How to rent a vacation house

watercolor5

I remember a couple people mentioned websites they use to rent vacation houses- I think @hmp1 has used some?  I can't for the life of me remember what they were, or find that thread. 

Also, if you rent a house or condo, do you usually have to stay a full week or more?  FWIW, we're looking at Hilton Head, SC in September, though probably only for 4-5 days.  Thanks!

hmp1

VRBO.com

Read the reviews, but I have never had a bad experience. The owners set the rules on their minimum stay. We usually stay for less than a week. Even if they say they require a week, look at the calendar and if they have a lot of availability, ask them for the smaller date range you want.

I have even been able to negotiate with some of the owners the couple times we had a last minute booking. But if you need something very specific or are looking in an area with limited houses that fit your needs, do not wait to book just for the chance of a discount.

AlinnJo

We just used vrbo to book a house in Florida. We will be staying for 2 weeks. Homeaway and vrbo are owned by the same company, so they share a lot of the same houses. I like vrbo's website better for some reason though!

bosha711

We are renting in OBX & used a local rental realty site. Most houses were 7 day rentals. We submitted a deposit & signed the contract electronically. You could invite people via email into your online account so they can make payments. This was helpful for us bc we are renting with my family.

When we get there, we check in with the realty company to pick up the keys.

fireflygirl12

vrbo, homeaway and flipkey are the ones that I've used. As others have said, the minimum stay depends on the owner, but I've many times been able to negotiate a shorter stay, especially if they aren't fully booked. I would also be sure to pay attention to what the cleaning fee is since it can vary considerably between rentals.

eshee8198

Ditto all of the above. And we always do shorter stays--I just ask if they're flexible. The less likely they are to book up, the more flexible they are.

Also...if you get a response asking you to pay by money order, run far, far away. There are a lot of scams going on where people hack into the accounts and ask for money for a rental that's not theirs. Always call the owner's number listed on the site at least once during the process for confirmation.

watercolor5

fireflygirl12 said:

vrbo, homeaway and flipkey are the ones that I've used. As others have said, the minimum stay depends on the owner, but I've many times been able to negotiate a shorter stay, especially if they aren't fully booked. I would also be sure to pay attention to what the cleaning fee is since it can vary considerably between rentals.

I noticed the cleaning fees can really up the price... some places seem to include them in the listed price, and others tack them on, but they're often the price of a night's stay.

Thanks for the advice everyone!