Houses are for living.
god i hope the short term rental market (aka unlicensed, illegal hotel “business”) 100% implodes. it absolutely is a shit deal for the vacationer at this point because with all the fees and bullshit, you’re likely paying more for less value than just getting a hotel where there’s probably a shuttle service, maybe some walkability, a gym/pool, fresh towels, cleaning service etc. and like no hidden cameras in the bathroom watching you make.
also, if i can be supremely petty, these “real estate business” people are completely terrible at accounting and microeconomics. all the “i’m losing money on this” shit is flawed. except in the case of the guy who called himself an airbnb arbitrager, who long term rents and sublets as airbnbs (which yea, i bet you are losing money on this because that’s the dumbest idea i’ve ever heard of… like leasing a luxury car to be an uber XL driver). i just love how that guy’s actual income is selling that idea. legitimately the worst investment idea i’ve heard in months.
but all those other owners who claim to be “losing money”… no, they are simply negative cash flow. they still gain equity from the mortgage payment and any increases in property value. so unless the money they make + the property value increase < the taxes + insurance, their net worth is going up. being a landlord and being positive cash flow (unless you own the house outright already) is not a given, and landlords who think it is or try to make it so are generally the worst scumbags who cut every corner. and yes, 90% of my landlords fit into this category of “incompetent cheapskate”.
a realistic target is to run an “investment” property to be cash flow neutral, basically to run it as its own enterprise. and in some months, it falls short but if it overall is “neutral” for a year, that would be success. all the money coming in pays the mortgage and any extra is set aside and reinvested for repairs, maintenance, updates, etc. that’s how you “maintain” a property so that it’s always in great shape, improving energy efficiency, and handling issues proactively, the way someone would if they were living there and could afford it, so that if you choose to move in one day or sell it, it’s use-value is greater than what it was when you originally purchased it. incidentally, this makes it so there is no net rental income to report on taxes, when set against maintenance expenses and interest on the mortgage. this effectively means you’re owning an asset that costs you nothing but is continuously increasing in value and likely outpacing the rate of value increase of all the other assets around it because of the consistent re-investment. this is the logic of capitalism, and you can see how these “entrepreneurs” do not understand it at all.
it also exposes how fundamentally flawed the short term rental / unlicensed hotel model is even if you accept the premises of buying surplus housing as an investment. hotel buildings are pretty hardcore. the carpets, surfaces, walls are all commercial spec. floors and materials are heavy duty for high traffic, with design and functional decisions made by experts to facilitate cleaning and maintenance. regular residential homes are typically made from overpriced but fragile materials chosen by some bozo who watches too much HGTV and caught a deal on otherwise unsellable garbage at Home Cheapo, and they are not designed in ways to make cleaning / maintenance easy.
I found a YouTube link in your post. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
