Democrats steer clear of pricey rentals

People who hoped to make easy money by renting their homes to delegates, journalists and others attending the Democratic National Convention have found themselves begging for tenants.

“The problem is everybody got so greedy,” said Beacon Hill resident John Gifford, an investment banker who rented his one-bedroom duplex for $1,000 to a Washington-based journalist.

When Boston landed the political event more than a year ago, some residents immediately started offering their homes at prices as high as $10,000 to $15,000 a week to cash in on visitors looking for convenient and homey accommodations.

They’ve found few takers.

“It’s the great gold rush hoax of 2004,” said Doug Bates, an Internet marketing consultant who had no bites for his online ad for his three-bedroom apartment, even after he lowered the price from $2,000 to $1,000.

The website www.bostonapartments.com has posted 300 such ads in the last three months, but only three people have called to have them removed from the site, company owner Eric Boyer said.

“Over the last four or five days, we’ve been asked to reduce a ton of pricing,” Boyer said.

Most people attending the convention obtained housing through the Democratic Party, which secured rooms in about 70 hotels.

Prices may have been influenced by memories of the 1999 Ryder Cup, when golf fans paid more than $10,000 to rent homes in Brookline, a community adjacent to Boston, Boyer said.