This week, mortgage lender Danielle Anderson answers calls from Lima, Peru. Back home at her West Washington Park home, vacationing short-term tenants have a place to stay at her home Airbnb.
She earns additional income by renting out both her basement, which she always keeps open for guests, and her personal accommodation upstairs. The company Effortless rental group manages rentals, cleans up the space between guests, and handles any emergencies that might arise – like when the oven broke just before Thanksgiving and a family renting their house almost missed their turkey.
Anderson is in the middle of a four-month trip to South America with Remote year. The company books and organizes trips around the world for digital workers and is setting up coworking spaces in other countries, so people can go on adventures around the world while continuing to do their work.
Even though she has been abroad for much of the year, her job as a lender has gone well, she said. “I’m going to hit 30 million this year in production, and I’m doing it from a laptop.”
Anderson has become an evangelist of her way of life: renting her home and traveling the world.
“Everyone should be doing what I’m doing,” she said. Anderson’s message to homebuyers: “They shouldn’t be paying their mortgage. Someone else should pay for it.
Renting her home has helped her afford the Denver housing market.
Anderson, who grew up in Greeley, said he first saw the power of short-term rentals when his sister started renting a loft in Durango. “She would sleep in the bedroom and the upstairs attic that she would rent to earn money.” The arrangement has proven to be profitable.
When Anderson was living in Houston, Texas, she started renting rooms in her apartment, both short and long term. In 2016, she moved to Denver and decided to buy a house.
“It helped me stretch my budget when buying a house,” she said, “because I could count on that extra rental income. “
Short-term rentals have caused many problems, and the city has been looking for ways to resolve them.
When the industry took off in Denver, investors began buying several properties and renting them out to tourists. Housing advocates have argued that too much stock is going to travelers and not enough to residents, inflating house prices for people trying to live in the city.
The industry has been heavily regulated in Denver, and now you can’t rent your home in places like Airbnb and VRBO unless it’s your primary residence. Additional properties can only be rented for the long term. As of 2016, people who manage short-term rentals from their homes must obtain a license from the City of Denver.
Even after these rules came into effect, the short-term rental market experienced problems. Some neighbors have complained that their communities are overrun with vacationers and revelers. For years, the city’s 311 line has been plagued with complaints about loud guests. The high-profile shootouts at nightlife at Airbnb have not helped the reputation of the short-term rental market. And the local government has struggled to regulate businesses that were not headquartered in Colorado.
Still, Excise and Licensing was successful in enforcing its licensing program, and the city saw around 85% compliance from short-term rental hosts.
Then came the pandemic.
“With the closures necessary for the public health of some businesses and the travel restrictions… there was no more activity for short-term rental operators,” said Eric Escudero, spokesperson for Denver Excise and Licenses. . “Much converted to long term rental.
Applications for new licenses were dropped as travel was temporarily halted.
Although the market has not recovered from the peak of the pandemic, it improved slightly from 2020 to 2021. In November, the Excise and Licensing Department recorded a 7% increase in applications over the previous number. .
In the past, single rooms and shared apartments were in great demand. But as travel resumed and COVID lingered, short-term rentals of larger homes with amenities like exercise bikes, gyms and swimming pools increased, said Dana Lubner, who works for Effortless Rental. Group and the advocacy group. Rent responsibly and sit on Denver’s Short Term Rental Advisory Committee. Based on data from AirDNA, which follows the rentals of second homes, 81% of new rentals are full homes.
In recent months, line 311 has received fewer complaints about short-term rentals, although more people have asked to manage them.
“As we look into the summer, we anticipate that if we don’t see another spike in cases, we will see these applications continue to grow and expect to see these licenses grow,” Escudero said. “I hope we don’t see the complaints come back to where they were. Now we hardly receive any complaints.
Anderson, who spent the past weekend swimming with piranhas, is ready to return to Denver.
City law requires her to live away from her primary residence for part of the year – and she’s ready to take a break from her travels.
Upon her return to Denver, she looks forward to a home-cooked meal, something she hasn’t eaten overseas.
She plans to stay at least until March. Afterwards, who knows? One thing is certain: she will continue to offer short-term rentals and travel for as long as she can.
“I don’t think there is a way to get back to a normal life after doing this,” Anderson said.
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