I foresee a social-media thingamajig that lets you stay with friends [of friends]*, and the stayovers being arranged similar to how linkedin introductions work.
DIY B&B
81–90 of 200 posts
Re: DIY B&B
#82I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the negative reaction to this here. The HN demographic is presumably tilted towards young men. What those criticisms seem to be neglecting is that those--particularly for apartment buildings--these temporary visitors impact beyond just you. In Australia, for example, one useful metric used by people when assessing apartment buildings to buy in is to look at the ratio of owner-occup…
So, your argument is that no one should open bars ever? Unless the neighbors get to vote and agree on it? Who counts as a neighbor? (I understand "the city" represents the neighbors and passes zoning laws, etc. That this is currently the case doesn't make it right.) Yes, someone should be able to operate a brothel or bar on their own property. I don't see why this is even controversial, but for some reason it is incr…
Well, the bar example is fairly interesting: in lots of localities, that's exactly how things work. This is one thing that leads to bar or nightlife districts in cities, as no other residential areas want to deal with the issues caused by bars.
It is hotels complaining, for now, and I don't think anyone is taking the POV that we should respect their legally privileged position just because they already have it. But a lot of these and similar laws have existed for awhile, because various bad actors have abused short term renting in the past. And if Airbnb and similar setups become more widespread (as they're bound to do), we do want to have some legal framework to deal with issues as they arise.
Re: DIY B&B
#83This is a classic example of anti-competitive market fixing, masquerading as a "regulation to protect consumers" or somesuch. There is no legitimate justification to infringe on a contract between a willing buyer and a willing seller, but to actually fight these crackdowns you have to spend lots of $$$ on local political campaigns in every municipality. Easier said than done. Unless that massive lobbying investment (…
There is no legitimate justification to infringe on a contract between a willing buyer and a willing seller Devils advocate: are food standards also a terrible imposition? The government insists on coming around to all the restaurants in the city and inspecting them to make sure that no-one will be poisoned or killed by the food they eat. How dare they stand in between a willing buyer and seller. Right? Right? Food s…
While not always perfectly implemented, the government acts as representatives of the buyers in that transaction.
Re: DIY B&B
#84I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the negative reaction to this here. The HN demographic is presumably tilted towards young men. What those criticisms seem to be neglecting is that those--particularly for apartment buildings--these temporary visitors impact beyond just you. In Australia, for example, one useful metric used by people when assessing apartment buildings to buy in is to look at the ratio of owner-occup…
So much text, so little substance. Let's sum up your arguments for why this is good.
1) HN wouldn't understand because they're young men
2) Value of property in an area can go down
3) Property can suffer damages
4) Rentals may inconvenience neighbors
All these points can be overcome without eroding our property rights. While values of homes can go down, they can also go up. Property can be damaged, but it can also be insured. Rentals may inconvenience neighbors, but disturbing the peace is already a crime.
Re: DIY B&B
#85These laws seems to curb an efficient market process, which I don't like if true. Also I think the government loses out on special taxes from Hotel business, but maybe those taxes could also be collected from these B&B type operations? Hotels have no business using the law to fight a competitive threat, in my opinion anyway. Does not seem to make sense to me.
The competition is not homeowners. As noted many times by others, the competition is "home owners" who use AirBNB to run undeclared hotels out of their buildings, evading the costs and taxes associated with a declared hotel. This obviously hurts other hotels, who cannot compete with such costs. Over time, this can (but not necessarily will) drive down hotel investment in upgrades and maintenance, making the city less attractive to visitors.
This also hurts renters--rooms that would otherwise be rented out to long-term tenants (monthly or longer) are now instead "rented" out to transient visitors. This decreases the available supply of units to renters, driving up prices across the board.
Re: DIY B&B
#86I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the negative reaction to this here. The HN demographic is presumably tilted towards young men. What those criticisms seem to be neglecting is that those--particularly for apartment buildings--these temporary visitors impact beyond just you. In Australia, for example, one useful metric used by people when assessing apartment buildings to buy in is to look at the ratio of owner-occup…
All true, but the power of persistent online reputations can mitigate these negatives better than inflexible 20th-century-style regulations.
ever heard of astroturfing? after working on a listings site, i automatically assume 80% of ratings and reviews and astroturfed
Re: DIY B&B
#87I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the negative reaction to this here. The HN demographic is presumably tilted towards young men. What those criticisms seem to be neglecting is that those--particularly for apartment buildings--these temporary visitors impact beyond just you. In Australia, for example, one useful metric used by people when assessing apartment buildings to buy in is to look at the ratio of owner-occup…
You're forgetting that this problem is already solved by contract law. Tenants sign agreements not to rent out their units all the time. Home owner's associations often have rules against short-term rentals as well. If you don't like the idea of short-term rentals in your neighborhood or building, choose one protected by one of these types of contracts. In fact, they're so common, you probably already have such prote…
What's the contract law remedy for a tenant in a building whose unscrupulous landlord has decided to dump his spare inventory onto Airbnb as an ad hoc hostel? Break the lease? Sue for moving costs and to recover the security deposite? What if you're rent-controlled and the landlord says "go ahead, break the lease! woohoo!"?
What's the contract law remedy for unscrupulous businesspeople who buy entire buildings and convert them into Airbnb hostels?
I've used and appreciated Airbnb, but I think 'cletus is ultimately right and threads like this have a hard time of seeing the (valid) other side of this issue.
Re: DIY B&B
#88Just about every year for as long as I can remember, my family has taken a summer vacation at a beach about 300 miles away. We always stay in a hotel. Over time, the beach has gotten tacky. Big billboards. Lots of nightlife. Amusement park rides. All kinds of things that reek of Las Vegas, but not so much a relaxing family vacation. So this year we decided to try something different. I got onto VRBO online and picked…
"but this is a done deal: people own their stuff and they're damn well liable to do what they want to with it." Not speaking specifically about your situation and experience which was positive for you but the laws also have other purposes. For example when you live in certain residential neighborhoods you're not expecting to have transient population. Many communities restrict single family homes to "1 family" and ma…
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Re: DIY B&B
#89I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the negative reaction to this here. The HN demographic is presumably tilted towards young men. What those criticisms seem to be neglecting is that those--particularly for apartment buildings--these temporary visitors impact beyond just you. In Australia, for example, one useful metric used by people when assessing apartment buildings to buy in is to look at the ratio of owner-occup…
"Generally the more owner-occupiers, the better the building." Same from my experience on the east coast. I will assume that's universal. "Renters don't tend to look after properties, tend to be less mindful of behaviour that impacts the neighbours (parties, etc), etc." Once again true from my experience. And here we aren't even talking about longer term rentals. We are talking about days and the fact that you could…
And remember, in those mails, the idea being discussed was the risk to the apartment owner of having their stuff owned. But in many NYC buildings --- including the NYC ABNB rentals I've had --- access to the apartment includes access to the front gate and the front door; in other words, it creates additional access to the apartments of every renter in the building, whether or not they themselves have opted in to Airbnb.
Re: DIY B&B
#90This is a classic example of anti-competitive market fixing, masquerading as a "regulation to protect consumers" or somesuch. There is no legitimate justification to infringe on a contract between a willing buyer and a willing seller, but to actually fight these crackdowns you have to spend lots of $$$ on local political campaigns in every municipality. Easier said than done. Unless that massive lobbying investment (…
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