A year-old clampdown on Airbnb in New York City has created an exploding underground market for apartment rentals — and a handful of scrappy startups are attracting big-name investors as they look to grab listings that comply with the city’s new rules.including the awkward requirement that they be at home when guests are present — unless the rental period is longer than 30 days.
“Hey guys – Apologies but this group has been infiltrated by some lame startup started by these Chads who are paying people to post listing in the group,” wrote Ricky Berrin, the founder of a WhatsApp group called “NYC Home Sharing.”Elsewhere, Craigslist sent Ohana a cease-and-desist letter for recruiting prospective hosts away from the classifieds site. But Ohana’s investors see it as a badge of honor, according to CEO Ezra Gershanok.
Ohana has recruited more than 1,200 hosts from Airbnb alone since it was founded 18 months ago and is grabbing 500 hosts a month from across social media and the web, Gershanok said. It has cleared more than $2 million in rent payments. In a follow-up email to The Post Berrin said, “The group was not created as a way to get around the law,” adding “and I’d guess that a majority of the posts are actually month or longer rentals, including lease takeovers and annual leases.”