Anyone doing a 30 day+ furnished short-term in Colorado?

Question

Anyone doing a short-term 30 day+ furnished rental in Northern CO (or anywhere for that matter)? Looking for what your experience has been, how you manage calendar, and whether it was worth it! Thank you so much!

Paul Sandhu · Answer

Market your STR to travelling workers.  Traveling nurses, visiting professors, construction workers (windfarm, energy, tech).   They get a per diem and their jobs can last over 30 days.  Charge and collect by the week.  You won't be renting to vacationers.

Aimee Lawrence · Answer

@Rob Withers Yes, let's keep in touch. Let me know what you decide!

@James Carlson Thank you so much for all of the information. I can't tell you how helpful it was. I do have just couple of questions...

What's your vacancy rate? And, how do you manage your airbnb calendar? I did see someone say that she only rented from the beginning of the month to the end of the month to avoid gaps and very high occupancy. Seems like this might be a good idea but obviously some months are less than 30 days so I don't know how she worked that out.  I just don't want to end up with a bunch of 3 week windows that I can't fill above board.

Thank you again!!!!

James Carlson · Answer

@Aimee Lawrence

We've helped more buyers/investors buy short-term rentals/Airbnb investments in areas of Denver and Colorado Springs that allow them. But we've had a few clients do this, and our personal rental portfolio has consisted almost exclusively of medium-term rentals. A studio condo, a 1br condo, and a 3br condo -- all in Denver. And then a SFH and both sides of a duplex -- all in Colorado Springs. I call them the Goldilocks of rental models. It's more money than a LTR and less work than an STR/Airbnb. It's juuuuust right.

A few generic thoughts:

Furnish well and pay for good photographs. Furniture doesn't have to be super nice, but it better be clean and well-maintained. And yes, the better your space is, the more you can charge. And use Virtuance for photographs. It's $100 for 10 photos or $150 for 24 photos, I think. They're high definition and make your place look great.

Pay for good internet. With more remote workers streaming into front range cities like Denver and Colorado Springs (and yes, up there in Fort Collins, too, I imagine), their top priority is a good working environment. Good internet speed is key.

Advertise it on multiple platforms as a 1-month minimum furnished rental. We use Facebook Marketplace, Furnished Finders and Airbnb. For Furnished Finders, they charge $99/year, but they send good qualified leads. If I get one solid booking from them a year, it's worth it. For Airbnb, just set the minimum night stay to 30 days (or whatever minimum you want). I would also still make them sign a lease. Anything 30 days or longer, they have tenants rights, and it's good to have that stuff laid out in writing.

Include a 45-day requirement for them to notify you of them leaving. You have more turnover so I'm hyper aware of my vacancy and want to have a month and a half to advertise -- at a minimum. I usually like to have a place up for rent two or even three months out.

Is it worth it? I think so. I see about 20-25% more rental revenue with furnished medium-term rentals than we'd get as a traditional LTR. It takes about a year of that extra revenue to pay for furnishings, I find. And then it's just nice. The big thing to be diligent about is vacancy. That extra revenue is only nice if you keep vacancy between guests low. Otherwise, it starts to look more like a LTR but with more work.

Good luck!

Rob Withers · Answer

Unfortunately Aimee, I don't have the experience you're looking for, but am looking for the same answers myself.  If I get them I will share them.  I am a developer in Denver and with some changes in zoning code are looking at group living options 1, 3, 6, 12 month.  Most likely remote tech workers.  Working through design comps now, but in a few weeks I'll be trying to figure out the operating model.  Ideally, we'll find a property manager that knows this space.  Let me know if you have any connections.  I'm happy to stay in touch.

Aimee Lawrence · Answer

Thanks for the reply @Paul Sandhu. I can only do over 30 days here and I'm looking if anyone has had any luck with that. Best of luck to you!

Paul Sandhu · Answer

I do weekly rentals in the state next door. People stay for the duration of a temporary job. 2 weeks to 6 months. Just depends upon what the job is and if they get bids for additional jobs. I manage the 23 properties with a poster board. Rent is 4x the LTR rate.

Anyone doing a 30 day+ furnished short-term in Colorado?

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