4 ms·

Guests may have loved it, but did the neighbors love it? Did the people looking for long-term rental housing who found it difficult to find long-term rentals lo

Guests may have loved it, but did the neighbors love it? Did the people looking for long-term rental housing who found it difficult to find long-term rentals love it? Did the people looking to get into home-ownership only to find that residential real-estate prices were increasing now that residential properties were semi-commercial properties love it?

ng12 8y ago
> Did the people looking for long-term rental housing who found it difficult to find long-term rentals love it? This is just passing the buck. If AirBnB is driving up rents you have a supply problem, not an AirBnB problem.
- lm28469 8y ago
  What kind of argument is that though ? You should go to SF or NY and tell them it's just a supply problem, they probably haven't thought of it before. Do you know the cost of destroying + rebuilding bigger buildings in a city center ? Much higher than closing a few semi legal "airbnb hotels". And that's if you can even build in the city at all.
  - ng12 8y ago
    That's exactly it. They have thought about it but the people who complain about AirBnBs are generally the benifitors of artificially reduced supply. Nobody is renting AirBnBs in Bensonhurst, they're in the WV or Chelsea. World's tiniest violin.
    - evanlivingston 8y ago
      https://www.airbnb.com/s/Bensonhurst--Brooklyn--NY--United-States/homes?refinement_paths%5B%5D=%2Fhomes&query=Bensonhurst%2C%20Brooklyn%2C%20NY%2C%20United%20States&adults=3&children=0&infants=0&guests=0&place_id=ChIJD89BhxlFwokR-OV0pQnXwTA&click_referer=t%3ASEE_ALL%7Csid%3A46bea743-69fc-4263-bdb4-e026b9d390cc%7Cst%3AMAGAZINE_HOMES&title_type=MAGAZINE_HOMES&allow_override%5B%5D=&s_tag=bP4DPbWz https://www.airbnb.com/s/Bensonhurst--Brooklyn--NY--United-S...
- evanlivingston 8y ago
  No, I don't think it's simply a supply problem. As much as it pains me to use a reductionist metaphor, I'm going to. Suppose my community has a finite amount of resource X available to us that we need to live and and we only require 75% of that resource. A company comes along and offers individuals a whole pile a money to sell of their claims to the resource, so much so that the company now controls 90% of that resource. The company begins boxing up that resource and shipping it off to people who will pay more money for that resource. My community now has meet their need another way, and probably in a more expensive way. Regardless of how the resource should have been managed, and what the authorities in my community should have done to ensure we had the necessary access to our resource I think I can still point a finger at the company say "If that company didn't exist they wouldn't control our resource." Obviously the metaphor is riddled with unconsidered complexities but I use it as a way of raising the question of at least an ounce of culpability of the company.
  - ng12 8y ago
    If AirBnBs overtook 90% of the apartments in your neighborhood this example might be relevant. > The company begins boxing up that resource and shipping it off to people who will pay more money for that resource. Unless you live in Christiana this is probably already the case. AirBnBs tend to be in expensive neighborhoods.
    - evanlivingston 8y ago
      If it were not the case that the resource was being shipped off and sold for more that would mean I could stay in an AirBnB for the same price as a pay for rent, which I can't.
      - ng12 8y ago
        That's pretty absurd -- you're paying a discount for being a long-term tenant with a legally binding contract (and no cleaning/daily upkeep). Would you expect buying a home versus AirBnBing one to cost the same over 10+ years?

ng12 8y ago

> Did the people looking for long-term rental housing who found it difficult to find long-term rentals love it? This is just passing the buck. If AirBnB is driving up rents you have a supply problem, not an AirBnB problem.

lm28469 8y ago
What kind of argument is that though ? You should go to SF or NY and tell them it's just a supply problem, they probably haven't thought of it before. Do you know the cost of destroying + rebuilding bigger buildings in a city center ? Much higher than closing a few semi legal "airbnb hotels". And that's if you can even build in the city at all.
- ng12 8y ago
  That's exactly it. They have thought about it but the people who complain about AirBnBs are generally the benifitors of artificially reduced supply. Nobody is renting AirBnBs in Bensonhurst, they're in the WV or Chelsea. World's tiniest violin.
  - evanlivingston 8y ago
    https://www.airbnb.com/s/Bensonhurst--Brooklyn--NY--United-States/homes?refinement_paths%5B%5D=%2Fhomes&query=Bensonhurst%2C%20Brooklyn%2C%20NY%2C%20United%20States&adults=3&children=0&infants=0&guests=0&place_id=ChIJD89BhxlFwokR-OV0pQnXwTA&click_referer=t%3ASEE_ALL%7Csid%3A46bea743-69fc-4263-bdb4-e026b9d390cc%7Cst%3AMAGAZINE_HOMES&title_type=MAGAZINE_HOMES&allow_override%5B%5D=&s_tag=bP4DPbWz https://www.airbnb.com/s/Bensonhurst--Brooklyn--NY--United-S...
evanlivingston 8y ago
No, I don't think it's simply a supply problem. As much as it pains me to use a reductionist metaphor, I'm going to. Suppose my community has a finite amount of resource X available to us that we need to live and and we only require 75% of that resource. A company comes along and offers individuals a whole pile a money to sell of their claims to the resource, so much so that the company now controls 90% of that resource. The company begins boxing up that resource and shipping it off to people who will pay more money for that resource. My community now has meet their need another way, and probably in a more expensive way. Regardless of how the resource should have been managed, and what the authorities in my community should have done to ensure we had the necessary access to our resource I think I can still point a finger at the company say "If that company didn't exist they wouldn't control our resource." Obviously the metaphor is riddled with unconsidered complexities but I use it as a way of raising the question of at least an ounce of culpability of the company.
- ng12 8y ago
  If AirBnBs overtook 90% of the apartments in your neighborhood this example might be relevant. > The company begins boxing up that resource and shipping it off to people who will pay more money for that resource. Unless you live in Christiana this is probably already the case. AirBnBs tend to be in expensive neighborhoods.
  - evanlivingston 8y ago
    If it were not the case that the resource was being shipped off and sold for more that would mean I could stay in an AirBnB for the same price as a pay for rent, which I can't.
    - ng12 8y ago
      That's pretty absurd -- you're paying a discount for being a long-term tenant with a legally binding contract (and no cleaning/daily upkeep). Would you expect buying a home versus AirBnBing one to cost the same over 10+ years?