Here is some news that will not inspire optimism at Airbnb (NASDAQ: ABNB) – a new survey nearly half (49%) of Americans feel short-term rentals should be banned entirely in residential areas.
The survey of 1,000 adults conducted by Clever Real Estate’s Anytime Estimate found only 40% of Americans think short-term rentals make good neighbors. Among homebuyers, 60% of respondents said they would consider a nearby Airbnb a drawback, with 28% saying they’d offer less on the home and 32% unwilling to make an offer at all.
Furthermore, four in 10 respondents (40%) said nearby short-term rentals hurt locals’ quality of life, compared to 9% who said they improve it. The survey also found 70% of respondents stating short-term rental guests don’t care about the neighborhoods they stay in, and 42% don’t trust hosts to follow local laws and regulations.
However, the survey also generated some harsh opinions, with about one in six (16%) saying Airbnb hosts deserve to have their property damaged. The same 16% share believe Airbnb renters deserve to be scammed and 13% admitted they’d try to ruin a guest’s stay. Nearly half (49%) of respondents said they would report a neighbor for violating rental laws, even without experiencing any issues, with 43% saying they would call the police on disruptive guests.
Indeed, the respondents’ dislike of short-term rentals is so strong that they would prefer living next to their in-laws (55%) or an ex (30%). Now, that’s harsh!
My neighborhood had a VERY disruptive short-term rental in our townhome community. It was horrible: the owner lived out of state so there was no one to make sure the guests put out their garbage, they were smoking pot so much that the neighbors could smell it in their own homes, and the noise was horrendous! All week-end long parties and the neighbors had to call the police numerous times. We were finally able to get it shut down by taking the owner to court. First of all, the owner had never applied for a rental license which is required in the county where this house is located, also because the owner had had so many complaints about the property the county would not entertain his application for a license in the future, Also, the owner advertised the property as sleeping way more people than the house could hold, since they said there were several bedrooms in the basement which does not agree with the fire code–which says there must be at least one point of egress and that the bedroom must have a window that a firefighter can access wearing his full firefighting gear. This house had neither. The only windows are too high to reach from the inside and are not large enough for a firefighter to enter. Also the back cellar door was blocked by a deck with a sofa over the trap door that allowed the access to the basement under non-emergency conditions–such as appliance removal or delivery. Finally the owner gave up and put the house back on the market and sold it to people who actually will live there.
I live in Arrowhead Lake, Pocono Mts in Pa. Our ABAB i. We home owners can’t go to any of the amenities on a holiday as the renters take up all the space. We pay a lot of money to live here. It’s horrible
This poll seems very shallow.
How many of those polled have stayed in an AirBnB? How many of those polled were homeowners vs renters? How many own investment properties.
I think it is important to differentiate between full-time (non-owner occupied) short term rentals vs the type of Airbnb rentals where the owners live there and just rent out their home occasionally for extra income.
The ones that seem to cause all the problems are the full-time ones (which are banned in many municipalities) because there isn’t anywhere near enough owner/manager oversite and caution about who the property is rented to.
I think this survey needs to differentiate between the 2 drastically different types of short term rentals.
The survey was 1000 Adults?? Really. Why is short term rentals on the rise?? Families with small children would much rather a 3 bed 2 bath home with washer dryer and full kitchen than a 1 room hotel room for a family of 5. They survey my guess is probably all renters and can’t even afford to purchase a home. If feel like its the taxi drivers complaining about Uber and Lift. Keep up with the times people… things are changing. Articles like these really discredit WRE News. Life is filled with choices….choose wisely.
I woke up one morning in 2005 to discover that 4 units in my six unit condo, 3 units out of 3 next door and 3 of three behind my building suddenly converted to short term rentals. Then 3 more popped on on my block and 3 on the next block. At first I thought it would destroy my quality of life. It turned out it became a non-issue in a couple of months, Nobody had as many short term rentals next door than me for five years and I am telling you, it did not affect me in the slightest. I would never stay at one though. I want someone to clean my room and make my bed every day.
If it gets those institutional investors to stop buying all the SFR lots and houses I am all for it. I do not make my money on fake buyers.