Air BnB and short term rentals being attacked by cities

[Jay Hinrichs]

Danville CA.. just voted to out law any rental of less than 30days... St. Helena CA.. ( Napa Valley) home owner fined 20k for breaking the short term rental laws.

seems like one would need to be pretty careful buying and counting on AirBnB unless your in a known resort type setting were its the norm.

[Steve Sasman]

Airbnb is actually trying to collect and pay the sales taxes in many areas. For example they currently do it in Phoenix, and are trying to make it state-wide. This is a great step as it would ensure everyone pays the correct tax and helps legitimizes the VR business, at least on that platform.  VR's can still be a great investment, but people need to be aware of the current and potential regulations that could effect rental income.  

[Jay Hinrichs]

@Steve Sasman  I kind of see it like those that buy rental property on the premise they only care about cash flow and appreciation is a bonus... if you looked at Air bnb as a bonus but know that you may have to just rent by the month.. if you get Air bnb then that's your appreciation bonus.

[M Marie M.]

It's been a while since I've looked for a vacation rental to rent in wine country, but VBRO had options in Napa way before AirBnb ever showed up.

Places with lotsa tourists tend to have something in place for short term rentals. I remember seeing a specific local rental charge for when we rented a VBRO near/in Luray, VA several (4-5 years ago?) for short term, just there for a week, sort of rentals.

These places that depend on the tourist trade know the score and won't screw themselves. Looking at VBRO there are 16 places available to rent in St. Helena, who knows how many more during the summer.

The best way to promote AirBnB is by normalizing it. Beyonce and Jay-Z used AirBnB for their stay for the Superbowl. Get people to use it, talk about it, and encourage their friends and family to use it.

[Jay Hinrichs]

@M Marie M.  those 16 are probably part of the 60 permits... allowed it sounds like.

Napa Valley is a big place.. valley is 10 miles wide at the south end and 35 miles long.. and narrows to about 2 miles at it skinniest.  450 plus wineries and  lots going on..

then you hop over to Sonoma valley same thing...

what struck me was the Danville CA ordinance Danville is not a resort town by any means... and its not really near the major financial or tech huds  like say SF or Silicon valley proper.

[Lesley Resnick]

The argument the municipality will use is zoning.  You could not get a hotel approved to be in a residential neighborhood, so why can a single room hotel be allowed?  In truly residential areas, there is a valid point.  I live in an old beach town and there are hotels and retail next to residential housing.  They will have a more difficult time passing a law to limit these rentals.  The fact is they were never expressly legal, only in a grey area.  Under 7 months rental in Florida is a hotel and requires a bed tax.  I believe in time municipalities will allow a limited number of  licenses to rent short term.  This will limit the number and regulate behavior.  The municipality will then get its cut.    

[Eugene Kemp]

I can tell you from personal experience that even some vacation areas restrict Airbnb and short term rentals. We live at the beach in Florida and received a cease and desist order from the city when they discovered somehow that we were operating an AIRBNB. Seems that anything under 90 days is forbidden. We operated for a year before we learned this.