All Forum Posts by: Robin Searle

@Cheney Haight call Ian Binkley of Sanctuary custom Homes. He is a GC and does all types of work. Very honest and great contractor. I have his number if you can’t find it.

I'd do some initial research by going to Airbnb and checking availability of similar properties in that area.  You can do that by looking at their calendar and get an idea of how many days they are booked and what they are charging.  Our property in Old Colorado City in Colorado Springs has been booked over 95% of each month since we started the last week of November last year - so much more than 13 days a month.  Keep in mind that you won't be able to look ahead and get much of an idea of how many days things will book up in the future because ours typically starts getting booked only a month or so in advance, but at least you could get an idea of number of days at this point in the year.  

I'm pretty conservative so I'd want to know that I could afford the mortgage comfortably without the supplemental income and then that income would just be extra I could pay down the mortgage with.  But that's just me - I know a lot of investors are much less risk averse than I am.

Terry Doherty and Paul Anderson are both very good as well!

Your city should have a government website and there should be a link on there for any short term rental laws. If you can't find anything, I'd call code enforcement to see if they have something or are considering any type of regulation. Sometimes, as in the case of Colorado Springs, the city is busy working on regulation and it's not widely known. I'm a local Realtor and very involved in the community and it wasn't until we'd purchased our property and started rehab that I heard anything about the city's plans which had been in the works for over a year. Fortunately, through banding together and forming a short term rental alliance, we were able to work with the city council to stop them from making all STR's illegal unless they were in your primary residence. Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions!

@J Scott - Just finished your book and it's one of the most educational, easy to understand explanations of our economy and how real estate investors can benefit in every part of the cycle that I've ever read.  Thank you so much for the great work!  This knowledge will greatly increase the value I bring to my clients!

I’m not doing this now but it’s my backup plan if Colorado Springs gets too restrictive. Search on FB for traveling nurses and traveling nurse housing. There are at least 5 groups you can join and advertise in. 

@Eric Davenport - my husband and I bought a multi-unit property last year in Old Colorado City in Colorado Springs. The front is a single family home that I have a long term tenant in on a month to month lease. We rehabbed the 1200 sq foot space above the three car detached garage into a 2/2 and are doing STR there. A third unit on the lower level of the garage will soon be finished as a studio which we will do STR out of as well. Each unit gets a garage space. We just started the STR in November and so far it's going great. Almost full booking every month. I'd advise making sure your long term tenant is fully aware of your plans. We did month to month with ours in case she found she didn't like being right next to an STR and we give her a big discount when she wants to use it so she feels a bit included. So far she's been very happy. Also you'll want specific STR insurance. I went with CBIZ for the whole property as they insured far above what places like Farmers with their rider offered. My agent told me I need to keep the long term tenant month to month or they won't cover loss of rents for that unit so that's something to keep in mind. Hope that helps!

The inspection company I use also does meth testing so if you want their info just message me.  I'd also advise all flippers get a test done PRIOR to closing - a house was recently rehabbed here in the Springs and then the buyer did a meth test and it came back hot.  The investor is likely out a tremendous amount of money.

If it was mitigated to state standards, the seller should have the paperwork. I'd also urge you to chat with Bill McAfee, owner of Empire Title in Colorado Springs about his thoughts on mitigation. He is a very, very active investor with a wealth of knowledge and has shared often on this topic in real estate classes.

@J Scott Your posts are so interesting and make so much sense!  Thank you for taking the time to share this. I'm always trying to stay on top of where we are in the economic cycle so I can best advise my clients and every economic forum I've been to in the past six months says Colorado Springs is going to go strong through this year. Tatiana Bailey (econ prof at UCCS) said she does see indicators of a coming recession possibly later next year, so your info fits in well with what she's seeing. I think that various cities will obviously be impacted differently. We are seeing massive growth right now in the Springs with over 920 new residents expected each month through 2019 (that's averaged out). As long as people keep coming and our housing inventory remains tight, I think we will continue to see upward pressure on prices during this year.  As of today we have only 765 resale homes on the market - that's single family, condos and townhomes. That is extremely low for El Paso County. It'll be very interesting to see what 2020 brings.