The opportunity I have identified is housing options for summer interns across the country. It is very difficult to find a short term lease for 10 weeks or 3 months for the summer. Apartments have high signing fees if they would even do a lease that short, and other places like Airbnb have rates based on per night, not based per month which would give a lower price. Ideally there would be one centralized place where people looking for short term tenants (1-6 months) would be able to list their place online.
For this assignment I interviewed other interns that I was working with, as this is a problem they might have, it would have no relevance to someone older who has a house.
The questions I asked were;
1. What is your current living situation like?
2. How did you find your current place?
3. How hard was this process?
4. Do you think you are getting a good rate including all fees?
5. Would you be interested in a website where people are specifically looking for short term leases (1-6months)?
David: I am currently living with my old high school friend who also works at Northrop Grumman and who living in Melbourne. I found it because I knew my friend from high school. The process was pretty easy, we are frequently in contact, and I knew his roommate was leaving, so I took the spot of his roommate. Ya, I am subleasing from the other guy, so its not like I had to pay any crazy re-signing fees or anything like that. I mean it wouldn’t really affect me, but in the future if I had an internship in a city where I didn’t know anyone I would at least check it out if I couldn’t find an apartment somewhere else.
Ben: I am currently living in a condo that I found on Airbnb. I tried looking for apartments, but apartments only did longer leases, so I could rent anything for only the summer. After the apartments didn’t work I thought about Airbnb and when I searched there I found a place that wasn’t too bad. Even though my place is for longer term rentals I still think its overpriced, but its pretty much the only option I had. Ya that sounds like a good website that I would use, hopefully it would have a large selection of apartments so I find one that I like.
Matt: I am living with a family friend. I reached out to this friend and they let me stay with them. It wasn’t hard at all. I stay there for free so that’s a good rate. I wouldn’t use it, but if I didn’t have family in town I might use it.
Lauren: I am living on the FIT campus at a dorm. My parents told me to check it out, and when I did they had availability and even though it is a dorm its fine because it came furnished. It took a decent amount of work since it was through the university I had to fill out a bunch of stuff. I think I could rent a bigger and nicer place cheaper if I had a longer lease, but I couldn’t find any apartments for a short term lease. I would check out the website, if there was some centralized place for sub-leasing I would use it and hopefully take over someone’s lease if they left the Melbourne area for the summer.
Maddy: I am currently in a condo that I found on VRBO. I found it by looking on VRBO, a site my family has used to rent places for a week while on vacation. The whole process took a while, I searched online for a long time before I settled on this place, it’s a big decision to make. I think I am overpaying a little, people set up their rates based on people staying there for a week, I should get a discount for staying there for 3 months. Yes I would be interested in using a site like you describe, it might let me get a cheaper rate.
Based on my interviews it looks like people would be interested in using a site that I would create. If it got them a cheaper rate since they are renting long term then people would use it instead of Airbnb.
Hi Brandon,
ReplyDeleteYou made some interesting points about the need for short-term lease options. I think that a centralized site could also be used by people who are moving to a new area. When people move to a new city, they sometimes haven't decided where they are going to live. For instance, when my family moved to Florida, we stayed at a hotel for a couple of weeks while we looked for an apartment to rent. People new to the area would appreciate a short-term leasing option instead of having to live at hotels or stay with relatives.
Ashley Decker
Great idea. My brother is looking to buy a house in Tampa and rent it out on the corporate rental market. I just told him to think about including students looking for housing during internships. It is very difficult to find short term rentals. I see you looked at your home market in Melbourne. I am also looking at apartments there now and the selection is not that great to start with even for people looking for long term rentals.
ReplyDeleteHi Brandon,
ReplyDeleteThe problem with most short-term leases is the hotel tax imposed by local municipalities. Many short-term leases are seen by local governments to be the type of business arrangement as are hotel stays, and they are taxed accordingly, at a very high rate. These rates can be as high as 7% -13% of the rent collected. That is why so many apartments only offer one-year and longer leases, so they don’t have the added tax expense. Consider this quote (reference follows):
“‘Generally, any short-term rentals, typically called transient rentals, even just for a weekend, have a state and local tax obligation’ says Rob Stephens, general manager of Avalara MyLodgeTax, a Centennial, Colorado, company that provides tax compliance services to those who rent accommodations.
In Texas, if you rent your home for fewer than 30 days, you’re subject to the state’s hotel occupancy tax. It’s called the transient occupancy tax in California. Florida counties collect a tourist impact tax on all rentals.”
From https://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/tax-rules-renting-vacation-home.aspx
Also, apartments and other places don’t necessarily want to have the expense of deep cleaning as often as they would if the leases were shorter. When any occupant moves out, a reputable accommodation will deep clean the place before the next resident comes in and repair any damages. They have certain legal obligations to provide a clean accommodation to the incoming residents. These cleaning expenses can mount up quickly.
Your idea is a good idea, if you can find a way around the laws.