[davismwfl]

Yea, I've been doing this long before AirBnB existed, and actually I've never registered one of my properties with them.

In my state we have to pay monthly sales tax on rentals less than 6 months along with a number of other basic rules too (including insurance). But none of them are hard to follow, AirBnB violates them constantly however.

Making good money on vacation rentals in beachfront towns is very doable. We used to be able to buy cheap properties and rent them for $1-2k/week for vacation rentals, and they'd stay busy most of the year, meaning after expenses it was pretty easy to clear $2k if you bought right. Now that is not so easy given the cost of real-estate even with capital being fairly cheap.

edit: clarified the sales tax.