Airbnb purges more than half of its Boston listings

By adamg on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 8:36pm

Wired reports on the company's efforts to comply with Boston's new short-term rental ordinance, with a massive purge of its Boston listings over the past weekend to ditch places that, among other things, aren't registered with the city or are in buildings where the owner doesn't live.

Neighborhoods:

Boston

Free tagging:

Airbnb

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Good

By mg
Thu, 12/05/2019 - 9:52pm

Hey it’s a free market ,

By thomas
Thu, 12/05/2019 - 10:16pm

Hey it’s a free market , mannnnn

So freakin' what?!?

By mplo
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 12:42am

That doesn't mean that having so many Airbnb's here in Boston is a good thing.

Batting .500

By Will LaTulippe
Thu, 12/05/2019 - 10:17pm

Aren't registered with the city? Who cares? I didn't demand that. Wasn't a problem until government said it was one.

Where the owner doesn't live? I don't want government banning those listings outright, but I have no problem with them forcing full disclosure on whether or not the owner lives there. That's a fine bit of consumer protection in a finite market.

I disagree with you here, Will LaTulippe!

By mplo
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 12:42am

Frankly, I'm more than glad that Airbnb has purged more than half of its Boston listings. They don't belong in an urban area, anyhow, plus Airbnb contributed greatly to the housing shortage here in Boston. They should ban Airbnb here in Boston altogether.

Airbnb

By Diane Cylik
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 8:36am

I am Airbnb…registered with Boston and Mass Tax Collect. I rent ONE guest room…occasionally…maximum stay is 4 nights. and I have had amazing folks from 12 countries pass thought my welcoming door in the past 6 months. I am pleased that I can offer a place that is near 2 commuter lines and is clean safe $65.00 a night to stay. I HAVE NOT contributed to the housing shortage but have supported Boston’s amiability. Please take me out of your “box”.

Huh?

By anon
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 12:15pm

The best place to get an Air BNB is in an urban area! Hosts are usually very helpful with places to go and things to do and see - and how to get there. They are also vastly more family friendly than hotels.

Once again, you know nothing but can't get over your need to pretend that you know everything.

Trust fund suburbanites who never travel

By anon
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 12:27pm

Don't belong in an urban area.

"They don't belong in an urban area"

By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 1:06pm

Please explain: what is your experience with AirBnB that leads you to this conclusion?

It’s true, my former apartment building was turned into

By JD Woods
Thu, 12/19/2019 - 9:55pm

an Air bnb. Everyone had to move out.

Didn't affect you

By perruptor
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 6:20am

Obviously, you don't live in an apartment whose absentee landlord rented out out other units in the building as Air B&Bs. I have friends to whom it happened, and it wasn't good. The transients caused all kinds of problems for the permanent tenants, and the landlord not only wasn't there to solve those problems, but tried to get the tenants to fulfill some of his responsibilities - "Some people are coming to stay in my B&B tonight. Could you let them in?"

My friends are very grateful for the new regulations, and if you had been in their shoes, you would be, too. The landlord disclosing that he didn't live in the building would not solve anything.

Are your friends also triggered

By Friartuck
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 8:01am

Anytime they have to stay at or even drive by a hotel? Gasp, the shenanigans happening in those places...

Let's hope

By APB
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 8:09am

. . . that someone lists an AirBnB next to you, so you can have the pleasure of listening to wild partying all night long every weekend, having fights outside your door, and finding trash, vomit, etc., in your hallway — all things that I have heard residents in my neighborhood complaining about because they live in buildings with unsupervised AirBnbs.

Says any Boston neighborhood

By Friartuck
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 12:44pm

Populated with college students, NIMBY!

My Issue with this...

By JuniorCV
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 3:09pm

America is suppose to be land of the free but lately all I keep seeing is the government but city and state controlling every aspect of our lives. First this week was the ban on flavored cigarettes and now Air B&B. How can the city tell me what I can do with my property that I bought and pay taxes for every year. If you rent next to a property that is an Air B&B and they are having parties or what not, instead of complaining go buy your own property elsewhere. Think about it, you purchase a property, pay taxes on it but the city tells you what you can and can’t do. We are slowly becoming oppressed by the government.

hahaha

By anon
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 3:47pm

good one. very accurate Freshman-Bro-Reads-Ayn-Rand-For-The-First-Time-And-"Figures-It-All-Out"

instead of complaining go buy your own property elsewhere

nice touch.

<eyeroll>

By Wiffleball
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 4:26pm

If you rent next to a property that is an Air B&B and they are having parties or what not, instead of complaining go buy your own property elsewhere.

And what if you buy elsewhere and then the guy next to you decides to make his place an Air B&B? Are you supposed to sell and move again?

We are slowly becoming oppressed by the government.

No, the government is being forced to play grownup for a bunch of goddamned children who forgot how to share and be polite.

You know what also happens when you rent or buy?

By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 6:47pm

You sign rental agreements.

You agree to follow the condo bylaws.

Most of these PRIVATE contracts say that you cannot sublease, rent out, or have a short term rental set up without permission from either your landlord, the condo association, or both.

Even when it is your own house you rent out, the place has to conform to the safety and health laws that govern your renting it out, and the people who rent it can't throw a for-profit rager legally, either.

Consider these things when you grow up and actually have to be responsible for your behavior.

Hotels have hotel staff to

By Heather
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 8:42am

Hotels have hotel staff to attend to their guests!

It would solve something

By Will LaTulippe
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 8:09am

I wouldn't stay in an AirBnb where the owner and/or occupant was off-site. That's how you get bait and switched. Spare room in someone's home or GTFO.

As for the housing crisis, if AirBnb beats hotels enough on price, it would stand to reason that hotels would go out of business, no? Then the hotels can become places for permanent residents to live.

Hotels

By anon
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 8:32am

don’t allow the shenanigans that go on in Airbnb’s. No wild parties, prostitution, porn production, meth labs etc.

At least the Copley Marriott is safe now..

By Friartuck
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 12:48pm

Since craigslist personals were deleted...

Limying rentals to buildings

By Heather
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 8:39am

Limying rentals to buildings where the owner lives is not for the convenience of the guest or the renter, it's for the benefit of all the other people who paid 1 mil for their condo and don't want to live in a youth hostel.

If you paid $1,000,000

By Will LaTulippe
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 2:42pm

For a residence, you don't have my sympathy, now, or ever.

You didn't demand it, but...

By Bob Leponge
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 12:02pm

Aren't registered with the city? Who cares? I didn't demand that.

You didn't demand it, but some of the rest of us did.

Wasn't a problem until government said it was one.

"Government" is us. It does what we ask it to do. That's "we" plural, not "you, Will, singular."

yup.

By ElizaLeila
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 1:14pm

via GIPHY

"Government is us"

By Will LaTulippe
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 2:41pm

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Which corporation are you, sir?

Which corporation?

By George_Apley
Sat, 12/07/2019 - 5:22pm

Not Airbnb apparently...

Active listings?

By Rob K.
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 7:37am

This is good news!
I do wonder how many of those listings were active. We got a notification that our listing was removed, but it was a profile we created for our home when we spent the summer in my hometown in 2015 and it hasn’t been visible since.

I wish it was all active units. I did some canvassing for the City Council election and I was amazed at how many doors had combination locks.

Combination locks

By JPnik
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 11:21am

They are great for short term lets, but we installed one for convenience. Babysitters, visiting family, temporary codes for contractors, etc.

I am for regulation of AirBnB. However, combination or smart locks are not always indicative of a short term let.

Magoo sez

By MisterMagooForYoo
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 7:42am

Magoo is going to take a cue from the TMNT and start and Airbnb in the sewers. Cowabunga dudes. Magoo.

Pizza around here isn't good

By Rob
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 8:20am

Pizza around here isn't good enough for that, M.

i'll be more interested to see

By anon
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 10:18am

the coming proliferation of straw "owner-residents" and those who miraculously manage to reside in 25 different homes at once.

Computers are good at catching that sort of thing.

By Bob Leponge
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 12:04pm

Even back in the punched-cards-and-magtape 1970s, I remember the NYC government cross-tabulating data to identify people who claimed NYC residency for rent control purposes and out-of-town residency for income tax purposes.

The city already has a

By anon
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 1:22pm

The city already has a mechanism that sorts that out through the residential tax exemption, it's fairly effective and accurate as it cross references tax returns.

A UMass study found that

By bibliotequetress
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 3:01pm

A UMass study found that every 12 Airbnb listings per census tract correlated to rents rising by 0.4 percent.
An NBER study concluded that, in a median owner-occupancy rate zipcode territory, "a 1% increase in Airbnb listings leads to a 0.018% increase in rents and a 0.026% increase in house prices," and "Airbnb listings.... decrease the supply of long-term rental units."

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_i... (this may be paywalled-- if anyone is interested in it & cannot get to the study, I'll post a PDF elsewhere)

Interesting

By Will LaTulippe
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 3:37pm

But I'll wait for the study that shows what happens to house prices when AirBnb drives hotels out of business, leaving giant vacant buildings where people can go live.

The space exists, the only thing that's changing is that people aren't paying exorbitant prices to a bloated corporation anymore for a place to (expletive), sleep, and shower while on vacation.

I've used AirBnb four times in San Diego with no grievances from myself or from the hosting party. And I haven't bothered any neighbors. I spend the day out and about, then I go to the place and sleep. It's not difficult.

Airbnb purges more than half of its Boston listings

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