For the remaining two-thirds who manage to evade the fees, residency requirement, and inspections needed for permitting by sometimes using anonymous go-betweens, units garner even higher nightly profits. Cambridge officials are now revising their policy, with hopes that increased data transparency is the key to bringing more properties on board with the program, and putting those that don’t qualify back into the long-term housing supply.
According to an August memo by City Solicitor Megan B. Bayer, less than 30 percent of 635 likely units were registered as of July.
“We don’t really want people to start buying up properties, not living there, and then essentially renting these out … and acting like a small hotel,” said James DeAngelo, a housing inspector with Cambridge’s inspectional services department.
But enforcement can be difficult when vague listings that appear to violate local ordinances make some owners unreachable. Officials say that could be easier if the ordinance were to be adapted to include provisions such as access to occupancy logs and more stringent proof of residence, and a new draft policy update is under review following a City Council petition.
When an owner registers a short-term rental, that triggers an automatic inspection, said DeAngelo. He said Granicus Host Compliance, a monitoring service contracted by the city, helps identify unregistered units listed for short-term rent, but it can still be hard to know where to send violation letters that are often ignored, anyway.
“We want to make sure you have proper egresses, you have smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, and there are not electrical wires hanging out where it could cause damage to either the property itself or the people staying in there,” he said.
Cambridge City Councilor Patricia Nolan has led the ordinance update effort. “If you don’t live in that building, you are not allowed to rent out that place on a short-term basis,” she said. Enhanced platform collaboration could help ensure owners live on site.
“If someone is renting out their residence for pretty much the whole year, it means it’s not their primary residence,” she said. “… Most people don’t really want to live next to, in essence, a hotel, and that’s what some of these residences feel like.”
Those evading the ordinance can frustrate neighbors, who wonder who lives next door, and if they will be there for 10 years or two days.
Upasana Davies, a Cambridge resident, grew frustrated with noise, trash, illegal parking, and partying guests vomiting on the lawn after her neighbor put both sides of their duplex up for rent on Airbnb. And in Inman Square, where a building next door was recently purchased and renovated, a resident named Meg said a group of men looking for their short-term rental mistakenly attempted to enter her front door, and she found her shared gate ripped apart where renters searched for a hidden key.
It was easy to chat with long-term neighbors to resolve a conflict, said Davies, who lives on James Way.
“I feel very comfortable walking over because they’re gonna see us for the next three to six months,” she said.
But Davies said the owner of the property next door is not following the ordinance. Both units are available online for rent throughout the year, under host names that do not match the owner’s. That is not an Airbnb requirement, which allows for owners to hire third-party managers.
The owner of the property could not be reached for comment.
“We have never seen [the owner] live there,” said Davies.
Even if someone stays for a month, Davies said, she can establish a “healthy neighborhood relationship.
“What happens right now is, we basically just hope for the best, that those folks aren’t going to be noisy, messy, you know … leave trash anywhere, or park illegally,” she said.
When it works, some neighbors say short-term rentals host academic gatherings and provide a financial lifeline for owners. One longtime Cambridge resident and Airbnb “Superhost,” who asked for anonymity for fear of retribution, has been renting out a portion of her home for four years.
That space is not suitable as a long-term rental, she said, and short-term stays have worked well. The relative intimacy of her home’s format means that she shares a closeness with renters that she feels helps improve the hospitality experience, and she’d rather have high-quality renters than high occupancy. “V” said the Cambridge ordinance, requiring on-site residence, makes sure owners have “skin in the game.”
Her presence at the property means that she can mediate potential issues firsthand.
“We care who comes into our space and interacts with neighbors,” she said.
For example, she considered a smoking and vaping ban for guests, but that pushed people out to the sidewalk in range of neighbors. So she created a designated area that solved the problem.
“We are much more about what is a good cadence for the neighborhood than a constant stream, like a hotel,” she said.
Occupancy logs are useful to officials because they can show that two adjacent units were rented out in such a way that it would be impossible for the owner to claim a primary residence there. The new provisions would include the ability to revoke registrations if that’s violated.
Fines for violating local ordinances may stack up to $300 a day in Cambridge and Boston. But at a property such as 871 Cambridge St., which was sold in 2023 for $1.47 million, renovated, and has begun hosting Airbnb guests, a recent five-night stay estimate on the Airbnb platform was $1,859.40 a night.
Meg, the Inman Square resident who found her gate broken, said she knew the previous owner who lived there, but didn’t know who the new owner was. According to public records, it was purchased by Matthew McCarthy, a North Shore mortgage professional who transferred it to the 871 Cambridge Street LLC registered in his name. McCarthy’s wife, Lindsey, a real estate agent, told North Shore Real Producers magazine in July that their family lives in Marblehead, where according to public records, the two own a home. Multiple attempts to reach Matthew McCarthy by phone and email were unsuccessful.
The three-family building in Cambridge is entirely available for short-term rental via Airbnb listings, including a “luxe penthouse,” which visually matches area landmarks, as well as Zillow listings, for 871 Cambridge St. On multiple visits to the street, several neighbors recounted that the building had become “an Airbnb,” noting renters come and go with suitcases. One afternoon, a family stood outside the front steps with their luggage.
The two-unit combination upstairs was a better fit than a hotel when traveling with children, said Samantha Stern, one of the guests, who had gathered to celebrate a milestone family birthday.
“We’re rolling deep with eight people total, so we needed large accommodations and with kids, Airbnbs are a little bit easier than hotels,” said Stern, whose family was convening from Boston, Atlanta, and Cincinnati.
Listings for Airbnb units located at 871 Cambridge — along with several others — are hosted by “Naomi,” whose avatar is likely AI-generated, according to a detection tool. In some cases, Naomi lists the registration codes of other registered but apparently unrelated short-term listing permits in their descriptions.
For example, one permit code for a “Luxurious Home” near Harvard points to a unit located at 291 Broadway in Cambridge. While that address does correspond with an active permit for an “owner-adjacent” short-term rental, the property’s owner, Sharon DeMarco, said Naomi’s rental listing that includes her permit is neither her home, nor her listing.
“I don’t know a Naomi,” said DeMarco, who provided a link for the unit she said she manages in Cambridge.
A strategy advocated by online Airbnb investment influencer Calvin Tran offers a glimpse into how some investors use housing as high-profit short-term rental stock, and for at least one host, that’s being implemented here in Boston. Tran coaches mentees to seek corporate leases from homeowners, often referred to as “Airbnb arbitrage,” operating with LLCs to manage the property as a short-term rental.
Tran recently celebrated Phoenix-based Jennifer TenKate Rankins as a “high performance host” at his Newport Beach, Calif., conference, noting her $50,000 monthly revenue, according to photographs she posted to social media this summer. Rankins, who boasted on Facebook of her status as a Tran mentee, wrote that she operates seven Airbnb units in the Boston area with her husband, Jared, a Merrill Lynch wealth manager, appearing as hosts “Jennifer and Jared” on Airbnb.
In March, Xiangjian Gao purchased a home located at 64 Roseland Ave. in Cambridge for $1.8 million from its longtime owners. Six days later, it was listed for rent for more than $7,000 a month, and was rented by March 29, according to Zillow. Two weeks later, Rankins used her public social media to document her trip to Boston in order to set up an Airbnb located at the Cambridge house, including holding keys in front of it, though it does not appear in a city database of permitted short-term rentals. A recent search for a four-night stay listed a cost $852.75 per night.
In early August, the Rankins registered JJ Luxe Homes LLC in Arizona, advertising luxury property management services, which the hosts included in a listing description. Rankins, who has continued to document her Airbnb setup trips to Cambridge, declined to comment when reached by phone.
Tran suggests his followers study local ordinances, and wrote online that he mentors a number of Boston-area individuals. Several accounts hosting clusters of listings use similar design schemes and listing formats as “Jennifer and Jared,” including “Naomi.”
A spokesperson for Airbnb said in an emailed statement that hosts are required to comply with local ordinances, and that the platform takes action against violators, which can include removal of users and listings. For neighbors, it offers a support line for issues, a noise sensor for hosts, as well as a law enforcement portal and a Boston-specific guide detailing local requirements.
As 871 Cambridge St. sat fully booked on Airbnb, a young man rolled a suitcase by, on his way to check into another Airbnb up the street. Sinan Tuncer, a Maine-based college student, said he chose it because it was well priced and convenient.
According to city records, no permit exists for the address he had booked.
Lindsay Crudele is a Boston-based journalist. Follow her on Bluesky @lindsaycrudele.
