Buying a Cape Ann House: The 120-Day File Comes First

Jacob Mishalanie
Aug 18
12 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

Grey shingle Cape Ann cottage above the water

A Cape Ann purchase file starts with the clerk, then the extract, then the calendar. Rockport is a Select Board license that expires December 31. Gloucester Non-Primary is 120 days under a 500-permit cap at about $300 a year. The Rockport extract dated 2026-08-08 still prints 199 listings, a $36,871 year, a $3,513 month, $406 ADR, and 40.8 percent occupancy. Those numbers are not a leftover aggregator year, and they are not a sale. They are not a listings.

Peak three on the Rockport cell are August, October, and September. Lows are January, February, and March, and october is a peak. March is a low, and february is the revenue hole. Gloucester's comparison extract prints $40,924, $491 ADR, 38.3 percent occupancy, and peak three of August, October, and July. Do not blend the two years, and do not underwrite twelve Octobers. Do not treat a published market year as the 120-day file. The first acquisition fact is whether the parcel can legally list.

This page is the purchase underwrite. We do not structure the sale and we do not file the Select Board license. If you need the marketplace path first, use themarket report. If you need the two-clerk map, open therules file. Thefinance filewill not dress an unlicensed lot as a DSCR story. Confirm the listings, then underwrite one unit against $36,871.

Underwrite Rockport $36,871, not a leftover $65k

A leftover sixty-five-thousand aggregator year is the wrong file. The locked Rockport year is $36,871 on 199 listings. The locked month is $3,513, and aDR is $406. Occupancy is 40.8 percent, and revPAR is $167. Revenue moved minus 8.2 percent while supply grew 8.2 percent. Build the base case on those figures for one active unit. Do not annualize an August screenshot. Do not round the watch year up because a Motif weekend looked busier. The year sits on a watch line.

Peak-season averages sit near $7,081 at 56.3 percent occupancy. Low-season averages sit near $2,681 at 29.3 percent occupancy. Those two seasons are the same $36,871 split across a granite village. They are not a leftover aggregator range, and stress $3,513. Cite $406 ADR beside it, and occupancy for the year is 40.8 percent. That is the month the note has to survive.startup fileprices paper after the listings exists, not a purchase price you invent.

Essex County's $1.2 billion is 2024 visitor spend, and it is not $36,871. Do not divide the county line by 199, and keep visitor dollars on the.tourism file. Your underwrite is one licensed house against a watch year and a $3,513 month. If the expense stack only works on a leftover aggregator year, the model is already broken before the Select Board answers the phone. Print $36,871, and print $3,513, and leave the leftover range on the other desk.

The Gloucester 120-day file is the first acquisition fact

If the parcel sits in Gloucester and the product is Non-Primary, the first fact is 120 rental days under a 500-permit cap at about $300 a year. One registered short-term rental per owner, and hedge the live issued-slot count. Leave out unverified a three-hundred-issued number, and ordinance 5-63 is effective April 1, 2025. a published market year is not that file, and a harbor photograph is not that file. This page will not coach a Non-Primary over 120 days.

Primary and Shared tiers are different products. Primary is about $100 a year and up to 365 days if the owner lives there. Shared is about $150 and 180 days if the owner is present six or more months. Do not underwrite a Non-Primary as if it inherited those day counts. Do not underwrite a Rockport lot as if it inherited the 120-day cap. Two clerks, and two day rules. Confirm the parcel map before anyone talks about $40,924.

A Gloucester Non-Primary that cannot hold a slot is not a $40,924 story. A Rockport lot that cannot hold a Select Board license is not a $36,871 story. Therules filewalks both desks, and this purchase page only needs the order. Clerk first, and extract second, and calendar third. A seller waving a summer calendar is not a 120-day file and not a December 31 listings. Confirm the slot before anyone models August.

A sale is not a Select Board license

A closing does not Keep a Rockport listings. The Select Board license is a calendar-year object that expires December 31. Renew annually, and application can be filed any time. There is no day cap and no town-wide license cap on existing whole-home short-term rentals this week. None of that makes the deed into a license. Confirm the live listings with the Select Board before the offer. Hedge whether the file stays live through a closing. Print the town sentence, and leave out unverified a reading.

April 11, 2026 passed Seasonal Community and a six-month ADU lease. Print both as passed, and existing whole-home licenses are not ADUs. The vote is not a whole-home ban and not a transferable asset.Seasonal Community fileowns that clerk object. A leftover brief that treated the vote as future is stale. Do not underwrite a Motif shutdown, and do not underwrite a sale as if the listings traveled with the keys.

AirROI Low is not the listings. A 0 percent licensed share is a vendor field. Years on the platform are not a grandfather clause. If the seller cannot produce the Select Board license, the nightly underwrite stops.how-to filewill not Keep village copy for an unlicensed house. Photograph the stay after the clerk has spoken. A deed is still not a December 31 listings you can renew on closing day.

Gloucester $40,924 does not transfer

Gloucester's extract prints $40,924, $491 ADR, 38.3 percent occupancy, a $3,785 median month, and 268 listings. Peak three there are August, October, and July, and those figures are a neighbor cell. They do not move onto a Rockport lot, and they do not waive a Select Board license. They do not rewrite December 31, and keep two extracts as two extracts.comparison fileowns the split. Do not blend the years on the offer sheet.

Supply on the Gloucester pull grew 12.6 percent while revenue moved minus 3.6 percent. Rachel shows eight Gloucester listings, and atlantic Vacation Homes shows sixteen. Vacasa shows five, and those books are still their books. Cleaning median there is $200, and average stay is 5.1 nights. Lead is 79 days, and boston then New York still book that cell. None of that transfers a $40,924 year onto a Bearskin Neck house. Print Gloucester as Gloucester, and print Rockport as Rockport on the same page.

Leave out unverified a blended Cape Ann average. Do not dress Good Harbor as a Rockport bed. Do not dress Motif as a Gloucester harbor listings. If the parcel is Rockport, budget 36,871 and $3,513. If the parcel is Gloucester Non-Primary, budget 40,924 only after the 120-day file exists. Two years. Two clerks. One leftover blend will fail the first lender call. Keep Good Harbor off a Rockport model and keep Motif off a harbor file.

October is not the year

October is a peak month on the Rockport cell. It sits with August and September, and it is not the year. Hosts who annualize an October weekend, or an August Saturday, will invent a leftover aggregator year this pull does not print. February is the revenue hole, and january, February, and March are the lows. March is a low even when the granite still feels busy. Price October with August, and fund the hole. Do not treat peak-three as twelve months, and october is a peak month, not a year.

Peak-season averages sit near $7,081 at 56.3 percent occupancy and about $392 ADR. Low-season averages sit near $2,681 at 29.3 percent occupancy and about $361 ADR. ADR itself peaks in July and is lowest in February. Occupancy is highest in August and lowest in January. Those cadences belong in the purchase model.peak-three how-toowns merchandising, and this page only needs the underwrite rule. October is a peak, and october is not $36,871.

Fifty point eight percent of the set already run a thirty-plus minimum. That is a listing setting, not booked winter occupancy, and not a promise that February fills after closing. Leave out unverified a weekly cut to paper over the hole.finance filewants the $3,513 month, not an October screenshot. Bring the honest calendar or wait. A peak month is still not twelve months of coverage on this market sample.

21 percent PM is not a franchise vacuum

Professional management on the Rockport extract is 21.1 percent. That is not a franchise vacuum and it is not a monopoly. Cohost share is 19.6 percent, and superhost share is 67.3 percent. Guest Favorite share is 62.3 percent, and average rating is 4.89. Instant Book is 17.6 percent, and the set already looks finished. A purchase that assumes you will be the only polished house on Bearskin Neck is buying a story the extract does not print.

Most listings still run without a full-service manager. That is not permission to skip the photograph.DIY fileowns what a self-managing host can keep. Hire the visual work if the phone set cannot stand next to a 4.89 bar. Do not hire a brand because you thought 21.1 percent meant the cell was empty. Print the share. Then print your year as $36,871, not as a vacant-brand fantasy.

A 21.1 percent professional-management share also is not a transferable operator. Buying a house that sat on someone else's book does not buy that book. Confirm whether the manager stays, whether the listing stays, and whether the Select Board listings stays. Those are three different files. The purchase underwrite has to survive if all three change on day one. Model the house without the operator book attached and without their combined year sitting in your own income column.

Atlantic’s 21 doors are their book

Atlantic Vacation Homes shows twenty-one Rockport listings and $551,255 combined. Rachel shows fourteen listings and $1,095,355 combined, and vacasa shows five listings and $68,960 combined. Those totals are their books, and they are not your year. They are not a leftover hundred-door Cape Ann story. Atlantic's Gloucester book is sixteen doors. Do not blend 21 and 16 into a leftover operator count. Print the names. Leave the combined dollars on their side of the ledger. Their book is not your closing number.

Your underwrite is one unit against $36,871 and $3,513. Professional management at 21.1 percent already tells you named books sit on the extract and that most doors still do not. Buying into Atlantic's twenty-one-door set, or Rachel's fourteen-door set, is not the same as buying their revenue. Listing copy after closing still has to earn the click against a 4.89 rating bar.how-to fileowns that job after the listings exists.

Vacasa is five doors on this market sample, not a national leftover count. Do not treat a five-door book as proof the cell is professionalized, and do not treat it as proof the cell is empty. Two large local books and a five-door national sit beside a majority of independent listings. That is the competitive set a new owner would join if the parcel can list. Join it on $36,871, not on their combined book. Vacasa stays at five doors on this pull.

What a purchase file must include

A Rockport purchase file must include the Select Board license, the December 31 death date, and a written confirmation that the listings is live the week of the offer. It must include the $36,871 year, the $3,513 month, $406 ADR, and 40.8 percent occupancy for one unit, not an August screenshot and not a leftover aggregator year. It must include the August-October-September peak-three and the January-February-March hole. October is a peak, and march is a low. February is the hole. It must include $1 million in statewide liability and the Mass Tax Connect registry line, with the 5.7 percent remittance hedged for local option.

A Gloucester purchase file must include the 5-63 tier, the 120-day Non-Primary cap if that is the product, the $300 fee line confirmed with Inspectional Services, and a hedge on the 500-permit count. It must include $40,924 only as that extract, never as a Rockport year. It must refuse a Non-Primary over 120 days. Both files must refuse AirROI Low as a license. Both files must print April 11 as passed Seasonal Community and a six-month ADU lease, and must refuse that vote as a whole-home ban. Good Harbor stays in Gloucester, and motif stays a walk.

If any of those objects is missing, wait, and leave out unverified a stacked tax total. Leave out unverified the July 2026 Rockport fee dollar. Leave out unverified a three-hundred-issued Gloucester count. Do not treat Rachel's fourteen doors or Atlantic's twenty-one doors as transferable income. Do not treat Vacasa's five as a hundred. After the clerk has said the listings is real, listing and photography are the work the file will be judged against. Until then, the purchase underwrite stops, and two clerks. Two years, and one leftover blend is not a closing binder.

Frequently Asked Questions

What year should I underwrite for a Rockport short-term rental?

Use $36,871 on 199 listings, with a $3,513 median month, $406 ADR, and 40.8 percent occupancy. Do not import a leftover aggregator year, and do not annualize an August screenshot. Peak-season averages sit near $7,081, and low-season averages sit near $2,681. Essex County's $1.2 billion figure is visitor spend, not host income for one unit.

What is the first fact when buying a Gloucester rental?

If the product is Non-Primary, the first fact is 120 rental days under a 500-permit cap at about $300 a year. One registered short-term rental per owner, and ordinance 5-63 is effective April 1, 2025. Confirm the live issued-slot count directly; a published market-level year is not the same as that permit count. Primary and Shared tiers have different day caps.

Does buying a Rockport house include the Select Board license?

A sale is not a Select Board license. The license is a calendar-year object that expires December 31, so confirm it is live the week of the offer. Years shown on a listing platform are not a grandfather clause. April 11 passed a Seasonal Community designation and a six-month ADU lease requirement -- that vote is not a whole-home ban and not a transferable asset.

Can I use Gloucester's $40,924 as a Rockport year?

Gloucester's $40,924, $491 ADR, and 38.3 percent occupancy belong to a 268-listing neighbor cell, with peak months of August, October, and July. Those figures do not transfer onto a Rockport lot and do not waive a Select Board license. Keep the two towns' extracts as two separate extracts rather than blending a Cape Ann average.

Is October a full Rockport year for underwriting?

October is a peak month alongside August and September, while February is the revenue hole and January through March are the lows. Hosts who annualize an October weekend invent a year the data doesn't actually print. Bring the $3,513 median month to a lender, not an October screenshot -- the 50.8 percent 30-plus figure is a listing setting, not booked winter occupancy.

Does 21 percent professional management mean the market is empty?

Professional management sits at 21.1 percent, which is not a franchise vacuum and not a monopoly. Superhost share is already 67.3 percent and the average rating prints 4.89. Most listings still run without a full-service manager. Buying a house that sat on someone else's management book does not buy that book -- confirm whether the manager and listing actually stay with the sale.

Are Atlantic or Rachel revenue totals my Rockport year?

Atlantic Vacation Homes shows 21 Rockport listings and $551,255 combined; Rachel shows 14 listings and $1,095,355 combined; Vacasa shows 5 listings and $68,960. Those totals are their management books, not transferable income for a single property, and Atlantic's separate Gloucester book runs 16 doors. Your underwriting is one unit against the town figures of $36,871 and $3,513.

What should a complete Cape Ann short-term rental purchase file include?

For Rockport: the live Select Board license, the December 31 expiration date, the $36,871 revenue figure, $3,513 median month, $406 ADR, and 40.8 percent occupancy. For Gloucester: the 5-63 tier, the 120-day Non-Primary cap if that's the product, the roughly $300 fee confirmed with Inspectional Services, and a hedge on the 500-permit count rather than assuming full availability. Start with the clerk, then the extract, then the calendar.

What is occupancy on this market sample?

Occupancy is 40.8 percent on the Rockport market sample. A busy walk or a festival weekend is demand, not proof of a filled slow month by itself. Gloucester's separate extract prints $40,924, $491 ADR, 38.3 percent occupancy, a $3,785 median month, and 268 listings -- soft months still need their own rate plan on each town's labeled year.

What changed in Rockport zoning on April 11, and does it affect a whole-home purchase?

Rockport's Select Board passed a Seasonal Community designation and a requirement that accessory dwelling unit leases run six months or longer. That vote regulates ADU rentals specifically -- it is not a whole-home short-term rental ban, and it doesn't transfer as an asset with a sale. Confirm current requirements directly with the Select Board before assuming how it applies to your specific parcel.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

A Rockport listing priced off Gloucester's $40,924 neighbor number, or a Gloucester Non-Primary pitch that ignores the 120-day cap, is underwriting a permit that doesn't match the parcel.

We help Cape Ann hosts write listing copy anchored to the correct town's own figures and license type, Rockport's Select Board renewal or Gloucester's 120-day cap. Send us the parcel and we'll help you match the copy to the permit.

Reach out at crestcove.co or (256) 998-7502.