All Forum Posts by: Nathan Crankfield

 haha I have stayed in some bad ones as well where cleanliness seemed like an option they skipped out on 

 That's awesome. I had considered getting some stuff from a local bakery for our first few bookings. Maybe I'll do it for longer stays or something like that. Thanks for the feedback 

@John Underwood

We recently launched our short-term rental on Airbnb here in South Denver. Because I had recently had a family party at the house, I had some surplus sodas and other little snacks leftover. We decided to stock the mini fridge with just a few drinks for the guests. We also provide them with filtered drinking water since the Englewood water tastes so bad. 

I'm curious as to what, if anything, other hosts leave for guests? I've heard from some that it's best to not leave anything, while I know some like to leave some local treats for people to try. What have you seen be successful? Is it worth it to provide little things like that or should you just focus on the necessities? 

 @Dan H. I think those are some very good points. It's forgotten how arbitrary it all seems to be at times when you make true comparisons to other circumstances and situations. 

As I tried to state before to him, a lot of these regulations are the result of lobbying from the large corporations in the hospitality industry. They understandably hate STRs, so they pay people to create laws that restrict their competition. These regulations are then promoted under the guise of "protecting the city plan" and protecting neighbors from...their neighbors?

I love my neighbors and would not want to do anything that would harm them. My neighbors sometimes do things that harm my property value, like not taking care of their homes and lawns. They have the freedom to do that, even though I don't like it. Because they can do as they please. I believe they would also have the right to farm in their backyard if they pleased. And further, they'd have the right to sell their produce, even if I don't like their customers taking up our street parking. 

Property rights don't fade away once you begin to trade with another free citizen in a free society because it becomes "commercial" and thereby regulated by the state. That's just not how things are supposed to work, even though it is how they work in most places at present time.

 Well, I certainly don't know James Hamling's views on most things in life, so I could only make conclusions based on the things he said to me. And if you read his words where he says things like "it's literally the government's job to tell people what to do and what not to do", I think it's pretty hard to argue that a statement like that is representative of a pro-free market/small gov position. I'm unsure why or how that's controversial. 

STRs do affect other people. I never denied that. I simply stated that it's my belief that it's not a violation of someone else's rights for me to rent out a house that I own. My neighbors across the street have chickens, which could affect me. My neighbors next door don't take care of their home at all and it's an eye sore - that could affect me too when selling my home. Two doors down is an abandoned house, which greatly affects the neighborhood. There are countless ways we could say our properties negatively affect our neighbors and therefore we need more government intervention to regulate us and what we do with our property. 

You can make the argument for it. I'm not fighting anybody doing that. I just don't think that people who make the argument for government regulations over private property should call themselves the poster child of libertarianism. 

For context - I'm not a libertarian. I'm just someone who likes philosophical and logical consistency and precise use of language 

Lol I actually think this is largely true, at least in terms of how to handle STRs. I wish others had read my responses to the many people who said things like "yeah man probably not worth it to jump through the hoops to maintain an STR that isn't your primary residence, although it can be done. Best to make it an MTR or LTR." Then they proceeded to provide very valuable insight on ways to do that, which was my hope.

The larger disagreement amongst the group seems to be in regards to what "property rights" are and what the proper role of government is, which is a fun debate to have. 

 I have read every word you've written, including your countless typos. You criticize me for not understanding you while assuming I'm a 20 year old who has never traveled or been through anything hard. 

Meanwhile, I'm a 30-year-old former Ranger qualified Army officer who deployed to Afghanistan at age 23 as a Platoon Leader. I've been on four mission trips to three different third world countries. I'm married with a son. And I study American history, political philosophy, and the writings of the founding fathers. 

Just because you know more about investing doesn't mean you know more about everything. I love how you're free to criticize me endlessly but the word "boomer" made you melt down and bring up useless things like participation trophies. You criticize because you lack the ability to combat with words and ideas. And that's too bad.

 And I certainly understand that frustration. I just don't get why exploring different options for compliance in a place that I thought was created for such discussions was immediately criticized and shut down by so many people.

 The Oxford definition of the term "workaround":  "a method for overcoming a problem or limitation in a program or system". I don't understand how that implies I'm trying to break a law rather than see if there are ways that cities allow you exceptions to the rule or to see if there are things in the law I'm misunderstanding. 

@Brooklyn McCarty and @Mark S. - tell me you didn't read the post without telling me you didn't read the post. I have my license and follow all the laws required by my city. I plan to continue doing so. I simply asked a question to see how other people have worked with their respective cities to get exceptions. The answer could have been a simple:  unfortunately, no there's nothing you can do. But here are some alternatives - which is actually how a lot of people responded. 

Others just got emotionally triggered and made judgments without actually reading the words and understanding the context. Twitter is a better place for your hit and run comments. In my posts, I'm actually looking for insight to my questions and curiosity as I learn about investing