Columbus is now officially STR friendly!

[Benjamin Vail]

After a year of outreach, organizing, researching, and advocating, we have a great outcome in STR regulations in Columbus. On 07/30/18 Columbus City Council voted to pass regulations that work well for the majority of people who own a short term rental property.

In August 2017 city council made a proposal of city codes that limited non owner-occupied short term rentals to only rent out 104 nights per year. We gathered stake holders together, and spoke out for our rights as property owners to not be limited in how we choose to rent out our properties. City council listened to the public input, and then on 07/13/18 they changed their proposal to a new one that allows any property owner to rent out as a short term rental with no cap on the number of days. There is also not limit on the number of STR properties one can own. That means that short term rentals will now be licensed, and legitimate business in our city just as a hotel or traditional bed and breakfast.

In speaking with the representatives from Airbnb that were in town several times working on this legislation, they say that the regulations passed in Columbus are now being used by Airbnb as "model regulations" for all cities to use to get the best mix of protections, taxes, permitting, and rules for short term rentals to thrive as a lodging option for visitors. 

Our management company (Housepitality) is now in a growth phase again, and are on-boarding properties #18 - #21 this month. We are also listing and selling a few of our STR houses as turn-key investments for passive investors. If anyone has property in Columbus that you are considering the short term rental model, or Airbnb, we would be happy to help you figure out the best path.

We also are expanding our management services to Indianapolis, and Cincinnati. We just opened our first STR in Indianapolis, and now have boots on the ground to handle taking on more units.

[Benjamin Vail]

@Tim Bergstrom I spoke with the policy representatives from Airbnb about Nashville and TN regulations. It sound like the state made some favorable moves, but the city of Nashville has gone the other direction. How is it going for you there?

We do have a website, and we are now in a growth phase where we will be re-launching our website and branding very soon (now that what we do is a legit business!). Our current website is housepitality.biz . We have a good steady pace of traffic at our STR houses here, lots of conventions, weddings, family gatherings, and also a steady pace of business travelers during the week.

We have been very encouraged by what we see in the Indianapolis market. It is a market where the regulations were decided positively about a year ago. Now the STR market there has doubled in both supply and demand. There also seems a healthy market of investors and owners buying and selling these properties.