All Forum Posts by: Kelly Sennholz

And lastly, as a frequent traveler, I would say the massive and unprecedented insecurity in the airline and hospitality world right now will make people spend quite a bit more money for security of their reservation. 

They will pay more to know for sure they have a place when they and their family arrive.

Airbnb has a problem in this regard and are just now beginning to weakly address it.

Thanks for your insightful comments, Carolyn. :)

Here is the thing about doing a short term rental property. I’m very bullish for those willing to do the legwork on a short term rental. I feel that most will likely do well.

HOWEVER:

This higher income type of property investment comes with higher risk.

Not only with the normal roils of the hospitality business, of which you have become a 'member business', but because due to the large sector share of Airbnb, you have also tied yourself to their company - - to some degree. Yes, other options might pop up quickly if Airbnb failed, but know that you now have FOUR different business sectors upon which your own personal financial success lies.

1. Real Estate in general
2. Short term rentals vis a vie your local laws/rules, etc
3. Hospitality business and economic factors associated with travel
4. Airbnb itself, as your main “supplier” of customers

You have greatly increased your margins but with the increased margins comes increased risk requiring a larger emergency fund and a keen eye on the market. Some find this increased complexity enjoyable as it may provide short and longer term opportunities not otherwise available.

See these articles from this week alone. My comments were simply to inform folks who may not otherwise know the massive amount of angst re: Airbnb swimming around the travel industry right now.

These articles may give you a start on better understanding the known risks with this type of investment. We all know the great benefits and clearly some units will do better than others for a variety of reasons.

I hope this information helps.

* * * * * *

"Shares of short-term rental property platform Airbnb (ABNB -3.69%) are down 49% from their all-time high as of this writing. But I'm afraid there's far more to this story than that. Airbnb stock has made a move of 15% or more 12 different times since it became a public company, exhibiting extreme volatility for a company of this size.

Here's what Airbnb's volatile stock price means for investors right now, and here's also why you should care.” https://www.fool.com/investing...

Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) Sets New 52-Week Low After Analyst Downgrade https://www.marketbeat.com/ins...
Airbnb survived Covid, but the crisis mode in “sharing” economy stays

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/0...

Airbnb issues permanent global party ban in wake of string of shootings https://www.kmaland.com/news/business/airbnb-issues-permanent-global-party-ban-in-wake-of-string-of-shootings/article_0c6e9e91-97a6-53de-9eda-72da5b94466f.html


Sorry for the messy fonts! 

He is right about the backlash. I'm on a ton of travel pages and between airline woes and AIRBNB woes, this pretty much fills the pages now.

LOTS of cancellations without notice by owners trying to maximize profits instead of keeping their word (I had 2 myself, this year alone). Horror stories on a daily basis of owners trying to skim cleaning fees and demanding guests clean - fully CLEAN before leaving and leave bad reviews if anything not finished. BAD stories. Folks, this is a hotel room, consider towels left on floor, food in fridge, unmade beds, dirty counters, dishes in drying rack or dirty, etc is part of the cleaning. People don't want to clean your house on vacation. Also, lots of scam stories, to boot.

I see that Airbnb is trying to crack down on host cancellations. I moved over to VRBO for my next rental and I'll be damned, they cancelled my reservation with no reason given again.

The stress of it is making hotels seem quite appealing to lots of travelers and after one horrible experience (for example, weird cameras in unit, or weird owner, etc) many are saying "no more Airbnb". Also, Airbnb has essentially no customer service if problems arise.

Just be aware this is what a TON, I mean a TON of people are saying. The travelers, the customers.

Quote from @Eric Bilderback:

You sound paranoid,

Good you should be.  Most elected officials seem to be comfortable picking away rights that landlords enjoy.  Once english common law has been completely dismantled by new woke judges the legal view will be landlords are an oppressing class and the tenants as the victims.  They will bring "social justice" to folks like yours truly swiftly.  

Until that day all we can do fill out their pointless stacks of paperwork and try and make the case to people this is not the solution.  If you think housing is expensive now wait until its free.  LOL

I don’t know if these are calls from gov, citizens trying to harass or a more coordinated effort. My rentals are sometimes most expensive so I suspect that is why but it is curious. Data is power. Used to be “who you know” but now it’s data, pure and simple. Once data is out, no retrieving it. The city program is a huge privacy violation that folks don’t seem to appreciate. Corporations are the most egregious in this respect, not usually government. And government we can control, corporations, no in general.

Charles Carillo: What is your determination on the cars vs personal items? I have rented garages for personal items, prohibit flammables, etc. What are your thoughts on this? 

When I post rentals, I am now getting frequent calls from people who appear to be "fake." They do not appear to be in the market for a rental, but appear to be trying to gather data.

I am EXTREMELY CONCERNED about the data collection of landlord info/leases/rentals that is coming up next year. I think everyone is greatly underestimating the power of data used against citizens. I think it is a very very bad idea and am quite concerned that people are brushing off the implications of this invasive maneuver by Denver. 

Anyone else getting these calls? Anyone else with feedback on the new landlord rules? 

I agree with Mike, this is NOT GOOD. I'm frankly surprised more people are not angry about it. Back when the internet was new and privacy concerns arose, I remember so many saying, "I have nothing to hide." But now we see the devastation of that innocence. It has literally brought our nation to its knees.

The fact is, this is a DATA COLLECTION DEVICE, paid for by landlords. DATA is power. Always remember, DATA = POWER.

The myriad of insane ways this can be used is quite concerning. Let's consider the above example of changing lease terms without my permission. Most landlords found out from their tenants. Some still don't know this is a rule change. They did this one change, seemingly fairly benign, and no one pushed back. I could quickly see the mandatory arrival of a mandatory lease created by the city that we all have to use. I could see zoning and other changes, damaging to not only landlords but housing situation here, all passed with little fanfare.

One of the reasons this is such a great place to be a landlord is that even people who are marginal in life skills or having addiction probs, etc, understand that having a good roof over their head requires paying the rent and not damaging the place. It allows landlords to be much more humane and considerate with these good renters. Every rule they slide in, like the late fee on the 7th rule, is another challenge to having good renters.

I'm shocked folks are not more concerned about how YOUR private data and YOUR private contracts can be used by people who know nothing about landlording or real estate. I'm frankly shocked.

Your post was great. You are not responsible for other's comments. Thanks and it is a super topic to discuss! 

Michelle Fenn I am currently "letting go" a renter of a single family unit with same issue. Mom is clearly tired of constantly bailing out her son, so got him to move to our town, hoping he would get it together. He did not. She has paid nearly every month of his rent and when she pulled the plug, he failed. Adult children having Mom find the rental is a clue the child does not have it together enough to learn how to find their own housing. 

Exactly, Harrison. I have a place now with rent by room and I love having an affordable place for people to stay. I picked tenants for their ability to be decent people and nothing else. Every month when they pay the rent they tell me how grateful they are and that is (almost) better than the rent! :) To be able to make an affordable, good place for people to call home.