“Hamptons Rentals, for the Shorter Term” plus 1 more |
| Hamptons Rentals, for the Shorter Term Posted: 17 Sep 2010 03:36 PM PDT  Doug Kuntz for The New York Times Among homes for rent: Todd Matarazzo's, in Sag Harbor, left, and Josephine Demar's in Southampton. RENTING a house in the Hamptons used to mean committing to the whole summer. And once Labor Day arrived, the market shut down until the snow melted and beach lovers started thinking about the ocean again. But the rental landscape has changed in several ways: the Hamptons has become more of a year-round destination; the dismal economy has forced landlords to accept shorter rentals; and the Internet has enabled entrepreneurial homeowners to list their properties online, where prospective renters tend to troll for weeklong or weekend escapes. "This season has been all about shorter-term rentals," said Todd Matarazzo, who has listed his four-bedroom home in Sag Harbor on the vacation rental site HomeAway.com. "I had one family that took June, and since July 1, it's been one week at a time." Last year Mr. Matarazzo had a renter for the whole summer as well as the month of September. But he has since had to embrace the trend toward shorter stays, because longer-term tenants have been feeling pinched. Mr. Matarazzo's online "availability calendar" shows two weekends booked in September, when he charges $550 to $650 a night, or $2,500 a week, plus an $80 cleaning fee. But the fall and winter months are otherwise wide open for bookings — as are the calendars for many other Hamptons listings. "I haven't had a lot of off-season rentals in the past," Mr. Matarazzo said. "I get inquiries here and there, but there is so much inventory for that time, I think people are looking for special deals." According to HomeAway.com, the number of Hamptons properties listed for rent on the site increased 56 percent between 2008 and 2010, to more than 470 homes. And some of those posting the listings are now offering off-season specials — though to bargain hunters, even these lowered prices may not feel like a steal. On the Web site, a three-bedroom house on Gardiners Bay north of East Hampton can be had for $2,500 a week, or $1,500 for the weekend, through Oct. 2. A two-bedroom Southampton cottage with whitewashed floors is available for $1,500 a week through mid-May, half off the summer rate. Josephine Demar and her husband have been using HomeAway.com to rent out their five-bedroom home in Southampton on Peconic Bay. They charge $13,000 to $15,000 a week in summer, with fall rates of $5,000 per weekend through October. "We put it out there just to see what kind of interest we'd get for the off-season," Ms. Demar said. So far, they have rented the house for a week and a half in September. As for how the rental market fared this summer, real estate agents say that prices were up slightly and occupancy rates higher, compared with 2009. "Generally speaking, I'd say the rental season was decent," said Paul Brennan, regional manager for the Hamptons office of Prudential Douglas Elliman. "I think people who took what came their way did O.K. But there were a lot of houses that were on the market that did not rent." Agents also said they found themselves dealing with more monthly and even two-week rentals this past summer, continuing last year's trend toward shorter stays. "What we have witnessed is the disappearance of the full-season rental," said Rick Hoffman, Corcoran's senior vice president for the East End. Mr. Hoffman added that brokers typically don't get involved in the weekly or weekend deals that can be found online, which is where the off-season rental market seems to have settled. "When you get into these very short-term rentals you become like a property management company," Mr. Hoffman said, "and that's not what we do. It's a different set of landlords and a different set of tenants." Of course, at this time of year, many homeowners want to be out in the Hamptons enjoying the still-warm water, less-crowded restaurants and events like the Hamptons International Film Festival, from Oct. 7 to 11. "A lot of owners use the house themselves, especially for the holidays," said Maria Pascal, an associate broker with the Heddings Property Group, who said she had recently received a call from a client interested in renting a house in the Hamptons for Thanksgiving weekend — of 2011. "I couldn't believe they were actually inquiring that far ahead," Ms. Pascal said. "But it is a beautiful time of year in the Hamptons." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Gayapolis News - It's Hotter in Phoenix: Arizona's Capital As a Gay Travel Destination? Posted: 18 Sep 2010 01:05 PM PDT Gay Friendly Phoenix Bed and Breakfasts, Hotels, and Vacation Rentals Arriving by air in Phoenix, visitors note a vast, sprawling city - the nation's fifth largest - a collection of palm tree-studded cities and towns ringed by mountains, where a car is in indispensable necessity. The similarities to Los Angeles are striking, right down to analogous municipalities, including exclusive Paradise Valley, Phoenix's Bel Air, and tony Scottsdale, its Beverly Hills. It's markedly different from most American cities with its almost eerie lack of litter - hardly a scrap of paper on highways, sidewalks and heavily trodden park trails. Located in south-central Arizona at an altitude of 1,100 feet above sea level, this desert Southwest city is blessed with 330 days of sunshine a year. From May through September, this relentless barrage of solar power may seem unbearable to visitors and even locals who occasionally grumble about having to remain housebound during the day to avoid oven-like temperatures of 110 degrees. At these times, residents get their exercise in malls and other heavily air-conditioned environments. October through April is the best time to visit, and spring showers produce a patina of green in the surrounding desert with flowering cacti enlivening the burnt-red rocks with a burst of vibrant colors. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Yahoo! News Search Results for Vacation Rentals To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment