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Post by High Priestess on Mar 5, 2017 15:30:36 GMT
Is Airbnb not actually about "belonging" , but about "psychic displacement"? This writer argues that people "Share" their homes only out of economic necessity, and that doing so is a testament not to belonging but to their own displacement from their own homes. www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Airbnb-s-strange-manifest-destiny-10976554.php What do you think? Are you "sharing" your home out of interest in meeting people from around the world, or out of economic necessity? Are you finding yourself "displaced" in any way, from your own home? For me, I can't afford to keep my home without having renters in it, thus I can't say I feel "displaced." From the beginning, therefore, for this reason I understood that to some extent, my house couldn't be entirely "mine". However, compared to the way that standard roommates took my house away from me, short term rentals "give my house back" to me in a way that had not before been possible. (I wrote about my struggles with roommates here: globalhostingblogs.com/2015/11/26/goodbye-to-roommates/ ) If I contemplate an ideal world where everyone could afford their own home, without having to be wealthy or have a partner to provide financial support to the endeavor, then perhaps compared to that ideal, I feel somewhat "displaced". But since I've never known that ideal it seems far away. Also, I have found that even though in some sense it would be ideal to not need renters, I have found that I actually like having other people around in my house. I'm definitely very introverted, but I have found that I really enjoy the company -- as long as the people in my house are respectful and clean, decent people. |
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Post by beautifularizona on Mar 6, 2017 15:01:58 GMT
Thanks for the article and your response. I find myself in a similar situation and after 10 years of "suffering" from the constant headaches that comes from having full-time renters I have found that using Airbnb has solved a lot of the problems that dogged me. I bought the house next door to me that had been a rental for years and at the time was occupied by druggies that was a sudden blight on the once quiet historic block. I finally was able to restore the home which included putting on a new roof, wiring, and having to take some of the walls back to the studs. Meanwhile one full time renter after another would abuse the property until I decided in a hissy fit NO MORE! Another fairly major fix-up; new fixtures, paint, washer & dryer, hardware on cabinetry and doors and finally furnishing from towels, curtains, dishes to cooking utensils. All of this in one of my worst economic situations ever. My original dream about purchasing the house besides getting rid of the tenants was to have a guest house for my friends who come to visit. I do not travel so my life long friends have always indulged me by coming to stay and I wanted to be able to offer them a wonderful place to stay as I am a studio artist and my house has over the years evolved into my studio while I live in a small 600 sq. foot studio at the rear of the property. I always felt more displaced with full time renters than was tolerable. I can honestly say that Airbnb has allowed me to have both economic help to maintain my property while allowing me to have the luxury of having a guest house that my friends can come and stay and now even bring their families and friends. I also have made some good friends through Airbnb who now return to expand their stay and exploration of the area where I live. All in all it has been a reasonable solution to my living arrangement and sense of home.
I tend to stay away from most articles about Airbnb, because for some the desire for shelter in their list of needs is fraught with all kinds of emotional issues which I see as being projected on to Airbnb From the neighbor around the block who sits on the city council and is prone to controlling their neighborhood, to the journalist that needs a story and a article about the "horrors or Airbnb" or the "psychic displacement" is sure to get the journalist one more pay check and one more mortgage or rent payment.
Not only do I not feel displaced, I actually have less anxiety and more time and space to spend with friends in my home.
I wish people would just get over the notion of STR by private individuals in their own property does not necessarily need to be under scrutiny of EVERYBODY else. During the 1920's & 30's many older large homes were converted into boarding houses and people survived and benefitted on both sides of the equation. I do not need to go into an explanation on the benefits and yes the drawbacks of boarding houses or Airbnb as I would prefer to be able to get to a place that there are many kinds of ways that we can allow other people to live their lives on their own terms without everything being up to "regulations"
For all of the Hosts reading this I wish you the best and to thank you for stepping outside the Levitt Town box.
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Post by helgaparis on Mar 7, 2017 10:39:51 GMT
We used to travel between homes for many years, renting the other one, if we could. The trick to not feel a stranger at arrival is to make the switch very easy, like exchange full drawers from a locked cupboard against empty drawers in more easily accesible cupboards. Or take one box and distribute all our bathroom equipment (toothbrushes, cosmetics, contact lens stuff) in 2 minutes.
It was quite nice for me to nearly always arrive in a clean apartment, half an hour to reinstall our stuff and make the beds - another half hour to reinstall my husband's artist material, which meant full chaos back in at least one room. That was his way of retaking the place.
Over time, especially if there are no firm bookings at departure, we would decide not to rent over the next three weeks, to avoid all the extra cleaning and washing.
Now I switched to one guest in my precence in a really tiny home. In the end it's easier than maintaining two places at distance. Most people are respectful and then the experience is a gain, more joy in the house, some nice chats wirh interesting people. Some however ate pushy and try to take over. It's more stressful then, as you have to push back or symbolically hit them over the head. It does not affect me as much as in the beginning, and I don't feel dispossessed by it, only very annoyed, like having rude people beside you on public transport. On the other side, new people bring new iseas, keeps us from going senile too fast.
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Post by High Priestess on Mar 7, 2017 18:13:32 GMT
I fully agree, BeautifulArizona, that homeowners generally will feel less displaced with Airbnb rentals than with standard rioomies or tenants. I think actually the media is very biased and its in their interests to ignore the stories of homeowners on this account, because our stories would show clearly that there is more than one side to the story about long term rentals. The media, like the tenants' groups and hotel lobbies, wants everyone to believe that the only relevant story about long term rentals is that of tenants getting displaced by Airbnb guests. In fact it's extremely relevant that with long term tenants homeowners can end up psychically displaced from their own homes , and the extent to which this story is being and has been minimized with those pushing a tenant agenda, (and/or socialist causes of seeking to control other's property) is egregious.
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