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There is a home on my block that has a permanent vacation rental sign in the front yard. I talked to the owner the other day and she literally said "this is ou

by mulmen 4y ago

There is a home on my block that has a permanent vacation rental sign in the front yard. I talked to the owner the other day and she literally said "this is our vacation rental". They literally only own it to rent it out. This is in a residential neighborhood in Seattle, a city with unreasonably expensive housing. I frequently use AirBnB when traveling. Only once in my life have I stayed at an AirBnB that is actually a primary residence. All the others are full time short-term rentals. AKA Hotels.

kelnos 4y ago
The solution to unaffordable housing is to build more housing. I think you'll find if short-term rentals were banned tomorrow, rents and home prices would not drop much, if at all. Sure, maybe there'd be a short-term drop in home prices while full-time Airbnb hosts offload their properties, but it won't last. Building more housing in places where there is demand is the only way to reduce housing prices. We don't see that happening because homeowners like the high cost of housing, and vote down new development. Homeowners tend to have more political power since they're a bit more fervent about this sort of thing than renters, many of whom won't be living in the area long enough to care. Unfortunately, those renters who do want to stay, and perhaps even want to own their own home, just don't have the political clout to change things.
- mulmen 4y ago
  I agree we need to build more housing and in places like Seattle that means denser housing as well. A single family home in the city is a fantasy. But there’s really no reason to ever sell a house here when you can just rent it out. Just building more is only part if the solution. I’m not saying we should just ban short term rentals. I’m saying we should make all rentals ruinously expensive unless they actually provide some economic benefit. If you aren’t providing housing to low income renters that truly can’t afford a home then you don’t get to buy more houses. Just destroy the incentives to hold real estate through taxes.

by mulmen 4y ago

kelnos 4y ago

The solution to unaffordable housing is to build more housing. I think you'll find if short-term rentals were banned tomorrow, rents and home prices would not drop much, if at all. Sure, maybe there'd be a short-term drop in home prices while full-time Airbnb hosts offload their properties, but it won't last. Building more housing in places where there is demand is the only way to reduce housing prices. We don't see that happening because homeowners like the high cost of housing, and vote down new development. Homeowners tend to have more political power since they're a bit more fervent about this sort of thing than renters, many of whom won't be living in the area long enough to care. Unfortunately, those renters who do want to stay, and perhaps even want to own their own home, just don't have the political clout to change things.

mulmen 4y ago
I agree we need to build more housing and in places like Seattle that means denser housing as well. A single family home in the city is a fantasy. But there’s really no reason to ever sell a house here when you can just rent it out. Just building more is only part if the solution. I’m not saying we should just ban short term rentals. I’m saying we should make all rentals ruinously expensive unless they actually provide some economic benefit. If you aren’t providing housing to low income renters that truly can’t afford a home then you don’t get to buy more houses. Just destroy the incentives to hold real estate through taxes.