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Peters Real Estate.us |
Things to Know Before You Look For A Cottage
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are some basic rules of survival when hunting for a summer
cottage. The following info about our area and renting might
help, but if it doesn't, let us know. We can work with you to
find a cottage that fits your needs. Get to know the area Our end of Cape Cod has Atlantic Ocean and Cape Cod Bay beaches. Our ocean's colder than anything you've ever been in before except our ocean, or Maine and points north. It peaks at 64 degrees in mid-August. Our bay is NOT the Chesapeake. It's no where near as large, and the water circulates and is freshened twice a day, So if you've hard stories about not wanting the bay side, they weren't talking about the Outer Cape. Know what there is to do here beside going to the beach, too. Otherwise. On a rainy day, you might find yourselves one of the cars in a long, crawling caravan creeping toward that point in Provincetown where the police stop you and send you home because all the parking spaces are full. Every town offers a brochure and/or web site, usually under the auspices of the local Chamber of Commerce. (the same organizations that operate the Information Booths in the summer and provide so many good ideas for what to see and do). These are great sources for studying what the different towns have to offer and getting an idea of what to do while you're here. Lists of member restaurants, for instance, will lead you to web sites with menus. The Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce and the Cape Cod National Seashore are other good sources for activities that stretch beyond where you'll be staying. Options for arriving and departing are limited. Some people ask for dates other than the traditional Saturday to Saturday rental. We do understand about non-standard work schedules, religious preferences, and your mother-in-law's birthday. However, most places are locked into schedules. There are several reasons that rentals go Saturday to Saturday. First, we have to rent by the week, whatever day it starts and ends on. In Massachusetts, privately owned cottages and homes are exempt from Room Occupancy Tax (currently about 9.7%) under a non-competition clause that considers them non-commercial only if they rent for 7 days or more, do not provide sheets and towels, offer no maid service, and have no similar management services. So we don't rent weekends or partial weeks. Given that rule, there must be one day when people can check in and out, a day when rentals mesh together to avoid lost income. A large number of campground reservations are for weekends. Large number of motel reservations are for weekends. Cottage owners who don't rent often use their own places on weekends. And Sunday is one of the busiest days of the week for “day trippers” to visit the Cape. This means a lot of people are driving to the Cape on Fridays. Even more people are leaving on Sundays. There are two bridges leading to Cape Cod. These bridges are very busy Friday nights and Sundays, sometimes to the point of stalled traffic and bottlenecks. Adding cottage turn-overs could cause severe traffic problems. Know what to expect The Outer Cape is very rural. We have wells and septic systems—no city water or sewer. Water comes out of the ground clean and goes back into the ground used. The well is operated by an electric pump. In the case of a power failure, we have no water temporarily. A septic system is limited. This is the main reason we enforce the head count on the number of people allowed. It's why you come cross verses like “In this land of sun and fun, We never flush for Number One.” Cottages may have been built many years ago and have 110 Amp power. This is more than adequate for just about everything—except clothes dryers. Being careful to conserve waste water and the possible lack of 220 Amp electric power are among the reasons you may not find laundry facilities in a cottage. Heavy doses of detergent in water can cause marine plant growth, which will kill shellfish. Public laundromats are limited to those with totally contained, recycling water. There are no laundromats in the 3 adjacent towns of Eastham, Wellfleet, and Truro. The companies who provide such services as cable TV and WiFi often will not provide such services unless there are year-round residents on that road, and usually require a year-round contract. Most rental cottages are only occupied for 2 or 3 months of the year. The National Seashore does not allow trenching within its boundaries. This means no cable TV. Satellite TV can fill such gaps, but not provide WiFi at reasonable rates. Let your kids learn about the Cape too They'll be a lot easier to live with if they know what to look forward to, especially if they can choose something one thing to see or visit that interests them. Beyond that, do not allow kids to choose where to stay or what to do. They'll choose bunk beds over laundry every time. A Vacation is not a democracy; it's a parensocracy. It allows for freedom under guidance and within limits. The opposite is chaos. Vacations are meant to be relaxing Don't plan your free time. If you don't like housework, don't choose a house with white rugs. Overpack—if you can fit it in the car, bring it ...within reason. Chances are you won't ever really dress up, but if you don't want to do laundry, you'll need enough clothes to avoid a trip to a laundromat. You may find you want a radio, a flashlight, and some games or play equipment. Pets are allowed in only a small number of cottages If you want to bring a pet, look for pet-friendly cottages. Don't ask an owner to change their rules. We love them too, and we know they aren't destructive and never shed or bark. We also know that they're not allowed on our beaches, overheat in cars, and can be pretty unhappy alone in a strange place. We also know that fleas and ticks die when they come in contact with your pet's flea and tick medication, although an occasional bug may remain after your pet leaves. But mainly we know that the family who comes after you may have kids with allergies, and we can't take the risk. If they rented a place that doesn't allow pets, they have the right to expect a place where they don't encounter problems. Beaches have restricted parking For the most part, if you want to go to the town-operated beaches in any given town, you'll need to buy a beach sticker. The only ways to buy a sticker are to either own or rent property in that town. Rental tenants are provided with certification of occupancy by landlords or real estate agents; your rental lease is also acceptable. Stickers carry the car registration number to prevent them from being swapped. National Seashore stickers and day passes are available, and annual National Park memberships are also acceptable. The strictly enforced sticker system provides the best system for protecting our beaches from overcrowding by people who are not staying in the towns so that people who pay to be our guests have a fair opportunity to use our beaches. Less than 5% of rental properties are on the water or have water views There are a lot more roads leading to the beach than running along the shoreline. And, of course, everyone wants to go to the beach. As a result, the rental for such cottages can be quite expensive whether or not they have all the bells and whistles of cottages a little further to the beach. There are an awful lot of people who have little kids and want to be right on the water. As those kids grow older, our own knees begin to creak and ache—it's a well-known medical condition caused by years of carrying two small children, an umbrella, a cooler, and three towels to and from the beach, and the only cure is to rent a place on the beach so we ourselves don't have to walk., so we can let the warm (often 80 degree) waters of Cape Cod Bay massage away the aches. About then, we've worked long enough so we can finally afford to stay on the water, and that's when we learn that our near-grown kids don't want to come unless they can spend all day on the Back Shore, zipping in and out of 64 degree water, clustering around life guard stations, and playing beach volley ball to the blast of a boombox. But there's nothing more enjoyable than slipping into the cool water of a pond at dusk when the air and water feel the same. It's a Catch 22, so consider staying a little bit away from the beach and saving hundreds of dollars. One other thing...as the rulers of the parensocracy, it's up to you to rule your little world, so you might as well gt some satisfaction from it. It's said by some that the word “government” is derived from two Latin words that mean “mind control”. In order to get a parking place at the ocean, you MUST go early, so enjoy the satisfaction of waking your kids long before they automatically switch on at noon. This list is meant to be informative. If it sounds restrictive, even a bit negative, my apologies. There are few sources where you can find all of these “rules” all in one place. There are many sources of information about Cape Cod, from the original Indian settlements to the roles it has played in more modern history, such as the first trans-Atlantic telegraph message to the invention of the flat-bottomed paper bag, from its role in whaling and fishing to its agricultural merits, such as asparagus and cranberries. There's entertainment of all sorts to be found: from theater and music to nautical tales and miniature golf. Seafood comes in shells or exotic creations, and the food of many nationalities can be found here. Or, you can go to bed with the birds and let the sun and waves be your entertainment. Whatever you choose to do, your vacation will be enhanced by knowing the “rules” before you try to plan your trip so that the place you call home will be the perfect choice for your own needs and wishes. |
