A few advertisements for Cape Cod summer homes posted online recently tempt potential renters with such teases as “adorable,” “Town Neck Cutie!,” and “Falmouth Harbor beauty” and more telling signs of these troubled times: “Reduced” and “Priced Right!”
Another ad, for two adjoining cottages in New Seabury that together have eight bedrooms and rent for $3,000 a week, was more blunt: “Beat the recession.”
“My place can sleep up to 20 people,” owner Don Gracy said of his two-cottage offer. “This is the year people want to get together. They don’t want to give up their vacation. And this is a good solution … because they can split the costs.”
Indeed, vacation rentals, which have long been considered bargains because you have a whole house, often for less per night than the price of nearby hotels, seem a particularly tempting option this year. In New England, rental agents say the mid-market units — those that rent for about $1,200-$2,000 a week — are so far slower to book for upcoming summer months than in years past.
“It’s the people who are worried about losing their jobs who want to hold off. Their friends have been laid off, or their neighbors,” said Audrey Miller, who for 16 years has rented homes and cottages in midcoast Maine through her business, Cottage Connection of Maine.
Miller is confident that bookings will be strong by later this spring, but others already are seeing signs that owners are nervous, and willing to bargain.
“A lot of people are panicking, and they are giving away those weeks,” said Carol Coholan of Cape Cod USA Real Estate, who listed several ads promoting discounted prices.
The vacation rental market, though, is vast and varied, and whether deals are available will depend on what type of rental you want, and where. Some segments, particularly more expensive homes and those in the most desired spots, are still booking strongly, and often at prices higher than last year.
David Boyce of Westborough, Mass., said his house in Chatham, Mass., is rented for all but two late-summer weeks, for $1,800 a week, slightly more than last year.
“We had no price pressure,” Boyce said.
Yet Jillian Hansen of Long Island, N.Y., is trying to speed business along with the property she and her family rent out in Brewster, Mass. She dropped the price to $1,600 a week, down a couple of hundred from last year, and is willing to deal if needed.
“I still think that in June we could put it on Craigslist at $1,200 a week and get somebody to rent it,” Hansen said.
Ski-season upturn
Bob Barnes, CEO of Zonder, which handles rental bookings for Orbitz and other companies, said that some New England rental owners benefited this ski season from the economic downturn.
With people less willing to fly across the country, they sought accommodations in the Northeast. That same trend should increase rental interest in New England this summer, Zonder said. At the same time, though, there are more properties available to rent. Kathy Harris of Century 21 Lakes Region Vacation Rentals in New Hampshire said the soft home sales market there has left owners holding those homes longer than they had expected.
“We have people renting their homes for two to four weeks just to pay some bills,” Harris said.
Ted Widmayer, an owner of two wooded rental properties near Boothbay Harbor in Maine that are booked through Cottage Connection, pointed out that the Internet has accelerated the booking of properties. At Craigslist, there are up to 70 new listings daily for the Cape alone.
Rental agents say they are confident that as summer nears, people will decide it is worth spending money to get away.
“Our customers who come up here, they need this vacation. Serious downtime with loved ones,” said Miller. Or, as Coholan puts it:
“A vacation is cheaper than a psychiatrist.”
Tom Haines can be reached at thaines@globe.com.
