Wealthy friends spamming their beachfront vacation home rentals on Facebook - beyond tacky, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We post ours now and again. It’s an investment so we rent it out, if we get last min cancellations we will offer a deal to friends/family. Not sure what your issue is OP?

We've always done the bolded -- sometimes at no charge to who's staying there.

We prefer that the property is used consistently, as friends of ours have had the biggest nightmares happened to them when the property had a vacancy of no more than 2 to 3 weeks in a row.

There have been everything from robberies to a stranger forging a one year rental agreement on the home, moving their stuff in & refusing to leave... and the police wouldn't get involved because it was a "civil" manner.

If you all don't think that this can't happen to you, in the home you own & live in right now (not just a vacation homes) you're sadly naive & mistaken.
All these con artists would have to do, is wait for you to leave for an extended period of time, like an 8 hour work day or a weekend, and you'll come home the find the locks changed and the "tenant" refuses to speak with you or open the door, and then THEY threaten to call the police on YOU.

So, the police show up & won't do a damn thing to help, because the "tenant" will produce a (forged) lease & (forged) receipt of payment for a year's rent that looks legit. The police won't know who to believe, so they'll tell you all to take it up in court... and courts are still so backed up due to covid, cases are being scheduled 6 - 12 months out. In the meantime, you have to hire a lawyer AND find someplace else for you and your family to stay until the court date comes -- meanwhile, they're living in your home, using your furniture, going through your private property & valuables, and you cannot do a thing about it, because they never leave the home so that you can claim it back.

It took those friends almost 13 months and over $20,000 in attorney's fees just to get their home back - on top of that, they lost all of the revenue for the entire summer season & had to keep paying the mortgage in the property.

Other friends had their beach house robbed when the home was vacant for two full weeks due to cancelations.
In that time, the thieves were able to get in and out a few times without detection, and by the time the homeowners were notified of the break in (by the next family who were there to rent it) it was weeks later and there was no hope of catching who did it.
Plus, they had to reimburse the people who had come to the home that weekend, because the basement door had been jimmied open, and they would have no way of securing the property (our friends had the cleaning people come right after the previous renters left, assuming the house would be rented again by the very next people (who were scheduled to arrive in a few hours) but those people cancelled, so the house sat empty & clean for two full weeks -- that's why the new renters were the ones who found it broken into).

Yes, they had a RING, for their front door & patio door, but the basement door is neither viewable nor accessible to someone who just walks up to the house from off the street and decides to randomly rob it (you'd have to be aware of the finer details of the property & the property's intricate layout to find that door) so they didn't think to put a RING on it, because literally nobody outside of the family could used that door... like ever. Not even the renters.
The renters could see the door, but didn't have a key to open it.
The police assumed it was a previous VRBO renter, because no body else could know where to break in to avoid the cameras and also not be detected by neighbors.

I'd much rather have a friend or family member stay at my place for free, because after hearing so many stories (I just told you two, but we know of dozens more).
IMO, someone physically staying at my house is actually doing me a favor, so I'm happy not to charge them.

Lawyers of DCUM, please calm my anxiety and tell me the above horror story couldn't actually happen to me. A random robber couldn't come squat in my home for 13 months just by breaking in, changing the locks and printing up a fake lease agreement.

Also PP, how do you know dozens of stories like this?

We're part of a listserv of about a thousand different owners that have rental properties at the beaches of Bethany, Rehoboth, OC, Lewes, Dewey & Fenwick.

[Anonymous]

They have the money to afford these homes because they are avoiding the management fees typically associated with rental/management agencies. I am not on Facebook and hate Facebook but I have zero issues with people doing this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We post ours now and again. It’s an investment so we rent it out, if we get last min cancellations we will offer a deal to friends/family. Not sure what your issue is OP?

We've always done the bolded -- sometimes at no charge to who's staying there.

We prefer that the property is used consistently, as friends of ours have had the biggest nightmares happened to them when the property had a vacancy of no more than 2 to 3 weeks in a row.

There have been everything from robberies to a stranger forging a one year rental agreement on the home, moving their stuff in & refusing to leave... and the police wouldn't get involved because it was a "civil" manner.

If you all don't think that this can't happen to you, in the home you own & live in right now (not just a vacation homes) you're sadly naive & mistaken.
All these con artists would have to do, is wait for you to leave for an extended period of time, like an 8 hour work day or a weekend, and you'll come home the find the locks changed and the "tenant" refuses to speak with you or open the door, and then THEY threaten to call the police on YOU.

So, the police show up & won't do a damn thing to help, because the "tenant" will produce a (forged) lease & (forged) receipt of payment for a year's rent that looks legit. The police won't know who to believe, so they'll tell you all to take it up in court... and courts are still so backed up due to covid, cases are being scheduled 6 - 12 months out. In the meantime, you have to hire a lawyer AND find someplace else for you and your family to stay until the court date comes -- meanwhile, they're living in your home, using your furniture, going through your private property & valuables, and you cannot do a thing about it, because they never leave the home so that you can claim it back.

It took those friends almost 13 months and over $20,000 in attorney's fees just to get their home back - on top of that, they lost all of the revenue for the entire summer season & had to keep paying the mortgage in the property.

Other friends had their beach house robbed when the home was vacant for two full weeks due to cancelations.
In that time, the thieves were able to get in and out a few times without detection, and by the time the homeowners were notified of the break in (by the next family who were there to rent it) it was weeks later and there was no hope of catching who did it.
Plus, they had to reimburse the people who had come to the home that weekend, because the basement door had been jimmied open, and they would have no way of securing the property (our friends had the cleaning people come right after the previous renters left, assuming the house would be rented again by the very next people (who were scheduled to arrive in a few hours) but those people cancelled, so the house sat empty & clean for two full weeks -- that's why the new renters were the ones who found it broken into).

Yes, they had a RING, for their front door & patio door, but the basement door is neither viewable nor accessible to someone who just walks up to the house from off the street and decides to randomly rob it (you'd have to be aware of the finer details of the property & the property's intricate layout to find that door) so they didn't think to put a RING on it, because literally nobody outside of the family could used that door... like ever. Not even the renters.
The renters could see the door, but didn't have a key to open it.
The police assumed it was a previous VRBO renter, because no body else could know where to break in to avoid the cameras and also not be detected by neighbors.

I'd much rather have a friend or family member stay at my place for free, because after hearing so many stories (I just told you two, but we know of dozens more).
IMO, someone physically staying at my house is actually doing me a favor, so I'm happy not to charge them.

I can see this happening in a vacation home, but it seems pretty wild that anyone would try this in an actively lived in home. Wouldn’t neighbors notice? Are they going to start taking care of the pets that live there? If you take over my home you’re going to have to administer meds to an elderly dog and scoop my cat’s litter. Also, wouldn’t your neighbors vouch on your behalf that you had just been living there that earlier that day?

And it seems like breaking and entering by forged document would in fact be a criminal matter.

[Anonymous]

I interpret it as a humble brag. A subtle way of informing everyone you know that you own a multi-million dollar beach house.

[Anonymous]

This thread so perfectly illustrates the fundamental social problem of Facebook.

The PPs talking about the many valid, non-braggy, practical reasons to reach out to friends and family to fill up rentals in a vacation home are right. This was also a thing before Facebook, and it's not a big deal. It's a way of maximizing usage of the vacation property, getting renters you trust and who will treat the home more gently, reducing management fees, etc. It's fine.

But other people are right that getting lots of posts about this in your feed on social media, and watching in real time as your friends who own a second home rent it out to other friends who are happy to spend thousands on a vacation rental would indeed feel kind of crappy if you don't have enough money to do either.

The people saying "you're just jealous" are right -- it is jealousy -- but their judgment of that jealousy is silly. It's normal to be jealous when a bunch of your friends and family are sort of loudly declaring that they have more money than you and get to spend it on things you can't afford. Jealousy is the most normal, human reaction to this. Some people might be better at handling their jealousy than others, using everything from compartmentalization to spirituality or mindfulness to a gratitude practice to simply thinking of all the ways the people they are jealous of are inferior to them. But the jealousy itself is very normal.

And that's what Facebook does. It takes normal behaviors and combines them in ways that encourage conflict. There is nothing inherently wrong with owning a second home or renting it out to friends, just as there's nothing wrong with being proud of your kids, going on vacation and wanting to share photos, wanting to celebrate a promotion or a new house, wanting to complain about how long home renovations are taking, etc. And there's also nothing inherently wrong with not wanting to hear about any of those things in a particular moment because it triggers jealousy or comparison. But Facebook throws this all together and exposes everyone to all of it. That's the part that's not normal. Pre-Facebook, your friend with the vacation home would send an email, and if you weren't interested you could just say "thanks for including us but no thank you!" and they could take you off the email. And then the entire problem would be solved for everyone. But thanks to Facebook, the whole thing happens in this virtual public square where you will see it even if you have no interest (unless you block/unfollow but then you might miss other things that don't annoy you).

The problem is Facebook. It's always the problem! Everyone involved is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve had a vacation home for 15 years and just let friends use it without payment. I could not imagine charging someone for its use.

Same here..we just ask them to take care of the place and to pay the our out of pocket nominal property management fee. We don't want to profit off family and friends. We are just happy enjoy it. Otherwise, it would just stay empty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are these people really that hard up for cash? I really don't think they are. Look at us, in addition to our local mansion, we have a vacation home one of the proles in our social media friend group can give us thousands of dollars to use when we don't feel like driving there. And the families we know doing this are actually nice, so it's bizarre how tacky and obnoxious they are in this regard. And no, they're not over-extended. It's just greed, I guess?

If they bought a vacation home in a hot spot in the past year or two, they're a) probably seeing their property value take a nose dive and b) AirBnB books are down vis-a-vis a 1-2 years ago, so though they may not be underwater per se, it may not be making as much $$$ as anticipated at time of buying.....thus extra marketing needed....and thus2, frequenting it on FB. Maybe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve had a vacation home for 15 years and just let friends use it without payment. I could not imagine charging someone for its use.

Same here..we just ask them to take care of the place and to pay the our out of pocket nominal property management fee. We don't want to profit off family and friends. We are just happy enjoy it. Otherwise, it would just stay empty.

The cleaning and maintenance and wear and tear is too much to dole out free vacations to friends and family. I don’t know anyone with their own (nice) beach house (ie: not a condo!) who gives away free beach vacations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the big deal? Does this really make you angry? Do their posts take away from the quality of your life?

It’s shameless, tacky, and greedy. Sorry your “side hustle” makes you look like uncouth hard-up trash.

Wow. Harsh

Your statement says more about you than their looking for renters.

[Anonymous]

Get rich quick real estate investor influencer content dominates every social media app. Every other moron SAHM thinks they’re a flipper, slum lord, or Airbnb kingpin.

[Anonymous]

It wouldn't occur to me that this is tacky/or a boast.

We have several properties and rent to anyone- but friends know/love our style and hygiene level so have enjoyed renting our homes in the past, and we know their respectful nature/hygiene level and are happy to have them in our homes.

And we have also posted the free blocks if we have openings- if anyone is interested. Not that big of a deal. Friends have ended up buying places near ours- or vice versa when we like the area after checking it out.

Like any social media, if not interested, keep scrolling. It's not that deep.

[Anonymous]

I would prefer that people post in a way that isn’t bratty. Like a link and a location and one sentence description and availability. It’s just the long ones with 30 photos and a full description that seem over the top. If I’m interested Ill click a link.

[Anonymous]

They're probably hoping to get friends to rent it . . . then they know they're not going to be party-ers who wreck the place.

I don't think it's tacky. You chose to be friends with this person on social media. They have no idea that you begrudge them their blessings rather than cheer for them.

I don't think it's a universal experience to feel angry and envious when people post nice things. It's probably a bell curve, with 10% of people being ridiculously overjoyed for other people when they see these posts, and 10% of people being angry and bitter, and most people being mostly "meh." My point is that you can't expect other people to avoid posting this stuff when the majority of people are happy for them, or indifferent. You can simply solve your problem by getting off of social media or unfollowing them.

But life is short, eh? Is judging people's posts how you want to have spent it?

[Anonymous]

One thing that bears mention is that some rich people are incredibly cheap and stingy. They have no problem charging $1500 for one hour of their billable time, but when it comes to tipping properly at a restaurant or giving proper gifts to their secretary for a holiday or birthday, they just can't do it. In that same mindset, they feel the need to extract every dollar they can from their vacation homes, even if they don't need the money.

I am certainly not saying that all rich people are like this, but some definitely are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They're probably hoping to get friends to rent it . . . then they know they're not going to be party-ers who wreck the place.

I don't think it's tacky. You chose to be friends with this person on social media. They have no idea that you begrudge them their blessings rather than cheer for them.

I don't think it's a universal experience to feel angry and envious when people post nice things. It's probably a bell curve, with 10% of people being ridiculously overjoyed for other people when they see these posts, and 10% of people being angry and bitter, and most people being mostly "meh." My point is that you can't expect other people to avoid posting this stuff when the majority of people are happy for them, or indifferent. You can simply solve your problem by getting off of social media or unfollowing them.

But life is short, eh? Is judging people's posts how you want to have spent it?

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