Friday, March 1, 2013

How do we find beautiful houses and condos around the world?

For those of you who may not be familiar with our travel history, and been following my travel articles and travel blogs for the past many years, you may not be familiar with or have not used the internet resources that are available for alternative housing.  That is home style housing and not using traditional hotels.  We have rented houses and condos in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, New Zealand; Panama City, Panama; and presently are in a beautiful three bedroom casa in Oaxaca, Mexico.

The two most common ways to find available vacation homes on the internet are through VRBO.com or homeaway.com.  It is my understanding that homeaway is also the owner of VRBO.  I have always used VRBO and have never had a problem.  Each rental is with the actual owner who you contact by e-mail, after you have reviewed their entry on the website.  Usually an owner’s entry will also contain a calendar so you can see if it is available for the dates you are interested in. If you are not comfortable with only contact by e-mail, most owners have posted their phone number so you can talk about any details directly.  Once you have a tentative date, it does not become cast in stone until the owner receives your deposit.  Most accept credit cards, or you can mail a check.
 
I suggest you pick a spot in the world and just surf some entries for a city or location you would like to visit.  Most vacation home entries include great descriptions, what is available in the home, the price for the various seasons, an owner’s profile, location maps, helpful location suggestions, and photos of the property.  Here in our compound in Oaxaca, there are three rental opportunities, two stand alone casas, and a separate casita (a small cottage).  Below I am listing the websites for all three off their entries on VRBO.  Our casa, El Estudio is the first one.
El Estudio:    http://www.vrbo.com/210929

El Barco:     http://www.vrbo.com/298936

La Casita del Barco:   http://www.vrbo.com/170310

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing info on how you get your great houses. I hope this will come in handy for us in some future date. Thanks for your blog -- I've really enjoyed it!

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