Who has rented a vacation home for over a month at a time?

[Gonz]

Have rented from one to three months in Italy,Hong Kong,Rio,Cook Islands,New Zealand,Thailand,and sailboat charter for a month in BVIs before retiring.
Longer you stay the cheaper it costs.

I just get to know the area,people,rental owners face to face,etc. with initial visit then go through regular rental sites for later planning when I like the place.


Girlfriend and I have been spending the past two summers in Lugano Switzerland staying in an Italian farmhouse with great views of lake,mountains,and palm trees.
It's our home base while exploring surrounding countries hiking and whatnot.

 

[Palmtree]

Have rented from one to three months in Italy,Hong Kong,Rio,Cook Islands,New Zealand,Thailand,and sailboat charter for a month in BVIs before retiring.

Thank you for the reply Gonz. It looks like you are living the retired life most of us dream about!

 

[SecondAttempt]

I owned a condo that I rented through (mostly) VRBO for about 10 years. In most markets you should expect about 20% discount for a 1-month rental. I sold the condo about 5 years ago so I'm out of date but at the time owners could set monthly rates.

VRBO and Airbnb have gotten very aggressive at charging extra fees to the point that I refuse to use them anymore for my personal travel. In many cases owners have gotten very clever about "branding" so you can find them directly and avoid hundreds of dollars in booking and service fees.

One thing you might expect is additional cleaning fees. When I rented I felt an obligation to keep my cleaner employed and frankly some guests did NOTHING to clean during their stay so there would be hours of extra cleaning after a long stay adding cost and stress for a same-day changeover. I did not charge extra cleaning fee for a 1-month stay but I did for 6 weeks or longer. My cleaning fee was roughly the same as a 1 night rate and you did get a cleaning done. When I started offering weekly cleaning for 1+ week stays, about 1/3 of guests wanted that.

The sites make it difficult to contact owners these days but if you can figure out how to reach someone that's probably your best chance to score a deal. From my perspective, if you are willing to pay abb or vrbo $500 booking fee for really nothing, why would I want to discount you $500?

Just my opinion.

 

[brett]

We rented a condo in Costa Rica for a month We were in the middle of a 7th month trip.

We had previously been traveling in Europe and Africa for four months and wanted to spend the winter in Central America. We were due for a stop. Our son was able to fly down and join us for a week.

We rented direct from a friend of a friend. Cash. We were considering buying a vacation home at one point. We had narrowed it down to Costa Rica, Panama, and Mexico.

It was very enjoyable to stay somewhere for a month. We had a rental and did lots of day trips.

The local real estate offices seemed to be a hub of long term rentals. We met a few people who had gone that route for longer rentals.

We have yet to do an actual airBnB despite a fair amount of travel. Last time we rented a condo for a week was on Zakynthos, in Greece. Found it on booking.com. Managed to find the owner on line and did a deal for cash at half of the booking.com rate. Exactly this time of year.

Would we do it again? Yes, depending on the location and no longer than a month. Even though we are 'slow' travelers we enjoyed being in the same place for a month. Since then the longest we have done was 22 days this past March at Playa del Ropa, Zihuatanejo. We had stayed their for a few days several years ago. Cash deal. The best!

 

[SecondAttempt]

We saved the fee VRBO owners charge.

VRBO owners don't charge a fee. VRBO and AirBnB charge booking fees.

 

[Retired Expat]

In my experience most airBnB hosts offer a longer term discount if they want longer term guests. That is baked in to the AirBnB system. I for one offer 25% off for more than a month at my AirBnB in the winter…. Is some places staying 30 days creates a tenancy and the renters rights become absurd and you can’t evict someone who is a bad guest or stops paying.

 

[Monterey298sc]

My wife and I have traveled many times to Europe but generally never more than one week in a single location. After a very rough year we would like to explore the option of spending a month or more in an apartment or small home. We would use this as a home base and day trips to surrounding areas or maybe take a train to explore a bit further out. If you’ve rented or leased for a month or more before can you please give me an education on how to find long term rentals. From what I’ve read renting by the month is supposed to be less expensive. Most of the normal sites I use like VRBO and others just add up the daily rate to give us monthly amount. Any advice from you more experienced long term travelers would be appreciated.

We are renting for the first time the month of December in Key west. Key west is very expensive 400-600 per night, however we found a house in oldtown for 170 a night on VERBO. Wish us luck!

 

[LakeRat1]

Several do this down here in Florida, we did the same thing before actually purchasing and becoming fulltime residents ..... Monthly rentals go for 1500 Upwards in Ft Myers

 

[Palmtree]

We are renting for the first time the month of December in Key west. Key west is very expensive 400-600 per night, however we found a house in oldtown for 170 a night on VERBO. Wish us luck!

I have heard that Key West has a very high tax on any properties that rent for less than 29 days.

 

[kongmen]

Following

 

[kevink]

There are lots of country specific sites and non-internet options that are often far cheaper if you're open minded and flexible. In France for example Clévacances and Gîtes de France are excellent, and every local tourist office has listings of local places to stay.

We find it's usually better for long stays to book a couple of nights in a hotel and then check out long term places in person, having often messaged hosts ahead of time.

 

[tmitchell]

We anchored ourselves for a month in Portland ME last year as a base to explore New England for the fall. Absolutely loved it & recommend. Had plans to do the same in Asheville this month but SO's job got in the way.

Went through Airbnb. It wasn't cheap but it was definitely worth it.

 

[Music Lover]

We are "mini-snowbirds", going to Mexico for 6 or 7 weeks in the middle of winter. The 1st year we rented on Airbnb because we had very little local knowledge. But while we were there we talked to people that had been coming for years, and a couple of them suggested a local that dealt with rentals. He has found us suitable places for the last couple of years.

 

[Palmtree]

We are "mini-snowbirds", going to Mexico for 6 or 7 weeks in the middle of winter. The 1st year we rented on Airbnb because we had very little local knowledge. But while we were there we talked to people that had been coming for years, and a couple of them suggested a local that dealt with rentals. He has found us suitable places for the last couple of years.

Thanks for the response. Just out of curiosity, where in Mexico have to been going back to for the past few years?

 

[jerryo]

My wife and I have booked long rentals (usually one or two bedrooms) numerous times through AirBnb, VRBO and local brokers, never with any major problems, but with some quirks. For example, we've booked 3 or 4 times for a month or two in Paris. All were in Montmartre (the 16th arrondissement), where my wife has been taking art classes, but we've also considered similar rentals in the 6th and 9th. All were in really great locations and were fairly spacious. The first (right on the corner of the Rue Lepic and Blvd des Abbesses) was a little dirtier and more worn down than we expected, but had a great view. The second was a block from the Abbesses metro and the third was a little up the hill (closer to my wife's studio) and more modern...we'd rent it again. We've also rented a few times in Nice, but have had better luck through a local firm (Nestor & Jeeves) than AirBnB. In Vienna we found a great place in the third district (Landstrasse) through AirBnb, about a 10 minute walk from the Stadtpark, and have returned several times. We also booked for 6 weeks in Albuquerque through AirBnB (at the end of Covid) and had a wonderful modern house in a great neighborhood a mile or so from the old city.

In general, we've gotten substantial discounts for stays of a week or more and even larger discounts for 30+ days, but these vary greatly from place to place. We've also generally asked for a "larger discount for our longer stay" and have often been given 10 to 20% more off.

We've tried to avoid "commercial" renters (firms handling many listings) on AirBnb and VRBO (usually clear from the listings). We had to cancel once, during COVID and were pleased to get a full refund. More generally, there seem to be lots of local quirks in the weekly and monthly rental markets, and you just have to feel them out.

 

[Music Lover]

Thanks for the response. Just out of curiosity, where in Mexico have to been going back to for the past few years?

Mazatlán.

 

[qwerty3656]

What do you do about mail, paying bills etc?

 

[harllee]

What do you do about mail, paying bills etc?

I have most of my bills debited from checking or credit card except for my credit card bill. I get a copy of the credit card bill online and pay it online. I have my mail held, it is mostly junk.

 

[Cayman]

We've had great experiences renting longer term in the US and internationally. So we've set aside plans to purchase a vacation home for awhile because we like renting fully furnished apartments, condos and homes in different locales. There's much flexibility and no commitment (compared to owning a vacation home). For now this suits us, in fact it's been alot of fun. Most favorite to date were longer stays in a few small villages in Italy. Lake Garda, the Dolomites, Umbria, Tuscany, Amalfi (hill towns in the Lattari Mountains)... you get a very real feel for the people and daily life. In the US, my favorite stays were 1 month + stays at 2 oceanfront places on Longboat Key (shoulder season, afforded great value and no crowds) and also Park City.

We haven't had a bad experience yet. We have so many amazing memories and the cost has been quite reasonable all considered. You can spend a moderate amount or more, depending on your wants/needs. If this appeals to you, I encourage you to give it a try.

 

[LakeRat1]

I have found by googling areas to see what communities are in the area, then get on FB and join the FB Group for that community...... We found a home in SWF (Ft Myers), we rented for 4 months, while we determined if we wanted to purchase in SWF and specific areas....... That same summer we purchased our first home during the summer months and have been very happy with our purchase and our renting first ....... We found that several people were renting in this particular community and had been for several years as snow birds .....'

 

[Breedlove]

Galveston Texas at the Casa Del Mar condos offers a Bootcamp for Snowbirds . I think it is 1300.00 for the month of January or February . They take tha people golfing , fishing sight seeing , cooking lessons , dance lessons , whisky and wine tasting . We have never did it but friends from Ohio do it.

 

[Palmtree]

We've had great experiences renting longer term in the US and internationally. (snip) Most favorite to date were longer stays in a few small villages in Italy. Lake Garda, the Dolomites, Umbria, Tuscany, Amalfi (hill towns in the Lattari Mountains)... you get a very real feel for the people and daily life. (snip) If this appeals to you, I encourage you to give it a try.

You are listing some of our very favorite locations in Italy. May I ask, how are you finding listings for theses places? (Listing agents, Brokers, websites, etc) Any pointer would be appreciated.

 

[Rianne]

Thank you all so much for your responses. I have a follow up question for those who said they contacted the owners via VRBO and AirBnB. Did you have to reserve a initial stay via VRBO/AirBnB and then directly work with the owners for the rest of the stay or not?

When we rented in Destin the 3/bed, 3/bath literally 10 steps to the beach had some construction happening on the patio overlooking the ocean. We got a big discount just to take the place. The management co. gave us the discount but the unit was gorgeous. Somehow VRBO was cut out. That price wasn't considered. Clean, updated, and great location.

We rented the same building the next year from the management co. because we had their contact e-mail and phone number. The best negotiation was over the phone. Again, VRBO was cut out. No booking fee, and we got a discount. We are still in direct contact with the management co. as they have many units all over Destin. Won't go back this year, maybe next year.

It's my understanding if you book through VRBO the owners give you a review, just as you review the rental. If you're clean, follow the rules, and pay on time, you get a 5* review. This is shared with future owners.