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Bookings for summer home rentals on the rise By ETHAN ZINDLER Published: April 6, 2005 The Cape's summer home rental market appears ready to rebound from one of the toughest seasons in memory. Rental agents across the region say bookings are up over last year. But cautious owners, combined with a flood of new available properties, are helping keep a lid on rents. Home rentals are considered an early harbinger of how the region's economy will fare over the crucial summer months. "Things are starting to perk up now," said Joe Steele of Steele Associates Real Estate in East Dennis last week. "Percentage-wise, a majority of our places are better booked compared to last year." That's a relief considering 2004's results. Steele said rentals last summer dropped from the prior year by 10 percent. He blamed the economy. "People were walking on eggshells," he said. "They didn't know if they were going to have jobs or if they were going to move." Conditions appear to have improved since. In February, the jobless rate in Massachusetts fell to 4.9 percent, down from 5.5 percent for the same month a year ago. (Both figures are seasonally adjusted.) The stronger job market appears to have done more than convince ambivalent renters to get off the fence. It has also made upgrades more appealing. "Last summer was probably the slowest year - possibly ever," said Sandy Bee of Pine Acres Realty in Chatham, which is offering 240 properties for the coming season. Through the first quarter of 2005, the phones have been ringing more, she said. And often callers are seeking bigger, and more luxurious homes. "It seems that people want more in a house, they want nicer houses on the beach," she said. "We've gotten a lot of inquiries about bigger houses, a lot families inquiring about houses for 10 people or more and those are hard to come by." The demand for spiffier properties is good news for recent homebuyers, who have invested plenty in their second homes and are looking to defray mortgage payments by renting their summer home for a few weeks. Not so for longtime owners who have put little into their homes over the years. "The old Cape Cod cottage-y houses aren't renting," said Bee. "People want the Pottery Barn furniture and fresh paint." Statistics from home rental site WeNeedaVacation.com, which lists 2,400 Cape and islands summer rentals, suggests the top of the market is tighter than last year. "On the Cape, homes on the beach are booking four times faster than homes not on the beach," wrote site founder Jeff Talmadge in a recent email. "In sum, vacationers seem inclined to spend more this upcoming summer, and homeowners seem to realize it because they are holding prices." Overall traffic to WeNeedaVacation.com is up substantially from 2004, said Talmadge. The stock of available Cape and islands rentals has grown by 541 properties since this time last year, a 29 percent gain. Both agents and Web site operators agree the Internet has dramatically affected how renters approach finding a house. That has meant a reshuffling of the rental calendar, and of expectations. "It used to be at the end of March we were pretty much booked for the end of the season," said Dennis Murphy, owner of Donahue Real Estate in Falmouth. He expects 500 rental bookings for the summer season and is halfway there so far. "Last year, we had our best April, May and June ever." In addition to allowing potential renters to wait the market out, the Internet has empowered them in choosing a property, said Robert Fontaine, a real estate specialist with CapeCodRental.com, a site owned by the Cape Cod Times. On the flip side, it has meant that homeowners have had to set rents more carefully. "There is a price ceiling that is pretty simple," said Fontaine. "Don't charge $200 more than the guy next to you if you want to get all the weeks filled."Copyright, 2005, Cape Cod Times. All Rights Reserved.
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