Is your short term rental (STR) income slowing with the economy? Are you no longer using your Summit County home but aren’t ready to sell. Do you want to help the locals with the current housing shortage? If you are answering yes to any or all of these questions, you may want to consider converting your short term rental to long term in Summit County.
Rental types
There are basically three rental types; short term, long term and seasonal. A short term rental is generally defined as a rental less than 30 days in length. A long term is a year lease or longer. Seasonal would be 5 or 6 months for the ski season. A fourth type is popping up because of the new rental restrictions. Some property management companies are beginning to offer properties for rent for a minimum of 30 days. That allows owners to rent for a shorter term without having to have a short term rental permit.
Why convert short term rental to long term?
A long term rental often isn’t in the cards for second home owners. People buy homes in Summit County in order to use them from time to time. But life happens and circumstances change. Situations come up that keep owners from using their homes for a full year, or longer. If the circumstances are obvious in advance, it may be worth it to convert your short term rental to long term. Some areas in the county are currently providing homeowners with incentives to convert their short term rental to long term. This incentive program could make now the best time to switch over to a long term rental. Not only do they compensate the owner, the program provides a rent break to the tenant and helps increase housing options for the local workforce.
Homeowner qualifications
In order to qualify for the Lease to Locals incentive program, properties must be located in the Town of Breckenridge or unincorporated Summit County. Homeowners must also have a current short term rental license that they have had since October 2021. And, of course, they must sign a minimum 6 month lease with a tenant that works a minimum of 30 hours a week for a Summit County business.
Tenant qualifications
As it was said above, the tenants must work a minimum of 30 hours a week in the county. There needs to be as many occupants as bedrooms. For example, a 2 bedroom must have a minimum of 2 occupants. A 4 bedroom, a minimum of 4 occupants. If everyone qualifies, rents that are lower than current market rates will apply and the homeowner will receive a nice incentive payment. Rent and incentive amounts are determined by bedroom count.
This is a brief overview of the program. More information is available from Summit County. You can also contact Mountain Living Real Estate. We have utilized this program that incentivizes owners to convert short term rentals to long term for a couple of rental properties. There is no guarantee how long this program will last or if it is around, how it will change next year. The program did change from what was offered last year. It is likely to change again as administrators determine best practices.
Leave a Reply