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Many secondary homeowners short-term rent their property when they’re not using it. That extra short-term rental income allows them to justify the cost of owning a vacation home. In the last few years, we’ve seen more and more secondary homeowners choose short-term rent. This has made local towns nervous about having enough housing for local workers. Because of this there are more restrictions and bans being put in place. If you’re looking for a home in the mountains and want short-term rent you want to read to the end of this article. so you know everything that you need to know, to be able to do that.

There has been a lot of discussion about short-term rental bans or restrictions. In the last few months Breckenridge recently passed a cap on how many licenses they will issue. Summit County has put a pause on issuing new licenses while they check how to move forward. So, what does this mean for you as a buyer? You may want to reevaluate the criteria or the location of the property that you’re searching for. If you want ski in, ski out, you may want to consider an area like Keystone or Copper. These areas have been exempt from the restrictions. Or you could look at a condotel in Breckenridge that is also exempt. The cap in place in Breckenridge is only for city limits. So if you’re outside the city limits, you might still be able to get a short-term rental license. If you’re in the unincorporated part of the county, unfortunately, that surrounds Breckenridge. That is the area that is currently affected by the pause that is in place..

The moratorium the county has put in place through December while they re-evaluate how they’re going to issue licenses. There is discussion of having different types of licenses for primary owners, secondary owners, and investors. That would have different sets of limitations. So there’s no guarantee that you could get a short-term rental license if you bought in the unincorporated areas that surround Breckenridge. There is a good chance if you want to guarantee that you’re able to short-term rent or at least be able to apply for a license, you want to look at towns like Blue River and Dylan. These towns have come out and said that they’re not going to put new restrictions in place. Blue River is south of Breckenridge. Some of the properties in Blue River are closer to the gondola than some properties are within Breck itself.

If you prefer a single family home that’s closer to the resort, look in Keystone because almost all Keystone is exempt from the moratorium and because it’s built as a resort property, it’s not viewed by the county to be an area that is for local housing. All these restrictions that were put in place for the most part are to protect the local housing stock so those of us who live here have somewhere to live. So you’ve finally been able to buy a property that allows short-term rentals and you want to start the process.

So you’ve finally been able to buy a property that allows short-term rentals and you want to start the process. What’s next to start short-term renting your property? You’re going to need a short-term rental license, responsible agent, and a sales tax license. Where you apply for your short-term rental license will depend on where the property is located. If you’re within town limits, you apply to that town, If you’re outside of town limits, you’re in an unincorporated part of the county and you will get your license through the county.

No matter where you live in the county will be required to have what is called a registered agent. This is someone who is a local contact, who was able to respond to the needs of guests. This rule was put in place because we were having issues where people were self-managing from Denver or Colorado Springs and a guest would have an issue, light would go out, the power would go out, toilets would overflow and they couldn’t get in touch with their Airbnb host(s).

The V. R. B. O. host would say I’ll be up in the morning and then they would call 911 and let me tell you that the police do not view your overflowing toilet as their issue. This was happening enough that the town’s decided that they needed to do something about it. Hence you’re being required to have a registered agent. This job is often done by your property management company. There are services that offer only registered agent services so they’re just registered agents and they don’t do the other parts of property management.

That’s significantly cheaper if you plan on managing the other parts of the service yourself. If you have somebody locally that you trust and know who’s willing to take on that responsibility, register them as your registered agent for your short-term rental.

Lastly, you’ll need a state sales tax license. If you’re not renting through Airbnb, V. R. B. O. or using a property management company. All short-term rental sales must include and collect sales tax. So, if you’re not using one of those services and you’re going to manage yourself,  apply for a state sales tax license. No matter how you choose to rent your property, you should be aware of how sales taxes are being collected, and how it is being paid. But again, the easiest way to deal with that is to hire a property management company.

A property management company will cost you about 30% of your income that you earn on those short-term rentals. But it does mean that they take care of many roles that you would have to hire multiple people for. If you want to use a property management company, here is a list of all the other people or responsibilities that you would need to hire. The registered agent, cleaning, garbage collection, and snow removal. As well as someone to manage the bookings and respond to guest requests. So 30% sounds high, but once you go through all the other people that you need to hire out and then manage. Oftentimes that’s why people end up using a property management company. If you’re looking to buy property in Summit County or Park County, or you have questions about short-term renting in this area, let’s connect!

Click this link here for a copy of all the maps in this area as well as that short-term rental checklist.