Are YOU interested in investing in residential real estate?  If so, there’s one more threat to your property value that didn’t exist before a few years ago… but it’s a big one.  And you have companies like AirBNB, VRBO, HomeAway and CraigsList to thank for it.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you all about it RIGHT NOW in Episode 146.----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like YOU!Imagine this:  You’ve bought a great house in Austin, Texas… or Tuscaloosa, Alabama… or San Diego, California… or Tallahassee, Florida… or Boise, Idaho… or Seattle, Washington… or any of hundreds of other cities ALL OVER America…It’s a good house in a good neighborhood.  It’s certainly a Class A property… the type of place that would be entirely suitable for you and our own family to live in.  This isn’t a war zone.  This is a place with walkable streets and obvious local pride.Your hopes are high.  You’re going to rent out that property, make a little cash flow, and build some equity.  You’re chasing financial freedom… and you’re doing it in a very responsible way.Except, the phone isn’t ringing.  It seems that nobody wants to lease that house from you.  And you just can’t understand why.That’s when you learn something interesting:  The house next door… and one several doors down… they’re listed on one of those services – like AirBNB, VRBO, HomeAway, and, of course, CraigsList – that allow home owners to rent out their houses on a short-term basis.  These services enable homeowners to begin running their own hotel service right in their own home…. The home that’s in the same neighborhood as your home.No big deal, right?That’s right… except for one thing:  Your property is located in a city that’s a common vacation destination… or home to a very popular college or pro football team… or it’s convenient to a huge venue where events are held on a regular basis like Madison Square Garden or the Georgia Dome or Staples Center…And because of that proximity, those short-term rental properties that are in the same neighborhood as your property are very, VERY popular… and because of the nature of the reason why people come to town, there’s one common theme for those short-term visitor:  They’re coming to town to PARTY.Hey, we all love a good party.  No doubt about it.  But there are limits… and when that party happens over and over… disturbing the peace in your neighborhood and making your property undesirable to renters or buyers, then that translates into a very real problem:  The potential for declining property values.My friends, this is a real phenomenon.  The latest press coverage of it was this past Friday in the New York Times… and the coverage wasn’t kind to those renting their houses out in this way.Clearly, AirBnB… maybe the biggest of the services who specialize in these short-term rentals… recognizes that there’s a problem. They’ve set up a neighbor hotline to call if there are problems.  But the reality is, there’s simply not much that AirBnB can do.Austin, Texas – a very popular destination – tried to tackle the problem by stipulating that no more than 6 unrelated people could stay in any of these homes at any one time.  But that effort was thwarted by short-term renters of these properties, who had apparently been coached to tell local law enforcement that they weren’t actually “staying” in the property, just visiting… and some others claimed to be cousins or other distant relatives, thus technically satisfying the rule in a manner that couldn’t easily be disproven by police.The net result in Austin:  Regulation has done little to stem the tide of disrespect of neighbors by users of short-term rentals.To be certain, not every AirBnB or HomeAway client is a disrespectful partier.  Far from it.  But you know that it doesn’t take too many nights of disturbed sleep for one to lose patience with this type of behavior… and quite justifiably so.What can we observe from this?One thing is that you should