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Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

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Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#181

Post by bradlys »

mintplant wrote: post #108
taborj wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't comment to their operational policies, but I have a coworker who owns a house they use for AirBnb, and they make quite a bit of money off of it. Enough to have a house dedicated to AirBnb, and so one of them doesn't need to work. They seem pleased with it, and they're not a corporation by any means. But, again, I don't have a horse in this race.

Frankly, I don't see that as a positive outcome. That house could be someone's home.

In the scheme of it being "someone's home", it's not much different than renting it out for a longer period. Both are temporary and are at high risk for being kicked out. (Compared to owning it) No one I know who rents the home they're in claims it to be "their home".

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#182

Post by gamblor956 »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #57
matchbok wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because my neighborhood is littered with mini-hotels and AirBnb encourages this behavior.

Are they bothering you more than non-registered cars in people's yards bothers the HOA type of people? On some level people have the right to do whatever they please with their property. That's kind of the point of ownership to begin with.

On some level people have the right to do whatever they please with their property. That's kind of the point of ownership to begin with.

An HOA is a community-owned development. The individual lots are owned subject to the (HOA) rules of the development. That subordination is quite literally written into the deeds of the individual plots. So in this case, the other owners have a right to tell the individual owner what they can't do on their property.

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#183

Post by gamblor956 »

bradlys wrote: post #181
mintplant wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Frankly, I don't see that as a positive outcome. That house could be someone's home.

In the scheme of it being "someone's home", it's not much different than renting it out for a longer period. Both are temporary and are at high risk for being kicked out. (Compared to owning it) No one I know who rents the home they're in claims it to be "their home".

It's pretty much the exact opposite of being someone's home.

A long-term rental may not be permanent, but it's still a home for the duration of the rental. An AirBnB is not, by definition.

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#185

Post by jak92 »

nate_meurer wrote: post #81

I run a vacation rental in a small town in the mountains of Colorado. I'm quite happy to pay the taxes the town demands. Our place is busy, and our guests make a significant impact on the town, spending a lot of money in local shops and restaurants. On the other hand, there is increased wear on city and county roads (many of which are gravel), and increased load on water, sewer, and sanitation services. Cities and co…

> I run a vacation rental in a small town in the mountains of Colorado. I'm quite happy to pay the taxes the town demands.

Do you collect the same taxes as hotels do? Have you registered as a business with your city?

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#186

Post by dmitrygr »

dogcomplex wrote: post #149
braythwayt wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should zoning laws be fought tooth-and-nail? If I buy a house in a neighbourhood full of single-family dwellings that are all one and two storeys high, should I be able to build a condo building on my land? Can I open a nightclub in my house? What about parking? Can I pave my front lawn and rent the space out as parking spots? Or maybe put a dumpster there for local businesses to put their trash in? There's a tre…

I mean... every one of those examples involves construction/renovation or directly impacts neighbors. Having guests over in your unchanged house, parking in your designated parking spaces, and just happening to charge money for the experience is a much more reasonable grey area - and doesn't affect tenants much if they hold the guests to the same behavioral standards as the original tenant. If they were just regular…

  > and doesn't affect tenants much if
  > they hold the guests to the same
  > behavioral standards as the original tenan
How do you hold them to that? What leverage do I have over the loud bachelor party at the house you rented out next to mine?

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#187

Post by nradov »

dcosson wrote: post #122
praneshp wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> , we had a limit on how many units could rent out at once anyway so they never were going to have enough numbers What does this mean? If I owned a house in your neighborhood and had to move away for work, my options are to sell the house, or get on a waitlist till the number of houses rented out reduces? As someone that's never owned a house, that sounds like a shitty rule that should be disrupted. I'm assuming the…

The "positive side" for the homeowners is pretty obvious - it lets them keep anyone that's not one of them out of the neighborhood. I don't know the specifics of this particular neighborhood, but if it's anything like the vast majority of America, it likely is a very shitty rule that should be disrupted.

HOAs don't block purchases by particular people. There's no need for disruption here.

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#188

Post by pyrale »

koboll wrote: post #55
duxup wrote: post #26

I lived a few doors down to someone who basically ran an ad hoc AirBnB ... before Airbnb. It was pretty terrible. Parties all the time, trash, they parked anywhere (in other people's driveways...) because there were likely no long term consequences for doing so, the folks staying there didn't care because why should they? I was on the association board, it's kinda thankless job as we had to deal with this house. We g…

>In the end it was just a horrible situation to open up what was a hotel, right in the middle of our association / neighborhood. By joining a HOA, you've delegated away to the collective the right to dictate to your neighbors what they can and can't do with their own property. In your case, the system worked - because you are in a HOA. If people want to exert that kind of collectivist control over their neighbors, th…

Many HoAs/cities/countries havd rules like that to protect neighbours. The article is about airbnb working hard to violate these rules, enable others to violate these rules, and lobby foreign institutions to abolish these rules.

Your rant about people not knowing better than to diversify investment is completely oblivious of the fact that most people out there have no reasonable way to do so, and that their only protection is the existence of such rules.

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#189

Post by sonnyblarney »

I think hotel zoning should be loosened and maybe some of the regs.

There's clearly demand.

I don't buy the idea hotels are disruptive, in my urban community there are zero, but tons of commercial space there'd be no problem at all with one across the street.

In fact, it'd be good for business. Tons of offices, zero hotel space. Not good.

Some innovation in management i.e. no checkin, cleaner only come when you've gone, etc. etc. and we might get some material efficiencies.

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