All Forum Posts by: James Carlson

Love me an A-frame. (Damn, those windows.) Reminds me of my Colorado client's recent STR buy.

Thought I'd share my client's success story of their first STR here in Colorado. (Pics at bottom.) Short story is that they have more than 90% occupancy the first three months of going live. 

Clients
Young couple, two kids, wanted to get into their first property. 

Property
I found them a new build modified A-frame in the mountains of Colorado. I'm not sharing the exact location per their request. It's an hour from a city but not really that close to the "hot spots" of what out-of-state Airbnb guests would automatically think of.

What it lacks in killer location, it makes up for by being a totally unique short-term rental.

Uniqueness
There are several reasons why this property is outperforming its competition. 

A. It's a modified A-frame. Unique property layouts are doing well in this market.

B. They furnished it well with thoughtful design.

C. They added standout amenities ... one being a hot tub (kind of a standard must-have for Colorado STRs), the second being a clear stargazing dome. 

D. They spent real money on photos, and it shows.

Quick numbers
Not doing a full analysis here, but some big-picture numbers are:

-- $400,000 purchase price

-- 100% occupancy in month one and two, and 90% occupancy in month three (yes, they should totally raise their prices if they are this full). 

-- $7,000+ in gross revenue each of the first three months

Takeaways
This is a uniquely successful Airbnb investment in Colorado. (I urge my current clients not to expect these results, because it's not going to happen every time). My basic, back-of-the-napkin metric is looking for gross annual revenues to equal 10% of purchase price. They're on route to a 21% revenue-to-price ratio.  

All that said about not expecting these kind of numbers, this property does offer lessons for my other Colorado STR investors in this competitive Airbnb market ... Bring your A-game:

-- Bring unique features, be it a geodesic star-gazing dome or cool wallpaper for a standout visual element.

-- Hire a designer. Don't give me Craigslist overstuffed leather couches from 2004. 

-- Don't skimp on photos. (My clients above paid for daytime, twilight and nighttime photos to show off the various features of their property).

Seems like a win to me.

Here in Colorado, in cities and counties where you were supposed to pay lodging tax yourself, STR owners who didn't pay their taxes had an advantage because they could price lower and still net more.

But once Airbnb agrees to collect and remit taxes on behalf of owners, it puts everyone on equal footing. 

I should also say that it's not hard to figure out why people have stopped grabbing the permits. It's because Airbnb and STRs have taken a hit in the last two years.

But I just had a client close on a new build in Wheat Ridge that is eligible for a short-term rental permit, and they look like they're going to do well. It's not the low-hanging fruit it was three years ago, but if buyers bring their A-game, there's still strong demand for stand-out vacation rentals in the Denver area.

Here's an interesting development for anyone interested in short-term rentals in the Denver area.

Wheat Ridge -- my favorite of the very few Denver-area cities allowing non-owner occupied STRs -- has actually seen an increase in the number of STR permits available. Not sizeable by any means. But still.

Quick background: city of Denver doesn't allow non-owner occupied Airbnb, so if you can get in nearby, say right next door in Wheat Ridge, then you have some nice potential. It seemed like two years ago that all permits would be consumed quickly. Two years on now, not only have the licenses not been gobbled up, they've actually increased a little.

As of today, March 11, 2025, district III has 13 available licenses. That's up from 11 late last year. I assume that some owners relinquished their permit. 

Not only that, district IV now has one available permit as well. So, for the right property with the right owner who gets the right design and amenities, you can still get in right next to Denver and leverage the attraction of Colorado's biggest city.

Hey @Itay Heled

Trashed Airbnb homes makes for good click bait news, but it's not the norm. 

In twelve years with investment properties in Colorado -- including LTRs, MTRs, and STRs -- we've had exactly one "trashed" home ... and that was from a long-term tenant, not a short-term rental guest. Similar story for all our vacation rental investor clients.

Set strong rules and expectations, vet guests as best you can, have robust insurance and carry on. 

A basic rule I tell Colorado STR buyers is that you can go cheaper on lesser used items but not the big stuff.

Side chair, curtains, TV stand, silverware, throw pillows? Sure, try to cut costs. Mattress, main couch, sheets, hot tub? Nah, just bite the bullet and get something that will last.

@Ethan Hartter

You say "South Denver." Are you actually in the city of Denver? If you happen to be in Centennial, they allow non-owner occupied short-term rentals, so you could operate an STR if you were interested. (Airbnbs are more money ... and a little more work.)

In terms of designers, I've had a few Airbnb clients in the Denver area use Terri-Leigh at Found Home. They were very happy and their STR revenues would say it was worth it.

Good luck. 

There's what would be best practice for you as a host and there's what's practical in the current STR world. And sure enough, they're not the same thing.

Adding an extra layer of getting a document signed outside of Airbnb or VRBO is just going to create headaches. Maybe you get it done easy enough some times, but then other guests won't sign it because ... they're lazy, they're unsure why you're doing something separate from Airbnb, for any number of reasons. 

And then what? You cancel their reservation? I'd stick with the house rules section of each platform. Good luck.

Nothing like a little cabin porn. 

While not everyone's going to create an Airbnb out of a 6-ton potato, her story does seem to have lessons for new STR investors.

The vacation rental buyers I see here in Colorado that are having the most success have something a little unique. They're doing an A-frame. They have a star-gazing dome. Something that separates them out from the merely nice Airbnbs.