Example of a Decline

Example of a "decline"

Okay this is a quiz. See if you can count the number of red flags in this inquiry. Those of you who have read my post on Red Flags for Hosts may have an easier time with this quiz -- see that post here:

globalhosting.freeforums.net/thread/186/red-flags-hosts

Now for the quiz -- Recently I got an inquiry. It is from a local person. She says she is having to move because she "lost a huge battle with my landlord." She says she may move out of the area, but goes on to give a huge amount of info about herself, as one does when seeking long term housing with other housemates.
She further states that she has a variety of part time jobs and invites clients to her home, but indicates she wouldn't do that if it created problems. She indicates concerns about hygiene standards. She offers to do work around my home. She states that she has a medical marijuana prescription. SHe indicates in her conclusion that her situation is desperate and she needs to find a place soon.

She then goes on to say that like many others in the area, she is being priced out of the housing market. Note: in my area, many of those who are concerned about "being priced out of the rental market" take exception to Airbnb, which they believe is responsible for "driving up the cost of housing" and/or "removing rental units from the market" -- hence some have a certain level of animosity to Airbnb, whom they view as an evil Cruella De'Vil in the housing realm, simply on principle -- perhaps even viewing her as intent on swallowing up all the housing in the area with a bottomless hunger -- and view Airbnb hosts as people exploiting those who need housing.

Noticing at least one red flag in the above (you may find more -- I hope you do) I do a Google search on her name (something I generally dont' do if I have no concerns about a person) and find an article dated a few years ago, stating that she was kicked out of a local organization for inappropriate behavior, and in the article, she is quoted as saying that she was kicked out for her "dozens of complaints" to that organization. ANother Google find is an article she wrote complaining about gentrification and increasing rents in her area. Then I find an article which indicates that two years ago she was living in a hotel in this area. More is found -- over a dozen letters she wrote demanding that a local person's business be closed because that person insulted her, and other allegations, letters which include many personal and trivial details. Finally, there are articles found by this guest which indicate strong political opinions that verge on extreme.


Michelle:
Wow. So many red flags there! I would say that once she was in, she would be very hard to remove and I'm guessing you would want to remove her within a few minutes of arrival. Now you have declined her she will be writing letters to get you shut down. Good luck! A potential nightmare guest.

Karen:
Too many red flags to count, but worse is the desperation. She's been evicted and needs a place quickly. Part-time jobs with lots of visitors. Medical marijuana, only? I definitely would have Googled here only for my personal edification. Decline would have been my only option.

Fiona:
What dates was she requesting, from here to eternity? Declined!

Javier:
I stopped at eviction, just as I would with any other tenant, LOL. Nice of her to weed herself out like that.

Ernest:
Nice of her to "weed" herself out like that. See what I did there?

Deborah:
Good one, Ernest! Yes, she "weeded" herself out in more ways than one! \__("-")__/

Maria and Larry:
Do we get a prize? Lol. I found way too many flags.

Deborah:
Yes, Maria and Larry, you win a prize too, even though you didn't tell me how many red flags! But you get a prize because you found many, and also because of the wonderful person you are and because of all your contributions to the forums. Since you stated no definite number, your prize will be a Guided Tour of the Unknown Flags. I'll take you to various flagged locations and you'll need to guess what the flag is associated with the person or business or the setting.

Maria and Larry:
Lol. U r the best! Lol

Nic and Rach:
Yay... now if there's such thing as degree of difficulty, that Maria is the Degrees of the unknown LOL

Queenie & Ted:
Good grief. My spidey senses went up at 'local'. When the explanation came for that one, I was done

Nic and Rach:
OK Deborah I found 10 " red flags " on this guest inquiry.
1) She is Local
2) Lost battle with the landlord
3) priced out of the pricing market
4) provided personal details about herself
5) Varieties of part time jobs
6) invite clients in
7) Hygiene standards
8) offers to do work in your home
9) she has a medical marijuana prescriptions
10) extremist, oppositionist, definitely a trouble maker.

OK.. Deborah what is my prize ? Really ? Free 2 nights getaway in Massanutten offered by Maria ? That's lovely

Deborah:
Nic you win first prize because you found the most red flags -- I haven't decided yet what First Prize is though. Take you and Rach out to dinner when you visit my area? Or maybe take you on a guided tour of notable local red flag renters?

Deborah:
Though actually as I indicate in my Red Flag Tutorial below, there were really twice as many flags as you found -- notice that some topics/issues can present more than one red flag! WEll you may think I'm cheating or tricking my red flag students on that one but think about it and you can see the ever deepening slew of flag within flag --like in a house of mirrors where one mirror reflects another mirror reflects another....

Maria and Larry:
Lol. I thought Nic and Rach were going to Paris not to VA. Definitely visit Deborah. It was one of our nicest experiences in the West Coast.

Nic and Rach:
WOW! That is awesome and generous of you Deborah. Thank you. Here's a big {{ Hug }} from us. @ Maria love to visit both, If only we can visit all the active hosts here that we interact almost everyday, then that would be something we can treasure as long as we live. it will be in the book of Airbnb Records LOL I am dreaming. can you tell ? The closest one from me is, Julie and Eric, Richmond, VA a 3 hours drive from NC, then, Jeannette ( Baltimore) Maria, ( Massanutten, VA ) and a hundred more or so domestic and international. yikes ! it would be too impossible IMO. LOL

Linda:
1) battle with the landlord really
2) bad housing market cuz of Airbnb 3) nany p/t jobs = no job. 4) working from home = call girl? 5) her hygiene is questionable 6) and will work for rent 7) drug user 8) desperate

Deborah:
Linda you win second prize since you named almost as many red flags as Nic -- what will be my Second Prize? Maybe the same as Nice and Rach get -- take you out to dinner when you visit my area (but not to a red flagged or red tagged restaurant) or take you on the Grand Guided Tour of Notable Red Flag Renters in my Region? Sort of a Hollywood Stars tour but viewing the lower crust not the upper crust.

Deborah:
Here's my count of the red flags & explanations of them that may serve as a sort of tutorial for the newbies:
(1) Local person -- why does someone who lives in the area, need short term housing in this area?
(2) Lost "huge" battle with landlord -- indicates that this person fought to stay in housing where they weren't wanted and/or where they created problems and were evicted, suggesting they may create similar problems in any other housing situations, and may again fight the property owner to stay.
(3) Lost HUGE battle with landlord -- apparently just an attempt to stay in the housing wasn't enough, it had to be a HUGE battle --- expect similar HUGE battles with this person regarding many other things in their life -- as witnessed by further red flags as listed below.
(4) Priced out of the housing market -- Airbnb accomodations are generally at least the same price, if not more expensive than standard long term housing, so if someone can't afford to live in a given area, they probably can't afford to stay in your Airbnb.
(5) Priced out of housing market -- if you did accept a person into your Airbnb who had admitted they could not afford the price of housing in your area, what will happen when their reservation ends and they now have to find housing in your area? You guessed ---- they may just sit tight in your home, claiming that they can't find housing they can afford, and so they can't leave your home, and claim that they have a "right" to stay in your house.
(6) She says she plans to move out of the area, but provided many details and a wealth of personal info, as one does when seeking a long term housing situation with housemates. Indicates that her REAL goal, as opposed to her stated goal, is to find a long term housing situation with housemates. IN which case, she is not a good fit for my house or that of any Airbnb host, since we do not offer long term housing.
(7) INvites clients to her home to do work with them -- she indicates she wont' do that "if it causes problems" but the fact is that if one has to interact with clients for one's work, and one has no other place to meet, it is very likely she will try to bring these to my house without my permission and against my rules, when I'm not looking or am not home, and then say, trying to justify it, "I don't see how you can object, no one was around, it can't possibly cause any problems."
(8) Concerns about hygiene standards -- the word she actually used was that she wanted to make sure hygiene standards were "up to code". Using the word "code" rather than "up to par" suggests codes, eg laws, eg code enforcement, leading host to wonder if this person has a history of calling city code enforcement on previous landlords.
(9) Concerns about hygiene standards -- for a guest to express concerns without any justification for such -- eg they see a couple dozen photos of a home showing a gleaming, glistening clean house and they read reviews in which the word "clean" is often used to describe the premises -- this indicates a person who looks for problems where there are no actual problems, eg, a person who CREATES problems.
(10) Offering to do work around the home (eg as in, trying to get a discount?) -- this indicates that the guest may start trying to get into my territory in my house -- starting to get into my garden, trying to do gardening, starting to move things around in the kitchen when not invited to do so. Guest may also start claiming kitchen isn't clean enough, she had to do extra cleaning, so I have to pay her for that. Various problems can result from those who aren't simply in your home to stay while they are on a trip, but who are there fishing for ways to try to stay longer and camp out, or try to make money from you, or scam you to make money .....
(11) Medical marijuana -- I don't allow smoking of ANY substance in my home. Would this guest demand that they are not obligated to respect that rule because they use Mary J for treatment of a health condition? Property owners can run into problems with renters when they dont' allow smoking but the renter has a permit for medical marijuana. Some property owners have been forced to allow people to use that on their premises. We all want to avoid this whole scenario! HEnce, it's best that we as hosts never rent to someone who we view as motivated in any way to violate any rule that we have.
(12) Medical marijuana -- while I believe there are many people who legitimately benefit from medical marijuana, because a permit for medical marijuana is so easy to obtain (you need nothing more than a sore toe, or hangnail), people without any medical condition routinely get these permits. My preference in friends and in guests is for people not addicted to or heavy users of drugs or alcohol.
(13) Desperation -- NEVER take a guest who is desperate! That is a very bad situation -- you have to ask yourself, WHY is this person desperate? What bad judgement do they have, that they got into this desperate situation? Did they not plan? Don't they have any friends to rely on?
(14) Desperation + Local -- a local person desperate for accomodations is someone to avoid at all costs. This is a very very bad combination. This is the kind of person who once inside the door of your house is likely to require the jaws of life to extract from your home. Squatter material!
(15) Kicked out of a group for inappropriate behavior -- well, guess what -- whatever inappropriate behavior that was that she did before, she may do it again in your house!
(16) Admitted in a newspaper article that she thinks she was kicked out of that group for "dozens of complaints" -- well if she made "dozens of complaints" over a situation, guess what, this is likely to be a person who complains in your home. And probably multiple times.
(17) Complaints in articles she wrote about gentrification and rising rents. We as Airbnb hosts would do well to be circumspect about taking a guest who complains about the kinds of things that people who make those types of complaints tend to blame Airbnb for , or blame short term rentals for. EG: It's just a hair's breadth from complaining about gentrificaiton to complaining about Airbnb and short term rentals, and why would you want a short term renter who thinks there is something very nasty about short term rentals?
(18) Two years ago she was living in a hotel in this area. So there was another time when this person may have ended up in a "desperate" situation. Somehow permanent housing was not available then -- why? Evicted? PRoblems with roommate? One should ask questions when local people are living in hotels in their city.
(19) This person spent a huge amount of energy on a campaign to shut down someone's business, lots of letters to the City Council, which reveal, as does the "Huge battle with landlord" a person who is willing to invest a lot of time and energy on negative pursuits, and on trying to fight others or shut down businesses. Might the next business they try to shut down, be yours?
(20) Extreme political opinions -- this is a person who is somewhat out in left field, whose opinions will be in your home, and may be forced upon you or others in your home. The more extreme the opinions (of either side of the political spectrum) the more caution one should take and question the person's capacity for good judgement and their ability to get along with others without rancor, as well as their capacity for seeing the positive.
(21) Extreme political opinions and a negative energy as exemplified in tendencies to get into battles --- in a home oriented to spirituality, tranquility, and positive energy -- not a good combination.
(22) TMI/Lack of good judgement -- anyone who doesn't know better than to tell you all the things about themselves that make you certain you want nothing to do with them, has poor judgement, and poor judgement is also a red flag. People who weed themselves out are doing us a service at the same time that they are indicating another reason we don't want them in our homes.

Andrew:
There are so many red flags here that it's beyond question that this guest needs the Eject button. But one area in which I do differ (quite predictably for those of you who know me a bit) is the idea that holding a Medical Marijuana prescription in a state that has legalized it is in itself a Red Flag. Actually, I think it behooves cannabis users in California to disclose their ownership of a prescription to their hosts, lest their possession of a controlled substance in the household raise any alarms. It's very easy to comply with non-smoking rules in the house while holding a prescription. Dispensaries these days are incredibly sophisticated in their array of smokeless cannabis products, plenty of smokers have the decency to smoke only outside of the property, and there is absolutely no law in California requiring landlords in shared properties to make exceptions to nonsmoking contracts in order to facilitate medical pot smoking. Over 1 million Americans hold legal permits for medical marijuana, and in the absence of the proliferation of other red flags, I think it would be unjust to discriminate against them.

Nic and Rach:
Terrific information Deborah and educational. Thank you for it's worth, definitely a bookmark -------> * Done !

Ernest:
As usual, Andrew makes strong points.

Deborah:
Good example, ANdrew, of how something that could be a red flag for one host, may not be at all for another. And then by extrapolation we can deduce that every host's "red flag" list is going to be different -- according to their own experiences and character -- yet there are many things we pretty much would all agree on, and I think we'd be hard pressed to find an Airbnb host who would welcome this person as a guest. But, instant book here we come -- someone out there has instant book and may find this winner on their doorstep, so watch out!

Jeannette:
Somewhat on topic, a JAMA article last month notes the limitations of medical marijuana. rt.com/usa/269191-medical-marijuana-study-effective/

Andrew:
While I fully supported medical marijuana as a stepping-stone toward broader drug policy reform, I never much cared for the "medical" framing of it. Fortunately the policy debate has mostly shifted away from that anyway, now that a few states have legalized it recreationally and the world hasn't ended.

Linda:
Yeah !!!!! Deborah, that is some awesome information you shared and I loved the quiz. Can't wait until you do again.

Linda:
Deborah - I'll be in Bay Area around the 1st of September and check in with you for lunch!

Deborah:
Great, Linda! It'll be nice to meet you! I"m so glad you liked the quiz.

Deborah:
One other thing about this individual I also found online -- she also has a standing complaint against a local police officer. Which goes into Red Flag #19 above -- and also suggests contemplating -- what does it say about someone, and how they spend their time, that they have been in so many fights and filed so many complaints?

Fleur:
C'mon Deborah! Where is your sense of adventure? She sounds like a hoot!

Deborah:
:-)))
Well Fleur, I guess I'm getting dull in middle age, not up for the adventure of Godzilla battles with renters any more -- shall I send her to the Land Down Under? Tell her that many new complaint and landlord-warfare opportunities await her there?