Buying a property to live in and Airbnb in Denver

[Tiffany Miller]

Hi all,

First I will introduce myself, I am Tiffany, a newb to the investing community and I am loving learning about it, networking, and talking business. I am into design, art, travel, and meeting new people. 

This sounds strange, but I want to buy a property that I can Airbnb out (for now) in order to meet travelers coming to the community. I mostly want to attract travelers interested in finding a comfy bed and good atmosphere, that don't mind sharing a bathroom, entrance if possible, but don't want to pay extra to rent out an entire place. 

Now the question:

What neighborhood should I buy in? I only have 45k to invest. I have been thinking about East Colfax- thoughts on this hood? In 2020 I would like to rent the whole property out. Not making positive cash flow when it's an airbnb is ok, but after that I want to rent it out it and be positive. 

[Steve K.]

@Tiffany Miller

Welcome to BP. 

Did you just move from PA? I just saw a post here this morning:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/50/topics/482...

(or, just someone else shares your name)

You should look into going to @James Carlson 's happy hour seminar, wherein he teaches you the Denver airBNB rules.

With a $45k down payment, you could put 20% down on a $225,000 residence....and look for one with airBNB potential "suite" area.

Or, if you can qualify for bigger mortgage payments, put 3.5% down on an FHA loan and look at everything up to a $12k down payment on the ($417,000 maximum loan) property thats about $425,000.

Since it would be your primary residence, it would be allowed in Denver to airBNB a portion of it.

There are some duplexes and even tri and quad-plexes in the modest areas of Denver that would keep you around $400k (they are very competititive.....often sell in first 24 hours to "all cash" buyers).....you could house-hack and live in one unit and rent the others. However, in Denver, you can only short term rent your primary residence. If you went the house-hacking duplex route, you'd be able to rent a room(s) in your unit...but the other tenant would have to be long-term lease (can't by airbnb)