Renting vs Airbnb with Walkout Basement in Thornton

[Ericka Medina]

Hello everyone! My name is Ericka, single mom of two great kids, and I am new to BP. I am excited to be a member and learn, learn, learn!

I purchased a townhouse last year with a partially finished basement. The previous owners were renting out the walkout as a studio and the cash potential is main reason I decided to buy. I finally found a contractor to work with and my goal is to add a bathroom/kitchennette and bedroom downstaris. I went to the city permit office and found out that I can't add a stove due to living in a single family residence.

I am not sure what to do at this point. I have spent countless hours trying to research my options online without much luck. From what I can tell, as long as I don't have a stove (and instead use a portal convection cooktop or something similar), I am ok. Thornton code does state you can have up to four non related people living in a home, so does that mean I can still rent it out? I am also making sure all of my contruction is permitted and legal...but am unsure if when that is complete, I can still rent out my basement or not.

I've considered other options such as putting it on Airbnb instead of doing a long term rental, renting out my 3/2.5 upstairs home and moving to the finished basement when it's done, etc.

It's a great neighborhood, with a walk out basement, and I know that other owners are renting out their basements and/or on Airbnb. Any advince would be HUGELY appreciated as I've already started the basement finish downstairs and want to make sure I can profit from it.

Thanks for reading my long post, but I wanted to ensure I provided a total picture. Also, thanks in advance for your help and I look forward to establishing great partnerships!