In case you haven’t heard, Summit County is going to start a wait list for Short Term Rental (STR) licenses for the Lower Blue Basin, that includes Wildernest. The Lower Blue Basin is basically those areas called Silverthorne that are not in the Silverthorne town limits. That means the short term rental license waiting list for Wildernest and areas north of town is coming soon!
Lower Blue Basin is below STR cap
Every year, after license renewals, the county adds up their licenses and compares that number to the current cap. Armed with that information, they know whether or not they can issue new Short Term Rental licenses. This year, 2025, their renewal count for the Lower Blue Basin was 534 and the cap is 550. That means there are 16 properties that can get a STR license this year! My guess is there will be substantially more than 16 requests. The county is creating an STR wait list, as per the ordinance, so when new licenses are available, they can contact the next person on the list and issue the license.
Waiting for the wait list
We have been keeping an eye on the Summit County website waiting for them to create the waiting list for Wildernest and give everyone instructions. If you’re not signing up quickly, it could be years before your name comes up for a license. I can’t say how many people will be trying to get on the list but I’m guessing there will be more than 16. We aren’t sure how the attrition will be yet either. If we guess that 16 a year sell or don’t renew their permits, that means it could be about 6 years before the 100th person on the list gets their license.
STR wait list for Wildernest
If you own a property in Wildernest and have been wanting a short term rental license, keep checking the county website. The timing could be crucial for your short term rental future.
We don’t own, but would like to rent a place for a month. How do we find out about these besides vrbo and Airbnb? I find those apps expensive .
Thank you!!!
The best places I have found are Zillow, Realtor.com, or a local property management company, https://www.summit-county.rentals/available-properties. You do have to read all the listings and find out how long the lease is. There isn’t an easy way to tell if they do 30 day rentals, a seasonal or a year lease. You can also check the Summit Daily, our local paper. https://classifieds.cmnm.org/marketplace/cmnm/category/rentals I hope this helps!