Colorado bill to raise STR taxes to 29% dead on arrival?

Question

Looks like the push to raise property tax assessments on Airbnb/short-term rentals to 29% ... might be dead on arrival.

"I don’t have any particular hope or even interest in perhaps in it passing in the form that it has been introduced," Rep. Bob Gardner, a Colorado Springs Republican, told Denver 7.

I was a politics reporter for Kansas newspapers for years and, uh, that's not what you say when you've got support for your bill. STR owners in Denver and Colorado Springs and elsewhere can breathe at least a small sigh of relief. For now. But don't rest on your laurels. This idea was floated two years ago. It died. It was introduced again this year. It died. You could say it died twice. But you could also say it was introduced twice. Someone wants this bill passed, and you never know when the public tide turns.

I think this is a concern for anyone doing anything creative in real estate. Are you house-hacking with five roommates? Are you renting a basement apartment medium-term to traveling nurses? Who knows when a legislator who's scrounging for new revenue, turns to your investment model as the piggybank.

John Underwood · Answer

I just don't get why certain areas of the country are so Anti STR.

I know the pros and cons and people in my neighborhood went crazy when someone started renting as a STR, but certain areas and their laws seem overkill.

James Carlson · Answer

@Sean McDonnell

Totally. I happen to be for some regulation but my intellectual soul is beyond annoyed at the arguments from neighborhood groups. I've gone to the city meetings here in Denver and in Colorado Springs and the opposition sounds like get-off-my-lawn crossed with reefer madness. Rif-raf! Transients! Drugs! Parties! My favorite person in Denver got up and said they had photographic evidence and then she passed a single photograph of the end of a joint and a baby snickers wrapper. That was it. Neighborhood gone to crap!!!

In reality, as you said, most STRs and Airbnbs are better for the neighborhood than a long-term tenant. They're literally cleaned every few days and if they're not, the reviews go down and the places stops being profitable as a short-term rental.

Anyway, the news here is actually good. We'll see if it sticks.

Sean McDonnell · Answer

The major hotel unions have allied with the unhappy neighborhood boomers who want a quiet life and think that if their neighbor rents out their house on Airbnb, there will be frat parties there every night.  In reality, STR sites are all on a reviews based system where the guests have just as much incentive as the hosts to be courteous, clean, and respectful or else they will get bad reviews and wont be able to easily use the platform.  But despite all the money from hotel owners, STRs are still growing like crazy across the country.

Mark Miles · Answer

😂😂😂 Ken is mad at my entire existence. And yet we are almost neighbors. That’s ok, I have thick skin. I can handle the neighborly hostility 😆

Ken Latchers · Answer

"In reality, as you said, most STRs and Airbnbs are better for the neighborhood than a long-term tenant"

I consider that pure speculation. A resident would say that most long-term rentals are better for the neighborhood than a short term rental. The owner is often not even in the area, is not vested In the neighborhood, is trying to maximize profit, I didn't generally tend to drive up overall rental rates. In some popular areas, They are ruining the neighborhood.

They are starting to scrutinize short-term rentals in my town. If I could wave a magic wand I would make it illegal for anyone to operate a short-term rental who didn't live in the town. I don't give a whoopie about people trying to make a profit who don't live there.

Mark Miles · Answer

Yeah it’s typically something we see a lot of here in the north. For whatever reason, people in the northern half of the US tend to be very very anti-vacation rentals. I guess it just dates back many many decades in our country‘s history.

Perhaps because so much of the country’s industry was based in the north, while the south was more rural & farming and filled with vacation spots, so Southern attitudes toward vacation rentals tend to be a lot more accepting.

Whereas the northern towns just want to beat them out of existence. It’s sad to see Colorado become anti-vacation rental in any possible way, however, as they are such an amazing state for vacations! I’m glad to see this bill was dead on arrival, and I would hope to see Colorado very accepting of VRs in the future

Michael Baum · Answer

Hey @James Carlson, in another thread, a local person said it was DOA as well. Good to hear! I think a lot of people were going to be hit hard by that.

It's funny, they wanted it to get more people into affordable housing. Like all the STR's there now will be affordable. The median home value in Summit County, CO is $656,000!

James Carlson · Answer

@Ken Latchers

Totally get it. I know in Denver and Colorado Springs, some STR owners have a sense of entitlement that there should never ever be any restrictions on what they do as if running a short-term rental does affect neighbors. Again, I can see both sides. I want sensible Airbnb regulations, but both sides need to cool on the hyperbolic rhetoric. STRs are not the downfall of western civilization. And STRs are not the golden child never to be touched by cities. The answer has to lie somewhere in between.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Ken Latchers · Answer

I am definitely not anti short term rental. But I find it ludicrous the people on this forum who remote manage 700 miles away and are angry at a town for having the nerve to zone and legislate about their STRs.

Colorado bill to raise STR taxes to 29% dead on arrival?

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