AirBNB and Middleman Economics

“If I own my place and go through efforts to find the most trustworthy tenant, only to have them make a profit by renting it to people that I have no visibility to... I would lose my mind.”

Knee-jerk reaction would seem like you're not charging the right rent and as a responsible landlord, you could know or at least account for that.  There’s more to that though. As a property owner, if it's the higher rent you seek, why not just AirBNB it out yourself?

We’re guessing most people don’t choose this option due to the hassle of running an AirBNB. Cleaning, prepping, dealing with inquiries, and other tasks are actually time consuming and have spawned off complimentary services (see: Urban Bellhop; Proprly).  Most property owners would rather not spend the minuta of this, and sometimes a renter finds the time well spent. Thus, a middle-man economy.

Sowell argues that the jealousy is historically quite common among ethnic groups who have had historic success as economic "middlemen" who derive a profit from the service of bringing needed items to the marketplace. Among other historically persecuted "middlemen minorities" were [Jewish], Lebanese, and Chinese immigrant merchants. The resentment is due to a perceived "lack of added value" that these middlemen provide, as it is not easily observable. (Black Rednecks and White Liberals)

Middle-man economies are hated all over the world. This mostly due to misconceptions of the value that they add and are often presided over by large cultural groups.  With the rise of tech, we see the rise of middle-man economies that are agnostic to the groups that run them.  They suffer the same consequences though.  See beyond the dollar lost, and instead look at the economic dollar gained. These economies do add value, if people like them or not. 

Shameless plug: If you're staying in Boston, check out my own AirBNB!