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Comment by yardie | Hacker News Reader

I own in a building that used to be rampant with AirBnb rentals. Once we had enough owners to vote on new bylaws we reduced short term rentals dramatically. From do as you want, to 30 days, and now 6 months. I used to not mind Airbnb and was a long time proponent. But the edge cases aren't even edge cases anymore.

Just within the last few days one of the more popular buildings in our neighborhood had a shooting. The owners and tenants are absolutely pissed. Because at $3000+/month this is not how they wanted to live. That building management company was fired and a new one brought in. With armed security now.

The straw for me was the variability of the owners. If I get a substandard hotel room I call the desk and get moved to another suite. If I have a substandard Airbnb I only get a refund. I'm still left scrambling to find new, last minute accommodations.

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Not even a refund sometimes. If you look at the 30+ day Airbnb rentals their policy is "full refund, except for the first 30 days." I had to be really careful to pick a place that had good reviews because I wouldn't be able to get much back.

If there are problems with the place, like that it looks like shit you are going to ultimately win the chargeback dispute, but it's annoying regardless. And of course the Airbnb dispute resolution process is complete garbage designed to annoy the user enough so that they give up. Gotta get those numbers up, right?

Datapoint of just one: I had one AirBnB disaster as a renter. Support did initially steer me towards a compromise (to accept the place with a reduction in rent) but as soon as I persisted, they agreed to a full refund (including the platform fee). It wasn't a difficult experience at all.

I was on my own to find a place to stay, but it was Vegas, so that was trivial.

> I was on my own to find a place to stay, but it was Vegas, so that was trivial.

I was in the south of France during peak vacation season. Every hotel in this small town was booked. With a toddler who was visibly worried and extremely tired. To put it conservatively, it was a fucking nightmare.

> Once we had enough owners to vote on new bylaws we reduced short term rentals dramatically. From do as you want, to 30 days, and now 6 months.

is this really a good thing? once you start banning rentals in the 1-6 month range, you are no longer just targeting tourists. you're also hurting folks without stable jobs who can't commit to a typical lease length.

How many are in this category though? It seems like a minority case and any decent job which may require relocation or unpredictable permanence offers moving assistance that handles breaking leases.

> It seems like a minority case and any decent job which may require relocation or unpredictable permanence offers moving assistance that handles breaking leases.

first of all, this is pretty uncommon outside of relatively high-paying professional gigs. the average person's idea of a "decent job" is probably quite different from mine or yours. also not all leases have a buy-out clause. you might be on the hook for the entire remaining term of the lease, which, on the margin, can change a new employer's willingness to pay. I actually just had this situation with my previous roommate. we had just signed a new one-year lease when he got an offer. they almost declined to pay out his share of 11 months' rent when they learned there was no buyout clause. this was a tech company hiring him as an SWE.

I don't know what share of short-term renters are doing it out of necessity, but I do have several friends that are in this position. I'll use one of them as an example. he dropped out of school with about a year's worth of credits left, so most white-collar positions are not on the table for him. he currently works in a restaurant, but he has a worsening health condition that makes this a short term option at best. he's trying to get into a trade that would be at least a little better for his health, but not having a lot of luck at the moment. basically he needs to be ready to get up and go at a moments notice to anywhere he can find better work.

It's a good question and a hard one to answer. Many factors could contribute to needing under 1 year leases. I don't have a good answer, but you can look at your local leases. Near me on apartments.com, the 'short-term' category is ~40% of all the listings. Drilling down a bit into some of those categories, 3 month leases seem to be the lowest, outside of month-to-month leases.

My area may be an outlier, it is covid time afterall. But 40% is not an outlier, especially when it has an option in a drop-down menu.

in some of the poorer neighborhoods near me, you even see a bunch of week-to-week rentals on craigslist.

When the larger property manager companies offer short leases (3 - 6 mos) the monthly price is usually higher to 'recover' the cost of more frequent unit turns (Thanks to 'revenue management' from companies like YieldStar). These options aren't really intended for people on the edge, since applicants still need to pass the same credit screening requirements which are usually based on income to rent ratio.

There are already extended stay hotels serving this market. I've used them myself several times for work that only lasted a couple months and they were fine.

AirBNB did not invent short-term rentals.

The average rent starts at $2500/mo here. That is $7500/mo gross single or $3700/person/mo combined income. Folks without stable jobs would have been weeded out long ago, unfortunately.

I'm glad it worked out for you, but this is one of the main reasons I escaped condo life and will never, ever go back to living in one or in any place with a HOA. The idea that Nosey Karen 5 doors down can actually vote to prevent me from doing something legal in a house I own... well, it's just not for me.

If I could get a place without an HOA I'd do it in a heartbeat. But finding a home is all about compromises. Our realtor when we met I gave him my requirements. so he showed me those homes I could afford without an HOA. And they were rough in some really rough places. My other option is to move to an unincorporated part of the city, >2hr commute.

I'm active on the board and didn't want to get into the fight over Airbnb. But once we saw how much we were paying in additional security, insurance claims, and police and fire calls enough was enough. We've had robberies, suicides, and overdoses. I've got a great flat, it's downtown, looks out onto the bay and South beach. I'd love to put it on Airbnb, from time to time. I also know the juice simply is not worth the squeeze. You only need to get 1 bad visitor who trashes your place or gets into a fight with the neighbors.

But I fight tooth and nail against new bylaws. We have a good board. Most of the resident owners are young professionals, we make it known we'd rather not have an HOA so the HOA tries not to be visible.

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