Laconia Short Term Rentals
 

Any ideas on where this is headed?

https://www.laconiadailysun.com/news...0aab89b50.html

Air bnb just doesn't affect housing/rental availability for working residents, it is a quality of life issue for neighborhoods. How would you like to live next to a short term rental that has new tenants every week who party until 3:00 a.m.....btw, how have shore front towns dealt with this issue in regards to summer vacation rentals for the past umpteen years? I, for one, would be bull***t if I owned a lakefront home next to a rental.

To me as a potential buyer planning on purchasing and moving back onto the lake within the next 12-18 months (unless I find what I want sooner) this just makes me further cross Laconia off my list to even look at.

Disagree, this is a good thing. Condo associations should be excluded because they have their own rules on rentals. However, homes in neighborhoods are the issue. Noise, trash, and parking appear to be the top complaints. If a owner is responsible and handles the problems as they arise there appears to be support. It was when the absent owner that refused to address the problems is what started this whole thing.


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To look at it from a different perspective: What if the owner occupied home next door to you was purchased by someone you couldn't get along with. Their family disturbed you and they had large groups of noisy visitors every weekend. All you could do was grin and put up with it. No matter how many times you tried to reason with the neighbor it never got better. You would be stuck long term and your only option would be to sell your house and move.

At least with weekly rentals if there is a problem family they are gone in a week. A bad neighbor lasts forever!

Just a different perspective.

Taxes
 

I would cross Laconia off your list because of taxes. Since we built our home in 2008, our taxes have gone from $8,000 per year to $13,500 per year. The taxes are outrageous. I would look at Meredith, Moultonborough or Alton.

The future is not bright for Laconia. The tax situation going forward will only worsen.

Why as a property owner would you put up with your abutters in the example given. I would have the city and law enforcement on speed dial till the issue is resolved. You must protect what is yours. Those looking to avoid conflict will always lose ground to bullies, and that is what neighbors and property owners that allow this to continue are, bullies


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You said a mouthful!!! A bad neighbor does last forever. I have witnessed this first hand several times. I have found the weekly renters were more behaved than the actual owner

My current neighbor rents his 7 bedroom house out to very large groups of people literally every week of the summer. I always said to him wow man your house must get destroyed with all the renters in and out and his comment has always been "everyone's afraid of losing their security deposit and getting a bad rating." He said years back it was much worse but now a days there is little to no issues with his renters. When I travel and rent places I certainly keep it clean and civil to avoid losing my deposit!

I gotta ask (seriously): why do you still live there? I can't remember a single positive comment from you about Laconia.

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I don't think Laconia is all that bad...

The Laconia tax rate has increased from $18.04/1000 in 2009 to $20.86/1000 in 2019 an increase of about 15.6% over 10 years... not too bad considering if the tax rate kept up with inflation we would be seeing a 19.6% increase over that same time frame.

If your taxes jumped in 10 years from $8000 to $13,500.... a 69% jump, I am pretty sure your home value has risen substantially.

Woodsy

The answer is simple. We love our home, and can afford the taxes right now. We built our dream home in Long Bay, which is very nice. Things will change, however, when I stop working, which isn't for another 10 years or so.

Had I known that Laconia would invest in Section 8 housing and drug rehab centers rather than investing in infrastructure to bring working families into the area, I would have not built our home in Laconia.

You hit the nail on the head. Although our home isn't on the water, it's part of Long Bay. The assessment of properties on or near the water is higher than assessment of properties in the city. Our home value is not any more now than it was in 2008. The assessment has increased.

We owned a condo in Laconia for almost 10 years and we never had any issues with any weekly renters in nearby units and never received any complaints about ours. I found the shorter the rental the less issues we had with people getting too comfortable or making messes so I loved 2-night rentals! We had multiple issues with winter renters in our complex ranging from loud parties to putrid odors and smoke. As others have noted when there are problem renters it's nice that they are gone after a few days instead of having to deal with them for months or years!

Facts and Fiction
 

I also think about some of the facts I saw in the article. It says there are between 200 and 300 properties up for rent on Air BnB in Laconia but I didn't see nearly that number when i went online to see how many there were. The number far is less than 100. Most of them were also not in residential neighborhoods. Someone stated that kids no longer ride their bikes up and down the street anymore and blamed that on the rental market (?) - what? Have you compared the crime rates and registered sex offenders that live in Laconia vs. other towns on the lake? I think that is a MUCH bigger factor and the reality of the situation. It just seems odd that there are maybe 5 noise/trash/parking complaints related to rental properties so the town is going after all rental properties. Using the same logic - I suppose it's the fire departments responsibility to keep the town wet at all times. Makes no sense. Address complaints as they come up - the other 98% of the rental owners who do things the right way will never be a problem. Final point...why are short term renters equated to party houses? My family has rented property in Laconia several times and we enjoyed the property with my children and parents. We weren't kicking up volume and staying up all night :look: - most renters I would think, are like us.