Has anyone had any experience with renting an apartment (or something) for longer than a vacation, but less than a resident. In my case the target duration is about 4 months starting September. I just retired and DW has agreed to a 4-ish month Disney (+KSC+USF+…) trip to Orlando. To paraphrase Sam Eagle, a trip to all places Central Florida, but mostly Disney! That duration is too long (and way too expensive and impractical) for a hotel, so have been looking for a short term apartment rentals. Those are really hard to find! I expected most places to want a 12-month lease, but figured some might be flexible. Nothing under 7 months to the point where I figure it must be based on some kind of ordinances. Celebration appears out completely for that reason, we’re told nothing less than 12 months. All the home rental places are set up the same as hotels, all by the night, nothing by the week or longer.
Basic two-bedroom furnished apartments for 12-month leases seem to be available for a bit under $2000/mo. There would be some premium for a short term lease which is fine, but I can’t seem to find anything at any price. My best option so far which isn’t ideal is a place like an Extended Stay America.
I haven’t been a renter since the late '80s, so hoping it is a case of ignorance over just not possible. We have a “scouting trip” coming up at the end of April to scope out places to stay, but also mostly play at Disney!
Have you tried air bnb or home away?
Also I would assume that they wouldn’t rent just because they give a weekly price breakdown…have you contacted any contenders to see if they are interested in longer rental arrangements.
Yep, perused both VRBO and airbnb and can only find daily rates which are understandably high when multiplied by 120. Not yet at the point of contacting individuals yet, but if I can’t find anything listed,that may be the only option. Thanks for the Snowbird search term, I will try that.
I did look via airbib and found a place in the Villages Fl. They were willing to rent for a lot less than a year and of coarse the longer you rented the cheaper the monthly rate.
Oops, newbie mistake. DW messed up on the filtering and was only getting individual rooms to rent, not entire apartments. We’ve never used air bnb before, so didn’t know we were getting nonsense results. All is good.
We use HomeAway/VRBO and simply ask about long term rentals. We usually stay 4-6 weeks each spring and owners have been accommodating-but you have to contact them directly and tell them what you are looking for. We always stay at a Windsor Hills condo.
Thanks. The trip isn’t quite well defined enough to start talking to individual owners yet, but that certainly can be the case once we have a better defined timeframe. What I needed now was at least a rough idea of what was out there and how much it cost. Air bnb got me that once our errors got pointed out. I had some SWAGs for setting up a budget and nice to see that good places are available with the budget I had set up.
We use Home Away. Definitely look for a monthly or multi-monthly pricing deal. It’s better for owners to have an assured renter than have to find someone every week. Also, those months may be harder for owners to rent than, say Jan-Apr, so you should be able to find some good pricing.
Tried out Home Away. Are they related to air bnb? Pretty spooky that I went to it the first time and it already knew my dates! Oh well. I can’t seem to get a monthly quote, but that may just require more poking around the website, thanks. More references the better.
I had not considered a real estate agent sine I’m not buying anything. Interesting suggestion. We have one we like here that I will ask to see if that is a possibility.
Thanks again both, learning lots which is why this is a great forum.
You might have better luck that way because snow birds go down in Dec. and Jan., So you will be renting before they go down and you could fill the gap maybe.
That duration is too long (and way too expensive and impractical) for a hotel, so have been looking for a short term apartment rentals. Those are really hard to find! I expected most places to want a 12-month lease, but figured some might be flexible. Nothing under 7 months to the point where I figure it must be based on some kind of ordinances. Celebration appears out completely for that reason, we’re told nothing less than 12 months. All the home rental places are set up the same as hotels, all by the night, nothing by the week or longer.