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Short-term rentals disrupting SF housing market

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Re: Short-term rentals disrupting SF housing market

#41

Post by x1 »

tptacek wrote: post #25
netcan wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Question: Why does Airbnb need to deal with this at all? I mean, if these apartments were being advertised on craigslist or local classifieds would you think they need to deal with it?

The classifieds don't provide comprehensive listings of short-term vacation rentals. But I'm not saying Airbnb "needs" to deal with it. I'm saying they "should" decline listings from people who don't own their property absent some documentation of consent from the landlord of that property.

Houses can be rented and apartments can be owned. Think of all the different local laws that might apply to someone that owns a condo, rents an apartment, owns a house, owns a townhome or rents any of these. Hell, even a HOA might have something to say about it. Then again you might rent from a person who doesn't care if you sub-rent out.

Having AirBNB try to determine if every single renter/homeowner has the rights would be a nightmare.

Re: Short-term rentals disrupting SF housing market

#42

Post by rexreed »

primigenus wrote: post #16

Two of my coworkers are in SF right now for WWDC, having flown there from Europe, and their AirBnB host was just handed an eviction notice for subletting - they have to leave immediately. So this article feels extremely ... timely. And I'll be in SF in 2 weeks for Google IO, also staying with an AirBnB host. Not the kind of article I want to read before flying out there :-)

Having had this happen once, my only advice is to find hosts on AirBnB that own their properties. I know, not the majority for SF city, but there are quite a few home owners who are in control of their property and thus not under a tenant agreement. They might later have to pay the piper with regards to the city, but that's a much harder bone to pick.

If you want references for property owners in San Fran or near by who have their properties listed on AirBnB, drop me a line.

Re: Short-term rentals disrupting SF housing market

#43

Post by cluutran »

tptacek wrote: post #33
cluutran wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not all landlords have leases, credit checks, or references. What about those cases?

You just knew someone was going to come in here pointing out that they knew of a landlord that drafted their lease on the back of a used Kleenex. Well. I stand corrected, then.

What? I didn't say that, at all. I'm just saying there are a ton of cases where landlords don't require leases to be signed. Credit checks and references are less common than leases. I live in Chicago and in a big city like this one, there are many, many different renting situations (not just "Kleenex" ones) and not all of them contractually come in conflict with a renter having someone pay to live in part of an apartment.

Re: Short-term rentals disrupting SF housing market

#45

Post by tptacek »

x1 wrote: post #41
tptacek wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The classifieds don't provide comprehensive listings of short-term vacation rentals. But I'm not saying Airbnb "needs" to deal with it. I'm saying they "should" decline listings from people who don't own their property absent some documentation of consent from the landlord of that property.

Houses can be rented and apartments can be owned. Think of all the different local laws that might apply to someone that owns a condo, rents an apartment, owns a house, owns a townhome or rents any of these. Hell, even a HOA might have something to say about it. Then again you might rent from a person who doesn't care if you sub-rent out. Having AirBNB try to determine if every single renter/homeowner has the rights…

I understand that there's some ambiguity to the term, but for most people in the US, the word for an apartment that is owned by occupants who do not own the rest of the building is "condominium". Also, you should note that most condominiums have even stricter rules for usage of the building; these are legally binding agreements that attach to the mortgage of the condo.

It is very, very easy for Airbnb to attempt to determine whether a lister owns their property. Obviously, they aren't foolproof. But for starters they could just have a checkbox, and a big red warning if you check it.

Re: Short-term rentals disrupting SF housing market

#46

Post by jusben1369 »

ThomPete wrote: post #36

I can say as someone who moved to New York two weeks ago and hoped that AirBnB would allow me to find a good temp place that i feel pretty critical towards the experience. The prices are insane. I paid 3300USD for a shitty studio in China Town for a month. I am ok with paying a lot of money for a place and I know NY well enough to know it's expensive. But people who get only profit from subletting and pumping up the…

That's probably just a supply and demand issue. Those sorts of profits will attract other folks to let out space and bring prices back into line (assuming of course they can sort out all of the issues above)

Re: Short-term rentals disrupting SF housing market

#47

Post by rexreed »

ThomPete wrote: post #36

I can say as someone who moved to New York two weeks ago and hoped that AirBnB would allow me to find a good temp place that i feel pretty critical towards the experience. The prices are insane. I paid 3300USD for a shitty studio in China Town for a month. I am ok with paying a lot of money for a place and I know NY well enough to know it's expensive. But people who get only profit from subletting and pumping up the…

Out of curiosity, would it not have been cheaper to stay in New Jersey and take the NJ Transit or Path? If you could, then your options for low-cost AirBnB or short-term sublet are much expanded.

I know, it's not the same as living in the city, and perhaps you wanted that experience as well. But not sure if the Chinatown Studio gave you the experience you were looking for.

Re: Short-term rentals disrupting SF housing market

#48

Post by ThomPete »

jaems33 wrote: post #40
ThomPete wrote: post #36

I can say as someone who moved to New York two weeks ago and hoped that AirBnB would allow me to find a good temp place that i feel pretty critical towards the experience. The prices are insane. I paid 3300USD for a shitty studio in China Town for a month. I am ok with paying a lot of money for a place and I know NY well enough to know it's expensive. But people who get only profit from subletting and pumping up the…

Well there are places on Craigslist you probably could've found cheaper in Chinatown of all places. But studio apartments in general are expensive in a place like Secondly, Airbnb does have plenty of shared places in Queens and Brooklyn that go for less than seventy bucks a day, and studios that would be closer to 2k.

The thing is. right now I am looking at a 1BR appartment completely modern building, rooftop, open kitchen the works for 3600USD.

There are many places on AirBnB that have simply pumped up the prices to make a living and since there is not negative feedback mechanism everyone just charges more and more.

Craigslist yeah i tried that, i enden up with mostly scams and bait and switch guys.

Re: Short-term rentals disrupting SF housing market

#49

Post by tptacek »

cluutran wrote: post #43
tptacek wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just knew someone was going to come in here pointing out that they knew of a landlord that drafted their lease on the back of a used Kleenex. Well. I stand corrected, then.

What? I didn't say that, at all. I'm just saying there are a ton of cases where landlords don't require leases to be signed. Credit checks and references are less common than leases. I live in Chicago and in a big city like this one, there are many, many different renting situations (not just "Kleenex" ones) and not all of them contractually come in conflict with a renter having someone pay to live in part of an apar…

I live in Chicago and rented in Chicago for many years and I never saw a lease that hadn't been drafted by a lawyer. Most leases are boilerplate --- let alone rentals without leases. If you're renting an apartment without a lease, something shady is going on.

But look, in the meantime, can we just implicitly narrow the conversation down to the normal case of "renters with actual leases"? This is a stupid tangent. Obviously there are landlords who don't give a shit if people in their buildings convert apartments to hotels, just as there are buildings where the other tenants don't care either.

Re: Short-term rentals disrupting SF housing market

#50

Post by ThomPete »

rexreed wrote: post #47
ThomPete wrote: post #36

I can say as someone who moved to New York two weeks ago and hoped that AirBnB would allow me to find a good temp place that i feel pretty critical towards the experience. The prices are insane. I paid 3300USD for a shitty studio in China Town for a month. I am ok with paying a lot of money for a place and I know NY well enough to know it's expensive. But people who get only profit from subletting and pumping up the…

Out of curiosity, would it not have been cheaper to stay in New Jersey and take the NJ Transit or Path? If you could, then your options for low-cost AirBnB or short-term sublet are much expanded. I know, it's not the same as living in the city, and perhaps you wanted that experience as well. But not sure if the Chinatown Studio gave you the experience you were looking for.

I am here on an O Visa so I am here to work. I wanted to stay close to the office in the beginning until I found a proper place.

Hopefully I found that yesterday :)

Will have to get approved (again an issue when you don't have credit history as the US works opposite of Denmark in that regard)

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