Denver Country STR/MTR rental property

[Elliott Beckstrom]

Hi, 

I'm looking to turn my first house into an income generating property and am weighing the benefits of LTR versus a blend for STR/MTR in Denver. From my research so far and conversations with a couple property managers it sounds like there is more upside on the STR/MTR side of things however it doesn't seem like Denver's government is very friendly to the STR/MTR option.

I'd love to hear some thoughts and opinions on STR/MTR versus LTR for Denver. To clarify for either option I will go with a full tilt property manager because I will not make enough time to run all of the operations on the property so I'm open to recommendations there too.

Please let me know!

Thank you, 

[James Carlson]

@Elliott Beckstrom

A couple thoughts on your potential STR/MTR in Denver:

-- There's a hard distinction between STR and MTR in the eyes of Denver city government. Short-term rental is any rental less than 30 days and is subject to the primary residence rule and require a permit. A medium-term rental is any rental of 30 days or longer and is treated the exact same as a long-term rental. It might as well be a 12-month lease, in the eyes of the city. It's all the same.

-- Are you in the actual city of Denver? (Not like a suburb or unincorporated Adams County or something?) The city of Denver requires any Airbnb-like STR to be in your primary residence, and they're pretty good at enforcing that rule.

-- When did you buy your house? Do you have a low interest rate on it? I ask because what I see with my Airbnb-investor clients in Colorado is that if you're buying right now -- with today's rates and somewhat dampened STR revenues -- you're only making money if you self-manage. An STR property manager is going to take at least 25%, and any cash flow is gone at that point.

At this point, a self-managed MTR makes more than an STR managed by a company. I'd even consider an LTR because it sounds like you don't want to put much effort into it.

Whatever you decide, I wish you luck!