Property Manager · Sedona, AZ · Member since 2021 · 19 posts · 28 votes
4y
Hey Gabriel,
The city of Denver only allows owner occupied properties to be used as STR's. Arvada and Wheat Ridge have both put regulations in place allowing STR's and have implemented an STR license. I own an STR in Arvada and it has been great so far. It attracts a lot of groups who want to be near the city but also want to commute to the mountains. Another option is unincorporated Adam's county which includes Westminster and Sherrelwood. These are completely unregulated for now but regulations could be implemented in the future.
Property Manager · Sedona, AZ · Member since 2021 · 19 posts · 28 votes
4y
Hey Gabriel,
The city of Denver only allows owner occupied properties to be used as STR's. Arvada and Wheat Ridge have both put regulations in place allowing STR's and have implemented an STR license. I own an STR in Arvada and it has been great so far. It attracts a lot of groups who want to be near the city but also want to commute to the mountains. Another option is unincorporated Adam's county which includes Westminster and Sherrelwood. These are completely unregulated for now but regulations could be implemented in the future.
Real Estate Agent · Denver, CO · Member since 2021 · 10 posts · 10 votes
4y
Hey Gabriel! Like Clara said, Arvada, Wheat Ridge, and unincorporated Adams county are going to be the best for STR. Im an investor friendly agent in the Denver area so feel free to message me if you have anymore questions!
Realtor · Denver, CO · Member since 2020 · 338 posts · 331 votes
4y
Hey @Gabriel Gomez! That's a solid portfolio, and would love to hear more about the ones in Mexico City!
As Clara mentioned above, navigating the STR regulations here in Denver can be complicated and change quite a bit. Clara was pretty spot on with her answer but there are further regulations to know about.
Currently, Yes, Arvada and Wheatridge are the two STR friendly cities in the Metro area for investment properties. However, Wheatridge only allows an owner to maintain two licenses at a time, one for a full property, and one for a partial property (Renting an ADU, or a basement unit while owner occupying for example). Arvada allows 3 rental licenses for an owner at a time, no regulations on what type, except that you can only have one booking at a time for a property. So you can't rent out two units in a single home.
Westminster currently doesn't have regulations, so it's up in the air as to where they are heading. Unincorporated Adam's County (where Clara said) is planning on legalizing STRs with very minimal regulations. Centennial just south of Denver is also planning on legalizing them, with some regulations, but you have to navigate their HOAs.
The other option, if you are already in Vail, is heading into the foothills of the Denver Metro area. Areas like Conifer, Evergreen, etc. do very well as getaway rentals. There are still a few regulations up there that need to be navigated, but they are pretty easy!
Let me know if you want to chat some more! Happy to help out in anyway!
Denver metro is a little bad but mostly really good for Airbnb. Bad because most cities don't allow them. Good because there are a few areas that do, and if you can get one then the other cities' restrictions essentially constrains competition. (See our investor client who's doing really well with an Airbnb in Wheat Ridge just outside of Denver.)
In an ideal world, you'd buy a 4-5br home on the eastern side of Wheat Ridge that borders Denver. Cross over Sheridan Blvd. from Denver into Wheat Ridge, you wouldn't know the difference. And you're right by two very hot commercial areas of Denver -- Tennyson Street in the Berkeley neighborhood and 32nd Street in the Highlands neighborhood.
That said, you can do well with a vacation rental/STR in a lot of places. The client I mentioned above is on the western side of Wheat Ridge. We have another client who's doing well with a new build in Arvada just northwest of Denver (and not even the best area of Arvada.) And in a way, I might prefer a 5br home in not quite as cool of an area to a 2br home near the hot stuff, because the bigger homes can really kill it.
Realtor · Boulder, CO · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 5k+ votes
4y
@Gabriel Gomez Boulder County is also currently issuing short term rental licenses (with some restrictions) and the county line is actually very close to downtown Boulder (which only allows owner-occupied STR's). If you're open to doing medium-term (30+ day rentals), this is a great strategy as well and it will broaden your search area dramatically (inventory is extremely tight here currently). I'm an agent based in Boulder, working and investing personally both here and in Denver. I set up a property last year to use as an STR but ended up being able to rent it out as a medium term furnished "executive" rental for the same rate as an STR, without having to jump through the hoops of getting licensed or paying 10% taxes. Plus it's less management intensive, and less turnover costs than an STR. I've had a few clients mimic this strategy and they're also doing very well with it. Due to our low inventory and significant net in-migration, there is a lot of demand for medium term furnished rentals due to people moving to the area looking to purchase who need somewhere to stay until they can find something to buy. We also have a lot of nomadic tech workers, professors on sabbatical etc. who are willing to pay a premium for a furnished rental for a few months. Happy to chat if you'd like!
Great idea. I've been trying to get someone to do this for awhile.
There are a few options for this. In Denver, if you can find the right building with the right zoning, you can apply for a lodger's license and then operate as if you were a hotel but just utilize Airbnb or VRBO to run it as a short-term rental. The Espadin condo building in the LoHi neighborhood of Denver is an example of this. This is not without headaches. You have higher standards for this -- exit signage, sprinkler systems required in some cases, and you may be subject to higher commercial property tax rates, not the lower residential rate.
The other Denver-area cities that allow it are a mixed bag. I think Wheat Ridge is your best bet. They have a law that says you can only own one "whole house" STR, but they have a separate provision that says in buildings zoned MU that you can operate up to 4 STRs or up to 5% of the units in a 40+ unit building.
Centennial, in theory, could be another option, because they're totally wide open with their regulations. The problem is that Centennial is nearly all SFH. There really aren't many (or any) multi-unit properties.
Arvada is a great location, but they don't allow for all units of a multi-unit building to be operated as an STR. And they only allow 3 non-owner occupied STRs per owner anyway.
Great idea. I've been trying to get someone to do this for awhile.
There are a few options for this. In Denver, if you can find the right building with the right zoning, you can apply for a lodger's license and then operate as if you were a hotel but just utilize Airbnb or VRBO to run it as a short-term rental. The Espadin condo building in the LoHi neighborhood of Denver is an example of this. This is not without headaches. You have higher standards for this -- exit signage, sprinkler systems required in some cases, and you may be subject to higher commercial property tax rates, not the lower residential rate.
The other Denver-area cities that allow it are a mixed bag. I think Wheat Ridge is your best bet. They have a law that says you can only own one "whole house" STR, but they have a separate provision that says in buildings zoned MU that you can operate up to 4 STRs or up to 5% of the units in a 40+ unit building.
Centennial, in theory, could be another option, because they're totally wide open with their regulations. The problem is that Centennial is nearly all SFH. There really aren't many (or any) multi-unit properties.
Arvada is a great location, but they don't allow for all units of a multi-unit building to be operated as an STR. And they only allow 3 non-owner occupied STRs per owner anyway.