All Forum Posts by: Steve Shafer

@Adam Roberts I don't have any smokin' leads (or I and everyone else up here would be jumping on them :) ) the ones I know of are active on the MLS. My gut tells me they've been sitting because the potential projects are in between what most small timers are willing to take on and what would be worth the time and energy for bigger developers. That said, the opportunities exist for the right person. Happy to share more in depth.

Hey @Adam Roberts, welcome! If you have your GC license in addition to your experience and qualifications, one good option could be to partner with a land owner on a small development wherein they put up the land as equity to secure a construction loan. Finding suitable lots is difficult, but not impossible—3 come to mind off the top of my head that have been sitting on the market for some time. Feel free to message me if you'd like to brainstorm further.

@Cody Barrett ha, good call, and same here—definitely sets a high bar for true experience and expertise.

@Daniel Walker Wow, talk about feedback! I would underscore what most everyone has already said, but I would add that if you are going to be paying an HOA fee on top of property mgmt, you really want to look hard at what you're getting for your money, i.e. avoid overlap in services.

With the financing and cash you seem to have available and the fact that you won't be self-managing anyway, you would do well to look at Greeley where your cashflow will be significantly higher. Unless you find the very rare deal in Fort Collins, it's tough to make it work here right now and we're having all of our investor clients look at Greeley (and sometimes Loveland). Feel free to reach out directly if you want to get together and run some numbers.

@Ben Leybovich Just came across this thread—did the project ever go through? I'm evaluating a similar project and trying to wrap my head around the potential conversions and associated costs/headaches therein.

@Aimee Lawrence looks like you figured out the "@ blah blah" thing :)

My guess is that a south FtCollins STR could still work, but I'd encourage you to do some research on AirBnB and VRBO to get a feel for competing inventory and average vacancy rates. An STR is very basically an alternative to a hotel, so if the market supports hotel and motels in a given geography, you can be fairly confident your STR would work, especially as you consider the changing demographics of travelers, i.e. younger and more interested in experience vs. strictly convenience. You can always set up your listing and do a dry run by making it available and seeing what kind of inquiries you get (you don't have to actually accept any of them if you decide not to proceed).

@Aimee Lawrence @Adam Eaton Here is a link to the city gov site with the most up to date information http://www.fcgov.com/shorttermrentals/

This is a situation in which the devil really is in the details. For example, I have some friends who are VRBO'ing their place close to Old Town and netting about $6K/month. Fortunately for them, for whatever reason, their neighborhood is excluded from the more restrictive regulations and they're rental operation won't be affected. Elsewhere however, regulators are going to clamp down and it'll be pretty easy to find anyone trying to bend the rules, i.e. via simply searching the most popular listing sites like AirBnB, HomeAway, and VRBO. 

Also, property management companies OUGHT to be a good resource for the latest rules and regs, but make sure you consult someone who knows their ****, which is usually clear after a brief phone call. If you do put management in place, the fees are higher than on a SFR, around 20-25% based on conversations I've had. It's not a bad option to consider though given the hands-on requirement of a short term rental, e.g. expectation of quick communication with renters, frequent turn around of units, etc.

Good luck!