My name is Julie Ransom, I operate as a full time business 4 furnished rental units that can be rented on Airbnb as well as other booking platforms (and booked directly through me). I've been doing this continuously since 2009. I am also the moderator of the Airbnb Hosting Group here in Pittsburgh, which I have been doing for about 4 years. Collectively, we have over 250 members who represent roughly 1,000 property listings.
What this story did was cherry pick from the thousands of local listings a few property owners who appear to have violated the governor's orders prohibiting short term stays where guests would be sharing a property with the hosts. Hosts who rented out entire properties could still rent out the property, with the exception of renting to tourists.
What this story did not discuss was the overwhelming majority of hosts that are adhering to the governor's policy, which our group agrees makes sense. Who wants to host guests in their own home who may or may not be carriers for the virus?
Unfortunately, there are bad actors on both sides of Airbnb: bad guests who come into properties and destroy them, and bad hosts who do not maintain their properties, disregard occupancy laws, and allow loud groups of people to party in their properties. However, I cannot stress enough that regardless of how much articles like this try to do, this is an infinitesimally small number of people.
Hosts who care about their properties will want to know about bad guests in their properties. And if hosts are repeatedly non-responsive to guests' bad actions and continue to host loud, large groups, neighbors can report the property to 311.
While these kinds of stories tell salacious stories about Airbnb, they do not depict the reality of the vast majority of rentals. A survey completed by hundreds of local hosts report that most of the money they make from Airbnb goes toward bridging the gap between salary and bills, and the rest is put towards improvements to their property: from a lick of paint on the outside, to new doors, windows, heating systems and carpeting.
These improvements not only raise the value of the Airbnb property, but often help raise the value of the surrounding homes. This story did not make a point of mentioning it, likely because no Airbnb hosts were interviewed, but they also vet guests to make sure they are a fit for their property. I do primarily extended stays for my properties and use social media and other web sites to confirm the information the guest has provided as a way to confirm identity and purpose of the visit.
Hosts become mini-ambassadors for this city. They encourage guests to use public transit and bikes, to eat at locally owned, neighborhood restaurants, to shop at some of our neighborhood's wonderful shops and retailers, and guide them to that "not in Fodor's" attraction to provide guests with an insider's experience of Pittsburgh they will not only cherish, but will tell their friends about, and may even return.
Because of the nature of the business, realistically you are never going to have 100% compliance w legal guidelines, or have hosts who care only about how much money they make, not unlike slum landlords in the unfurnished property business. But does that mean all unfurnished rentals should be shut down? No. You investigate the law breakers and you fine and punish accordingly. To do otherwise is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
As far as social distancing and wearing masks, people should be doing both. We're also supposed to be self-quarantining, so you're not to leave the house unless necessary, especially if in a risk group. What makes absolutely no sense to me is the individual quoted in this story, who by her own admission falls in a risk group and shouldn't be leaving her house. Yet she feels at risk because the Airbnb next door had guests who didn't wear masks outside? If you're in a risk group and see a group of people without masks, stay away from them, tell them to put on masks, but don't blame the property owner. This is a matter of personal responsibility.
The next time you write about Airbnb, I would hope you could reach out to hosts and guests to create a fair and balanced story, and not focus a few, very vocal people who, while they have every reason to be unhappy, are by no means having a typical experience of having an Airbnb in their neighborhood. This is, frankly, irresponsible, one-sided, misleading journalism.
I would add "The Next Three Days", the director said that Pittsburgh "was an extra character in the movie" and strongly felt that the landscape added greatly to the movie.
To blame the success or failure of a neighborhood on a single for-profit entity is ridiculous, and marginalizes the hard work of Lawrenceville Corporation, Lawrenceville United, Lawenceville Stakeholders as well as the hundreds of individuals who took a chance on a not great neighborhood. If Wylie wasn't there, someone else would have bought these properties, perhaps not even a speculator, but individuals who had vision for the neighborhood. And perhaps that would not have been an altogether bad thing.
The devil is not Wylie, lay the blame on the people who are bat #*@( crazy paying a fortune for these properties in Lawrenceville. No person in their right mind spends over $300k on a tiny 2 bedroom home with no on-street parking regardless of how nice the granite counters or hand scraped hardwood floors are. Yet it regularly happens.
I've lived in Lawrenceville since 1995 when I bought a home there. I own a corporate lodging business with properties in L'ville and Bloomfield. I've seen and benefited firsthand from the current real estate boom. But even I realize a real estate market cannot grow exponentially for an infinite amount of time. There comes a point where people come to their senses and refuse to pay $200k+ for a 600 square foot condo. When the bubble bursts and those homeowners are now under water, those granite counters are going to gleam a little less.
It would have been nice to narrow down where these fireflies have been seen. Allegheny National Forest is huge. This was a frustrating story for me, a Warren County native, to read, because I had no idea of where within the National Forest you were talking about.
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What this story did was cherry pick from the thousands of local listings a few property owners who appear to have violated the governor's orders prohibiting short term stays where guests would be sharing a property with the hosts. Hosts who rented out entire properties could still rent out the property, with the exception of renting to tourists.
What this story did not discuss was the overwhelming majority of hosts that are adhering to the governor's policy, which our group agrees makes sense. Who wants to host guests in their own home who may or may not be carriers for the virus?
Unfortunately, there are bad actors on both sides of Airbnb: bad guests who come into properties and destroy them, and bad hosts who do not maintain their properties, disregard occupancy laws, and allow loud groups of people to party in their properties. However, I cannot stress enough that regardless of how much articles like this try to do, this is an infinitesimally small number of people.
Hosts who care about their properties will want to know about bad guests in their properties. And if hosts are repeatedly non-responsive to guests' bad actions and continue to host loud, large groups, neighbors can report the property to 311.
While these kinds of stories tell salacious stories about Airbnb, they do not depict the reality of the vast majority of rentals. A survey completed by hundreds of local hosts report that most of the money they make from Airbnb goes toward bridging the gap between salary and bills, and the rest is put towards improvements to their property: from a lick of paint on the outside, to new doors, windows, heating systems and carpeting.
These improvements not only raise the value of the Airbnb property, but often help raise the value of the surrounding homes. This story did not make a point of mentioning it, likely because no Airbnb hosts were interviewed, but they also vet guests to make sure they are a fit for their property. I do primarily extended stays for my properties and use social media and other web sites to confirm the information the guest has provided as a way to confirm identity and purpose of the visit.
Hosts become mini-ambassadors for this city. They encourage guests to use public transit and bikes, to eat at locally owned, neighborhood restaurants, to shop at some of our neighborhood's wonderful shops and retailers, and guide them to that "not in Fodor's" attraction to provide guests with an insider's experience of Pittsburgh they will not only cherish, but will tell their friends about, and may even return.
Because of the nature of the business, realistically you are never going to have 100% compliance w legal guidelines, or have hosts who care only about how much money they make, not unlike slum landlords in the unfurnished property business. But does that mean all unfurnished rentals should be shut down? No. You investigate the law breakers and you fine and punish accordingly. To do otherwise is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
As far as social distancing and wearing masks, people should be doing both. We're also supposed to be self-quarantining, so you're not to leave the house unless necessary, especially if in a risk group. What makes absolutely no sense to me is the individual quoted in this story, who by her own admission falls in a risk group and shouldn't be leaving her house. Yet she feels at risk because the Airbnb next door had guests who didn't wear masks outside? If you're in a risk group and see a group of people without masks, stay away from them, tell them to put on masks, but don't blame the property owner. This is a matter of personal responsibility.
The next time you write about Airbnb, I would hope you could reach out to hosts and guests to create a fair and balanced story, and not focus a few, very vocal people who, while they have every reason to be unhappy, are by no means having a typical experience of having an Airbnb in their neighborhood. This is, frankly, irresponsible, one-sided, misleading journalism.
The devil is not Wylie, lay the blame on the people who are bat #*@( crazy paying a fortune for these properties in Lawrenceville. No person in their right mind spends over $300k on a tiny 2 bedroom home with no on-street parking regardless of how nice the granite counters or hand scraped hardwood floors are. Yet it regularly happens.
I've lived in Lawrenceville since 1995 when I bought a home there. I own a corporate lodging business with properties in L'ville and Bloomfield. I've seen and benefited firsthand from the current real estate boom. But even I realize a real estate market cannot grow exponentially for an infinite amount of time. There comes a point where people come to their senses and refuse to pay $200k+ for a 600 square foot condo. When the bubble bursts and those homeowners are now under water, those granite counters are going to gleam a little less.