The neighbors keep changing

/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/BR_web_311x311.jpeg

Meet the city’s silent ambassadors — owners of upscale condominiums, houses in quaint neighborhoods, even a converted corncrib near Indianola — who earn income by renting their properties and promoting the delights of Greater Des Moines.

In a recent review of online listings, there were nearly 400 such properties offered as short-term rentals to out-of-towners who find most of the listings on websites typically associated with vacation destinations: Airbnb and VRBO.

Property owners are trying to fill extra space in their own houses or turn a buck through investing in a separate rental property. Local real estate agent Rick Grubb is an example of the latter; he owns a condominium atop the Kirkwood Building downtown that he rents to visitors.

Read the rest of this article and more from the new May/June dsm Magazine here.