This week, I rented one of the most notorious party houses in Austin and invited some of the neighbors over for a chat to ask a few questions. Where do the rights of property owners to rent out their homes end, and where do those of quiet-loving neighbors begin? Do all home shoppers now need to be on the lookout for nearby problem properties? And if so, what might happen to home values when revelers can bunk up next door on any given night?

These are not new questions. In resort areas in particular, people have been renting out investment properties for ages. What’s new is how easy it has become for people to make money by listing rooms or homes and for visitors to save money by staying there. This is particularly true in good-time destinations like Austin, Nashville, New Orleans and other bigger cities.

When Austin tried to bring some order to the proceedings three years ago, it limited the number of unrelated people who could stay in one place at one time to six. (It also capped the number of certain listings in many neighborhoods, albeit with a loophole that has allowed many unregistered properties to hit the market.)