Update on "Need a Place to Stay in Austin?"

One month to go before F1 Race Week and the nearest available Hotel/Motel rooms are in San Antonio! On the TV news this week a representative from Marble Falls, 60 miles down the road, said all the rooms there were booked.

But in spite of the demand, I think my plan to rent out the house during Race Week may not work out the way I hoped. You may recall that I had seen a number of properties come on the market for a one-week rental at outstandingly nice rates. We are talking 5 and 6 digit numbers here! Of course, these were outstandingly nice properties, so I was prepared to back off on the price just a touch; say, high 4 digits.

Well, my best offer to date is from a third cousin twice removed who said if the refrigerator was really well stocked, he might go as high as $20 bucks. He said three bedrooms and a couch was good for him, his wife and the seven kids; the mother-in-law and all the nieces and nephews might have to bunk in the camper in the driveway. I also found out that the twice-removed part has to do with prior evictions. Not looking good.

To make matters worse, I found out that our greedy City Fathers set the fee for the Short-Term Rental Permit at $476 bucks! And they wonder why only 19 permits have been issued when they expected 1,500! According to the paper, about half of the $476 registration cost is a $241 standard fee by the city’s planning department to notify neighbors of nearby projects. I figure I can walk next door and tell the jerk neighbor who parks his boat in front of my house for a whole lot less, but that still leaves $235 that I would have to shell out.

This is harder than it looked.