Packed up the Airbnb This Week

[Tracey---Bryan0]

Well, we had our last guests this week.

Los Angeles has made it illegal to have an Airbnb out of any space that is not your primary residence. It's such a HUGE loss for travellers and hosts alike (in one of the top tourist destinations in the world). It's been a great two years with pretty wonderful guests for the most part. I've learned a ton from you all here, so thank you! I have such deep respect for all it takes to be a host and provide a wonderful experience for people.

Hope to return to hosting at a later date in a place more STR-friendly. 

Cheers!

- Tracey

[Michael3577]

https://www.nj.com/opinion/2018/06/gentrification_and_the_cripping_of_the_black_commu.html

The whole city of Jersey City is being gentrified according to news articles and not your subjective experience. I did a search January 8th to 9th, there are dozens the pop-up alone in journal square which is not downtown. 

[Mark116]

Jersey City has 270,000 people and 3,100 airbnb listings.  It is not believable that these 3,100 airbnbs which include rooms and on site hosts are the cause of any type of housing crisis.  If people would look at the numbers, it is clear that short term rental is not the problem in terms of housing stock.  LA has about 4 million people and somewhere around 20,000 airbnbs, compared to more than 600,000 rent controlled units.  New York, 8.5 million and 50,000 airbnbs and 1 million rent stabilized units.  This is the proverbial drop in the bucket, especially when you remove the shared listings.

[Michael3577]

An Airbnb listing is not a "person". 270000 people is, breaking down a household of four, 80000 households. That means, right now, 4.5% of the total households in a medium sized city are being used as transient stops. Keep your information apples to apples. 

I also appreciate you avoided your previous claim since it was patently proven false.

[Mark116]

@Michael3577   Which claim was that?  My household is a household of 2, as are the households of both my next door neighbors, as well as several of my acquaintances, to claim that every single household in a city that is known for young professionals and NYC commuters is a family of 4 is not believable.  If we split the difference that is 2.25%, so, as I have said from the beginning, short term rentals will  have a marginal impact on any housing issues, since, I will say for the last time that the 'affordable housing crisis' has existed for 30+ years.  And, perhaps, as a resident of Jersey City I am in a better place than you to understand the dynamics of both housing and gentrification in this area.  

[Michael3577]

Clearly, that's not true - since you've made multiple wrong statements.  But I appreciate your attempt to distract to your supposed knowledge on the matter. 

https://www.point2homes.com/US/Neighborhood/NJ/Jersey-City-Demographics.html

There are 100,000 households in Jersey City with 60000 being "family households". So my estimate was a little low on the number of households. 3000 Airbnbs is 3% of the total households in Jersey City. 

[Pete69]

@Mark116 Yes. A few years ago we learned that the politicians in Los Angeles are in bed with the hotel employees when they passed the "Citywide Hotel Worker Minimum Wage Ordinance". How bizarre is it that they would pass a minimum wage law for one niche of workers! The hotel employee unions shook down the politicians. Next the politicians had to please their hotel donors by clamping down on Airbnb under the guise of this being about "addressing the housing shortage".

[Dimitar27]

Right now we are in the middle of the local elections campaign here. After 1 month we will vote for city council and city mayor.
Every time, when I think how our politicians are well trained thieves and most corrupted in the world, I come here to read about the next airbnb ban, imposed somewhere.
And I realize that actually our situation is not that bad. They can steal, can tolerate the mafia, the streets can be dirty, the public transport can be bad, the air can be polluted...but they are still not so harmful for the individual citizen.

[Pamela247]

Sorry to hear about LA throwing in the Airbnb towel so to speak. Interesting city council is considering homeowners living in the property to continue with STR. I would imagine many LA dwellers might be keeping an eye open in the future for properties with guest cottages, dual floors that can easily acclimate say, a family on one floor and an Airbnb couple on the next floor or something similar(?) Buying property and building new types of dwellings is probably something architects may or may not be seeing in the near future. My grandfather had this concept when he built homes in Upland California, a garage on one floor, guests on the first floor and my grandmother and grandfather on the third floor. Do you know when he suddenly died of stomach cancer in the 1950's leaving my grandmother to raise three children, this STR/LTR kept a roof over my grandmother's head? So I don't personally think Airbnb is a has-been, I think Airbnb needs to evolve and process what hosts are saying and then move forward. See some of you down the Airbnb road. For those of you getting out of it, you can now relax for us all!)

[Helen427]

hello from Auckland, New Zealand @Pete69 @Tracey---Bryan0 @Susan1028 @Kris230 @Pamela247 

@Pamela247that is the way many people lived and in homes divided into flats, unfortunately local councils amalgamated in many countries and introduced a mix of Business with Residential and many of those homes, especially in Remuera turned into Medical Centres, in other areas they became brothels,Go Figure.

It's where there are now many challenges with accommodation - look in your areas where say manufacturing and commercial activities once were and where so oft empty buildings stand in cities as production has gone to places like China, Mexico, India etc where labour is cheaper.

One must peel back the layers of bureaucracy to see when and what changes happened to see who is responsible for all the upheaval.

It's nothing to do with Airbnb, it's to do with Bureaucrats and Academics and Social Engineering.

As an example in New Zealand the Lange Labour Government allowed over 100,000 Indians into New Zealand without thinking of the consequences - someone also has to pay for Treaty of Waitangi /and claim settlements and the taxes from those who were living here were not sufficient to pay for them hence why so many were permitted to come here in short duration without forward thinking of housing, infrastructure etc.

People also now travel more freely as air travel has become more affordable and accessible.

There's many things constantly evolving in the world to factor into account so called Housing shortages.

[Victoria244]

Everyone should start a class action suit against municipalities for taking away home ownership rights & the right to make a living. The ACLU stopped police from removing homeless from any street due to "right to make a living". Now the city is littered with trash & safety issues. Why can't we find someone to stand up for hosts that are improving properties that regular LTR & residents destroyed. We have the right to make a living too! 

[Ann489]

@Victoria244   without turning this into a political discussion...let me just say that there are two sides to every coin.

[Michael3577]

How did you make a living before five years ago? 

The irony is, Airbnb corporations are the ones strangling the housing market. 

[Michael3577]

Not really a loss for renters. Hotels still exist and it takes them back to 2010. 

The problem is now Airbnb has become a corporate mecca for exploiting ghetto neighborhoods. Or, as they are called on Airbnb, "up and coming". Hah. 

And the ratings system for Airbnb ensures that many places will continue to receive generous ratings as Airbnb knows they can gin up ratings with the, "If you leave a bad one for the host, you'll get slapped off the site with a neg" anxiety-inducing endeavor. Why tell the truth in the ratings when it damages you to do so?  Retaliation makes for a bad platform except for those who stroke each other's ego on here. 

It reminds me of eBay way back in the day when retaliation was common. They did away with that for a reason. Airbnb keeps retaliation on the books because it leaves guests fearful to either leave a higher rating than they should or none at all.  I'd bet there's an ecosystem here - a club, if you will. Most people I doubt would ever use this site again once they've had the bad experience and then had to play the game to keep right with the Lord of Airbnb (the host).  I doubt I'll use it again after my present rent.

Hotels ratings structures don't force you to endure the same. If I leave a bad rating for a hotel, I don't get railed. 

[Zacharias0]

Never heard that was the case for renters, but if you had something negative to say to a host state it in personal remarks of how they can improve. Many guests were leaving hosts with reviews who are doing the best they can terrible non-constructive remarks with impunity. Thank you for the input. I enjoy seeing any guests input but my most recent guest arrived and on the second day started telling me of ways I can improve. He found my roommate when I was out of the house and started telling him the same things. He wanted a coffee machine and a box fan, but I never said I had either one and I don't drink coffee and I haven't seen him drink coffee since he arrived. Why should I get low marks because a guest wants something I never said I had.

[Susan151]

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@Zacharias0 wrote:

but I never said I had either one and I don't drink coffee and I haven't seen him drink coffee since he arrived. Why should I get low marks because a guest wants something I never said I had.

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How would you see him drinking coffee if there is no coffee machine? [sorry, just a bit puzzled on this one.]