This is the kind of investment we need in our neighborhoods. I’m torn on “affordable housing” though. While I want people to be able to live in the neighborhoods they grew up in, I can’t turn a blind eye to the crime that seems to follow some of them. My dad considered accepting section 8 renters, but i’m constantly hearing about the problem associated them. It sucks because i’m sure some of them are good people.
I actually used to work for the realtor association and hadn’t thought of that angle. You guys must be really upset about this. Do you know if any agents are trying to do something to fight this?
If you lease, you have to have permission from the owner of the property. Sonder, one of the big guys, leases space from owners and gets the licenses in their name. There are entire buildings downtown where all the STR unit licenses belong to Sonder. Most of Sonders licenses are commercial of course, so they aren’t affected by this since commercial licenses aren’t included in the ban. They can still renew and apply for new licenses.
I don’t know how this scenario works for all PMs though.
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Section 8 is excellent for ruining neighborhoods + ruining your (the Section 8 investor’s) investment. A BIG lose-lose. It is detested beyond words by every neighbor I know of every political stripe.
No loss at all. They’re hollowing out neighborhoods like locusts – creating the Disneyfication of major cities worldwide. Too many STRs = no human connection between real neighbors.
And they use their scare rhetoric to justify their locust-like propensities, and I for one do not buy it.
They are in the STR game as an investment craze, and they are ALL about plunder, as well as money-laundering and fraudulent loans.
Who ostensibly benefits from them “propping up” the real estate market? Not seniors or non-investors looking at big tax hikes. In other words, they benefit themselves and themselves alone. And hurt many others in the process.
Yes, and no.
“Host” will always connote to me homesharing. Someone that you break bread with or share coffee with.
Maybe locals with a single additional off-site property that predates the STR explosion circa 2014-15 are also, hosts. As well as of course, people with granny flats, duplexes, casitas, etc. They have a somewhat meaningful, one on one relationship with guests.
Locals with multiple off-site properties, I don’t see as “hosts” in any meaningful sense of the term. Though local, they are investors with slightly more in common with out-of-town investors than with homesharers. They are pursuing an investment model that returns far more than long-term renting, and they are scaling it. They can locust their way through neighborhoods as quick as any out-of-towner.
OMG!! We DO have pink haired hipsters riding around on bicycles. They rent them for a $1 on bicycle sharing apps. I can understand your horror. They’re biking to food trucks, craft breweries and to their jobs at Amazon. (Just poking a little fun, no offense intended.)
Today I was talking to my next door neighbor in Treme where my Airbnb is located like I do all the time. I looked at her pink hair, tattoos, and bmw with the attached bike rack. I then realized i’m part of the problem. I’ve gotten too close. She’s the enemy! 
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Sadly, this is true. One of my friends just went through a very bad experience with a section 8 tenant and vowed to never rent to them again. He actually asked me about Airbnb, but he’s not in a good area for it. It’s really hard to get good tenants in certain neighborhoods. There are so many people in the city on rental assistance programs. You want to give them a chance, but you also don’t want damaged property and upset neighbors.
And that’s ANOTHER can of worms. I’m seeing short-term rentals in my city in 100% no-go areas. They end up with reviews to the effect of, “The police saw me in front of the property to check in and told me to vacate the area immediately, so I never checked in.” And 3 stars for location. And, someone is going to end up badly hurt being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
P.S. thank you for changing the thread title to “most STRs.” Sincerely.
Marking down a location because of this may well be contrary to AirBnB’s non discrimination policy and a cause to have such a review removed.
I was referring to the houses’ location which is in the east. Tourist don’t want to have to rent a car when they come here. I was talking to some people who believe STRs could be a way to revitalize New Orleans East and bring back commerce. I really believe some residents aren’t seeing the bigger picture. Putting culture aside, the investment into New Orleans post Katrina has made the city better in so many ways. There is no such thing as affordable housing any more in historic districts and people fighting STRs will just have to get used to that. With crime falling and investment dollars being pumped into these areas artists, musicians and service workers won’t be able to afford to live here even if STRs go away. This is where your fight is, but keep focusing on STRs because it gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling.
Honestly, realtors are not that interested in managing short term rentals. Believe me, they are not fighting for that job. Although, maybe many of them are making tons in selling the “fixer-uppers” that people are buying to create new STRs? I really can’t think why realtors would oppose the ban, other than what I said above - it’s going to cause a lot of dumping of properties at low prices in NOLA. BAD, BAD idea, when we’ve come so far and home values are so good here!
But… also, people keep saying it’s the hotel lobby. That really doesn’t make sense either if they’re encouraging STRs on Canal St. That would DEFINITELY compete with the hotels, where the STRs in neighborhoods are really attracting a different kind of guest altogether. (The study is out now, and it shows that STRs have actually INCREASED tourism here - which leads me to believe that people who travel differently are coming more often because of this availability in other parts of the city besides tourist areas).
My thought is that City Council has friends who own buildings on Canal St. There will no doubt be grant money for renovations…
Short term rentals aren’t the problem - short term THINKING is the problem with this administration.
And the affordable housing argument is a joke. Do you really think my rentals are suddenly going to become affordable housing? Trust me, they won’t. We’ve spent hundreds of thousands making these places gorgeous for an upscale market. They will never be “affordable,” they will just be rented monthly to executives.
Affordable housing happens in the suburbs. That’s just the way it is. It’s not a right. It’s a privilege earned, to live in the places with the most amenities. Location, location, location - very basic idea. You don’t see people crying in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Dallas, etc that they can’t afford to live downtown - or in the most expensive neighborhoods. That’s just not reality. It took us into our mid-fifties to afford the properties we now own - tons of hard work, sacrifice. I don’t see why this is something we now “owe” to everyone else. Affordable housing is just not something people should be “entitled” to right in the middle of the city. That’s a fantasy.
Honestly, realtors are not that interested in managing short term rentals. Believe me, they are not fighting for that job. Although, maybe many of them are making tons in selling the “fixer-uppers” that people are buying to create new STRs? I really can’t think why realtors would oppose the ban, other than what I said above - it’s going to cause a lot of dumping of properties at low prices in NOLA. BAD, BAD idea, when we’ve come so far and home values are so good here!
But… also, people keep saying it’s the hotel lobby. That really doesn’t make sense either if they’re encouraging STRs on Canal St. That would DEFINITELY compete with the hotels, where the STRs in neighborhoods are really attracting a different kind of guest altogether. (The study is out now, and it shows that STRs have actually INCREASED tourism here - which leads me to believe that people who travel differently are coming more often because of this availability in other parts of the city besides tourist areas).
My thought is that City Council has friends who own buildings on Canal St. There will no doubt be grant money for renovations…
Short term rentals aren’t the problem - short term THINKING is the problem with this administration.
And the affordable housing argument is a joke. Do you really think my rentals are suddenly going to become affordable housing? Trust me, they won’t. We’ve spent hundreds of thousands making these places gorgeous for an upscale market. They will never be “affordable,” they will just be rented monthly to executives.
Affordable housing happens in the suburbs. That’s just the way it is. It’s not a right. It’s a privilege earned, to live in the places with the most amenities. Location, location, location - very basic idea. You don’t see people crying in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Dallas, etc that they can’t afford to live downtown - or in the most expensive neighborhoods. That’s just not reality. It took us into our mid-fifties to afford the properties we now own - tons of hard work, sacrifice. I don’t see why this is something we now “owe” to everyone else. Affordable housing is just not something people should be “entitled” to right in the middle of the city. That’s a fantasy.
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We have three. One is under my house, the two others are a duplex where we rent both sides. That one is a mile from my house and my son goes to school with two of the neighbors’ grandchildren. We are good friends with the guy across the street. The neighbor two doors down goes to our church. Our reputation is as much at stake regarding that property as is our own home.
It’s an investment for us - no doubt - but whether it remains an STR or they ban it - we will be renting it at over $3,000 a month, furnished. We care as much about our neighbors over there as we do in the house we live in. We love our city, and consider it a big responsibility to have a quiet, beautiful asset in that neighborhood, as if we did live there. We are hosts on every level to our guests there, and we take great pride in the fact that we rescued that home from being a real problem (drug dealers, illegals, etc were living there prior to us renovating it) to the place it now is.
It’s a great business, yes, but it’s not just an investment model for us. Same goes for many of my friends who live locally and have more than one. It’s a small town, as you know. My guess is that anyone “locusting their way through a neighborhood” is not really, really local. They live outside the city (Northshore, Metairie, whatever), and think of NOLA differently than those of us who actually live here.