Sharks, Taxes May Be Impacting Summer Rental Profits On Cape Cod
HARWICH (CBS) - Sharks and taxes may both be taking a bite out of summer rental profits on the Cape. "This is not Florida where you've got four, five, six months of rentals, you've got eight weeks to make it," said Ed Wnorowski of Kentucky.
For the last 27 years, Ed Wnorowski has owned a home in Harwich. He says they typically rent it out for five or six weeks,
"We've only had one week occupied in July and August we have no rentals going forward," said Wnorowski.
Wnorowski thinks the state's new tax on short term rentals has something to do with it. He's fortunate the house is paid off and says the rentals mostly cover extra costs.
Not everyone is in the same situation. Many people on the Cape rely on the rental income.
"This helps pay for their mortgage, helps pay their taxes, helps pay the upkeep of the property and now they don't have that income coming in," said Mike Ulrich, of Cape Cod Associates Real Estate.
Ulrich says their vacation rentals are down about 25%. He believes sharks and the new tax are to blame. The short term rental tax differs depending on the municipality.
"We have a blast we've been out here ten years three families come down," said Andrew Godfried of Danvers.
Andrew Godfried isn't happy about the added tax, but says it won't stop their vacation tradition.
"It's Massachusetts I'm expecting at some point to have some sort of tax come on something that you don't really understand where the money goes," said Godfried.