Short-Term Rental Options
- Adam Garrett
- Jul 10, 2023
- 7 min read
Updated: Aug 20
To locate a short term rental, there's no one central source like for home purchases. It is best to create optimized searches with a property feed from at least 5 locations, even if a few of those locations pull from multiple websites each.
Traditional Short Term Rentals (Excluding Hotels):
One option with AirBNB is to Scroll down to see ""Booking Options"", ""Instant Book""". That option is particularly helpful if you don't currently have an AirBNB account. If considering options outside of that, & you get turned down from a few spots that show as available, you may want to do a few 1 night stays to get some reviews on your account as long as you're on your best behavior.
Airbnb is my highest recommended option for a short-term rental if you are choosing someone with lots of great reviews because it can be so much more cost-effective than other places with worse reviews and worse locations. Sometimes you have rooms for rent and sometimes you have the whole place to yourself. Sometimes longer stays can have lower rates than a few nights. Because of how AirBnB works, sometimes good locations will go for very cheap in order for a landlord to get initial reviews. That said, the nature of Airbnb puts some people off, since you are going through individuals with more limited protections than a typical hotel or property management company, and some (like my wife) would prefer to not use Airbnb at all for a stay. Prior to using Airbnb for a long term stay, it's not a bad idea to do 3 1 night "trial runs" at Airbnb properties. Be sure to leave reviews and be sure to be on your best behavior. Having 3 reviews, which is likely but not guaranteed after 3 stays, will give you much better chances of acceptance for a long term stay. Here are some safety tips directly from Airbnb.
Most similar to AirBNB on this list
Includes hotels & traditional short term rental options - be sure to select "bedrooms" (bottom left on the desktop view) instead of "rooms" (top right on the desktop view). Also, if you don't see a city pop-up when you insert something like "Hampton, VA", be sure to select "search" rather than clicking enter. Clicking enter may get you the top of the drop-down search results.
Mostly locations that would accept a few nights or a few weeks, with some multi-month options. It auto-populates from VRBO, HomeToGo, etc. If you have difficulty getting the results for a city/county on the desktop view, use the map view that's available with a horizontal desktop search.
Populates from VRBO, booking.com, Agoda, HomeToGo)
To narrow by short term 1. Go to More (top right) 2. Under Lifestyle Select "None" 3. Then Select ""Short Term""" Most properties have 30 day, 60 day, & in some cases, 3 month minimum stay.
Most properties have 30 day minimum stay
Go to "more filters" and input "short term" in the Keywords section after selecting location & "for rent":
Image courtesy Zillow
If you're military, you might find that some of your most cost-effective options will be on base. In some cases, there will be a warning somewhere about how family spaces are available but that you will need to contact the facility to check on availability and secure a spot.
Here are some local examples in SE VA:
Hampton:
Newport News:
Norfolk:
Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads Norfolk
Virginia Beach:
Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story
Getaways Fort Story & 67th Street Townhouses
York County Near Williamsburg:
More
Additional options from similar websites
Alternatives to the Above & Additional Information:
Technical Issue to be Aware of
One of the biggest issues with some of these websites is technical. For instance, with Airbnb & Tripping.com, if you try to book a property in Hampton, VA, a city with a population that exceeds 100k but is less than 150k, you find that the map view will center on VA, but not Hampton specifically. Conversely, in a higher population density location, like Virginia Beach, that's less often a problem with websites. If you're looking to book a trip in Hampton, VA, on a site that doesn't list it, look to book using a map view, such as that which is available on AirBNB & some other sites like Tripping.com.
Extended Stays at Hotels (Sometimes Limited to 60 Days Depending on City/County Law)
Some hotels are much better than others for extended stays. In some cases, 1-4 bedroom suites are available at hotels & some hotels have casitas, cabins, villas, etc. For more details on extended-stay hotels, go to my article on the subject here.
Traditional Options from Properties Listed for Longer Time Periods Than You're Considering
Sometimes, even if a landlord is offering a room or house for a year lease, they will be willing to go for a shorter time with a larger security deposit &/or a higher rent payment. If you get turned down for a room or house or it looks like you’re going to get turned down, offer it. Before spending the money to apply for a place that says that it’s for a 6 month lease or longer, talk about that with the landlord in advance. It's best to see if a home listed as a 1 year is available as a short term unit for a higher price prior to ever seeing the property in person.
With apartments, usually they have a set in stone policy and most apartments do not allow 12 week leases or less (like Belmont at Freemason, Eastbay, Ghent Village Apartments, 201 21, Brittany Place Apartments, etc. in Norfolk). With short-term apartments sometimes there is a waiting list for the kind of room that you want.
Rooms for Rent
If exploring this option, which tends to be the cheapest for the highest quality (i.e., a $40 hotel room may have terrible ratings whereas a $40 Airbnb room for rent within a mile of the hotel may have excellent ratings), it is especially important to look at the ratings & reviews of a place prior to performing a booking. Typically landlords will have rules so it is important to know them prior to booking. It is also important to keep in mind that the landlords may be more selective than hotels about who they allow to stay at their home.
For more on the subject, go to my article on Rooms for Rent
Dorm Rooms
These are some of the most overlooked options in housing for those that are not students. While some universities don't offer dorms to non-students, others do. Availability is highest in the Summer. Old Dominion University locally offers housing to non-students, as someone I was helping that was looking for Summer housing in Norfolk, VA discovered.
The Points Guy has an article on the subject.
Creative Non-Traditional Strategies (i.e. RV rentals)
RV Rentals:
https://rvshare.com/rv-rental/ (in the filters tab there is an option for "offers stationary rentals")
Where to park an RV: https://www.rvparky.com
More non-traditional options for short or long term such as homeless shelters & live-aboarding on a boat here.
Other Considerations:
Determinations Prior to Beginning Your Search
What is your budget going to be for housing?
Do you have a car or will you be relying on mass transit?
If you have a car, consider parking since sometimes you have to pay for parking in places like downtown Norfolk.
Are you comfortable with rooming with others?
Credit
Prior to looking at housing (the longer before, the better), it's best to ensure that you have established some positive credit history and that your score is in a good place. While often not a factor for hotels or AirBNB, your credit will often be helpful in securing housing from prospective landlords.
Related:
Where to Get Legit Free Credit Scores (not Creditkarma...)
Points/free night certificates especially for stays under a month
There are a number of solid options with points and free night certificates, such as those acquired from credit cards. See the hotel section above (III: 3) on recommended brands to look into. For more on hotel night certificates & points specific options in Hampton Roads, go here. For general advice, go here. For even more go here. For a free recommendation on what credit card(s) to acquire to get your free or drastically reduced cost stay, go here. The costs mentioned may vary over time so look at the hotel websites for latest #'s.
As an example, this 2 bedroom suite could be booked for much less than if paid for in $ by purchasing points during Daily Getaways:
The $ rate would be around double the cost of buying the points during Daily Getaways and using points for the same stay:
Crime & Area
When looking through options, be sure to check the crime of the area. To see that and a few other things to help you determine the suitability of an area, look here:
Furnishing
Determine how your temporary housing is going to be furnished, whether by the landlord or you. Here are some options. You may have too much furniture or other items to be able to fit in your temporary housing location in light of temporary housing usually having a higher cost than comparable annual rental housing if you are running on a tighter budget.
Self-Storage
Consider self-storage if your temporary housing situation isn't sufficient to store all of your belongings. If in Hampton Roads, I recommend American Classic, who have a number of locations, excellent service, and do price matching if you find anyone with better prices. Whenever considering temporary housing, it's important when comparing temporary housing to factor in the additional cost of storage if your living situation will not afford the ability to store all of your items there. It's also important to factor into the equation extra time & any moving costs with moving potentially twice.
Fees
Different Platforms have differing models of fees, but many have host fees while having no fees for guests. Here is a comparison of some of the major options.
Other Area Considerations
I've created a highly comprehensive area guide here. While primarily geared towards purchasers, it's highly pertinent for renters as well.
Related:
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