For rent: Tuscany villa; passing up hotels when you're on vacation lets you live like the locals

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, March, 1998 by Lynne Woods

When Jean Whelan and her husband, Jim Kricker, spent a week exploring Tuscany, Italy, with their 10-year-old daughter, Susannah, they went home every night--to a stone farmhouse with timbered ceilings, its own chapel, a vineyard, and a fabulous view of the surrounding countryside. Instead of living out of a suitcase, Whelan and Kricker of Saugerties, N.Y., rented a two-bedroom apartment in a farm complex 10 kilometers from Siena for $725--less than they would have spent at a hotel, they reckon, especially because they cooked many of their own meals.

Whelan and Kricker are among a growing throng of U.S. tourists who are bypassing traditional hotel haunts and going the rental route. Whether your taste runs to an apartment in a medieval tower in Perugia, a rose-trellised cottage in the heart of England, or a suburban split level in Orlando, you can find a house away from home. The British Isles, Provence (France), Tuscany and the Costa del Sol (Spain) are popular European destinations for renters, along with warm-weather resorts in the Caribbean, Mexico, Florida and Hawaii.

Renting a house abroad is easy to arrange. Your accommodations will be more spacious, private and comfortable than if you squeeze into a hotel room (provided you don't require room service), and they won't necessarily be more expensive. Walter Coppenrath of Los Angeles and his wife, Suzanne, rented a six-bedroom house just south of Siena for five weeks for less than $3,000, which Coppenrath considered "remarkably inexpensive." As is common in Italy, the house had no phone and the power occasionally went out. Nevertheless, the Coppenraths are returning this month.

Some houses have amenities as well as charm. Last May, Mary Louise Seifert, an agent at Welcome Aboard Vacation Center (602-946-5333), rented a five-bedroom, five-bath villa in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, with nine friends for $600 a night--a steal considering that the house came with a maid, a houseboy and a cook, who prepared breakfast and dinner. A stone's throw from the beach, the villa also had a pool and a tennis court. "I had never lived in such luxury," says Seifert. "I'd go back in a heartbeat."

Besides sharing the cost, you can save money by renting during the off-season or by venturing off the beaten path. A 200-year-old renovated convent on an acre of parkland in Provence costs $7,500 a week in high season, but that drops to $3,500 from November through April (book it through At Home in France, 541-488-9467). In Italy, if you're willing to go outside the "Chianti Classico" corridor--the stretch of countryside between Florence and Siena--you can rent a house for as little as $300 a week, says Carl Stewart, president of Tuscan Enterprises (800-533-5405), through which Whelan and Kricker rented their apartment. A three-bedroom house that fetches $1,995 per week in Provence would cost $1,145 in the Dordognes, in southwestern France, and about $1,000 in the north, says Allyn Kaufmann of At Home in France.

WHERE TO START

The most common way to arrange an overseas rental is through a U.S. broker who represents local companies that deal directly with homeowners. In most cases the broker publishes a catalog (or several, each representing a different region) and will send it to you for a fee, generally ranging from $5 to $11. (Tuscan Enterprises doesn't charge a catalog fee; other companies may be willing to deduct the fee from your rent.)

Many travel agents receive catalogs from brokers and can arrange a rental (though they may charge extra). The Coppenraths booked their house through an agent at Gulf-stream Travel (800-844-6939). But many brokers prefer to work directly with customers. "We insist on speaking to whomever is renting so we can make sure they get what they want," says Stewart.

Several directories list houses that you may rent directly from the owners. WorldWide Home Rental Guide (800-299-9886) sends out two directories a year that list houses in the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, Mexico and the U.S., for an annual subscription fee of $18. On the Internet, Barclay International (www.barclayweb.com) posts flats and houses for rent throughout Europe, as well as last-minute specials. Recently, the site was advertising 25% off many London apartments booked no more than seven days prior to arrival.

In most cases you have to rent a house for a minimum of one week--in Italy, that always means from Saturday to Saturday--though shorter stays are sometimes possible during the off-season. Rentals of urban apartments are also more flexible. During high season at popular destinations, it's essential to book well in advance. In Provence, Tuscany and the West Country of England, the best houses are often snatched up a year in advance by vacationing Europeans or by Americans who make annual pilgrimages to favorite sites. You might get lucky: Whelan and Kricker rented their house just six weeks before their departure. But by last December, Stewart had "virtually nothing available" in Tuscany for June or September.