh, dip our toes a little bit more on, into , um, the hospitality side. And , uh, we like the historic buildings. And we had some other projects here too , some multifamily properties. But , um, there's a split between my wife and I. So I'm more of a finance person, so mm-hmm <affirmative> . I look at it and I say, okay, this, you know, seven unit apartment building, it's pretty common cash flow . I like that side. Yeah . But my wife says, okay, we're gonna fix this hotel up and it's gonna be the best. And she, she focuses on that side. But, you know, looking at it now, it's much better to hold an asset that's, you put the energy into the work into and spend the money on it. Right.
Speaker 2:Well, I, I love that you work together on that. And I think that anybody that has visited the Melrose will say, great job on the design. I mean, what a beautiful building. And it's got such a nice feel. Love the bar, haven't, you know, stayed in the rooms, but , um, would love to , um, see the whole building 'cause it just looks beautiful. Um, talk a little bit about the aesthetic and, and what your wife's goal was for the feel of the building, if you can speak to that. Yeah,
Speaker 3:So, you know, of course, like I was talking about earlier, you, you wanna make sure you partner with the right group. So , um, Chamberlain architects are here in town and, you know, they have some experience on the historic side. So they helped us lay it out. And then, you know, there's Danielle , my wife Danielle also worked with some, some designers in town as well too , to kind of come up exactly with what, what she wanted for the, you know, the final, the final feel and look of the building. Um , which it, it definitely wasn't easy if, if you visit the place, the , the walls are, you know, pretty dark blue. And , um, that's kind of a, it's a handful of a project on the construction sites , so painting and everything else. But I mean, the way it turned out was, was great. And for me, you know, what I'm really looking at is cost control. So <laugh> , you go into these historic buildings and you have to do, he piers on the outside. 'cause the, you know, the , it's a whole old historic building built in 1918, I believe, or 16, so like that, or 1906. So it's pretty old. Yeah . So <laugh> , it's a , it's in rough condition. So I'm, you know, what I'm looking at on with our construction team is we go in and we say, okay, what do we need to do here? And then how do we do it so it pencils at the same time? So , um, and I think that, you know, when we started, we were, we were looking at the property more as keeping it the way it was, so not investing as much because it was shared bathrooms, but after Covid, that's not really, that's kind of frowned upon, right? You don't want to be sharing bathrooms.
Speaker 2:Oh , yeah. Covid changed that a little bit, didn't it? <laugh>
Speaker 3:It did. So ,
Speaker 2:So right in the middle of your project, Uhhuh.
Speaker 3:<affirmative> , yeah, it was right after, right after Covid. And , um, you know, we, we looked at it and I think it was 23 rooms with maybe four bathrooms in there that people shared. And I think it was an affordable stay for people. Um, and it was still operating when we purchased it, but it wasn't operating at the full potential mm-hmm <affirmative> . So we went in, now it's 16 rooms, they're all suites. And then for me, I'm looking at the risk of it. So I say, okay, if we have another covid and hospitality decides to go, you know, in , into the dump again , um, I want to make sure that we have a backup plan . So we put full kitchens in to where we could turn 'em into rentals if we needed to. So technically it could be a 16 unit apartment building mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um , but I mean, there's definitely more money on the hospitality side if you operate it properly. So , um, we have that as had that as the backup plan. But I felt pretty good about the 16 rooms that are , you know, spacious and , um, well designed by Chamberlain. Yeah . You know? And ,
Speaker 2:And was it always your goal to have , um, a non hosted , uh, hospitality building like that? I think it's a great concept.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So, you know, doing our research and, you know, talking to consultants during the, the period, you know, when we're going through the planning side, they say, really , um, you have to have at least 40 rooms to where you're staffed up. Um, and we knew that we couldn't fit that in the square footage that we had, so we really didn't have another option if we wanted to make sure that the numbers are gonna work. So , um, and it is fully automated, so people can go in on their cell phone , they can scan, they can get into their rooms , they can get into the front door mm-hmm <affirmative> . And we have people we want to , we want to focus more on, like, genuine hospitality is kind of the , the brand for the hotel. Um, so really instead of a front desk person, we want more of like a personal concierge. And we think we can do that with 16 rooms to where we actually have people supports of somebody makes a phone call, they have somebody to talk to, you can text your phone, you can talk, say you need a towel, or whatever. So it's just, it's just changing a little bit, but it's , it's actually providing a better service. So we want it to be the service of like a four seasons that you get, but not the cost that comes with it.
Speaker 2:Well, and the consumers are really used to the kind of VRBO model where you're kind of on your own, but you have contact for somebody when you need something. But this takes it up a level for sure. A little more concierge. Yeah. And how's your occupancy been?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so in a , in a hotel like that, I mean, revenue's the most important to us. So we're going more towards the , the higher average daily rate than the occupancy. Um , but Occupancy's been, you know , pretty solid for the first year of operation on it. Um , but I mean, the , the rates go, we have people that are booking rooms for $500 a night, you know, in the peak seasons. And really that's who we want to focus on because we're in the hotel zone when we're , we don't want to compete with a true or a Hampton Inn mm-hmm <affirmative> . And we don't want to bring our prices to com , like compete with them. We want to be more of the boutique stay for somebody looking for the experience. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . And believe it or not, it's pretty crazy the amount of people that come from, I mean, all over the world, they're coming to Grand Junction and they'll stay in our hotel because they want that experience, they want the wine country, they wanna stay in a nice place. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . You know, the Melrose Spirit Co . Um, Gavin owns that and he does a great job. Yeah . Um , and I think that's, that's one of the things where it just kind of sets it, you know, a little higher bar than everything else for the competition around. So.
Speaker 2:Well, I want to talk about your affordable housing project that you are working on out in Orchard Mesa. Where do you wanna start talking about that? Yeah , how'd you come up with the idea, I guess?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So we actually purchased a mobile home park, and , um, there's a lot of rules around mobile home parks that have changed over the last five years. So, and especially since we first purchased it. Um, but you know, what, what we like to do is we don't, we don't wanna be slumlords, right? We don't, that's not the business we're in. We wanna make sure that when we provide a product, it's the best. And , um, we didn't feel that, you know, putting new modular housing or even older modular housing into an area to where there's other mobile home parks in the area , um, we wanted to make sure that we, we could provide something to the market that , um, we can, I guess fill the gap on the affordability side, but it, just because it's affordable doesn't mean it, it can't be nice mm-hmm <affirmative> . Right? So we started working with the planning department and City of Grand Junction, and this is definitely a unique project because we call it a mobile ho mobile home park conversion. So the homes are laid out similar, similar setbacks as a mobile home to where, you know , I mean, that you think about, like, when mobile home parks were usually built was in the seventies, sixties, seventies when inflation was high. And it's kind of happening again to where people can't really afford an affordable home, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative> . An entry level home, and we want to be able to fill that gap, but still have a quality community that they could live in. So we're doing stick build homes, and they'll range from six to 700 square feet, which is, you know, small, but for somebody that's an entry , you know, home buyer mm-hmm <affirmative> . And they can purchase for, you know, below $300,000 and still have, you know, a dog park and a , you know, a green space for their kids to play, or , um, somebody that's maybe like an empty nester that's downsizing from , um, a larger home. I think that's really what we're trying to get to. And you know, you see these in a lot of retirement communities to where people are doing the, what they call model homes in a, you know, RV park or mobile homes , um, to where they don't maybe need like a big home they don't need , uh,
Speaker 2:Yeah, like down in Arizona. Yeah. What do they call those? Not, they don't call 'em mobile home parks. They call 'em what? Mobile communities, or, I can't remember.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so they're usually model homes, I believe they call 'em. And they have to be under 400 square feet, but so what we're doing, and they have to be on wheels technically, even though they're not. Um , and that's what a tiny home is considered. Um , so we're going a step up to, we're making it larger, and then, then we can do a foundation, excuse me, we can do a foundation under 'em. So then, you know, technically they can get traditional financing on these properties mm-hmm <affirmative> . And then it's part of an HOA, so then we have DHOA that covers all the, you know , cutting grass and trash and everything else. So if somebody wanted to say, live in Grand Junction that , um, wanted a second home, it's a good way to do it to where they can be in a good community or maybe somebody on the entry level side to where they're not ready to buy a $500,000 entry level home, but they can come in and they could own their own property. Mm-hmm
Speaker 2:<affirmative>. So where are you in the process right now?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so right now we're going through planning and zoning , um, wrapping all that up, so it took a little bit longer and, you know, we're glad that we went that route because the property started out with 12 units mobile homes, and it was zoned for 26. Um, but it couldn't actually fit 26 homes on the park. And I don't know exactly like how they set those rules, but , um, just by going through and getting the variance and going through planning and the zoning, we we're able to get 30 homes on there. So it's actually laid out quite a bit better. So mobile, and I , I don't wanna bore you with all the details, but the mobile home park rules in Colorado say it's like one in , one out, so it doesn't matter the way the home was actually set on the property, it has to go back in that same spot mm-hmm <affirmative> . Which doesn't make the most sense for, you know, functionality. So , um, it took a little bit longer on the planning and zoning side, but, you know, we're glad that we, we did it , that we did it that way. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And then, so while we're, you know, going through that side and working on the land infrastructure and everything else, we're actually building the homes off site , so on the manufacturing side, and we're repurposing , um, some units that we have , um, in the oil and gas industry and converting those over, and we're also doing some stick builds . And then that's really what sparked the interest for us on the manufacturing side. So in Grand Junction, we're gonna be putting in a facility to where we can start putting more units through in a condition space, and then doing the same thing and repeating in this market and other markets around the area. Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Speaker 2:That's exciting. So you already have a facility?
Speaker 3:Um , not quite yet, no. It's working
Speaker 2:On that. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Okay. So we're doing everything out.
Speaker 2:And when do you expect , um, for this affordable , um, housing project to be ready for people to start purchasing? Yeah,
Speaker 3:So it'll be this summer.
Speaker 2:Great. Yeah. And , um, who do you think your , your most likely buyer is?
Speaker 3:I think it's gonna be people like me when I first started out mm-hmm <affirmative> . Right ? It's gonna be somebody that's looking to make an investment in a property, whether they actually live in the property or, you know, you could purchase it to rent it out, because that's where the numbers are gonna make sense at a, you know, lower price per qua , per per square foot, but the rents are still stable at that number. So , um, I think you're gonna have your entry level, you're gonna have your investors, and I think you're also gonna have the empty nesters looking to downsize and maybe they live in multiple markets.
Speaker 2:I think that, you know, like at the beginning of our conversation, we're talking about real estate investing, and of course , uh, those of us that work in the real estate industry believe in investing in real estate as a , a wealth building tool. So , um, you know, I think it's so important for people to understand that they can get in at any stage, right? They , they don't have to start with a $400,000 home or the average home, they just need to get in, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Like get into real estate, whether it's a condo, a town home , a tiny home, an affordable , um, uh, situation , um, get into the real estate market, right? For
Speaker 3:Sure. You have to build equity. Yep . That the only way to build it is to buy something and Yep . And, and making sure you're buying right, of course. But , um, I, I believe I'm pretty bullish in , in the Grand junction market. Mm-hmm . And I think that , you know, it's definitely has a lot more upside potential. Um, but yeah, I agree with you a hundred percent. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then what's next? So you're gonna be manufacturing some , um, smaller homes to be put on sites all around Western Colorado, Western United States? Yeah.
Speaker 3:So, so offsite construction is our focus , um, whether it's a single , um, and they're, they're modular, but once they're on their foundation, they're actually considered stick built , but it's really offsite construction. And then what, you know, our other focus is like on the multifamily side. So we have a 12 unit apartment building that's starting in Montana that uses the same concept to where , um, the module units can be. So there's some companies that are outta Salt Lake that we're, you know, looking to, to work with on this, but , um, they'll come as a module unit to where if it's a fourplex, you have four module units, you stack it together, similar to some of the apartment buildings that are mm-hmm <affirmative> . Down the road here. Yep . So offsite construction, just to control costs and, you know, quality control and everything else. That's really where we're focused because what we found in the market is, it's really tough, especially in markets like Montana, where you have a shore building window, you may only have five to six months to where you can build something, it's tough to actually get it done, but if you have it offsite and you do your foundation work and then you hop , you know, do all your offsite construction, you send it on a truck and then you get a train or a crane to, to set the units, then you know, you could be done in, you know, three to four months. So that's really our focus on the control , the controlling the costs , and, you know, I think Grand Junction's a good market for it because, you know, you're on I 70 and you, there's definitely a need for a lot of affordable housing mm-hmm <affirmative> . Um, so that's why we like it.
Speaker 2:Awesome. And you have any other upcoming projects in Grand Junction that you wanna share with us?
Speaker 3:Um, I mean, we're always looking at projects, but , um, over by the , uh, the Melrose we're looking to expand and maybe even build onto the hotel a little bit more , um, to add some rooms to get to that above 40 , um, units now that's maybe, you know, three, three years down the road mm-hmm <affirmative> . By the time we're finished. But, you know, we're always looking for, you know, properties on the path to progress. We like the historic side. Um, so we're, we're always on the look for, for properties mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, but yeah, I mean, I think Grand Junction, especially the downtown is, is definitely, you know, set for growth.
Speaker 2:Yeah. A lot of good things happening there downtown Palisade and Fruita , two wonderful communities and just so much charm and character for sure. Yeah. Um, looking through your website , um, there's a lot of resources there for people. Do you wanna talk about, you know, you wanna attract people to your website to look at the resources that you offer?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I think for us, the main thing is education. So I want to provide , um, that education that I didn't have, right? So I'd probably be in a lot different spot right now, if, you know, YouTube is where it is now , um, just from everything you can learn. Um, so, you know, we've, we've tried to do our best to track our projects on, you know, YouTube from when we start to completion, just to kind of give that education, but then also show like, Hey , you know, we're, you know, we're actually doing these things, we're not, you know, just talking about it. So , um, I think that's a big thing on our website. And then , um, you know, if there's, there's partners or investors that are in a market, I think we, you know, we provide that, that opportunity for people to invest in Main Street in their town. And I don't think that there's, you know, many opportunities like that out there, and especially on a concentration. So we're not saying that we're investing in projects everywhere. We're saying, okay, we like Grand Junction, we like Butte, you know, we like these certain markets and, you know, if people are aligned with what we're, what we're doing, you know, we welcome them to, to reach out. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So investing opportunities for people in , um, uh, what would you call it, A Coor consortium?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So we do, we do it through fund models or syndication. So we've done pretty much everything on the , those types of options to where syndication is usually just one investment. So if somebody just wanted to come in and say, okay, I wanna invest in an apartment building, or, you know , uh, manufacturing, housing or whatever it is, that can be one investment or there's options of funds to where you can be diversified over multiple markets. Um , so we've done, we've done both. Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Speaker 2:Wealth of information. Yeah. I encourage everybody. What's the, give us your website address?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's , uh, forton home.com.
Speaker 2:And that's F-O-R-T-A-N-D, not a plus.
Speaker 3:Incorrect . Yeah . Okay . A-N-D-H-O-M e.com. Okay.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, really, really great information for people that are looking to learn more about investing and learn more about your company and what you all are doing here in Grand Junction and other areas.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Well , I appreciate that. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, anything else you'd like to share with us today, Jeff?
Speaker 3:No, I, I think I just appreciate you having me and , uh, yeah, it's , you know, it's, it really is full circle since, you know, we , uh, it's probably been 15 years since we did a transaction together, one of my first rentals. So , um, I just wanna say thanks for, you know, having me on the, on the podcast and thank
Speaker 2:You. Well, I love highlighting local business people and love to learn about what you're doing and, and all the ways you're hoping to make Grand Junction a better place to live. For sure. Yeah. Thank you. So , um, again, Jeff Zimmerman Fort and home , um, development, and , um, we look forward to hearing more about your project. So when, when you're ready to sell those , uh, uh, orchard Mesa , um, homes, let us know so we can promote them. I'm really excited about that and excited to see what you do downtown more . And , um, yeah. Thanks everybody for joining us. This is Kristy Reese, and we'll see you next time on the Full Circle Podcast. Bye . Thanks for listening. This is Kristy Reese signing out from the Full Circle Podcast.