What are the secrets to finding a great vacation rental?

January 7, 2005 8:22 PM

Does anyone have any secrets for finding vacation rentals? My family and I are trying to plan a trip to Va Beach or Nags Head, for the first week in June... I can search google and find all the rental sites, but I'd really like perhaps a site that might do searches for both locations and return the results on one page... or insider information, hopefully from people that live in that area, or do it frequently.
posted by TuxHeDoh to Travel & Transportation (7 answers total)

We were here in Kitty Hawk last week. It's not right on the beach, but the timeshare rentals are spacious and the facilities are pretty nice.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 10:26 PM on January 7, 2005

vrbo.com is pretty good for general use.
posted by alkupe at 7:36 AM on January 8, 2005

I second the vrbo.com comment, I've found many vacation rentals that way. I've also seen many owner run websites in the Nagshead, Duck, Kitty Hawk,and Hatteras areas, just goggle for them. Having grown up in the Va Beach area, I have to tell you we always drove the extra distance to Nagshead. It's just a much nicer experience, especially for a family type event. If you want more partying then Va Beach is the place.
posted by white_devil at 8:16 AM on January 8, 2005

Response by poster: This past summer I visited both Va Beach and Nagshead. The beach and water seemed so much nicer at Va Beach. I'm certainly looking for a family experience, between us all it will be 4 kids under 5. So resort/recreation type stuff isn't very important, but that seems the main draw for Ocean City, MD, where most people in this area head to for their beach vacations. Thanks for the tips.
posted by TuxHeDoh at 9:50 AM on January 8, 2005

I would recommend Duck, NC or anything a mile or 2 in either direction. The Sanderling Hotel is located in Duck. Just about everything else seems to be rental houses (rental mansions might be more accurate). These rental houses would be perfect for the family experiance. Twiddy seems to be the largest rental managment company in the area, but I have no experience with them.
posted by probablysteve at 12:07 PM on January 8, 2005

Well, I live in VB, so if you ever need any first-hand accounts, I'd be glad to help. I'm sure you've visited Siebert and Sandbridge realty before, but they don't offer any sort of user reviews.

As a VB resident, for what it's worth, I generally retreat to the Outer Banks -- Corolla or Duck if I want quiet time, and Kill Devil Hills or Nags Head when I want access to dining and shopping. We typically go down in the winter when everything is much more subdued.

As for a dark horse candidate, I'd urge you to consider Chincoteague, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. It's a pretty easy drive from Baltimore (3.5 hours), and offers a very quiet retreat with beautiful scenery.
posted by Hankins at 3:37 PM on January 8, 2005

A group of my friends rented from Twiddy twice in Duck. We had some annoying hassles the second time around, but they mostly involved differences of opinion, not anything nefarious on their part.

We rent a large (7+ bedroom) house every year now in a different location, and we've used vrbo.com almost every time. The only occasion we didn't we ended up renting through an intermediary. The owner told us we'd be paying 25% less if we'd gone through him directly.
posted by nev at 9:43 PM on January 8, 2005