Property Manager · Kansas City, MO · Member since 2018 · 280 posts · 221 votes
My husband and I are looking to move to a new city and continue to grow our short-term rental / airb&b business there. We have successfully setup 2 places in the mid-west (Kansas City) but are ready for a change of scenery. Initially we would house hack by living in the same place we airb&b (ideally a small multi-unit)
1. What cities have friendly airb&b regulations?
2. Any suggestions on growing markets / rising cities
3. Any suggestions on cities where margins are good for str?
We are looking at warmer states like Texas, Arizona, Utah, and Tennessee.
You'll find lots of answers if you scroll around these forums.
Smoky Mountains, TN are as you described. @Luke Carl will agree.
St. Augustine, FL if you were interested in NE FL. Both have great margins, both have friendly laws. Laws can change.
Scroll around airbnb as if you were a potential guest. How much are they charging? Where is the house? How much does the house sell for on MLS? It's not too hard plus you'll get some answers here.
Good luck. Do some leg work while you're waiting for answers.
@James Carlson Did you see the most recent Colorado Springs council planning session where they are re-looking at STR's? It was brought up that the El Paso county assessor may start assessing them as commercial properties which would bump up the property tax from 7% to 29%. The state recently tabled a similar idea. Several on the council would love to see this happen so I'm not sure I'd say Colorado Springs is so investor friendly as they used to be. I called the assessor and had a long conversation with him and it is indeed something he's looking at, but said he has a lot of concerns which would need to be addressed first.
If you are looking at Denver please read up on the current legal situation a pair or STR owners have going on. It isn't the Airbnb itself but they falsified a document with the city.
Always check the regulations. If you don't like them work to change them instead of violating them. It also wasn't Denver Police it was the city's Excise and License Department that did the investigation.
@Ken Latchers very true! STRs are a politically hot topic. Always have a back up plan! I have one here in the Springs and getting ready to do a second. I definitely made sure they would also work as corporate or long term rentals.
@Robin Searle totally, anyone who chooses to take a leap on this as a business model should be aware of its flaws. I definitely make sure that the places I choose work as LTR worst case.
And actually, it was the police who did the investigation. The Excise and License Department conducted the initial investigation and then submitted it to the Denver Police Department. At least that's what excise and license rep said at the Short-Term Rental Advisory Committee meeting that happened the day the charges were reported on in the media. I asked the EXL guy how he determined to go for criminal charges against these people instead of simply pursuing revocation of their permit, and he said it was a police and district attorney decision.
Well, that would certainly put a wrinkle in many a plan for Airbnb and short-term rentals in Colorado Springs. Thanks for the notice. I will be interested to see how it goes because the pro-STR crowd had a lot of sway at the city council meeting at which they voted to approve the current ordinance. I think that would be the same at any meeting where they propose to triple STR owners' taxes.
If you get a second or more vacation rental, I suggest you get one outside city limits in case bad things happen. As a simple way of diversification locally. Cities tend to be more liberal and the Burbs and rural areas tend to be more conservative. So they may go in different directions regarding short term rental regulations.
so if you had three for example, one in the city and one in the burbs and one in the country might get you a little more
@Ken Latchers very true! STRs are a politically hot topic. Always have a back up plan! I have one here in the Springs and getting ready to do a second. I definitely made sure they would also work as corporate or long term rentals.
@James Carlson - Steve said nothing will happen before 2021 and that’s only if he can work through a lot of concerns. I’m not sure how much sway we could have when it comes to tax assessment rates. Will definitely be watching it. If you want to call and chat, I’ll share with you what he told me specifically.
Does anyone here have knowledge or input on the STR situation in Branson? I saw some articles saying that is getting heated there and I know there are many BP community members with STRs there. I've been curious about it and it doesn't sound like a good move at this time. Thoughts?
(This is separate from the city search my original post is about)
My wife and I own 2 STRs in Colorado Springs and have 2 others under management. Definitely investor friendly, and is the second most visited city in Colorado next to Denver! The Airbnb market here is pretty localized though, certain areas really only rent out in the summer, while others have pretty good year-round demand.