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therealrico t1_jdg3pnm wrote

Reply to comment by Whop-Dangle in The 'Airbnbust' proves the Wild West days of online vacation rentals are over by amhais

As I a former host I was always skeptical of Airbnb impact on the city. There is no doubt it didn’t help, but I think it’s impact was far overstated. The inability to build enough housing to keep up demand has been a problem far earlier than 2012 when Airbnb really started to grow in the area. I recall seeing an old news clipping from the 80’s when Bernie was the mayor complaining about a lack of affordable housing.

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dillydally85 t1_jdhfvf2 wrote

UVM not providing housing is definitely the biggest problem with the rental market in Burlington. But at it's peek there were 300+ Airbnb listings in Burlington (To be fair that number has dropped dramatically in the last couple years) That's a huge number of unavailable mostly lower cost apartments. Imagine a 300 unit complex being built somewhere in the old north end. That would be a TON of housing.

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therealrico t1_jdi1jd4 wrote

So here’s the problem with that 300, what does that mean? Is it entire homes? Private rooms? Total combined listings? Are these owner occupied or dedicated Airbnb listings? Why is this important? I’ll use my old listings as an example.

I created 4 separate listings for my house. 1 listing was to rent the entire home, and usually I’d go stay with my parents. The other 3 were private room rentals. Now the way I did it I don’t think it is common, but if there were other hosts doing it, that can potentially skew the numbers. Also in my house case, me stopping doesn’t necessarily result in increase of housing as I’m not renting out the rooms to long term tenants.

I also think owner occupied examples such as my own are a net gain for the city. There isn’t enough hotel rooms , and a ton of people are priced out regardless. Having cheaper options means more people can visit, equals more money. I collected rooms and meals tax and paid the city, the money I earned stays here versus the Hilton or other large chains. The people will also spend the money at local businesses.

I also for two years rented out a studio and put it on Airbnb. In that case I agree it shouldn’t be allowed. That is a text book reason that contributes in a negative way to the housing shortage.

So I believe Airbnb can be a good thing, but also agree it should be regulated in an intelligent way.

I will also add, I considered buying properties for Airbnb and I couldn’t make the numbers work in a way I thought was worth it. And this was back in 2015, when prices were high but not stupidly high. If anyone purchased around here for the sole reason to Airbnb, I bet they aren’t making as much of a profit as they thought they would.

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