New York’s crackdown on Airbnb began Tuesday • Hacker News Board

Re: New York’s crackdown on Airbnb began Tuesday

#121

Post by throw3747874747 » Wed, Sep 06, 2023, 1:40 PM UTC

kbos87 wrote: post #85

I don’t doubt that Airbnb has had some effect on housing prices in many cities, but I suspect the effect of STRs isn’t quite as strong as people think it is. Desirable places like NYC have always been competitive markets to rent in, and we know that there’s a long term trend of migration toward population centers which is slowly making things worse. But there’s another factor that seems like it isn’t getting it’s fai…

Maybe opposite is true as well. NYC is horrible smelly place with old buildings, failing infrastructure and rats!

Before YouTube, most people know New York only from highly unrealistic sitcoms like Friends. Now you can have virtual tour through several apartments and streets, and see it for yourself.

Re: New York’s crackdown on Airbnb began Tuesday

#122

Post by yowzadave » Wed, Sep 06, 2023, 1:50 PM UTC

DANmode wrote: post #102

sparrowInHand wrote: post #101

Well, the major culprit is not AirBnB, its illegal washed money and other investment money, parked in cities worldwide. They want a return on those gambling chips, and AirBnB is simply better there. I highly doubt that regulating the value of the pokerchip stacks in the safe down against the interests of the planetary elites will work.

Can you reword this more coherently? There's value here.

I believe they're referring to the practice of the extremely wealthy buying real estate in hot markets, not to actually use it, but in order to launder the source of their money. There are large numbers of never-occupied units in these cities; there are also efforts underway to stop the practice:

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-set-unveil-long-awaited-...

Re: New York’s crackdown on Airbnb began Tuesday

#123

Post by ehmorris » Wed, Sep 06, 2023, 2:07 PM UTC

the_doctah wrote: post #77

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #35

Two hotels in the centre of Manhattan—the Redbury and Paul—just converted to refugee motels. There is a layer to this popular discourse is missing, and I’m unclear what it is.

NYC attempted to grant voting rights to noncitizens who had been residents for over 30 days. Auspicious timing.

That was almost two years ago and would have been for legal residents only, and only municipal elections.

Re: New York’s crackdown on Airbnb began Tuesday

#124

Post by jackleeb » Wed, Sep 06, 2023, 2:27 PM UTC

airbnb pays more than FAANG and is fully remote. senior engineer above $400k and staff engineer close to $600k. i hope the cities don't crack down on my employer :(

fully remote without pay reduction + top pay + great WLB (less than 30 hours/week) = awesome job.

taking away airbnb's eligibility would just be disastrous for the employees who worked hard to get in

Re: New York’s crackdown on Airbnb began Tuesday

#125

Post by mancerayder » Wed, Sep 06, 2023, 2:36 PM UTC

tetris11 wrote: post #93

kbos87 wrote: post #85

I don’t doubt that Airbnb has had some effect on housing prices in many cities, but I suspect the effect of STRs isn’t quite as strong as people think it is. Desirable places like NYC have always been competitive markets to rent in, and we know that there’s a long term trend of migration toward population centers which is slowly making things worse. But there’s another factor that seems like it isn’t getting it’s fai…

Its not just social media. I can't count the number of cheesy, narcissistic/artistic films I've seen centred around New York/Paris/London where people's accents are overblown beyond credibility and the main protagonist is exceedingly rich to live out the life that they do... but is unaware of their exceeding wealth and is therefore unable to communicate that to the audience . As a decent earner, I cannot find myself…

This reminds me of the Sex and the City effect of the early 2000s. It affected/ influenced women quite a bit in their not only moving to the city, but their behaviors, dating habits and dress (remember the cargo pants with heels?)

Re: New York’s crackdown on Airbnb began Tuesday

#126

Post by mancerayder » Wed, Sep 06, 2023, 2:39 PM UTC

totallywrong wrote: post #70

chatmasta wrote: post #57

It's nice that this will theoretically lower rental prices, but in practice there's no way that will happen. Demand is just too high. I don't believe that the number of short-term rentals was the difference between supply matching demand. The real solution is to build more apartment units and crack down on people subletting rent-controlled apartments where they haven't lived for years.

Just looked at prices out of curiosity. Tiny studios in Manhattan going for 3500. Not sure how people rationalize paying that for such small space. That's crazy to me, and I've lived in some very expensive global cities.

Ambition and work. Law firms, financial companies, media... people are starting low and working their way up, with starting salaries easily in the lower 100K range. You live close to work because you work 12 hour days. It's worth paying 1K more so you don't have a 1 hour commute to Flatbush or East New York, where your Seamless options and friends are limited.

There's more at stake than apt size and rent in a city where you spend most of your time not in the apt. This changes as you age.

Re: New York’s crackdown on Airbnb began Tuesday

#127

Post by solardev » Wed, Sep 06, 2023, 2:40 PM UTC

DANmode wrote: post #103

iknowstuff wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, you do that. I’d rather slit my wrists lol

What about 10-15 min, just one wrist?

Mental health engineering right there

Re: New York’s crackdown on Airbnb began Tuesday

#128

Post by ahstilde » Wed, Sep 06, 2023, 3:15 PM UTC

kylecazar wrote: post #20

davewritescode wrote: post #2

> Opponents of the measure, though, claim that the new measure will do significant damage to the tourism industry in New York City — potentially driving would-be visitors to New Jersey Just LOL If you believe is that New Jersey is just waiting in the wings to take tourism from NYC I've got a bridge in Brooklyn available for a good price.

My commute from Paulus Hook, NJ to the World Trade Center was 7 minutes.

Jersey City Waterfront is significantly underrated compared to inaccessible areas like Brooklyn's Williamsburg.

Re: New York’s crackdown on Airbnb began Tuesday

#129

Post by subpixel » Wed, Sep 06, 2023, 3:29 PM UTC

kbos87 wrote: post #85

I don’t doubt that Airbnb has had some effect on housing prices in many cities, but I suspect the effect of STRs isn’t quite as strong as people think it is. Desirable places like NYC have always been competitive markets to rent in, and we know that there’s a long term trend of migration toward population centers which is slowly making things worse. But there’s another factor that seems like it isn’t getting it’s fai…

You're underplaying the STR effect to a degree that suggests you have not experienced it.

I rented in NYC for more than 20 years, coming and going as life and work demanded.

Beginning in about 2015, it felt like half of the acceptable rental apartments in desirable neighborhoods disappeared - all lost to SRT.

Not only did that make finding an apartment harder, it dramatically increased landlords' leverage wrt pricing and lease terms.

On more than one occasion we had to rent vie AirBnB - at in insane markup over markets rents - while searching, full-time, for a place to live longer term.

Re: New York’s crackdown on Airbnb began Tuesday

#130

Post by HWR_14 » Wed, Sep 06, 2023, 3:49 PM UTC

DANmode wrote: post #102

sparrowInHand wrote: post #101

Well, the major culprit is not AirBnB, its illegal washed money and other investment money, parked in cities worldwide. They want a return on those gambling chips, and AirBnB is simply better there. I highly doubt that regulating the value of the pokerchip stacks in the safe down against the interests of the planetary elites will work.

Can you reword this more coherently? There's value here.

I can reword it because I've seen it written before. I am not sure if I believe what they are saying or not, and have no real desire to get involved on either side of the argument going forward.

Rewritten:

> A large percentage of real estate is being purchased as investments and geopolitical hedges by extremely wealthy individuals. In many cases, this can be be literally to assist in money laundering. This effect is especially pronounced in "global cities" (NYC, London, Paris, LA, Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, etc.), and especially in politically stable countries (So that probably excludes Shanghai). These are usually left empty, because income isn't their primary goal. This is considered to be a significant effect because the property types are those intended to be purchased by owner-occupants (e.g. condos), and therefore the supply is consumed. The complaint is not that the new owner of a massive apartment complex is a different major corporation/rich person. Really rich people will prevent any form of correction to the market so they do not lose wealth.