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When it comes to choosing accommodations for your family vacation destination, you don’t have to be restricted to choosing between different types of hotel or motels. Now you have more choices, like short term house rentals, apartment rentals, AirBnB, or RVs.
You also have plenty of alternative choices when it comes to family activities other than going to the beach or a theme park. You could, for example, explore a cave, visit a state park, enjoy boating, go on day hikes, or take road trips.
Deciding Where to Stay
Assuming you’ve decided where to go and what to do, your main quest will be to find the perfect place to stay.
If you’re looking for an apartment, villa, house, or condominium a website like Your Rent can help you do a search by city.
If you’re looking for extra rooms, complete homes, or unique accommodations like castles, then check out Airbnb. This is an option if you’re planning an overseas vacation.
And if you’re planning on traveling by RV, then get a directory that shows you the best campgrounds.
When deciding where to stay, it’s advisable to start your search as early as possible.
Steps to Take when Renting
Once you’ve found a place to rent, here are 6 steps to make sure everything goes smoothly:
1. Don’t skim over the contract.
It’s tempting to skim over the contract and not read it properly. After all, you’ll probably be relieved to have found a nice place to stay. However, before you turn your attention to having fun, it’s important to read the whole document.
Besides the schedule of payment, you are also agreeing to take on certain liabilities. For instance, if the landlord believes the rental has not been properly cleaned, you may have to pay for extra cleaning costs. You also have to be clear who is responsible for paying for things like propane, housekeeping, cable, telephone, Internet, and utilities.
If you have to pay for utilities, you should get a good estimate of what it will come to as it might be more than you’d pay back home. Air conditioning, for instance, might run high in the summer months.
So, besides covering the down payment and the rent, be sure you have enough to pay for everything else you are liable for.
Finally, get a clear idea about the rules on subleasing, having pets, amenities, and furnishings.
2. Use an attorney.
If, for one reason or another, you don’t have a good feeling about the contract, then it might be worth spending a couple of hundred dollars to get an attorney to review it for you. There may, for example, be some ambiguous clauses that the landlord fails to explain clearly. Ideally, get a lawyer you know and trust who has real estate experience. This step will help you decide whether you should sign the contract or look for another place. The contract might be standard and fair, after all. Alternatively, you don’t want to be held liable for more than your fair share of costs.
What do you do if the attorney things that the contract is not fair? While, of course, you can always walk away, another option is to renegotiate the contract. The landlord might be willing to reduce excessive costs or waive restrictive conditions rather than have you walk away.
3. Understand the conditions of the deposit.
Be sure that you have enough in your budget to cover your security deposit before you commit to renting. Sometimes the deposit may be higher than you might expect for a down payment because the landlord has had some inconsiderate renters in the past and had to pay for cleaning and repair. Also, be absolutely clear what conditions have to be met before you can get your full deposit back. If you’re not clear about these conditions, then the landlord can always make ambiguous claims that you did not leave the place in a good condition when you left and refuse to return your deposit.
4. Understand housekeeping policies.
Different properties have different rules about housekeeping. You may have to do the cleaning yourself; the cleaner might come in when you’re there; or the cleaner may only come on the last day before you leave. Cleaning services might be part of the rental service or you might be asked to pay the bills. So understand the housekeeping policies, and don’t assume that they are the same as the last place you rented on your previous vacation rental.
5. Do a walk through before and after renting.
Walk through the premises with the landlord before and after renting out the property. Take photographs of any existing damages when you do your first walk through so that you are not stuck paying for a problem a previous renter created. By doing the two walkthroughs with the landlord, you will both be aware of the property conditions.
6. Get contact numbers.
You may have an emergency when you’re vacationing, so be sure to get the landlord’s number. In case of an emergency, like a plumbing problem, an electric shortage, or a burglary, you will have someone to call to take care of it right away.
Renting a vacation home, apartment, villa, or condominium is often a fairly straightforward process, and armed with these 6 steps, you’ll be able to forestall any potential problems.
Weekly singing with my chorus always gives me good energy to get through the week.