Wrong. This is true for long term rentals, but not for vacation rentals. I.e. - anyone can manage a vacation rental, but you need to be a broker to manage an apartment that is leased for 12 months.

Eh, sort of. In my state (and many US states), the first rule that dictates short-term is whether a transient/occupany tax is paid (which it generally is, by Airbnb for their hosts: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/653/in-what-areas-is-occ...).

But many states are cracking down on what "short-term rentals" mean and who falls into this transient tax category. Here in CA, the DRE recently released the following:

>>>First, while the Code refers to “transient occupancies”, the language that is most often used with reference to such occupancies refers to “short term rentals” and “vacation rentals”. As mentioned above, the maximum time period of such rentals cannot exceed 30 days.

>>>Second, the exemption refers to those who handle transient occupancies as agents on behalf of “another or others”. It does not refer to what is commonly described as VRBOs or vacation rentals by owner (s).

Source: http://www.dre.ca.gov/files/pdf/adv/LicenseeAlert2016shortte...

And anytime you get local departments of real estate involved, they'll go down kicking and screaming and make it as difficult as possible for Airbnb, VRBO, etc.

The gray area is where an owner engages in serial short term rentals in an attempt to hide the fact that they are basically renting out their property. Airbnb itself has tried to blur whether these guys fall under hospitality rules or not.

Not sure why you're being downvoted, but this is a very good point.

Companies like the National Multifamily Housing Council, National Apartment Association, National Association of Regional Property Managers, and various Realtor affiliated groups spend tens of millions of dollars each year lobbying to pass legislation that makes it incredibly difficult for non-property-owners and non-agents/brokers to do anything involving managing other people's property in many states.

Legitimately curious to know how Airbnb plans to get around this in the US (and several other countries with similar laws).

From the article, they're starting this as a pilot in Japan (and not sure about the laws there), so maybe the short-term only involves more loosely regulated housing markets.

Those lobbies make it hard for anybody who isn't licensed to do provide any services related to real estate.

I didn't see the part about piloting this in Japan, partly because I'm on my phone and the linked article has a terrible layout on my browser. I don't know what laws govern this sort of thing there, so my comment about skirting the law doesn't necessarily apply there.

I guess goverment should change the raw if Airbnb becomes more famous in Japan. In Japan, lots of vested interests exits (same as a another countries) so now "minpaku" is discussed in various places - on the Web, goverment, tenants of the apartment, or somewhere.

Sadly, some Japanese unwelcome to foregin traveler. My friend says everyday "Oh, lots of Chinese!" at Akihabara. However, he never complains to white and blacks. It's a real Japanese attitude(not my own).

If more Chinese come to Japan with Airbnb, Japanese will hold a serious discussions on Airbnb.