Holly Bartel

Short-term rentals, short-term gains

BELLOWS FALLS-I see as a huge problem the number of apartments and houses being used as short-term vacation rentals instead of by "real Vermonters" who need places to live.

I read of a wealthy young couple who had purchased more than a dozen properties here in Vermont - all for their own Airbnb profits.

I'm not sure how to cap Airbnb offerings here, but in my own little town of 3,000 people, there are nearly a thousand Airbnb spaces.

Some of these are just spare bedrooms, but a good amount are entire houses or apartments that have been taken off the market for people living and working in Vermont and made available only to vacationers.

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