All Forum Posts by: Seth Kristian

Quote from @Greg R.:

@Jonathan G. if you were interested in one of my Airbnb listings and I explicitly told you that I have a firm policy on NO VISITORS under any circumstance... would you agree to those terms and then bring visitors over anyways? If so, it's people like you that are part of the problem. 

I am not tricking people into renting my place and then trying to be a "fun police".  I am very clear and explicit about the rules BEFORE the reservation is accepted. If the terms of my house aren't acceptable for the renter, I totally understand. They have no obligation to rent my place and they have every opportunity to move on to another property that will allow gatherings/ parties. 

If it's a single person, or a couple and they intend to have another single person or couple over that's fine. They need to identify that at the time of booking and be clear about their intentions. My max occupancy supports both of those scenarios. 

The issue is guests stating that they have "x" number of people and agreeing to my terms of not having anyone else at the house beyond the individuals identified at the time of booking. They then check in and decide to host gatherings/ parties and entertain at my house, which is in direct violation to the house rules and our agreement. 

The original post got my attention as some replies have as well…. I may have missed it but is this your first STR listing with any platform? Or is this your first out-of-state STR on a separate profile from your original profile (on airbnb Vrbo) etc? 

It sounds like your under a lot of stress, and i can definitely commiserate with you there. I think my second or third booking ever had booked under the pretense of his brother coming into town to take him out for his birthday. Next morning… kid was actually local and throwing a 21st bday party, posted it all over social media, then strangers arrive, and party. We head over in the morning after not being able to reach the guest only to find holes in the wall, doors left wide open and a bullet hold through my 1950 Buick, and a few more through the back of the house into the laundry room. Cops, insurance, photos etc… the whole deal man, it sucked! not to mention the guests who were arriving that same day were delayed because we had to clean the place up the best we could…. only to find out again, that they were also locals, trashed the house again and some stripper left her shoes literally stuck in the hardwood floors… even though Airbnb stepped up and covered all the damage for me, id say it was a necessary learning experience in stress management. Afterall, its just a house. Let the small things go and get those high ratings, then start to tighten things up a bit.
Years later, i have none of these problems and maintain 5.0 superhost on airbnb… I would suggest taking a breath, and maybe going to Albuquerque to get to know the neighbors if needs be. If they have your back, and you have the place insured with airbnb and privately id assume, then id say pick your battles, kiss some *** even if you’re in the right and try to get through your first quarter then bump the price, restrict locals from instant booking or at all, place a higher deposit on bookings, have a 2 night min and just realize its temporary. When you’re building up rapport you HAVE to eat some sh*t, everyone does. Make incremental changes according to shape a traveling demo that fits your style of hosting and it’ll happen. Or make the home unique enough to attract them even sooner, and i dont mean sill neon pillow shams.
If your familiar with adhesion contracts you can use them to your advantage. Check with airbnb first to make sure its stated correctly within the regs of their own policies. It’s basically a posted notice, like a no parking/towing zone sign… enter here but by doing so you are agreeing to the following rules and subsequent consequences… write one up and post it more explicitly in the profile description so its the first or second thing someone see… i might think on it though because that can be a huge turn off, even if someone likes the listing and wasn’t planning on breaking the rules anyway… if your guests seem to be having all these extra people arrive, it sounds to me like your getting more local listings than out of state, or maybe these things just aren’t listed under your house rules? anyhow, i feel your pain Greg! I see that bullet hole now and it just makes me laugh

My In-laws had found a rental last year after over a year of looking and after 7 months on the lease were just sent a notice of early termination on the lease. They are not behind on rent, they pay each month on time and have no breached any agreement on the lease, and acknowledged by the landlord in the notice. After moving into the property in the summer 2021 they began to notice so many things were not quite as they seemed, any many never disclosed by the landlord. They documented each event/item and notified the landlord when they’d come up. 

The house is on well/septic and the storage tank runs out of water every day. It’s enough for a bath and a single load of laundry before it runs out. 

The deck is decades old and literally falling off of the house, which is their access to the front door

There has been an existing mice infestation since moving in and throughout the winter. So they are in the walls and floors, not just a seasonal mice issue typical with some rural homes. 

Water pipes freeze and have burst at least once, luckily they were home

outlet under sink caught fire, again lucky they were home

power is knocked out regurally from weather elements

downstairs rooms receive no heat from hvac system and is in the single digits without using a space heater

the wall heating elements downstairs have been broken, replaced and broken again, and was told they cost 500-700 a month in electricity to keep the placed moderately warm

the list goes on and on, and they have notified the landlord of each occurrence. To me it seems theres a warranty of habitability issue, especially with kids in the home. (Their kid sleeps upstairs since its too cold in their room). 

The landlord hasn’t addressed any of the afformentioned issues short of the mice (which terminix was called 3 times but never actually showed up) and so mice are still an issue. And they are neat freaks, its not a dirty house

The water burst and they were there to help the plumber, who evidentially cut a live line feeding the under sink outlet, which they had to then fix themselves.

While waitin to hear back from the landlord about the mice and other issues for months it seems, they just received a notice from landlord to terminate lease early because he prefers to move back into the house and DYI everything before listing it. No, the house is not currently listed

Their lease is through July this year and were given notice on 3/5 to leave by 4/30 with an “apology and promise” of a great recommendation to the next property. 

In the lease it doesn’t state anything specific about early termination to sell property, just the 30 day/60 day notice clause and that landloard can terminate early for any reason. 

It’s my understanding that landlords cannot terminate a lease for “any reason” and if not explicitly stated in the lease, any changes to said lease have to be agreed on and signed by all parties to the original contract. Is this not correct? They need assistance but aren’t so savvy when it comes to where to ask sometimes. If theres anyone with some legal chops in this field of Colorado Law, please contact me. They have just over a month to eithe find a place or dispute this. I feel they should at least have their moving expenses taken care of, if not completely relocated at the landlords cost, given their notice was haste and a breach of contract. Thank you, especially if you read all the way through this haha

Cheers!  

Quote from @Zeona McIntyre:

Have you considered medium-term or month to month rentals? They are in high demand, still command a 1.5x rental rate, are easier and cheaper to manage and you can have an unlimited amount of them.

Feel free to reach out if you have questions. 

 Hi Zeona, thanks for the feedback! I have thought about that for Denver County. I was hesitant because the Denver properties i have are typically larger and much nicer “grade A” homes, and at least after my own research the nightly rates would place them in a fairly niche market. Nightly would range from 400-800+/night, which makes me nervous. I’m not familiar enough with 28+ day/mtm rental demand to say whether my apprehension is irrational, but am always up for learning. It’s possible i just have tunnel vision after expecting a net threshold per month and just need to branch out. That’s what’s landed me here though :) I want to learn all i can! Thanks again Zeona

Quote from @James Carlson:

@Seth Kristian

I've had clients who bought a house in Denver with a basement apartment. They put a long-term renter in the basement and then had that tenant get the Airbnb license. It's worked for them, but damn, the city of Denver is really cracking down on short-term rentals. They're sending out investigators to knock on doors and check the "primary residence" status. I wouldn't try to find a loophole if I were. I'd plan to invest where you know you can do it.

To that point, we've had clients buying and running STRs in Wheat Ridge and Arvada. (We talked to one of our Arvada STR clients on our podcast recently. And you can see a Wheat Ridge Airbnb deal diary here.) If you're looking to buy multiple, you might spread them around the Denver area. Wheat Ridge only allows each owner to have one. Arvada allows owners to have 3. Adams County, which is about to allow them, has told me they are not going to have any limits.

Thanks James, and great info! Admittedly my chops are a little rusty when it comes to surrounding counties. Ill be looking into Wheat Ridge for sure, possibly Arvada. As of right now i have 2-3 properties in WR we might convert over to STR, and a few in Lakewood/Jeffco. Perhaps rhetorical, but in theory for any county including Denver, could you not have additional listings under the original profile with a second, third + separate license number? The motivation would be to utilize the years of work building a good reputation and having a “5star/superhost” status on bnb would allow the newer listings (in the same or surrounding counties) to hit the ground running, so to speak. If the home is owned under a company or trust and STR license is filed under an assigned agent or operator, and who maintains it as their primary residence, can these not be listed under the same profile on an STR platform like Airbnb to take advantage of its existing track record? 
You’d think by definition a hoteliers license or even the “lodgers tax” would provide a benefit up to 99 rooms, or listings per lic… Could a Series LLC function in Colorado this way? I know they aren’t so prevalent here, but they are allowed as far as i can tell.

Anyhow thanks for the feedback and in the info, ill def be looking into those links! Thanks James 

Thanks Erik! looking forward to your message. It’s truly an infuriating set of hurdles we jump through year after year, and it seems to beg some of the larger philosophical questions i.e., who the F actually owns these properties, us or “them”?, and how long will people continue complying with these endless and progressively brazen impositions to disruptive markets?! That’s all mostly rhetorical, but still aggravating. Things are changing fast and it seems the faster they change, so grows the barriers to entry for folks willing to pivot when they see opportunity to improve their financial circumstances. 

I just wanted to throw a line out and see if anyone has knowledge of the incremental movement from allodial common law form of land ownership to the legal/eminent domain form of purchasing interest in real property. Ive been curious about this change for years and tends to elicit the scoff or the shrug, yet no answers. I dont care for the rabbit holes or nebulous and grandiose ideas. I’m interested in the law, and the provenance of any linguistic and morphological changes allowing for itself a more progressive interpretation and inevitable parallel form of contract law. Is this all fluff, or something worth looking at, particularly for the larger Social interest? Hopefully it piques some interest, and thanks for indulging my curiosity. Cheers

Hi everyone, I wanted to see if theres anyone in the Denver area with multiple Airbnb listings and if you might have any tips. Ive had one single family listed for 4 years with great success, esp for the area. I have an opportunity to add 3-6 more single family properties within Denver, and a few more outside of Denver County. Ive tried a few different avenues with no luck and hoping someone might have found a loophole around the primary residency regulation. Much appreciated!!