Last chance to buy an STR investment in Wheat Ridge

[James Carlson]

For anyone interested in short-term rentals in the Denver area ... it's last call for Wheat Ridge.

The city of Wheat Ridge, directly west of Denver, has allowed Airbnb investment properties for a few years. But they capped the number of STRs to 2% of the housing stock of each city council district. Welp ... three of the city's four districts have now reached that STR cap.

The only district with STR licenses still available is District III. As of Oct. 11 -- two weeks ago -- there were 22 licenses available. I'm awaiting word on the updated numbers, but I suspect there are actually fewer than 22 as of today.

For those who care, District III starts about a mile west of Denver and runs all the way out to Golden in the foothills. I have a client who bought a few years ago and has been doing well out in that district. If you really want to buy in another district, there is a waiting list to get in when someone drops out, but that could be a year or two. (The strategy, if you were set on one of those capped districts, would be to furnish it and rent it as a medium-term rental for traveling nurses and remote workers while you wait for an STR license to open up.)