SUMMER RENTAL OVERSEAS? SAVE ON A RENTAL CAR

ELYSEE WITH OUR LITTLE IRISH SCOOTER PARKED IN FRONT OF OUR SUMMER HOME RENTAL


Four of our ten summer "second home" rentals, these past ten years have been overseas. The other six, all being in North America, we drove to in our trusty 2001 Dodge Durango. Lots of room for "stuff."

But what should you do if renting for the summer overseas? You will need a car. In the four overseas countries where we rented for the summer: Ireland, Australia, Slovenia and Estonia we rented a car. Our experience and learning came from our first awakening experience having rented a car for three months from a top-of-the-line agency at the Airport in Ireland. Below is an extract from my book, Make The World Your Second.

I learned the hard way how to solve the problem of expensive rental cars. On our first extended summer abroad, in Ireland, I arranged for a rental car from Hertz.
By corporate habit, I might add. Big, big mistake! The little mini-mite that took me all over Ireland for three months ended up costing about $4,000, or around $45a day. It would likely be double that today. I gritted my teeth, paid the bill, learned my lesson, and became determined to find a better way.

I recently priced a rental car at the airport in Tallinn, Estonia. For the smallest car, a Renault, it would cost me $70 day. The cost of the car would have exceeded the cost of my rental. But by then I had learned how to reduce my daily rental cost to only $16 a day. How? That will be in the next posting.

SUMMER RENTAL AT LOWER COST

BOOTHBAY RENTAL. WE HAD THE FIRST TWO FLOORS. THAT'S ELYSEE WELCOMING YOU.



THE VIEW OF BOOTHBAY HARBOR TOWARDS THE FOOTBRIDGE FROM OUR DECK




THE VIEW FROM OUR ANNAPOLIS CONDO OVER THE SWIMMING POOL AND DOCKS OF THE YACHT CLUB


In 2008 we rented a wonderful, water view, two bedroom condo on Spa Creek in Annapolis, Maryland for 98 days at a cost of $65 per day. That is well below what this rental's daily cost is if rented for several weeks a time.
In 2009 I rented for $100 a day for 100 days. This was for a lovely two bedroom waterfront unit in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. The price is more than a 60% reduction on the weekly rate. Here is an opportunity to mention the impact of the
length of the lease.

In terms of cost, the longer the lease the lower the daily cost. Many places, that are advertised as high as $6,000 a month can be leased for half that amount if taken for a longer term. You can usually get the owner to give a substantial discount if you take a place for three months or an entire season be it winter or summer. The longer lease is of such convenience to them. Think about it.

Only having to deal with one tenant all season! That’s a bonanza for most owners. You’re offering a guaranteed full-season occupancy; no vacancies, no weekenders, and, in our case, no kids or pets— just my wife and myself. Don’t let the
advertised offering price turn you away. Most agents and owners are not expecting a full season rental from a single client. Conversely, this bargaining leverage decreases as the period of the lease shortens.

SUMMER RENTAL COST CONSIDERATIONS

OUR SECOND HOME FOR THE SUMMER OF 2010


I believe that in most cases the cost advantages of the lifestyle I am suggesting far outweigh the costs involved in owning a second home. Not only are capital costs lower, but so are recurring costs, emotional costs, cost of your time, and cost versus benefit, though I admit the last is very subjective.

Nevertheless, I am prepared to make a case that the benefits of renting for several months outweighs the alternative of owning a second home or spending the same amount of money on other travel options such as short-lived cruises and tours.

I have rented apartments with a sauna, a Turkish steam bath, an outdoor terraced garden, and in Mexico a beachfront firepit. These were not your roadside cabins with a hot plate. I have spent as little as $67 dollars a day for a full floor, brand-new two-bedroom apartment with an Italian-designed kitchen and batin the Slovenian alps, to a high of $83 a day for a two bedroom house with a separate loft for an office, an interior garden, fireplace and off-street parking in very expensive Carmel, California. That house in Carmel would sell on today’s market for about $1.5 to $2.0 million.

The picture is of last year's rental, in beautiful Camden, Maine, in town, walk to everything, 2br 2 ba. for for 100 days for $7,000. OK folks, that's $70 a day; turnkey, including internet, flat screen TV, fully equiped kitchen and furnished.

More on cost and savings next.

Our First Summer Rental-Kinsale Ireland

Our townhouse. First floor was storage for the Boland's News-shop, we had the top two floors



The Bolands built the town house adjacent to their news-shop and they lived above in the spacious apartment on the two upper floors.


When my wife and I retired to Florida in December 2000, we had already decided not to be there in the summer. Hot, humid, lots of flying objects, with most people hunkered down beside an air conditioner; that was not our idea of a vigorous retirement. A few years before we had experimented with seasonal rentals, taking a month vacation in Carmel California. For us, taking a month off was a big deal, but we were getting ready to pull the plug, anyway. We liked our experience in Carmel, and after some discussion decided that Ireland would be the destination for our first summer away from Florida. How we ended up in Kinsale, Country Cork is part of the lessons learned on our first "cruise" so to speak. Suffice to say we came up smelling like roses, or shamrocks. This is a picture of our first summertime rental. A new townhouse, across from the quay, providing us with two floors of in town living, parking space for the car, walk to everything, all new furnishings, and landlords, The Bolands who became close friends. Our experience in Ireland set the bar high for future years, while forming in our minds what our criteria for the next ten years of rentals would be.