Vacation Rentals

Believe it or not, there's a great vacation alternative to expensive resorts and hotels. Renting a vacation home is a fantastic option that may be much more affordable that you thought before. In fact, vacation homes are comparable in price, or even less expensive, than a hotel room. Beyond that, the amenities you can enjoy at a vacation home are more private and often more convenient to access.

How Does It Work?

The answer to that question is very simple. People all over the place buy vacation homes or leave their regular homes to go on a trip of their own. Oftentimes, when they aren't using the property, they'll make it available, through a real estate agency, for daily, weekly, or even monthly rentals. If you decide to rent a home in this fashion, you'll get access to a whole house and the property on which it sits, a condo with beach access, or whatever else the rental and its features might be.

There are numerous benefits to renting a vacation home, including:

• Privacy: While some enjoy resorts, you may wish to get away from that kind of crowded environment. Imagine spending the day on the beach and being able to retire to your own private house for the night. You might even have access to a private pool, game room, and more.

   

• Furnishing and space: Instead of that impersonal and sometimes uncomfortable feeling you get from a hotel room, you'll get a fully furnished house. You won't feel like you're right on top of whomever you're with, because each person or couple can have their own room. Additionally, you'll have common areas to spend time in such as the dining room, living room, and kitchen.

   

• Affordability: There are a few things that can make renting a vacation home more affordable than other vacation options. First, if you have a large group, hotel bills can get pretty high with multiple rooms, tips for hotel staff, and all the other extra fees that you tend to rack up. Second, you can eat-in at a vacation home, something that's virtually impossible in a hotel room or at a resort. Just bring your own food to stock up the kitchen.

Where To Find a Rental

Your best tool for finding a vacation rental is the Internet. There are countless sites that list available houses of all different sizes and with many different combinations of amenities. To find a good website to use, just search for vacation rentals and the town or city you wish to visit. For example, just type "vacation rentals Outer Banks" into the search box of your preferred search engine. You could also call real estate agencies in the desired area.

More Information

Here are few other things you should know about vacation rentals:

• While hotels usually only require credit card authorization prior to your stay, you will probably have to put a deposit down on your vacation rental. This deposit is most often around 50% of the total cost of the rental.

   

• State and county taxes are usually applicable.

   

• You may be charged a reservation fee.

   

• For an extra fee, you may be able to have extra items (cots, cribs, highchairs, etc.) delivered to your rental by the real estate company.

   

• There will probably be a maximum occupancy for each available rental.

It's important to remember that each real estate agency and property is different. You'll have to ask your specific company if you have any other questions.