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HomeAway home rental program wants problem renters to GoAway
HomeAway’s Stay Neighborly initiative includes a no-tolerance policy for disruptive behavior of short-term home rental owners and travelers. The program pilots in Austin shortly.

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Jane
February 22, 2016 at 6:50 pm
“You can’t argue the fact that home sharing represents an essential economic lifeline to help middle class [Austin] families pay the bills and make ends meet.” – are you kidding me? What middle class family do you know that owns multiple homes? By definition if you are an STR 2 owner you are a real estate investor that lives in one home and rents at least one other short term. (It is estimated that folks that operate more than 1 STR 2 make up about 47% of Airbnb’s revenue in Austin. COnsidering HomeAway only rents entire homes it is probably even more of their revenue stream in this town.) Considering the average cost of a home anywhere in ATX I would say the “folks” operating STR 2s are far from middle class and contrary to your point are removing otherwise needed housing stock from actual middle class families living in Austin full time.
Mike Polston
February 22, 2016 at 8:21 pm
The middle class use case for home sharing is defined as STR Type 1. STR Type 2 is a pure investment use case, used by investors seeking a better payback they can get from Stocks and Bonds etc. Austin has several investors who own from 3 to 9 properties each. One owns 5 properties and makes $700,000 a year from them in rent. There is a very long list of cities that support Type 1 only use cases. There is a very short list of cities that support Type 1 and Type 2. Austin is on the short list and was put there as an experiment by HomeAway 3 years ago. We are working hard to get Type 2 out of here.
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Frugal Traveler
February 23, 2016 at 12:42 pm
When we signed up with VRBO to find people to stay in our home while we traveled, short-term rentals were hardly noticed by investors. Owners and travelers actually talked to one another, building relationships before making a deal. I think that the huge increase in problem tenants is a result of the shift from personal transactions to Big Business. Investors who rent out a house or apartment purely for profit are unlikely to take the time to learn who they’re renting to. These new business models, which block direct communication with prospective tenants until their money is on the table, makes it very difficult for homeowners like ourselves to stay in the game. @trvlohnthehouse