5 ms·

If anyone is interested, this looks like the link to the place: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/643721 https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/643721 Another thing to add t

by mbreese 13y ago

If anyone is interested, this looks like the link to the place: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/643721 https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/643721 Another thing to add to the "if you're thinking of doing this" list - don't write a post about it where you and the location can be identified. This is probably against the HOA agreement (short term leases are prohibited). It also could be a safety issue if you aren't actually living there. Once someone knows the apartment number, someone could see when a particular place isn't going to be occupied and use that to their (ahem) advantage. Seriously kids - don't do this. You'll probably be breaking a bunch of contracts and a fair number of hotel and zoning laws. Not to mention the insurance and liability issues that aren't even remotely discussed in the post.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
oijaf888 13y ago
Are there hotel and zoning laws in unincorporated communities in Nevada?
- delinka 13y ago
  Probably. It's still in the state of Nevada and in a county. An "unincorporated" town isn't lawless.
  - oijaf888 13y ago
    Right but from a quick scan of https://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/NRS-651.html https://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/NRS-651.html (admittedly very quick) it appears all he has to do is post a rate card for his maximum daily rate and not discriminate against guests.
    - mbreese 13y ago
      From a quick scan of what I think is likely the HOA rules (http://valenciahoa.com/admin/uploads/r&r.pdf http://valenciahoa.com/admin/uploads/r&r.pdf), you can't have sub-30 day leases. I'm not sure this is the right HOA, but from the Google Street View, the logos are the same.
      - mooreds 13y ago
        Hy HOA (not in Nevada) has this exact same clause, and when I read about this, I wondered what his HOA would say. If I were an HOA, I'd be pretty concerned about AirBNB.
        benatkin 13y ago
        If I worked for the HOA and I saw this I would try to figure out if anyone knows I saw it. If not, I would ignore it. It's technically against the rules but OP seems to be doing a good job of managing it, and I doubt I could apply a higher standard to the rest of the units. I'd wait for a resident to bring the issue to me, which would hopefully never happen. If I managed a ritzier condo complex I'd probably do something about it immediately rather than take a wait and see approach.
        mbreese 13y ago
        It's probably an insurance coverage issue, so ignoring it wouldn't be a good idea. Especially if the insurance company feels that you should have known about it.
        encoderer 13y ago
        Wait, why does my insurance company care about my HOA rules? You've clearly got a bit of a nanny mentality about this. Maybe that's unfair.. But you have strongly criticized this and posted rebuttals to anybody disagreeing with you. All on the grounds of "this is probably bad, don't make your HOA [or govt, or insurance company]" mad at you. I have to confess I feel a bit of... revulsion... in your advocacy of docile compliance. It must be the rebellious streak in me. But it's something I bet others here can relate to. I'm more of a "ask for forgiveness rather than permission" type of guy. All that said, I won't be rushing out to buy a condo to rent on AirBnB. But I also would never sit on HN and try to argue against it because of HOA. Though I also think you're totally within your rights, to be clear.
        13y ago
  - clarkm 13y ago
    Why probably? Even some incorporated areas don't have zoning laws. For example, Houston. That's right, Houston doesn't have any zoning laws.
    - shiftpgdn 13y ago
      Yes it does. Houston has tons of zoing laws. http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2011/11/30/the_myth_of_zoning_free_houston.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2011/11/30/the_myth_of_z...
bradly 13y ago
I recently bought a condo in Maui to rent and those places are sent up for this sort of thing. They even call them Condotels. Being designed for short term rentals brings a lot of benefits like resort manages check-ins/outs for you. Also, there is an echo chamber in the tech community regarding AirBnB as the standard for short term rentals. From my experience, VRBO has been much better and provided significantly more bookings. ymmv and it could be your customer type as a two bedroom condo in Hawaii gets a lot more families and older bookings. If anyone has any questions about this, my email is in my profile.
- mbreese 13y ago
  But the difference is, you bought something where short-term/vacation rentals are one of the main purposes. Your condo was designed so that it could be used as a short-term rental. You are working within an established business model. Many dedicated AirBnB locations are supposed to be strictly residential with longer-term leases.
- geebee 13y ago
  Rather than saying "don't do this", it would probably be better to say "Step 1: make sure it is legal to do this". As you've pointed out, there are plenty of places where it is perfectly legal to do this. My guess is that it's harder to find a profit opportunity, though, because the more profitable use (legal use as a short term hotel) is already priced into the unit. I suspect that one reason airbnb is so profitable in areas where it is not legal is that the restrictions on short term rentals suppress the sale price of the unit. So you buy a unit that is cheaper precisely because it is illegal to use it as a hotel, and then you profit by using it as a hotel. So in cities with very strict zoning and tenant protection laws (like SF), I guess they're selling the assumption of risk.
  - bradly 13y ago
    Because they can't be purchased as a second home, the down payment is the biggest hurdle in getting a unit (30-35%). The cash flow after that is quite nice if you can find the right property.
  - 13y ago
fthssht 13y ago
I'm not saying you're wrong but I'm surprised this is the top comment on "hacker" news.
wolframarnold 13y ago
I was wondering about the HOA restrictions too. Our condo in San Francisco that we live in came with CC&R's that limit how we can rent the unit out. It's permissible only for periods over 30 days and you're not allowed to offer typical hotel services like changing sheets, towels, etc. I'm curious if the author looked into this.

by mbreese 13y ago

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

oijaf888 13y ago

Are there hotel and zoning laws in unincorporated communities in Nevada?

delinka 13y ago
Probably. It's still in the state of Nevada and in a county. An "unincorporated" town isn't lawless.
- oijaf888 13y ago
  Right but from a quick scan of https://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/NRS-651.html https://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/NRS-651.html (admittedly very quick) it appears all he has to do is post a rate card for his maximum daily rate and not discriminate against guests.
  - mbreese 13y ago
    From a quick scan of what I think is likely the HOA rules (http://valenciahoa.com/admin/uploads/r&r.pdf http://valenciahoa.com/admin/uploads/r&r.pdf), you can't have sub-30 day leases. I'm not sure this is the right HOA, but from the Google Street View, the logos are the same.
    - mooreds 13y ago
      Hy HOA (not in Nevada) has this exact same clause, and when I read about this, I wondered what his HOA would say. If I were an HOA, I'd be pretty concerned about AirBNB.
      - benatkin 13y ago
        If I worked for the HOA and I saw this I would try to figure out if anyone knows I saw it. If not, I would ignore it. It's technically against the rules but OP seems to be doing a good job of managing it, and I doubt I could apply a higher standard to the rest of the units. I'd wait for a resident to bring the issue to me, which would hopefully never happen. If I managed a ritzier condo complex I'd probably do something about it immediately rather than take a wait and see approach.
        mbreese 13y ago
        It's probably an insurance coverage issue, so ignoring it wouldn't be a good idea. Especially if the insurance company feels that you should have known about it.
        encoderer 13y ago
        Wait, why does my insurance company care about my HOA rules? You've clearly got a bit of a nanny mentality about this. Maybe that's unfair.. But you have strongly criticized this and posted rebuttals to anybody disagreeing with you. All on the grounds of "this is probably bad, don't make your HOA [or govt, or insurance company]" mad at you. I have to confess I feel a bit of... revulsion... in your advocacy of docile compliance. It must be the rebellious streak in me. But it's something I bet others here can relate to. I'm more of a "ask for forgiveness rather than permission" type of guy. All that said, I won't be rushing out to buy a condo to rent on AirBnB. But I also would never sit on HN and try to argue against it because of HOA. Though I also think you're totally within your rights, to be clear.
        13y ago
- clarkm 13y ago
  Why probably? Even some incorporated areas don't have zoning laws. For example, Houston. That's right, Houston doesn't have any zoning laws.
  - shiftpgdn 13y ago
    Yes it does. Houston has tons of zoing laws. http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2011/11/30/the_myth_of_zoning_free_houston.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2011/11/30/the_myth_of_z...

bradly 13y ago

I recently bought a condo in Maui to rent and those places are sent up for this sort of thing. They even call them Condotels. Being designed for short term rentals brings a lot of benefits like resort manages check-ins/outs for you. Also, there is an echo chamber in the tech community regarding AirBnB as the standard for short term rentals. From my experience, VRBO has been much better and provided significantly more bookings. ymmv and it could be your customer type as a two bedroom condo in Hawaii gets a lot more families and older bookings. If anyone has any questions about this, my email is in my profile.

mbreese 13y ago
But the difference is, you bought something where short-term/vacation rentals are one of the main purposes. Your condo was designed so that it could be used as a short-term rental. You are working within an established business model. Many dedicated AirBnB locations are supposed to be strictly residential with longer-term leases.
geebee 13y ago
Rather than saying "don't do this", it would probably be better to say "Step 1: make sure it is legal to do this". As you've pointed out, there are plenty of places where it is perfectly legal to do this. My guess is that it's harder to find a profit opportunity, though, because the more profitable use (legal use as a short term hotel) is already priced into the unit. I suspect that one reason airbnb is so profitable in areas where it is not legal is that the restrictions on short term rentals suppress the sale price of the unit. So you buy a unit that is cheaper precisely because it is illegal to use it as a hotel, and then you profit by using it as a hotel. So in cities with very strict zoning and tenant protection laws (like SF), I guess they're selling the assumption of risk.
- bradly 13y ago
  Because they can't be purchased as a second home, the down payment is the biggest hurdle in getting a unit (30-35%). The cash flow after that is quite nice if you can find the right property.
- 13y ago

fthssht 13y ago

I'm not saying you're wrong but I'm surprised this is the top comment on "hacker" news.

wolframarnold 13y ago

I was wondering about the HOA restrictions too. Our condo in San Francisco that we live in came with CC&R's that limit how we can rent the unit out. It's permissible only for periods over 30 days and you're not allowed to offer typical hotel services like changing sheets, towels, etc. I'm curious if the author looked into this.