Researching my next play which I feel should be short term rental
Good Morning!
I am looking for a short term rental play in the Colorado area. Targeting the front range: Morrison, Bailey, Indian Hills. I need data on where short term rentals are allowed. I know Jeffco your property must be on an acre or more. Would consider a partnership.
Thanks
Cherie Renee
Hi @Cherie Tormey. Love that you are thinking about short term rentals! I think it's one of the best RE investing strategies available to us in Colorado currently, it's just finding the right spots, and it seems like you are already thinking about that! I think those locations are great as long as they meet the short term rental requirements. I manage a property in Bailey and it does really well and has a very consistent occupancy. Bailey's in Park county and they do allow STR's (see ordinance here). The city of Morrison doesn't have any STR laws on the books that I'm aware of, but anything outside of city limits would fall under the Jefferson County STR laws that you mentioned above and I think Indian hills would fall in the same boat. I hope this is helpful and that you find a great STR!
Quote from @Cherie Tormey:
Good Morning!
I am looking for a short term rental play in the Colorado area. Targeting the front range: Morrison, Bailey, Indian Hills. I need data on where short term rentals are allowed. I know Jeffco your property must be on an acre or more. Would consider a partnership.
Thanks
Cherie Renee
Youre asking the best first question. What are the Airbnb laws in Colorado. At the risk of tooting my own horn, make sure you work with someone who knows these laws, because it's changing all the time and there's a lot of vague informationout there. (For instance, Clear Creek county, just west of JeffCo, put a cap on STRs in December and Idaho Springs just passed a prohibition on STRs except in your primary residence.)
Morrison has one of the strictest STR laws in the Denver metro area. Itdoesn't allow Airbnb or short term rentals at all. Now, Morrison -- the city of -- is actually pretty small.
If you're right outside of that, then you're in Jefferson County. Jeff Co allows them, but their licensure process is cumbersome. I have a vacation rental investor client going through this right now. The property has to be on 1+ acre of land, and you have to go before the Board of Adjustors. They notify all adjoining neighbors, who get a chance to comment, and you have to present a plan for how you will handle noise and parking, etc. And it's not a guarantee that you get approved.
(Indian Hills is also in JeffCo. But again, because the footprint of the town is so small, most houses that have an Indian Hills postal address are actually in unincorporated Jeff Co.)
Bailey, as said above, is in Park County, which is -- for now -- totally open to STRs. BUT, they have a huge backlog of STR license applications, and my contacts out there tell me that a moratorium is likely in the near future. If you get in before, then you're totally fine.
You might consider Woodland Park area, like unincorporated Teller County -- Divide, Florissant area. We have STR clients having success there.
Does it have to be in the mountains? What about one of the few cities that allows Airbnb investments in the Denver metro? Arvada, just northwest of Denver, allows them. So does Wheat Ridge, just west of Denver. We've had several STR investors do well in those cities as well.
Whatever you choose, i wish you the best. Cheers!
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Real Estate Agent COLORADO (#FA100071747)
- 720-460-1770
- http://www.tiktok.com/@erinandjames_realestate
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@James Carlson, thanks for clarifying on Morrison. I spent some time looking up the laws for Morrison and couldn't find any documentation on it. Do you have a link you can point us towards? Thanks for the input!
@Cherie Tormey Hi Cherie! My team is actually hosting a meet up this Wednesday at 6 PM at Blake Street Tavern for house hackers/landlords/STRs. There will be a great group of people who are already running their own STRs in different counties around Denver/some of the counties out west--we've helped a lot of investors in the area find their niche. Would love to see you there!
@Ryan Williams Yeah, a lot of the Colorado cities make it almost impossible to find the STR rules. Denver's short-term rental law is easy enough to find. So it Colorado Springs, but many of them bury it somewhere so you either have to call or dig and dig.
Morrison passed an ordinance in 2015 that banned short-term rentals and Airbnb properties, and that language is integrated into the zoning code. Even then, they stuck it at the end of Title 10, Chapter 1, Article E, Section 6 (Or 10-1E-6 seen here) under the headline "Uses, Yard and Bulk Requirements. It's the last paragraph before the charts. It states:
The renting or leasing of real property for residential occupation for periods of time less than thirty (30) days is prohibited in any zoning district within the town, except as permitted in this title for hotels, motels and bed and breakfast inns.
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Real Estate Agent COLORADO (#FA100071747)
- 720-460-1770
- http://www.tiktok.com/@erinandjames_realestate
- [email protected]
Hi Cherie,
I have one STR in Arvada and another near Black Hawk. It sounds like you are interested in mountain markets just outside of Denver. Black Hawk is a great market but Gilpin County is currently on a moratorium and not accepting new licenses till at least September. Bailey is a good option that you mentioned. I would also recommend looking into Evergreen and Conifer, but you are correct that the home would need to be on over an acre if in Jeff Co.
There are always tons of good websites you can visit that will quickly tell you the legalities, or you can always call the zoning office/Township or HOA's and they will tell you for sure if they allow it or not. Also, I'd love to help you with your numbers/estimates, if you find a place that you like in your criteria, id be happy to run some numbers for free for you, let me know!
Hope this helps! Don't hesitate to reach out if you ever need anything!
All the best,
Mike Eichler
@James Carlson to confirm, you're saying any/all new STR's must be on at least 1+ acre of land in Jefferson county? Do you know how far out these meetings with the Board of Adjustors are booking out? Weeks? Months?
Hey @Lauren Sherer, yeah in unincorporated Jefferson it has to be one acre plus - this is from Jefferson Cos STR Regs page :
Property must be minimum of 1 acre, meet the underlying zone district, have adequate parking, meet the requirements set for by the Wildfire Hazard Overlay District, have valid water and sanitation, have legal access, use the primary dwelling unit, be free of violations, and have no substantial detriment to the intent of the Zoning Resolution.
Also it states that:
How long does a Special Exception Case take? Roughly two months from application submittal to the Board of Adjustment hearing/decision.
I haven't personally gone through or had clients go through it, so maybe @James Carlson can give some insight on if it takes a couple months like they say or if it's faster/slower. They definitely make the process very involved in Jeff Co.
Thank you!
Thank you!
Quote from @Cherie Tormey:
Good Morning!
I am looking for a short term rental play in the Colorado area. Targeting the front range: Morrison, Bailey, Indian Hills. I need data on where short term rentals are allowed. I know Jeffco your property must be on an acre or more. Would consider a partnership.
Thanks
Cherie Renee
I've got a large short term rental property ~6MM in Longmont area. Let me know if you'd like details. STR's are allowed.
