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Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

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Re: Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s basically what I’m doing, except with a 3 unit building in Michigan. In an average month, the two AirBnB units bring in 3-4x the mortgage in revenue. Not enough to retire of course, but it’s a nice side hustle. That being said, our bookings been hit pretty hard by the coronavirus. We’ve hade multiple cancellations recently, and the month of April is basically wide open. We usually have an occupancy rate for 85…

Paying off two dwellings at little effort is a nice "side hustle". No wonder nobody in the west is working! Meanwhile the Fed pumps more money to protect banks from rentiers blowing up, while taxes go unpaid and hospitals are underfunded.

Why are you mad about buildings being used at over 85% occupancy on average?

Re: Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paying off two dwellings at little effort is a nice "side hustle". No wonder nobody in the west is working! Meanwhile the Fed pumps more money to protect banks from rentiers blowing up, while taxes go unpaid and hospitals are underfunded.

Why are you mad about buildings being used at over 85% occupancy on average?

Because residential buildings were built to be homes, not effort free income streams for rentiers.

Re: Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

#113

I'd imagine there's a sizable group of people who think Airbnb is only worth it if the price (and maybe location) is significantly better than a hotel, and that seems to be less true as the company matures.

Also selection. You can get AirBnBs in a number of regions where hotels are just not available or may be fully booked up.

Re: Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paying off two dwellings at little effort is a nice "side hustle". No wonder nobody in the west is working! Meanwhile the Fed pumps more money to protect banks from rentiers blowing up, while taxes go unpaid and hospitals are underfunded.

Why are you mad about buildings being used at over 85% occupancy on average?

Short term rentals to tourists isn't occupancy, it's occupation. Sorry for the hyperbole I just thought that was good wordplay.

These rentals drive up rents for the people in the community and remove housing stock from the market, making it more expensive and less likely for people to purchase their home and build equity. Rent is non recoverable unlike a mortgage, even if you ultimately take a loss.

Flooding the housing market with units for sale at a bargain would be great for common people trying to build wealth.

Re: Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

#115

I have a friend who got into hosting AirBnbs pretty early. Bought a 4 unit place in a rough part of Toronto that was still pretty close to downtown and lived in one of the units while he AirBnbed out the other three. Occasionally he'd go on a trip and AirBnb out his own unit. It was enough money for him to cover his mortgage and not have to work if he watched his spending. He's bleeding money now and it started about…

> He's bleeding money now Maybe he should work instead of leeching off his community.

Eh, I'm a bit of a centrist with respect to AirBnb. It should be taxed, but there are advantages. This guy bought right when AirBnb was first starting and long before any of the displacement concerns that started ravaging cities. It's fair to complain about the impact that AirBnb can have, but it's also a bit rich to call these mom and pop owners leachers.

Re: Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

#116
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airbnb cheats with bad reviews, so their properties look more attractive. I came to a rental apartment which was trashed and uninhabitable and left it after a tiring few hours on the phone with Airbnb to convince them not to charge me and finding a place to stay (hotel) in the meantime (They also tried to find a 'suitable' replacement but nothing was comparable). The host left me a negative review complaining 'I didn…

I had an experience where an Airbnb host canceled on me at the last minute because they "forgot" they had double-booked the apartment on a competing service. I was unable to leave a bad review because I had not stayed in the apartment. I contacted Airbnb and they confirmed that this is their policy. They claimed an automated message would appear on the listing indicating the host's cancellation -- but it never did.

I do see these “automated reviews” left all the time in properties I’m looking to stay at. In this part of the world it’s quite common for that sort of accident to happen.

Re: Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you mad about buildings being used at over 85% occupancy on average?

Short term rentals to tourists isn't occupancy, it's occupation. Sorry for the hyperbole I just thought that was good wordplay. These rentals drive up rents for the people in the community and remove housing stock from the market, making it more expensive and less likely for people to purchase their home and build equity. Rent is non recoverable unlike a mortgage, even if you ultimately take a loss. Flooding the hous…

And they should build wealth by saving their surplus value, which means adding value. If they buy land at a reasonable price they avoid paying tax to bankers via interest.

Create wealth instead of appropriating it and everyone benefits!

Re: Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also about facilities. Having a full kitchen and separate rooms makes a world of difference when you're traveling with kids.

There seems to be two market segments for solo/duo travelers and families/large groups. I’ve done the latter with big groups of friends and renting a nice house for a week is a great experience. But I think vacation rental homes of this sort existed well before airbnb

They did exist, but they're far more discoverable with airbnb et al.

Re: Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

#120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He's bleeding money now Maybe he should work instead of leeching off his community.

Eh, I'm a bit of a centrist with respect to AirBnb. It should be taxed, but there are advantages. This guy bought right when AirBnb was first starting and long before any of the displacement concerns that started ravaging cities. It's fair to complain about the impact that AirBnb can have, but it's also a bit rich to call these mom and pop owners leachers.

Working hard for getting a mortgage paid off when most people can't even afford one home, is he?

Who creates the value that makes people choose his location?

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