Written by Ashley

When we decided to move to Florida, we had no idea where we wanted to stay. I had only passed through Tampa Bay a handful of times (took a cruise out of the Tampa Port, flew into the airport on my way to a friend’s wedding, flew into the airport on the way to another event, etc). Nisheet’s experience in the area was a little more than mine. He actually stayed in the area a couple of times on business trips but still, he didn’t know the area well enough to pick out where to live. Plus,  it’s hard to find an apartment when you can’t actually see the place in person. So what’s a person to do? Our initial thought was to stay in a hotel for a month, but the cost of that would add up quickly. $100/night x 30days = $3,000! Yikes! Then our friend told us about this wonderful website called VRBO.

VRBO stands for Vacation Rentals by Owners, and if you play your cards just right, you can stay at a place for  30-50% less than a hotel. The directions on the website are simple. “1. Search properties. 2. Contact a few owners. 3. Book your stay.” So that’s exactly what we did. You can filter your searches by size, location, price, etc., just like when searching for a hotel room. For us, we were looking for a 1 bedroom rental that was close to the beach and under $2,000. When we found a couple places, we sent a message to the owners. Although some places let you book immediately online, I highly recommend talking to the owners first. It lets you know what is and is not included in your stay. For example, we found that a lot of the rentals required a non-refundable cleaning fee that was tacked onto the base price. Also, you can often negotiate for a lower price, especially in the off-season (May-Nov). We ended up with a lovely – but old- 1 bedroom rental that was less than 100 steps from the beach. It was so much better than staying in a hotel room for a month. We might not have had room service, but the price tag and full kitchen more than compensated for that. For those curious, most rentals also come with linens, dish soap, toilet paper, pots and pans, utensils, paper towels, cable, laundry, and WiFi.

While we stayed there, we explored the area and ended up finding a great little apartment that wasn’t too far away. Wohoo! Unfortunately, the lease doesn’t start until mid-September. Boo! We could have extended our rental agreement for another month (it’s low season, so the units around here are fairly empty), but we opted to try out another beach city a little further down the coast. Why not explore a new area when you have the chance, right? This time we found a vacation rental on Craigslist. I wouldn’t recommend Craigslist if you aren’t in the area because we saw some pretty sketchy places that looked nice online. Stick to VRBO if you are going on vacation. Anyways, our new little place is tiny but awesome. Our backdoor opens up to a little harbor area, just steps away is the famous John’s Pass, and the beach is only a few more blocks down the road. Although I’m excited to see what adventures are in store for the next month, I’m thrilled that we only have 1 more move before we are settled into a more permanent place.

Stay tuned for more on John’s Pass!

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Don’t forget to check out our articles. We recently posted Michigan’s Best 15 and Tips for a Greener Vacation.