Meanwhile, there are people of privilege or wealth who are renting places for $500 a month next to Central Park. What a world.
New York governor approves short-term apartment rental ban in NYC
71–80 of 145 posts
Re: New York governor approves short-term apartment rental ban in NYC
#72I live in NYC, and while I think AirBnB is decent idea, I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in a building where the landlord - or another tenet - were renting out their spot like a hotel or hostel. At the point you are doing that with any sort of regularity you should be subject to licensing, insurance, etc.
This is exactly why I'm growing tired of social news sites too. Instead of responding in disagreement, you get downvoted. The whole thing is cowardly and/or lazy.
Whomever downvoted me, you are telling me that you wouldn't mind a constant rotation of complete strangers taking residence in the apartment across the hall from you with no recourse for liability?
Re: New York governor approves short-term apartment rental ban in NYC
#73Yet another illustration of how those with political power are not subject to the discipline of the market.
The market is created by laws, laws are created by politicians, politicians are elected. That's how a democracy should work, anyway. City planning is something complicated where I'm not so sure a pure market-driven solution would be optimal. Markets only allocate resources well when there are no externalities. They do nothing towards a fair distribution of wealth. A good example of poor city planning caused by the ma…
That's how a democracy should work, anyway.
That's how a representative democracy works, but that's only one form of democracy (and unfortunately ours).
Re: New York governor approves short-term apartment rental ban in NYC
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are missing one important point: most people affected by this ban are individuals, renting out one room at a time, maybe two. I have a hard time believing this generates any kind of noticeable "coming and going". In fact, tolerating the rental of a single room per household strikes me as a good way of separating the wheat from the chaff. Ironically, even Cuba has such an exception: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ca…
One more thought: the state expects this to plug a leak in tax revenue. I think they are vastly underestimating the relief these rentals represented: losing that extra income might mean foreclosure for a lot of people. Plugging a leak, really? I call it shooting the life raft.
We're still living in a world with artificially inflated housing prices. While yes, people will be foreclosed on, this is a necessity to bring the market back to reasonable levels.
If hosting tourists becomes standard practice, this will be reflected in the price of housing, and even more people will be unable to afford homes in the long run as a result.
Especially when you look at vacant spots in hotels, which were zoned and set aside for that very purpose, this creates a significant inefficiency with a lot of unoccupied (and probably mis-priced by an illusory abundance of) space in the city.
Re: New York governor approves short-term apartment rental ban in NYC
#75Interesting startup lesson here. NYC -- famous for high cost-of-living. So folks start micro-leasing as a way to recoup costs. Several startups are created as a way to coordinate these micro-leases. Response? Government steps in and shuts it down. The reason social problems, like housing shortages and the political responses, are important to talk about on HN is that big companies solve big problems, and nothing happ…
No, what I think you will find are people who believe that operating a commercial enterprise, which is what micro-leasing is, needing to be subject to regulation, licensing, insurance and liability - which they are currently aren't. I also believe you'll find people concerned about the possibility of renters being taken advantage of with no legal recourse.
It's pretty simple.
Re: New York governor approves short-term apartment rental ban in NYC
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
If only the world were as simple as that. Location and family play a huge role in whether you can create (as much) wealth.
Tell that to 300,000+ USD Millionaires in mainland china ( I am sure its fare greater now as this is an article from 2006 ) http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_06/b3970072.... I come from a lower-middle class background ( military family during the 80's and early 90's ), grew up in many different small cities and never finished high school. I am in my mid 20's now and have the wealth that people here like…
Germany has about 800,000 USD millionaires (also numbers from 2006) and a population that’s about 16 times smaller than China’s. Do you really think that that difference has nothing to do with location and history?
Re: New York governor approves short-term apartment rental ban in NYC
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
I also see this as a problem though. Most likely the person doing this is not the owner of the apartment. I wonder how the original landlords feel about this. Maybe they just don't care, who knows. Seems wrong to be using their apartment for this when they never agreed to it.
I would consider the landlord's involvement in this decision to be an "abstraction violation." When I lease the apartment, I make a guarantee to return the apartment to you in the same condition that I received it (with a fine to be paid if I do not). It should be my choice whether to assume the risks of a subletter, temporary or long-term.
The problem is, in NYC, you cannot sublet your apartment without notifying your landlord. They cannot, however, unreasonably deny the sublet. But you must notify them.
Re: New York governor approves short-term apartment rental ban in NYC
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
> They do nothing towards a fair distribution of wealth. What is the "fair distribution of wealth"? I personally believe that you are only entitled to the wealth you yourself created (or which someone voluntary gave you). Isn't that a fair distribution of wealth? Or what other metrics do you use?
Starting with the land, water, and air of this Earth, there are many resources that no one created, and no one has the right to give you. We parcel it out, and we say that this patch belongs to me, and this patch belongs to you, but the 'fairness' of it is always imperfect. In a city, you cannot say that you have sole right to a piece of property, to do with as you please. Everything's too packed in together. If you'…
> Starting with the land, water, and air of this Earth, there are many resources that no one created, and no one has the right to give you.
If we divide all the land in the world equally, within 20 years some people will have more and some people will have less (due to differing productivity and non-coercive selling). This isn't unfair - it just means that some people are unproductive.
> In a city, you cannot say that you have sole right to a piece of property, to do with as you please. Everything's too packed in together. If you're blasting music at all hours of the night,
Yes you can. Blasting music is a different story - you are effecting your neighbour's quality of life (and destroying his property value).
But trust me, you can do anything on your property as long as the neighbour doesn't hear or see you.
> To put it simply: the wealth of New York City was mostly created by the city; the plumbing, the roads, the zoning laws, the building codes,
The wealth in New York city is created because highly skilled people are close to each other (a type of network effect). Just because the demand for property is higher (and therefore the asking price) doesn't mean that the wealth represented by the property is created by the state.
Re: New York governor approves short-term apartment rental ban in NYC
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
If only the world were as simple as that. Location and family play a huge role in whether you can create (as much) wealth.
Maybe. But here is the thing – do you think it is fair for someone else to subsidize your children (at the cost to themselves)? It is usually the duty of parents to raise their children (and pay for their education). The left however feels that it “takes the village to raise the child” (nice way of saying that someone else should pay for education, etc…). This means that dysfunctional people and families can external…
You know, there are actual statistics that show that children from less wealthy families do worse. It's no BS, that’s just how it is.
Re: New York governor approves short-term apartment rental ban in NYC
#80I live in NYC, and while I think AirBnB is decent idea, I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in a building where the landlord - or another tenet - were renting out their spot like a hotel or hostel. At the point you are doing that with any sort of regularity you should be subject to licensing, insurance, etc.
This is exactly why I'm growing tired of social news sites too. Instead of responding in disagreement, you get downvoted. The whole thing is cowardly and/or lazy. Whomever downvoted me, you are telling me that you wouldn't mind a constant rotation of complete strangers taking residence in the apartment across the hall from you with no recourse for liability?
There's no reason to license and regulate if you can fine people with noise pollution and other negative externalities that come out of their property.
If you disrupt the neighbors with loud musics, wild partying, etc, you will pay a fine. All the neighbors have to do is sue you in court and it should be easy to prove it so.
That will kill many birds with one stone and eliminate vectors that allows people to choose winner and losers for political reasons.