Chris Kuhn plays with Julia, 4, and Kyle, 9, outside their rental on Continental Road in Narragansett. Kuhn and his wife, Sharon, of Madison, Conn., have been weekly renters in the Narragansett area for the last eight years.

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The Providence Journal / John Freidah

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — Chuck Cummiskey runs his summer cottage rental office from a tiny outpost along the windswept breakdown lane of Succotash Road, where two sounds have become his barometers of business.

He isn’t liking what he isn’t hearing.

Too few phone calls; not enough tires grinding into the stone driveway.

Cummiskey, who runs Shoreline Realty, began noticing a slack in phone calls months ago. Many of those who did call were doing more inquiring than actual booking. Some of his regular customers who usually spend the same weeks at some of the 70 Matunuck cottages he rents called to apologize.

“I’ve had at least six people call and say, ‘My husband lost his job, can’t do it this year.’ ”

Jim Durkin’s cottage real estate office is nine miles away by car on Point Judith Road in Narragansett. And he’s hearing — or not hearing — the same thing.

“We’ve had a lot of declined credit cards,” Durkin said.

One desperate vacationer-to-be put his deposit on three separate credit cards, Durkin said.

“People are saying to us, ‘You guys should be doing good because with the gas prices, people don’t want to travel,’ but it doesn’t work out that way. I think people just have less cash.”

With the economy in a slump and summer half over, several South County real estate companies report cottage rentals down this season.

“I’d say most of the rentals are down now about 25 percent from where they were,” said Durkin, whose family has been renting cottages for a half century.

Cummiskey says his business is down about 20 percent from the last few years, while Jeanne B. Lane of JBL Realty in Narragansett reported a drop of about 10 percent from a year ago.

The agencies blame not just high gasoline prices but the increased costs of food and goods, the dip in real estate values from two or three years ago, and a general unease.

“People are nervous about what the future holds,” said Cummiskey. “I can see it just in the traffic” along Succotash Road. “I don’t think as many people are making the trips down here.”

Martha Piemonte, manager of Captain Jack’s Restaurant across the street, says, luckily, the hot weather has pushed many people to the shore — and into her eatery on the way home. But she worries about next month.

“Many people pay for the gas with credit cards and that’s when they’ll be getting their bills,” she says.

She’s bracing for a decline in beach patrons. “We haven’t noticed it yet, but it is coming. I think it’s inevitable.”

Some people are also choosing to rent their houses by the water themselves, says Durkin, rather than pay a commission to a real estate agent “because they need the money.”

Lane, of JBL Realty, says, “the people who normally come still come, but they are cutting back on what they do.” They are taking fewer day trips and spending fewer nights out at restaurants.

Vacationers Christopher Kuhn of Madison, Conn., his wife, Sharon, and their two young children are renting a friend’s house in the Pier section of Narragansett for the eighth straight year.

“You find a way to make it work,” he says. For the Kuhns, who bartered with their friends for the week’s $1,800 rent (Christopher did some tile work for them), it means grilling in the yard most nights rather than going out to eat.

“I love it here [in Narragansett] so much I bought a house,” Kuhn said. The new house is about a mile away. Kuhn’s been working on it almost every weekend since last October.

They are renting it for $3,000 a week and are pleased with their real estate agent. She managed to rent it every week for the summer.

The average South County summer cottage rents for anywhere between $1,200 and $2,000, more, of course, for more lavish accommodations close to the water.

And with business off, now is a great time to rent a place for a week this summer, the real estate agents said, if you’re not as picky about your cottage.

“We run a lot of last-minute deals,” Cummiskey said. “As much as 30 percent off.”

tmooney@projo.com