All Forum Posts by: Kevin Ramos

Not uncommon at all, nor is having HOA's that don't allow units to be rented period. A big factor in these restrictions is that FHA guidelines for condos specify that a certain percentage of the units must be "owner occupied" to qualify for FHA financing. However one thing you might bring up which works in your favor is that the FHA guidelines actually consider "vacation condos" (2nd homes that are rented when the owner isn't there) as "owner occupied", but not LTRs. 2 of my clients with furnished luxury MTRs that were getting $10k/month in rent recently had their HOAs restrict rental terms (one to a 12 month minimum, the other banned any new rentals but grandfathered in several existing ones which board members owned, but not my clients). However because Colorado passed a law a few years ago that greatly reduced the power of HOA's (for example they cannot foreclose due to unpaid dues or fines anymore, and the maximum fine for non health and safety violations is $500), they both decided to simply continue renting their units anyway, and just pay the $500 then thumb their noses at the HOA board. If I ever own in an HOA again, which I probably will not, I'll make sure to be on the board (or even President of the board), to stay ahead of issues like this. OP, maybe look into getting on the board? Not a fun volunteer job to have, but would give you more control over your property at least. I'd also look into what the maximum fines/ consequences are. Good luck!

I'm not endorsing this idea but I've seen people get around this by signing a "6 month lease" with every tenant but then giving them the right to terminate at no cost after 30 or 60 days or whatever it is. If the HOA doesn't specifically restrict against termination rights in their leases, they can't stop you. Of course, they could always change the rules again to close that loophole. You could lobby for a 30 day minimum rather than 6 months. That would allow you to still operate as MTR but restrict STR. If I were in your shoes and hadn't bought furniture yet, I would avoid doing MTR.

@Kevin Ramos the other thing you might want to play to is the type of people who do rent MTR in your area. Point out what the demographic is compared to STR. You are talking about people relocating to the area for work or in the area temporarily for work not vacationers. Your goal would be to talk about how these people are more like them and not a disruption to the community. Examples of health care workers etc if that is your demographic. I am assuming of course that you aren't in a snowbird area but even then you could point out that crime goes down with age.

Can you prepare some research to fight this? Maybe statistics of crime rates in STR's and MTR's in your area? The best way to fight fear is with facts. Good luck!

 Not uncommon. You have to remember most board members live in the community and want to create a community of homeowners not a community of renters. 

While I am opposed in most instances to banning rentals, I also can see both viewpoints on this topic and its really up to those that manage the community and live in the community to decide what they want and do not want, and if a super majority of people are for something then thats how it goes.