All Forum Posts by: James Carlson

This doesn't surprise me at all. Denver has been crazy and continues to be crazy. Good time to be a seller, for sure. 

@Ariel Smith That's great to hear. I have not had a lot of confidence in what Airbnb would do, but I also haven't spoken to many who actually had to touch base with them. Do you mind me asking what you had to ask for? And did you have pictures of items before the guest arrived to compare to after-pictures?

Have you had to use the Host Protection at all?

@Luke Carl That is a question more people need to be asking. I have a few issues with the Airbnb coverage.

First off, a clarification. There are two coverage programs offered by Airbnb. 

1. Host Protection. This is supposedly a $1million insurance policy covering you against liability in the case of an accident on your property. A guest breaks their leg and you have to pay their medical bills. A guest starts a fire that damages the nextdoor neighbors' house and they sue you.
2. Host Guarantee. This is $1million of coverage, but not technically insurance. I don't know the distinction. But this supposedly covers damage to your property caused by a guest. Guest breaks a chair. Guest stains a $1,000 sofa. 

The Host Guarantee may work, but I've never tried it, and the fact that it's not actually insurance bothers me. Also, their coverage areas aren't as strong as other products. I know they don't cover bed bug extermination, for instance, which is always a risk with multiple guests coming in.

The Host Protection bothers me for a different reason. I haven't read through their coverage areas, but something tells me it might not be as strong as other policies. But also, it seems like Airbnb has a potential conflict of interest. Are they working on behalf of the guest -- who Airbnb wants to keep as a customer -- or the host. Also, you have to file the claim through Airbnb, not the carrier that is actually underwriting the policy. 

For my peace of mind, I want to pay a little extra and get a policy that I know is working for me. 

Oh, and be careful about talking to your regular homeowners' carrier. While more and more of them are coming up with short-term rental insurance products, most still don't offer something like that, and -- scarier -- they don't know what it is, so they might tell you you're covered when in fact you're not. 

@Bain Craddock Congratulations on taking a big step. @Bill S. always has some good thoughts on the rental market and at what price points are good to buy. 

A few thoughts. One, I love going directly to the owners. It's a long-shot, but those pay off sometimes. (That's how my wife and I got our first rental property.) I'd include that in a mix of tactics. Put up ads in the buildings in which you want to buy. Peruse the MLS listings. Get connected with a few wholesalers. Keep up the good work on that front.

About Airbnb. I echo Bill's point. Most HOAs do not allow rentals of less than 30 days, and most don't allow renting of less than the whole unit. Some condo associations are more lax than others, but I wouldn't buy a place banking on income from a room rental without knowing exactly what the HOA rules are.

Good luck and carry on!

What exactly can you do with Airbnb and short-term rentals in Denver?

Come grab a drink and learn all about:

• The primary residence rule
• City enforcement efforts
• What insurance you need
• Duplexes, basements & carriage houses
• HOA restrictions
• Creative workarounds ... and why they likely won't work

Bring your questions!

Capitol Hill Tavern
1225 Logan St.

FREE. To register (or basically, to let me know you're coming), call or email:

James Carlson
720-460-1770
[email protected]

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James Carlson is a real estate agent working with buyers, sellers and investors in the heart of Denver. He teaches the Colorado Free University Class, Airbnb 101. He also specializes in finding buyers homes with basement or attic apartments and carriages houses, all of which are legal to rent out full-time on Airbnb.

@Erik Martin I don't specifically know of companies that furnish spaces, but I'm guessing they're out there. I mean, any company that furnishes a home when it's about to sell has to know how to do it or someone who does. About the demand, I used to worry about the demand outside of the central "hip" spots in Denver. But that doesn't seem to be the case, at least not in Colorado Springs. My brother-in-law had tons of people wanting to rent his whole house for three months at a rate that would have paid for a year of his mortgage. That type of demand led him to buy another house, and he just started renting that out. I don't know the exact occupancy rate, but he's cash flowing well, I know. It's just a different crowd down there. A lot of grandparents coming to see their new grand-babies for a month or so, a lot of Garden-of-the-Gods tourists, and a lot of families visiting Air Force cadets.

@Kayla V. I applaud your idea. Technically, yes, but in reality, it could get difficult soon. The biggest issue for what you propose is that even if a condo is your primary residence, almost every HOA requires at least a 30-day lease for any rental units, and many require at least 90 days. The HOAs that don't have those restrictions are currently looking at changing them.

About separate primary residences ... I just met with the city of Denver's excise and licenses department guy who oversees short-term rental licenses. He said there's not much the inspectors can do to proactively determine if you're skirting the laws. He said they will not get into your personal lives. If you've got a different type of relationship with your spouse and live in two separate spaces, we can't parse that out. But as @Bill S.  said, you'd have to go through a lot of work. The ordinance defines a primary residence as your primary "place of return" as proven by a series of documents. I don't recall all of them, but it's your driver's license, voter registration, vehicle registration, etc. 

For right now, you could maybe get away with it. But the city is contracting with a company called Host Compliance that is scraping the internet for all your data -- your listing location, your name, etc and cross referencing it with other public records to determine whether it's your primary residence. The excise & license guy said they are starting to look at couples in which they both have a license and one of them recently changed their DL, voter registration, etc. 

If you're interested in juicing your rents a bit, try buying a condo in a great area, furnishing it and renting to traveling nurses or business people. My wife and I do that, and it's gone well for us. 

Hey @Erik Martin The laws surrounding Airbnb is probably my favorite topic, so here's more than you asked for.That's a million dollar question (maybe literally) for some people. I host little happy hour seminars twice a month talking about the Airbnb laws in Denver and surrounding areas. I'll PM you about the next one. 

As @Michael Greenberg lamented, there is no quick way to figure out which Colorado cities have a primary residence restriction or not. I wouldn't rely on the national sites to get Denver's Airbnb laws or any other city's regulations right. The devil is in the details. 

You asked how often these are changing. I know that almost every city on the front range is looking at it. Lakewood just started a study session on the topic. Arvada's planning department issued an opinion saying they're illegal. Edgewater put a moratorium on short-term rentals while they study the issue. Aurora passed a law in December similar to Denver's

All that said, you have options. I get a lot of people asking me about this, and here's what I say:

1. Have you already bought your primary residence in Denver? If not (or even if you have, and you'd be willing to move), you should look for a home with a basement apartment with a separate entrance or a home with a carriage house out back. You've got to set up certain searches to capture these on the MLS, but what's great about them is that you can rent out that basement apartment or carriage house full-time on Airbnb. It's the only way, in fact, you can rent a place full-time on Airbnb in Denver.

2. Consider Colorado Springs. I'm pushing Denver clients who don't want to buy a new primary residence to look in the Springs. They don't have any restriction as of now on short-term rentals, and their city council has shown no interest in addressing them further. (This makes sense, politically, as Colorado Springs is more conservative and tends to believe in stronger property rights for individuals than some other cities.) My brother-in-law just bought a place down there and is renting it on VRBO/Airbnb full-time. He's doing well with Air Force families and others visiting Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak. Oh, Castle Rock has no restrictions, either. 

There is a caveat for cities that don't restrict Airbnb or short-term rentals is that they could always change. So when you're running your numbers, be sure to have an exit strategy. Either A) sell and get out or B) know that a long-term renter could cover your butt if need be.

3. Consider Fort Collins. They just passed a law to allow non-primary residence short-term rentals in certain pockets of town. Many of those pockets are near the university or old town I believe. That could be a good strategy.

Good luck!

Hey @JT Alexa I'd echo the above sentiment. Give Craigslist a try. I also have a network of furnished short-term rental owners (1-6 months) that I'd be happy to connect you with. They're mostly in central Denver, but some are in the surrounding towns as well. One of them might have accommodations. I'll PM you.

Yes, absolutely what @Jean Norton said, though I'd caution against using a host's calendar as a gauge of how often they are booked. The calendar on their listing doesn't distinguish between dates that are unavailable because of bookings and dates that are unavailable because the host blocked them (likely because they live there and don't want to host during those dates).

The workaround is to dive into the listings in your area. Search as if you were going to be a guest. Leave the dates blank (you don't want to exclude hosts that are booked). Choose the same number of bedrooms as yours and zoom into your neighborhood. Then click on some listings that have a good number of reviews. Look at the first page of reviews. Were there a few left in the last month? If so, this person is probably getting booked a lot. If there's only a smattering of reviews over the last few years, then they're not getting booked as often. 

@Byron W. I don't know the Chicago market, but the answers are often Airbnb or short-term rental questions:

First off, as @Jean Norton said, check your laws. Here in Denver, for instance, the primary residence provision of the new Airbnb law does not allow you to rent a home that isn't the place you primarily live. (The other side of a duplex or triplex is not included in that definition.)

As for money ... it all depends on your space. Is it located near something to which people will come to see. Can they walk to bars/restaurants/arts venues/grocery stores/etc?  If you stage a place well, get nice photos taken (use Airbnb's free photography service), provide prompt responses and good customer service, you can do very very well. In my experience, 2-3x the revenue of a conventional long-term rental. 

The downside, as you'll see over and over on here, is the work. It can be a lot of work. I've never cleaned so many hairs off a bathroom floor as I did when I was Airbnbing places full-time. 

Good luck!