[mattmanser]

For me, I don't bother with terms of < 6 months for rentals...I don't do commercial

Well there you go. The standard in residential is 6 months - year, so what are you talking about?

It sounds like someone trashed your residential house and you're personally angry about it.

Being screwed over is a risk of doing any business and you can't take it personally. Some people will screw you over, not pay invoices, bills, etc.

You can't base all your future dealings off that one event.

[roel_v]

What? How can that be what you take away from my post? I don't know what geographic area you know about and if 6 months to a year are anything but exceptions there, but my whole point was that short term (< 1 year) rentals don't make financial sense, unless you put a big premium on it. The premium would be 100% or so (as I said, for others, who can be bothered, which I can't), whereas the discount for >5 years is 0, or 5% at best.

Nobody trashed any of my properties, and the disputes I had were settled in my favor by the courts. I'm a lawyer, I can take care of myself. My point wasn't about me - it was about illustrating that short term rentals don't make financial sense at the rates people expect, and that most prospective tenants don't see that. Everybody thinks that real estate is easy money, but it's very competitive, the margins are slim and one decision on who to rent to can make or break your ROI for that year.