With only seven weeks of school to go, my thoughts start to drift to the most important aspect of summer survival: how to escape this heat bubble we call home. We are not so fortunate as to have a “summer home” to run away to, so last year we borrowed someone else’s for a week. We are a family of five, and to be perfectly frank one hotel room just doesn’t cut it for us anymore when we travel. We need our space, especially when the trip is a week long. If you book two rooms at even a mid-range hotel or resort you go into sticker shock and you haven’t even factored in meals yet.
Our adventures in vacation “rental” all started a couple of years ago when my sister and I wanted to do something special to celebrate our parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. Her brilliant idea: meet in the mountains of New Mexico (half way for everyone) and vacation together! Great! But there were eleven of us counting Grandma and Grandpa, and it WAS their anniversary so they needed a little space to themselves away from the crazy of 5 grandkids. The solution: A huge 4-bedroom, full basement log cabin; complete with deer that visited behind the back porch everyday. We had never rented a house before, so we dove in together and did our research, prayed a little, and sent in our deposit check.
This is a great time to rent. Many of the owners who bought these homes when the market was booming really need to keep them full–especially off-season. San Diego in the summer is high-season, but good deals might be found in ski towns in Colorado. We just spent Spring Break in Oceanside and paid half what they’ll charge in July. So where do you start if you want to rent a house for vacation? My favorite jumping off point is homeaway.com. It’s an established site with lots of rentals all over the country and it’s easy to navigate and narrow your search results based on price, date availability, number of bedrooms, etc. It also has renter reviews, which is great.
Now our family has four home-rental vacations under our belt, ranging from Show Low, AZ to Gulf Shores, AL. By and large, we’ve been very happy with all our rentals, but each has been a unique experience. No owner does things exactly the same way as another. One might use Pay Pal, while another only accepts checks or cash. The amounts of deposit and how early you have to pay vary, too. Personally, I like being able to talk with the owner on the phone as well as exchanging e-mails. A signed contract is nice, but you may or may not get one. When looking at listings, be aware that owners photograph their properties the same way you would if you were selling your own house. Angles may make rooms look larger they are, and the furniture may be more “loved” in person. Don’t be afraid to ask questions in your correspondence like, “When were the photographs taken?” or “How recently have you renovated the property?” The house in Oceanside was on the older side, but the owners had completely remodeled the bathrooms and updated the kitchen.
Think about what will be important to you while you’re there. A fantastic location may not be worth it if it doesn’t have a washer/dryer. Likewise, one of the draws of rental is that you have a full kitchen to cook in so you don’t have to buy all those expensive meals out. If you plan on cooking full meals, the kitchen needs to have decent counter space and equipment. Many homes even have a crib available! Make sure to read the listing carefully. One of our kids is highly allergic to animals. I thought that I had checked whether the Show Low property was “animal friendly” or not, but I guess I missed it, because within 30 minutes of arrival our child had swollen red eyes. But here’s the great part: we called the owner, and he had his local cleaning service there within the hour to vacuum the furniture and remove the kids’ comforters for cleaning.
One last tip: Many owners have sales on their rates if the property is vacant and you can commit to coming last minute. The Oceanside property was on sale early in March for $1000 less than what we paid when we booked in advance.
So are you ready to skip the hotel crowds this summer and find a cozy cottage instead? Have you rented in the past and have tips or a property URL you want to share? Please comment! In my next post I’m going to share some my favorite things to take along from home to make sure you don’t go crazy once you’re there.
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