Ray and Rayetta Thomas’s home is nestled in a private neighborhood in Manitou Springs, Colorado. The property has a breathtaking, unobstructed view of Pikes Peak and is minutes from Colorado Springs, Colorado.
When it came time to renovate their detached garage, Ray and Rayetta decided to put a flat roof on the garage so they could add a second story guesthouse on top. After the project was complete, the property sat vacant with the exception of a few guests here and there. Rayetta says she felt the home was too valuable to be vacant all the time. It was a new construction, 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom furnished home near the bustling business and military city of Colorado Springs.
“We checked online to find more information about renting out a property to business tenants. We’d never done this before. We came across CorporateHousingbyOwner.com (CHBO) and quickly realized it was exactly what we were looking for,” she says.
CHBO is an online marketplace where landlords can list and market their furnished, corporate rental properties in order to connect with tenants in need of short-term furnished housing.
Rayetta says within two days of listing her property on CHBO she received a call from an interested tenant. He was being stationed at the Ft. Carson military base. This tenant needed a place to stay for at least six months. (Rayetta says six months turned into almost two years!)
Her tenant, now married with a child, was leaving for Afghanistan. His wife would be moving home to be closer to her family.
Upon learning that her tenant would not be renewing his lease, she immediately put her listing back on CHBO. Sure enough, two days later she received a call from businessman interested in renting her home for six months. He is currently occupying the unit today.
Rayetta says, “Building the guesthouse has been a good move for us, and working with CHBO has been a dream come true.”
She adds that not only does the guesthouse cash flow well (and that it cash flows more than double her non-furnished rentals), but also renting it out as a corporate rental has already enabled her to pay off one-third of the cost to build it.
Rayetta says the secret to her success – besides listing the property on CHBO – is picking the right tenants. She says she checks references and credit reports and has a lease that spells out everything in detail. She adds that she is upfront with her expectations of a tenant.
“We do our part as a landlord, so we expect them to do their part as a tenant,” she says.
Overall, Rayetta says she couldn’t have dreamed up a more perfect scenario for renting out her guesthouse.
“This has been one of the best circumstances we’ve ever been in. I would recommend CHBO to anyone,” says Rayetta.
View Ray and Rayetta’s property at https://www.corporatehousingbyowner.com/properties/11331/