Meena: City short-term rental, Denver, Colorado

The deal numbers

Straight from the client deal tracker: what it cost to get in, and what it returns.

Purchase price$545,000
Down payment$54,500
Closing costs$3,625
Design and furnishing$136,122
Total entry cost$194,247
Annual cash flow$33,283
Cash-on-cash return13.27%

The tax position

Purchase price$545,000
Typical cost seg reclassification25% of price
Illustrative year-one deduction$136,250
Illustrative tax reduction at 40%$54,500

An illustration, not this client's return: 25% of price reclassified at a 40% marginal rate, the same assumptions as our calculator. Your number depends on your study, your rate, and meeting the seven day and material participation tests. We are not a CPA firm.

The full story

Meena bought in Denver, Colorado, a metro where the city itself restricts non-primary-residence rentals, so the deals sit in the surrounding jurisdictions. The purchase closed at $545,000.

Getting in cost $194,247. That is $54,500 of down payment, $3,625 in closing costs and $136,122 of furniture, linens, photography and everything else that has to be in the house before the first guest arrives.

The design budget is the line most buyers underestimate. It is not decoration, it is the difference between a property that books at the market rate and one that sits below it, and it has to be funded at closing rather than out of the first season's revenue.

Against that entry cost the property returns $33,283 a year after management, cleaning, supplies, utilities, insurance, property tax and debt service, which is a 13.27% cash-on-cash return.

For context on the market rather than this property: Denver entry prices run $600,000 - $1,100,000, average daily rates $210 - $370, occupancy 58% - 68%, and gross revenue $55,000 - $105,000. Steady year round, with summer and ski-season weekends strongest. Those are estimates assembled from closings and active comparables, not a projection for any specific house.

The tax position is where a purchase like this earns its keep for a high earner. A cost segregation study reclassifies part of the purchase price into five, seven and fifteen year property, which under current bonus depreciation rules produces a large first-year deduction. Whether that deduction offsets W-2 income depends on the seven day average stay test and material participation, both of which are facts about how the property is run.

Questions about this deal

What did Meena pay for the property?

$545,000 in Denver, Colorado in 2025. We publish the market and the numbers, not the street address.

What did it cost to get into the deal?

$194,247 all in: $54,500 down, $3,625 in closing costs, and $136,122 for design and furnishing.

What does the property return?

$33,283 a year in cash flow after all operating costs and debt service, which is a 13.27% cash-on-cash return on $194,247 invested.

Is this a typical result?

No. It is one documented outcome for one property. Across the deals we publish with full financials the average cash-on-cash return is 13.3%, and individual deals in that set range from under 2% to over 24%. Real estate involves risk, including loss of principal.

$33,283 a year on $194,247 in, a 13.3% cash-on-cash return