Airbnb Denver/ Aurora Colorado Newbie Question

[Taylor Burns]

Good morning BP! 

So I just closed on my first house! I have started fixing up minor things and painting interior to make everything look more modern. This is a 5 bed 3 bath ranch with finished basement. I have the master upstairs with it's own bathroom. Then I have 2 other rooms with a shared bathroom. This house is located about 15-20 minutes from DIA and 5-10 minutes from the UCHealth Anschutz medical campus.  

I have been kicking around different ways to rent this place out with me still living there. I am now looking to Airbnb my 3 upstairs bedrooms and then have the whole basement to live in. Before furnishing all of the upstairs rooms, I am looking for some help on this. 

Does anyone have advice on Airbnbing 3 bedrooms out of one home? Is this practicle or will it lower the value of the rooms dramatically? Also, looking for some advice on how in demand this area is for Airbnb, the zip code would be 80012. Any advice helps. I got into this home with an FHA loan so my PITI is $2380/month. Just looking to maximize my returns here so I can save up for down payment on property number 2. Any insight is much appreciated!

Thank you!! 

[Steve K.]

Congrats on the deal, sounds like a good score and I love that zip code for appreciation. Since you'll be living there you can AirBNB according to Aurora's STR rules:

https://www.auroragov.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server...

You'll just need to get a business license ($40) and pay 8% tax. As mentioned above you'll want to clear it with your HOA if you have one. I'd look on AirBNB and see if you can find some comparable rooms being rented to get an idea of pricing. Also see how booked up they are to gauge demand. Being on the DIA side of town I'd think this is a good strategy. I have friends doing this in Green Valley Ranch. One thing they complain about is the effort of basically running a hotel (cleaning and washing sheets every day, new people coming in and out all the time, etc.). If the rooms could be rented to long term housemates for an amount that covers your mortgage plus a bit, I'd probably just go that route (house-hack) personally, but if STR is twice as profitable, could be worth the extra effort, just have to compare the numbers. It's easy to find good tenants in Denver and STR seems to work really well for people too so you've got some good options!