Does the Accidental Landlord Trend Apply in the Lakes Region?

I follow Nikki Beauchamp on LinkedIn because we know each other through FIABCI, the International Real Estate Federation, a global real estate network. So when I saw her mention Terri Williams’s recent Forbes article, The Rise Of Accidental Landlords: Unsold Listings In The Rental Market, naturally my wheels started spinning. I wrote about this issue years ago when I was CEO of Global Property Systems in New York, before “accidental landlord” became the tidy little label for it. Which only underlines the point: the term may be newer, but the dilemma is not.

But as Dorothy reminded us, we’re not in Kansas anymore, and I’m certainly not in New York anymore. Which matters, because what looks like a sensible pivot in one market can be an entirely different animal here in New Hampshire’s Lakes Region.

The idea behind the so-called accidental landlord is simple enough. A homeowner puts a property on the market, does not get the result they hoped for, and instead of reducing the price or waiting it out, decides to rent the home. Nationally, that is happening more often. Zillow reports that 2.3% of homes listed for rent were previously listed for sale, which it says is the second-highest share in its nearly six-year record.

Does that mean the same thing is happening here? Not exactly in the same way, but the ingredients are certainly present.

In the Lakes Region, the more useful question is not whether accidental landlords exist. Of course they do. The better question is whether more sellers may be tempted to become landlords because homes are taking longer to sell while rents still look reasonably attractive on paper.

That part is supported by the numbers.

Belknap County currently shows a median home sale price of about $627,500, with median rent around $2,000 a month. Carroll County shows a median home sale price of about $595,000, with median rent also around $2,000 a month. At the same time, days on market are up sharply year over year in both counties, by 54.55% in Belknap and 44.62% in Carroll. Those are not collapse numbers. They are simply a reminder that some sellers may need more patience, better pricing discipline, or both.

And yes, I can already hear the internal monologue.

“If I can’t get my number, maybe I’ll just rent it.”

Sometimes that is a smart move. Sometimes it is a financial detour with a very confident haircut.

Because not every unsold property is a good rental candidate.

A home can be desirable to a buyer and still make very little sense as a long-term rental. A second home can have lifestyle appeal and still produce underwhelming rental math. A seasonal property may look charming in July and behave like a small revenge project in February. Taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance, snow removal, repairs, vacancies, turnover, and possible property management all need to be part of the calculation.

The local rent benchmarks help frame that reality. For 2026, the fair market rent for a two-bedroom unit is $1,800 in Belknap County and $1,709 in Carroll County. New Hampshire’s 2025 rental vacancy rate was 3.9%, which suggests rental supply remains relatively tight overall. But “tight market” and “good fit for this specific property” are not the same thing.

That is where sellers need to be brutally honest with themselves.

Are they choosing to rent because the property truly works as a rental?

Or are they choosing to rent because they do not want to accept the market’s feedback on price?

Those are not the same decision, even if they wear the same cardigan.

In the Lakes Region especially, that distinction matters. Our market includes waterfront homes, second homes, vacation properties, village homes, year-round residences, and houses that look wonderful in listing photos but become substantially less romantic when the furnace fails, the driveway needs plowing, or a tenant calls with news that is never delivered in a cheerful tone.

None of this means renting is a bad idea. For some owners, it may be exactly the right move. A well-located property with manageable expenses and strong year-round appeal may perform just fine as a rental while the owner waits for a better time to sell. But that decision should be based on strategy and numbers, not pride, fatigue, or the refusal to cut a price the market has already politely declined.

That, to me, is what makes this national story worth revisiting locally. Terri Williams’s Forbes article captures a real national trend. But here in the Lakes Region, the more useful takeaway is this: if your home does not sell, renting it out may be an option, but it is not automatically the smarter one.

Sometimes the best move is to hold and rent.

Sometimes the best move is to improve presentation, adjust expectations, and sell.

The trick is knowing which problem you are actually trying to solve.

If you are weighing whether to sell, rent, or hold a property in the Lakes Region, it helps to evaluate the numbers, the risks, and the real-life workload before making that call. Because the gap between “backup plan” and “business plan” can be rather expensive. Any of our agents will be happy to help you evaluate the options before you commit to the wrong strategy.