Short-term gain, long-term pain?
Short-term rentals have a long and storied history in Maine’s coastal communities. On Mount Desert Island, for example, many families who “head up to camp” each summer rent their homes to seasonal visitors to earn extra income. In communities like Peaks Island and Deer Isle, families have long offered rustic cabins—without heat or insulation—to summer tourists seeking a few weeks on the seaside.
But planning officials say that since the COVID pandemic first struck, changes to both the nature and quantity of short-term rentals have become problematic. Today, houses historically used as year-round residences are being converted to short-term rentals, marketed on platforms like Airbnb and VRBO. Investors are buying properties, sight unseen and above asking prices, and in some cases, dislocating existing renters.
