Key takeaways
- On a short-term rental, the costs that sit between 8 to 15 percent gross and what reaches your account are not small: platform commission, local management, cleaning per stay, linens and replacement, electricity and water (which you pay, not the guest), internet, administration fees if it is a building or a gated parcel, and maintenance that runs harder on a house that turns over fifty times a year than one occupied by a single family.
- Ask for these, in writing, before the promesa:
- If either does not, you have a long-term rental at best, and your 8 to 15 percent assumption just became 5 to 9 percent.
- In Guatapé and El Peñol, an apartment starts at about US$89,000 with a typical asking price of about US$159,000, and a country house starts at about US$187,000 with a typical asking of about US$335,000.
- Buyer closing costs run about 2 percent of the price: notary 0.27 percent, registry 0.67 percent, beneficencia 1 percent, plus your lawyer's fee.
A rental projection is not evidence. Before you accept one, ask for the property’s actual occupancy calendar, the cleaning and management contracts, the utility bills, and the municipal tax receipt. Long-term rentals in the area have yielded 5 to 9 percent gross a year and short-term 8 to 15 percent gross, and the gap between those two numbers is where most buyers get misled.
What does “gross” actually leave out?
Gross means the rent collected, before anything that makes the rent possible. On a short-term rental, the costs that sit between 8 to 15 percent gross and what reaches your account are not small: platform commission, local management, cleaning per stay, linens and replacement, electricity and water (which you pay, not the guest), internet, administration fees if it is a building or a gated parcel, and maintenance that runs harder on a house that turns over fifty times a year than one occupied by a single family.
Then the fixed holding costs. Annual property tax runs from 0.3 to 1.2 percent of the cadastral value, depending on the municipality, so a Guatapé property and a Medellín one with the same price can carry very different bills. Add insurance and, if you are abroad, accounting and tax filing in Colombia.
A long-term lease at 5 to 9 percent gross is a thinner headline but a much shorter list of deductions: you are typically not paying utilities, not paying per-stay cleaning, and not replacing towels.
What documents prove a rental history?
Ask for these, in writing, before the promesa:
- Twelve months of booking or lease records. For short-term, the month-by-month calendar with nightly rate and nights booked, not an annual average. For long-term, the signed lease and the payment record.
- The management agreement. Who runs it, what percentage they take, whether the contract transfers to you or dies at closing. If the current owner’s cousin manages it for free, your numbers are not the seller’s numbers.
- Utility bills for the same twelve months. Energy, water, internet. These reveal real occupancy better than any spreadsheet, because an empty house does not consume.
- The property tax receipt showing the cadastral value, so you can calculate your own annual bill rather than accept a line item.
- Administration or condominium fee statements, if applicable, including any extraordinary assessments already voted.
- The certificate of tradition and freedom, requested with the property’s registry number, showing the registered owner, mortgages, liens and encumbrances. A property carrying a lien is not a property you can refinance or resell cleanly.
Does the municipality even allow short-term rental here?
This is the question that kills the most deals after the fact. Land use is set by each municipality’s territorial plan, which determines whether a parcel allows country housing, subdivision, or agricultural use only. A rural finca classified for agricultural use is not automatically a licensed tourist accommodation, and a building’s bylaws can prohibit stays under a set number of days regardless of what the owner has been doing.
Verify the land use classification for the specific parcel, and in a building, read the reglamento de propiedad horizontal. If both allow it, you have a business. If either does not, you have a long-term rental at best, and your 8 to 15 percent assumption just became 5 to 9 percent.
Does the asking price even support the yield?
Run the arithmetic against real numbers. In Guatapé and El Peñol, an apartment starts at about US$89,000 with a typical asking price of about US$159,000, and a country house starts at about US$187,000 with a typical asking of about US$335,000. Across Antioquia, an apartment starts at about US$95,000, typical about US$199,000, and a country house starts at about US$374,000 with a typical asking of about US$928,000.
A Guatapé apartment near the typical asking price and a country estate near the Antioquia typical asking price are not the same investment. Nightly rates do not scale with purchase price the way sale prices do, so the higher the ticket, the harder it is to defend a short-term yield. The entry-level end of a tourist market usually carries the rental math better than the trophy end. The trophy end is bought for other reasons.
Appreciation in the area has historically run 7 to 8 percent a year. That is history, not a forecast, and it is not a substitute for a property that pays its own costs.
What do the numbers look like after you buy and after you sell?
Buyer closing costs run about 2 percent of the price: notary 0.27 percent, registry 0.67 percent, beneficencia 1 percent, plus your lawyer’s fee. Closing normally takes 30 to 45 days once the deal is agreed, so budget that time between agreement and the day the property can actually take bookings.
On the exit, capital gains on a property sale are taxed at 15 percent when the property was held for two years or more. Any honest return calculation includes the 2 percent going in and the 15 percent rate on the gain going out.
The mistake, stated plainly
The mistake is treating a seller’s gross yield as a net yield, and treating a peak-season month as an annual average. Two corrections fix it. First, deduct every cost from the gross figure yourself, using the actual bills. Second, insist on month-by-month occupancy for a full year, because tourist towns have seasons and the quiet months are the ones left out of the pitch.
If a seller cannot produce twelve months of records, the honest assumption is that the property has no rental history, and you should price it as a home, not as a business. Browse luxury real estate colombia with that filter on and the shortlist gets shorter and better.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a gross and a net rental yield in Colombia?
Gross is rent collected before costs. Net is what remains after platform commission, management, cleaning, utilities, internet, administration fees, maintenance, insurance and property tax. Annual property tax alone runs from 0.3 to 1.2 percent of the cadastral value depending on the municipality. Short-term rentals in the area have yielded 8 to 15 percent gross and long-term rentals 5 to 9 percent gross, and the short-term figure carries far more deductions.
What documents prove a property's rental history?
Twelve months of month-by-month booking or lease records with nightly rates and nights occupied, the management agreement showing who runs it and at what commission, twelve months of utility bills (an empty house does not consume electricity), the property tax receipt showing cadastral value, administration fee statements, and the certificate of tradition and freedom.
Can I legally run a short-term rental on a rural finca in Antioquia?
Not automatically. Land use is set by each municipality's territorial plan, which determines whether a parcel allows country housing, subdivision, or agricultural use only. A parcel classified for agricultural use only is not a licensed tourist accommodation. In a building or gated development, the bylaws can also prohibit stays under a set number of days.
What is the certificate of tradition and freedom and why does it matter for an income property?
It is requested using the property's registry number and shows the registered owner, mortgages, liens and encumbrances. For an income property it matters twice: it confirms the person selling is the person on title, and it reveals any lien that would block a clean resale or refinance later.
What will it cost me to buy and later sell a rental property in Colombia?
Buyer closing costs run about 2 percent of the price, made up of notary at 0.27 percent, registry at 0.67 percent and beneficencia at 1 percent, plus your lawyer's fee. On the sale, capital gains are taxed at 15 percent when the property was held for two years or more. Closing normally takes 30 to 45 days once the deal is agreed.
Is a cheaper apartment or an expensive country house the better rental?
Nightly rates do not rise in proportion to purchase price, so the rental math is usually easier to defend at the entry end. In Guatapé and El Peñol an apartment starts at about US$89,000 with a typical asking price of about US$159,000, while an Antioquia country house starts at about US$374,000 with a typical asking of about US$928,000. The larger the ticket, the more of the purchase is being made for reasons other than yield.
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