All Forum Posts by: David Rutledge

@David Rutledge

Like @Jeff Slusarz said, the city of Denver is a no-go for Airbnb investment, but you're right, there are a handful of suburbs that allow them and that have pretty good returns. Adams County will soon allow for them, according to the planner I talked to who is writing the short-term rental ordinance. Centennial allows them, but it's on the south side of Denver, and that's not quite as "hot" as the northwest and west sides of the metro area. I'd consider either Arvada or Wheat Ridge. We have several STR investor clients who've done well in these areas, like this guy in Wheat Ridge and this guy in Arvada. 

Wheat Ridge is a wide, flat city that butts butts up against the city of Denver on Denver's west side. (If you drove west from Denver along 32nd, you'd never know when you cross into Wheat Ridge. It feels like the same city and is so close to the hot areas of the Highlands neighborhood and the Berkeley neighborhood.) Arvada is just northwest of Denver. If you're in Olde Town Arvada -- the charming downtown with shops, bars/breweries and restaurants -- you can be in downtown Denver in 15 minutes. 

The prices in the Denver metro make the Airbnb numbers not quite as good as some other locations, but they're still good, and the long-term appreciation potential remains strong. (And if you're hoping to have a place that you also want to visit, you could do worse than the awesome city of Denver and the great state of Colorado.)

@David Rutledge

Realtor here who works with investors in both the STR and LTR markets.

Consider my local area of Long Beach, CA.

Most of LA and Orange County are STR-unfriendly but Long Beach just opened it's regulations to allow non-owner occupied STRs.

Aside from being a beach town in it’s own right, it is quickly becoming an aerospace hub. We have SpaceX, Spinlaunch, Virgin Galactic, and Boeing, etc. Mercedes Benz also has a large facility as well. Long Beach has it’s own airport and will host the majority of the 2028 Olympics water sports at the newly rebuilt Long Beach Olympic Aquatic Center.

Long Beach has some of the best kite-surfing on the west coast, good beginner traditional surfing waves, and stand-up paddle boarding and canoeing through the Naples canals. We are just a heartbeat away from the Orange County beaches for all your more advanced traditional surfing needs and also not far from the South Bay beaches too.

Let me know what questions I can answer for you in regards to the STR market in Long Beach, CA!

@David Rutledge

Check out my post below that describes what to expect in Tucson. Happy hunting!

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

 Thank you. I know there are some strict regulations in the area. Which parts of ramps are strs allowed?

@David Rutledge

Currently, city officials cannot use VRBO or Airbnb sites to regulate. They can only regulate if there is a complaint filed by a neighbor. If you pull up airbnb on the city, you can see regulation has not been an issue thus far.

Regulation is certainly the biggest risk, but Utah is a great state for doing business with usually little government intervention in private commerce. Here is an article that screams doom and gloom, but provides a more detailed look.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/ho...

Hi David,

STR realtor here! I moved from #1 on your list to #7 on your list and the opportunities and occupancy rates here in Pinellas/Hillsborough county FL are wild - so much space to cash flow.

I am obviously very biased, but I love Salt Lake City for STR and LTR for all the reasons you mentioned. All the metrics support continued growth in the state. In addition, Utah has been ranked as the nation's #1 state economy for the last 4 or 5 years.

SLC only has one major hotel under construction and not a large inventory of nightly rentals as it stands. Park City isn't as safe in my opinion as there are quite a few hotels under construction and a decent amount of nightly rentals.

Happy to hop on a call and give you some more information about the market.

Denver is difficult as the City and County of Denver has limited STR to properties which are your primary residence. There's some complicated ways around it and things may have improved, but I can tell you that I was personally threatened with being charged with a felony in 2019 for renting my property even though I had gone through the proper permitting. You can certainly look in the suburbs or mountains, but the downtown area is going to be tough.