To the editor:

With regard to the forthcoming short-term rental restrictions, a few thoughts.

Half of the houses in Lake Placid are second homes. Probably it can be safely assumed that many of these are the most expensive homes in the area, which certainly represents a lot of tax revenue for the town and village from people who probably don’t get a vote here. 

How many of these second homes are facilitated at least in part by their owners’ ability to rent them out when they are not there? How many of these second home owners may not be able to afford these homes if their ability to rent is heavily restricted?

What happens if there is a rush to sell these homes when these restrictions make their ownership untenable? Moreover, what happens if there is NOT a rush for anyone to buy them because they are: 

A. Unaffordable for any middle class homebuyers, or

B. Undesirable for new owners that can no longer rent them to offset the cost?

Couple this scenario with a potential future recession or housing downturn, and it doesn’t require much imagination to picture vacant or foreclosed houses instead of revelry filled tourist rentals.

There could foreseeably come a time when Lake Placid might be not so quick to turn away people and dollars from “out of town” that seek to own in or experience this area. In addition to which, local homeowners may come to regret being so quick to give up the right to rent out their own homes if they ever need to. 

Sven Curth

Lake Placid