STVR/Airbnb Has Destroyed America's Resort Towns
Posted by freedomforall 8 months ago to Economics
Excerpt:
"Airbnb has devastated Colorado's resort towns.
It's always been expensive to live in places that wealthy people decided they wanted to visit regularly.
Real estate speculators figure out where the money is quickly enough, buy up property, subdivide it and sell lots to their friends, who build second homes, like the single family castles in Beaver Creek and Vail. They build condos and duplexes and sell them to less wealthy folks who want to live in these places and to small investors who rent them to the people who do the actual work in these communities; our teachers, police and fire fighters, hotel and restaurant and small business operators and their staff, the 'essential services' folks that nobody thinks much about until one day, a pandemic comes along.
In Colorado, the attraction for the past 50 years has been downhill skiing and while rents always were higher than most places, the folks that moved up to the mountains and worked at the skico and surrounding small businesses generally skied for free - a season pass was a more common benefit than a healthcare plan - and the 'locals' lived to ride. Snowboards. Skis. It was a worthwhile trade off.
That era ended completely with AirBnb.
Over the past few years virtually all of the 'locals' housing in Vail, the duplexes in nearby Eagle Vail, the houses in Edwards - everything in the upper Eagle River Valley where locals lived - has been purchased - often sight unseen - by hedge funds, private capital and wealthy full and part time homeowners. It has all immediately been turned into short term rental properties (STVRs) - Airbnb, VRBO, etc.
Why rent a two bedroom apartment to a teacher for $1,500 a month when you can Airbnb the same 40 year old unit for $2,500 a week?
Except now, there are literally no housing units available.
Ok, a few pop up now and then but for $3,750 to $4,000 a month, since the work at home class has bid up the price of everything in resort towns with fast internet, and all of them have it. Even if they don't, Starlink is $120 a month for 50-200 MBPS connectivity. (I have it, it's flawless.)
Local teachers with masters degrees start at $45,000 a year, fresh out of school.
A $3,750 per month rental requires about $11,000 to move in, first and last plus the security deposit. The annual rent comes to $45,000. Thats the gross pay for new hires, which we need annually as our experienced educators retire, or sell their homes they bought a few years ago for huge gains and move elsewhere.
We can't hire teachers.
We can't hire snow plow operators, who are sort of essential in the high country.
Can't hire substitute teachers at $100 a day.
Can't hire bus drivers.
Nobody making under $250,000 can buy a house and live here anymore."
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Is this the beginning of the elite finally realizing that when support businesses become slaves there will be no support for the elite?
"Airbnb has devastated Colorado's resort towns.
It's always been expensive to live in places that wealthy people decided they wanted to visit regularly.
Real estate speculators figure out where the money is quickly enough, buy up property, subdivide it and sell lots to their friends, who build second homes, like the single family castles in Beaver Creek and Vail. They build condos and duplexes and sell them to less wealthy folks who want to live in these places and to small investors who rent them to the people who do the actual work in these communities; our teachers, police and fire fighters, hotel and restaurant and small business operators and their staff, the 'essential services' folks that nobody thinks much about until one day, a pandemic comes along.
In Colorado, the attraction for the past 50 years has been downhill skiing and while rents always were higher than most places, the folks that moved up to the mountains and worked at the skico and surrounding small businesses generally skied for free - a season pass was a more common benefit than a healthcare plan - and the 'locals' lived to ride. Snowboards. Skis. It was a worthwhile trade off.
That era ended completely with AirBnb.
Over the past few years virtually all of the 'locals' housing in Vail, the duplexes in nearby Eagle Vail, the houses in Edwards - everything in the upper Eagle River Valley where locals lived - has been purchased - often sight unseen - by hedge funds, private capital and wealthy full and part time homeowners. It has all immediately been turned into short term rental properties (STVRs) - Airbnb, VRBO, etc.
Why rent a two bedroom apartment to a teacher for $1,500 a month when you can Airbnb the same 40 year old unit for $2,500 a week?
Except now, there are literally no housing units available.
Ok, a few pop up now and then but for $3,750 to $4,000 a month, since the work at home class has bid up the price of everything in resort towns with fast internet, and all of them have it. Even if they don't, Starlink is $120 a month for 50-200 MBPS connectivity. (I have it, it's flawless.)
Local teachers with masters degrees start at $45,000 a year, fresh out of school.
A $3,750 per month rental requires about $11,000 to move in, first and last plus the security deposit. The annual rent comes to $45,000. Thats the gross pay for new hires, which we need annually as our experienced educators retire, or sell their homes they bought a few years ago for huge gains and move elsewhere.
We can't hire teachers.
We can't hire snow plow operators, who are sort of essential in the high country.
Can't hire substitute teachers at $100 a day.
Can't hire bus drivers.
Nobody making under $250,000 can buy a house and live here anymore."
-----------------------------------------------------
Is this the beginning of the elite finally realizing that when support businesses become slaves there will be no support for the elite?
I think we have seen this picture repeated before throughout history...
and you will have a well defined description of the elite who demand our obedience.
As soon as the People are thoroughly controlled, subdued, disarmed, cowed, and
enslaved we will be allowed to mine coal again for the use of the elite.
based on the fact that no one has moved to stop the biden crime cabal, you may be right
but once food becomes scarce, we'll see what happens
you mean the people that think they just have to go to the store to get food? with no clue about farms??
"The rich, buoyed by inherited wealth and access to credit, find a locale with the qualities they desire, and buy the choicest properties for their own use, and a surrounding band of nearby properties so they won't be bothered by the bottom 99%."
"The uber-wealthy don't need more money but they're trained, like hamsters in a lab, to seek ways to maximize their income and capital gains. STVRs--Airbnb et al.--are highly attractive investments to the wealthy and their money-managers--the hedge funds, private equity managers, family-wealth advisors, et al."
This strikes me as quite a bit of contempt for rich people in general.
some are just clueless or blind to what is going on, like most of America, most democrat voters