Jan
Tips For Finding (Decent) Short Term Rental Accommodation For Location Independent Professionals
Photo by minds-eye
A common question we’re asked about our location independent lifestyle is “But where do you stay?”.
Most people assume we either stay in hostels (been there, done that and now we’re getting older we like a few more creature comforts!) or hotels (now if we could afford to live in a hotel for a month or two at a time…).
But we stay in neither.
We typically rent fully furnished, fully equipped apartments with everything (including high speed internet) already set up and ready to go. We made a conscious decision that as this nomadic way of life is our permanent lifestyle and not just a holiday or break from ‘normal’ life, we’d rather pay a little more to live in a more home-y environment and have our own space as we travel and work around the world.
The challenge, as some of you have found, is how and where to find this type of accommodation, particularly if you’re on a budget (our target is based upon spending less than we’d otherwise be paying for rent/mortgage in the UK).
I think I’ve mentioned before that I can spend hours and hours searching the web for a suitable place to stay – it’s one of the unexpected hassles of this lifestyle.
But there are some shortcuts and tips you can use to cut down the hours you need to spend trawling the ‘net for that perfect, well equipped apartment:
Start with a quick search on google using search terms like…
- furnished apartment with internet + [your destination]
- short term rental apartment + [your destination]
- short term rentals + [your destination]
- vacation rental with internet + [your destination]
Note: if internet access is important, then make sure you include the term “with internet” in your search strings.
Doing this basic search will instantly tell you a few important things:
- Whether there’s an abundance or lack of this type of accommodation at your destination (and therefore how much more work you’re going to have to do).
- Whether internet access is a common feature in this type of accommodation (e.g. it is very common and easy to find rental accommodation with high speed internet in Buenos Aires).
- Whether there are any main rental agencies or directory-type websites which will give you all you need to know and save you a ton of time.
If your initial search indicates that there are one or two main websites (usually locally run) which seem to include a good range of this type of accommodation, start there. A couple of examples of the best ones we’ve found for various locations include:
- Grenada Explorer for Grenada, West Indies
- Capestay for South Africa
If this isn’t the case, then you’re going to have to manually keep searching on google for either individually listed properties or for an agent who can help you shortcut this process.
When you find individually listed properties, take note of any agent associated with the property – you’ll often find that one agent manages a number of the properties you’ve found and may be able to help you more quickly than searching yourself.
If money is not a huge concern for you, then by all means try sites like VRBO.com (Vacation Rentals by Owner) which tend to have more expensive options or you can try craigslist which sometimes has some good options.
Narrow down a shortlist of apartments in specific areas…
The next thing you’ll want to find out, unless you’re already familiar with the area, are the best suburbs/areas to stay in. Personally, I find this bit the hardest thing of all to work out. I never really know whether I’ll like an area until we’ve arrived in a place and checked out all areas for comparison.
In the absence of any existing knowledge, here’s how we decide on a shortlist of apartments in specifically chosen areas:
- Use online and offline networks to find someone who lives in, has been to or knows the place relatively well so you can get their recommendations
- Search for blogs and blog posts on the areas you’re interested in to glean as much information as possible – and/or identify a local contact
- If you’re dealing with an agent, ask for their recommendations based upon your preferences
Contact the properties on your shortlist…
One of the most frustrating things we’ve found is a lack of decent photos and detailed information about properties on the internet (either that or the photos are so well staged they’re not representative of what you find when you’re actually there!).
There are a few things you can do to minimise the risk of choosing somewhere that leaves you wanting to forfeit the upfront rent you’ve paid and leave a week after you’ve arrived. These include:
- Use Tripadvisor for visitor reviews (whilst rental apartment reviews are not that common here yet, if you look under “Speciality lodging” there are some rental reviews on the site)
- Ask the owner/agent for more photos of all the areas/parts of the apartment you want to see – definitely ask to see recent photos of the bathroom, kitchen (plus cooking equipment/area) and entrance to the apartment. Nice-to-see’s also include the street/area immediately outside the apartment plus views from the main rooms.
- Only ever pay a month’s rent in advance (less if you can negotiate it)
When you contact the apartment owners, here’s what you also want to ask them:
- Do you offer a preferable off-peak rate for mid/longer term rentals of over a month? (most short term rental owners should do, especially out of peak season)
- What sort of internet access is there in the apartment? (the speed, type and any download limits are all worth confirming at this stage)
- How far away is the nearest supermarket/internet cafe/public transport? (this is important if you don’t plan to hire a car)
And once you’ve got a favourite, is now the time to go ahead and book?
Perhaps the biggest lesson we’ve learned about organising this type of accommodation for our nomadic lifestyle is this:
Rather than having everything booked up in advance, we now book a hotel or centrally-located aparthotel for the first couple of days and make appointments to see the shortlist of properties, only confirming and paying the deposit/rent once we’ve actually seen the property and area.
Be aware however, that this may not work if you’re arriving in peak season and accommodation is getting booked up quickly.
My advice? Unless you want to pay top dollar for accommodation, attractions and everything else, it’s often better to try and visit places during shoulder or off-peak seasons – this way, you’ll usually have plenty of choice and be in a far better position to negotiate.
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Hi. I am a long time reader. I wanted to say that I like your blog and the layout.
Peter Quinn
I use VRBO.com for short term rentals. Seems to work pretty good.
m
Excellent post. And true in my opinion from first word to last. I’d only add one thing: Put some time into training your virtual assistants to tackle many of these items.
Travel can be such a complicated affair–awful when there are mistakes in an itinerary–so passing on a load like this to a VA is a good opportunity to evaluate your confidence levels.
If you’re not giving your VA a lot of this stuff, perhaps the VA is not performing well? Needs more time to develop?
I’m becoming more inspired this year about moving my own virtual assistants forward into more of a kind of virtual “agent” (implying greater responsibility).
Make sense?
Great post. It pretty much sums up our recent experiences as well. For people who need reliable internet connectivity but don’t want to live in a major urban center, one thing we’ve found helpful is to look for a local ISP that provides a high speed wireless service. Usually this is radio antennae or satellite dish based. This creates a lot of new options (like beach front houses) where you may not typically find phone line or cable based internet connections.
i’ll be starting off in 9 days on the first leg of my location independent lifestyle… first stop buenos aires, and i’m happy to see it listed as a prime example of a place plentiful with apts. sporting high speed internet:) nice to hear. now, back to my spanish language cds…
Thanks for a great post. I have been wondering for some time now about the visa situation – obviously there are restrictions on how long you can stay in each country. When you get to the border or when planning, do you go for a business or tourist visa? I think you mentioned it in another post but you just pay UK tax as normal is that correct? Thanks Lea!
Any of you guys looking to stay in sunny Florida for a few months just need to visit me!
I have everything from fantastic mansion homes to resort condos. all near Disney
As an aspiring but fainthearted LIP I do really deserve your business!
By the way, renting out VRs could be (is) an ideal LIP business. Nearly all the marketing is done online.
i’ve recently started using airbnb.com and it works amazingly well.
it lets ppl rent out a spare bedroom or an air matress for days at a time. so you can do something odd like reserve 17 days. its also very cheap!