All Forum Posts by: Kevin Powell

@Peter Ulstad I echo @Suzanne Griffiths regarding Community Resource Bank. I personally use Sam Ringstad who I believe works for Dan Bighly. Sam's email is samr @community-resourcebank.com. 

I refinanced or financed all 11 units with them in the last year as they will do lines of credit against equity if you have more than 25% equity in your property. I find that is a problem with the BRRRR strategy is getting your cash out is not quite as easy as they make it. A few different banks I talked to either wouldn't do lines of credit or would only let you pull cash out down to 70% LTV. That "traps" 5% more equity that I would like to leverage. They also "penalize" you by inflating your interest rate for a cash out refinance as well.

Anyway, many banks won't do the line of credit either but Community Resource Bank seems to be very investor friendly. 

I am also a mint fan. You can track your assets such as houses and your car(s) etc to give yourself a rough idea of your net worth. I agree with @Buddy Holmes as well that the tags are a great feature to help you compare your monthly budget to actual spend. 

@Brandon Hershey what would trigger them to deny a claim? That sentence obviously makes me feel unsteady. If both parties are agreeing to only cover the mortgage amount leaving me with essentially a lot I would think the insurance company would be "happier" as their out of pocket expense would be less than full coverage. 

Side Note: Where do you office out of? I office downtown. We should sit down for lunch soon and catch up. 

I go the other way from Dale. I insure the amount left on the loan and have a $5,000 deductible. I am just starting to investigate "building ordinance insurance" as a way to cover any removal of debris if there were catastrophic damage but I don't have that in place yet. I estimate that vs typical insurance I probably save $3,000 annually across four properties. So as long as I don't have a claim annually that almost covers the loss if I do. 

I also carry a umbrella policy on top of myself for a few hundred dollars a year for extra protection.

@Filipe Pereira This is awesome and thank you for sharing. Have you thought about integrating automatic replies or even "If This Then That". It seems like you could cater the first response to send out your form automatically so you are literally completely hands off until the tenants receive applications. 

Again kudos for being innovative.  

I use Buildium currently to manage 11 units and its been a big time saver. Electronic Signatures, Electronic Applications, collecting rent online, etc. I find that its worth the price. 

@James Carlson well said!. Denver just passed tax laws for AirBnB didn't they to make for some of the lost hotel revenue? I don't see Denver on AirBnB website. 

@Jason Reed when the technology is mature and the impact is so immense I can't see how it will be stopped or slowed down. Rather I feel it will be like retail with the rise of ecommerce, the hotels will just need to adjust to a market correction. 

State of Colorado

Guests who book Airbnb listings that are located in the State of Colorado will pay the following taxes as part of their reservation:

• Colorado Sales Tax: 2.9% of the listing price including any cleaning fee for reservations 29 nights and shorter. For detailed information, visit the Colorado Department of Revenue Sales Tax Publication.
• County Lodging Tax: The county lodging tax rate varies by county. The rate is typically .9-2% of the listing price including any cleaning fee for reservations 29 nights and shorter. For detailed information, visit the Colorado Department of Revenue Sales Tax Publication.
• Local Marketing District Tax: The local marketing district tax rate varies by district. The rate is typically 1.4-4% of the listing price including any cleaning fee for reservations 29 nights and shorter. For detailed information, visit the Colorado Department of Revenue Sales Tax Publication.
• Local Sales Tax: The local sales tax rate varies by city and county. The rate is typically 1-5% of the listing price including any cleaning fee for reservations 29 nights and shorter. For detailed information, visit the Colorado Department of Revenue State-Collected Local Sales Tax Publication.

Boulder

Guests who book Airbnb listings that are located in Boulder, CO will pay the following taxes as part of their reservation:

• Boulder Short-Term Rental Accommodations Tax: 7.5% of the listing price including any cleaning fee for reservations 29 nights and shorter. For detailed information, visit the Boulder Short-Term Rentals website.

Carbondale

Guests who book Airbnb listings that are located in Carbondale, CO will pay the following taxes as part of their reservation:

• Carbondale Sales Tax: 3.5% of the listing price including any cleaning fees, for reservations 29 nights and shorter. For detailed information, visit the Carbondale website.
• Carbondale Lodging Tax: 2% of the listing price including any cleaning fees, for reservations 29 nights and shorter. For detailed information, visit the Carbondale website.

Colorado Springs

Guests who book Airbnb listings that are located in Colorado Springs, CO will pay the following taxes as part of their reservation:

• Colorado Springs Lodgers' Tax: 2% of the listing price including any cleaning fee for reservations 29 nights and shorter. For detailed information, visit Colorado Springs Lodgers and Campgrounds Rental Tax guide.
• Colorado Springs Sales Tax: 3.12% of the listing price including any cleaning fee for reservations 29 nights and shorter. For detailed information, visit Colorado Springs Sales Taxwebsite.

Durango

Guests who book Airbnb listings that are located in Durango, CO will pay the following taxes as part of their reservation:

• Durango Sales Tax: 3% of the listing price including any cleaning fees, for reservations 29 nights and shorter. For detailed information, visit the Durango Finance Department’s website.
• Durango Lodging Tax: 2% of the listing price including any cleaning fees, for reservations 29 nights and shorter. For detailed information, visit the Durango Finance Department’s website.

Golden

Guests who book Airbnb listings that are located in Golden, CO will pay the following taxes as part of their reservation:

• Golden Sales Tax: 3% of the listing price including any cleaning fee for reservations 28 nights and shorter. For detailed information, visit City of Golden Sales and Use Tax website.

Pagosa Springs

Guests who book Airbnb listings that are located in Pagosa Springs, CO will pay the following tax as part of their reservation:

• Lodging Tax: 4.9% of the listing price including any cleaning fees, for reservations 29 nights and shorter. For detailed information, visit Pagosa Springs Lodging Tax website.

Steamboat Springs

Guests who book Airbnb listings that are located in Steamboat Springs, CO will pay the following taxes as part of their reservation:

• Steamboat Springs Public Accommodations Tax: 1% of the listing price including any cleaning fees, for reservations 29 days and shorter. For detailed information, visit the Steamboat Springs Tax Information: Accommodations guide.
• Steamboat Springs Sales Tax: 4.50% of the listing price including any cleaning fees, for reservations 29 days and shorter. For detailed information, visit the Steamboat Springs Tax Information: Accommodations guide.

Snowmass Village

Guests who book Airbnb listings that are located in the Town of Snowmass Village, Colorado, will pay the following tax as part of their reservation:

• Town of Snowmass Village Lodging Tax: 2.4% of the listing price including any cleaning fees, for reservations 29 days and shorter. For detailed information, visit the Town of Snowmass Village Sales Lodging Tax website.
• Town of Snowmass Village Sales Tax: 3.5% of the listing price including any cleaning fees, for reservations 29 days and shorter. For detailed information, visit the Town of Snowmass Village Sales Lodging Tax website.

Hey @Andrew Lorei I agree with the previous comments about financing and rental rates not meeting your expectations. In addition it may be challenging to find a deal. Only 6 multi family sales in the last 6 months and all but 1 of them was higher than your price range. See picture below for more detail. I took a glance at SFH as well and there were more in your price range but cash flow would be an issue.

I hope you can iron out a strategy, especially around financing. I would also encourage you to take a look at NE and Seward vs Como. 

@Alex Hugo I used word of mouth referrals from a friend of a friend. Live and learn. The article below popped on my twitter feed not long after the fiasco and I would have been more detailed in my screening. I had heard the stories about outsourcing and "truly passive income" and made a mistake. I paid for my education with my first vacancy in my portfolio before making a change.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/10/09/questions-ask-property-management/ 

I self managed for a while, had my first kid, hired a PM, and now I am back to self managing. Honestly I self manage because when I hired a property management company that wasn't meeting my or my tenants expectations. There screening process, leasing process, maintenance process, etc. was weak. I didn't hire the cheapest and was referred by a friend of a friend. Like @Patrick M. I take pride in my properties and knowing that I am giving people a good place to live. 

Since going back to managing myself I have picked up a few tools to help automate things and help streamline the job. I bough PM software so I could do applications, and collect rent online. The software streamlines contact tenants, seeing financials, etc. I wanted to remove as much inefficient time as possible. I am only at 11 units so I can keep up for now. We will see when I reach a tipping point.