Here's the mental model shift that most second-home buyers in Summit County haven't made yet.
Pre-2022: you bought a house. The STR income stream came with it, effectively free. Licensing was open, caps didn't exist in most jurisdictions, and running the numbers meant treating that rental income as permanent.
Post-2022: you are buying two separate things. The real estate is one. The licensing path is the other. Miss the value of either and it costs you real money.
Look at where Summit County is right now.
Unincorporated Summit County, as of January 2026:
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Lower Blue Basin: 508 licenses against a cap of 550. Waitlist active.
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Upper Blue Basin: 563 against a cap of 590. Waitlist active.
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Snake River Basin: 137 against a cap of 130. Already over the cap. Waitlist active.
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Ten Mile Basin: 24 against a cap of 20. Already over.
Once a basin hits cap, new Type II licenses only get issued through attrition, when a current license holder sells and doesn't transfer, or voluntarily gives up the license. More licenses aren't coming. The math only moves one direction.
Town-level specifics.
Town of Breckenridge uses a four-zone system. Resort Zone: 100% license-eligible, which is why it trades at a premium. Zone 1: 92% eligible. Zone 2: 51%. Zone 3: 10%, with a waitlist that is years long under current rules.
Silverthorne STR licenses are non-transferable on sale. Read that again. When a seller hands you the keys, they do not hand you the license. You apply fresh, subject to current zone caps.
Frisco caps licenses at 25% of residential stock. The waitlist is about a year right now but moves around April 30 renewals if there's a meaningful batch of non-renewals.
What this means practically.
If you're buying in a capped zone without an existing license, you're buying the real estate and hoping for the licensing path. Hope is not a plan. The property may still perform as a personal second home, a mid-term rental, or a 30-plus-day rental. But it won't perform as an STR until you get off a waitlist with no guaranteed end date.
If you're buying a property with a transferable license in place, you're buying two things at once. The pricing should reflect that. A lot of listings are priced as if the license is automatic. It isn't.
If you're selling in a capped jurisdiction with a valid license, your marketing needs to treat that license as a material asset. For a rental-focused buyer, it's arguably the single most valuable thing about the property. It needs to be documented, verified, and disclosed with the same rigor as a survey or title issue.
The days of "it's just the license, we'll figure it out" are done. In 2026, the license is the asset. Price it separately, negotiate it separately, and underwrite it separately, whichever side of the deal you're on.