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!

[James Carlson]

@Tyler Work  Thanks for the shout-out. 

@Ericka Medina First off, good for you for considering this option. While the money's not free, it is relatively easy to get up and running and help pay down your mortgage, invest in another property or go on that big trip.

I haven't updated our Airbnb laws database with Thornton yet, but my wife/business partner has talked to the city. Here's what we know.

• There is nothing specific in the ordinances addressing Airbnb/VRBO/short-term rentals.
• There is no law -- like there was in Denver prior to passage of their Airbnb law -- that prohibites rentals of any kind for less than 30 days.
• The planner we talked to said they're getting a lot of calls and she was not sure what the result would be if neighbors complained.

Long-term, I think most every city that touches Denver will go the route of Denver. Lakewood is looking at it right now. So is Englewood and Edgewater. Aurora has already passed a law very similar to Denver's If you go way south of Denver (Colorado Springs, Castle Rock, for instance), the politics get more conservative and the emphasis on property rights starts trumping any complaints from neighborhood associations.

About the kitchen .... Not too familiar with Thornton codes. In Denver and Colorado Springs, you can have a separate entrance into a basement, but you cannot have a separate kitchen. What constitutes a kitchen? The trigger is a 220V outlet for a stove and a gas line for a stove. Now, you can have a 220V outlet for a dryer, but try convincing an inspector that the 220V outlet in the middle of a kitchen countertop and with an opening the size of an oven is going to be used for a dyer. As others like @Steve K. and @Dan Mackin have pointed out, get a convection oven. I was out with some buyers today who said they bought a huge toaster oven that would have fit 6 slices of pizza. That's another option.

Good luck!