I mean, if the relationship can’t survive the long term, why on earth would it be worth my time and energy for the short term?
– Nicholas Sparks, The Last Song
After another bone-chilling Ohio winter, I’ve decided to go as far south as one can in the continental United States to escape next year’s cold. I’m currently looking for a “pet friendly” short-term rental in the Florida Keys.
A Brief History of Short-Term Rentals (STR’s)
Admittedly, my experience with STR’s is rather limited. Until VRBO began in 1995, like most vacationers, I relied on real estate and travel agencies to book extended stays in unfamiliar locations. My first exposure to an STR came in 2000 when my sister and I vacationed with our families in Tuscany. We were able to rent a fully restored 12th Century villa I saw listed in the classified section of a legal journal. After adjusting to the fact that arrangements like these came with few if any “hotel” services, I got hooked on the idea of spending a week or more in a luxurious home that would otherwise be off limits.
As the internet grew, so too did booking services associated with STR’s. Today, more than 2 million properties are listed every year through VRBO and Airbnb – representing a $20 billion industry[i]. The public now considers renting a private residence a cost-effective alternative to hotel lodging.
Complaints About STR’s
This trend is not without its critics, however. Homeowners in neighborhoods besieged by STR visitors often complain that these short termers lack any connection with their communities and don’t care how their behavior affects others.[ii] This criticism has caused some local governments to limit or prohibit STR’s or to revise their ordinances to discourage these arrangements.[iii]
While it’s not entirely clear whether the rise of STR’s has contributed to the Nation’s housing shortage, there is credible evidence that STR’s in some communities do increase rents for those who live and work there year-round.
Regardless of the impact of STR’s on housing in general, the short-term rental phenomenon sheds light on a more important issue in today’s society. That is the increasing impermanence of business and personal relationships.
How Personal Transportation Has Changed
Consider car ownership. How many people still own the vehicles they drive, much less know how to change the oil? Apart from the prodigious use of rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft, recent data show that 62% of all new cars in the US are purchased by a distinctly older segment of society (ages 55 to 75). Everyone else either buys a secondhand car or uses some form of long-term financing or leasing that fits his or her monthly budget. With the average new car payment now exceeding $750 per month, Americans are also holding onto their cars much longer than they have since the Great Depression.
Ironically, the trend away from car ownership is in part due to the improved quality, safety and efficiency of cars built today compared to 50 years ago. Setting aside environmental considerations, the amount of digital technology that goes into every vehicle is the biggest contributor to rising automotive costs. Routine car maintenance now requires the involvement of software engineers more than traditional car mechanics. Indeed, there’s very little maintenance a driver can safely do other than refill the window washing solution every so often.
The Smart Phone Racket
I’m old enough to remember when federal regulations first allowed people to own their own telephone equipment. Until 1983, those old-fashioned wall phones (and the occasional Princess) were owned by monopolistic telephone companies which only provided these devices under fixed service agreements. I remember a few of my college classmates coming to school with bootleg phones and somehow managing to connect them to the dorm’s telephone system. The rest of us were forced to carry a pocketful of change and use the limited number of pay phones on campus. But, for a time, most homeowners were free to own their own telephones if they wanted advanced features like the “answering machine” or speed dial.
Then everything changed with the introduction of mobile phones in the 1990s. After the break-up of Ma Belle, telecom companies discovered a new way to continue their monopolistic practices. This time they enjoyed a more favorable regulatory environment. To entice new customers, telecom companies provided them with deeply discounted handheld devices so long as they committed to long-term service agreements. But once the cost of replacing a “flip phone” with a full-featured smartphone crossed the $1,000 threshold, consumers had no choice but to bundle the financing of their new devices into multi-year service agreements. Trapped by punitive exit provisions, cell phone customers became addicted to getting the latest model Apple or Android device every year. Once again, consumers found themselves stuck in an endless series of expensive, short-term rentals.
Knowing the Difference Between Things That Last and Things That Don’t
There’s nothing inherently wrong with acquiring something for short-term use. Since the 18th Century, keeping a small pied-a-terre in the city has been a symbol of wealth and sophistication. Moreover, if someone only needed a truck to move his kid into an apartment or a pressure washer to clean his deck once a year, he wasn’t expected to buy something he might never use again.
On the other hand, a measure of freedom is sacrificed whenever one’s dominion over something – from a house to a power tool – is preconditioned upon another’s ownership rights. We’ve gone from a society where less than 40% of homes were mortgaged a hundred years ago[iv] to today where most Americans are saddled with heavy debt, carrying an average of $230,905 in mortgage debt.[v] Added to that is a mountain of credit card, auto loan and student loan debt. It’s easy to see why 77% of Americans report feeling stressed by their financial circumstances.[vi]
It may be unreasonable to expect people to manage their finances the way their grandparents and great-grandparents did, but there’s no reason why they can’t try to simplify their lives. How many different streaming subscriptions does a family really need? Does any non-commercial user really need internet download speeds of 10,000 Mbps or more?[vii] With the price of 100 inch ultra-high-definition screens now below $2,000, when does a room size video display become simply too big for the typical home?
The Illusion of Permanence
It’s not the impermanence of having the latest tech toy or splurging occasionally on a bucket list experience that harms us. Rather, it’s the illusion that those things last when they don’t. The eagerness of creditors to provide consumers “easy” but protracted payment terms has transformed us into a nation of serfs. Klaus Schwab may be proven right about people not owing anything in the New World Order. At the very least, we seem to have grown accustomed to satisfying our most basic material needs on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Whether our tenure here turns out to be long or short-term, there is much wisdom in these words of Muhammed Ali:
Service to others is the rent we pay for our room here on earth.
When my time is up, I hope I will be remembered for what I did for others, not the number rollover minutes on my Verizon plan.
[i] John Clayton, “A natural history of short-term rental lodging,” Natural Stories – Substack, March 19, 2024.
[ii] “What is Short-term Rental Abuse?”, www.keepneighborhoodsfirst.org/what_is_short_term_rental_abuse.
[iii] S. Calder-Wang, C. Farronato, A. Fradkin, “What Does Banning Short-Term Rentals Really Accomplish?”, Harvard Business Review, February 14, 2024.
[iv] https://usa.ipums.org (homes in the US 1890 to 1920)
[v] Ramsay Solutions, “Average American Debt”, May 13, 2024.
[vi] Alexandria White, “77% of Americans are anxious about their financial situation”, CNBC, January 28, 2025.
[vii] Peter Holsin, “How to Get Gigbit Internet”, HighSpeedInternet.com, March 18, 2025.
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