I am looking into some vacation spots for next spring. I found a bunch of good deals on renting lakefront houses and it looks like something I want to try. I also found a couple that are very good prices, but they are half-house rentals. Like there is one where someone has a really nice, newer house on the lake with its own dock and nice view. The people turned the upstairs into a seperate apartment with its own external entrance that they rent out to vacationers. Because it is not a whole house rental, it is much cheaper. It is also much nicer and a better location than I would be able to afford otherwise.

It all sounds and looks great, but I can't help but think of what could happen. Besides it possibly being weird drinking in someone's backyard while they are home, we would be sleeping in someone's house and they would more than likely have keys to the apartment. Sounds like the beginning of a cheesy horror movie. And I'm afraid bringing a door jam and sliding an AR under the bed might ruin the mood of a relaxing vacation.

What does arfcom think of the scenario?

The owners being there would be weird.

My mom has a vacation rental. It only needs to be rented five days out of the month to pay the mortgage. Pretty sweet.

My friends and I went and partied there for Halloween.

Yeah, I talked to the owner. He says he doesn't do it for the money, he just likes being able to write off his million dollar house on his taxes. Seems like a decent guy, works a lot during the day so he won't be hanging around the whole time. He also said there is a seperate alarm system for the apartment. That slightly eases my worries, but it still seems weird.

Not something I'd be in to.

How far are you looking to travel?

If its local I don't know what to tell you...but man let me recommend renting one of the houses in the Outer Banks, I like the 4x4 area of Corova (no road, you drive up the beach to the house)
It's amazing, and the most privacy you'll find waterfront that doesn't cost you thousands