photo credit: Symic

What makes a great family vacation when kids, toddlers or preteens are a big part of your plans? The answer to this question hinges on safety, flexibility, and options for appropriate play. Many parents want a beach where there is no driving, for safety reasons. Families may want the flexibility to partake in a few cultural events or historical sites, while not overbooking this type of activity. For many families, a half-day or two-hour visit to a museum or light house is plenty of activity, especially if towing along young children on the trip. Eight and ten hour visits may be out of the question, unless the children are old enough to walk for several hours, and mature enough to take in multiple exhibits. The question of propriety is foremost in many parents’ minds. Daytona Beach at the peak of spring break may not be the best exposure for children, given the degree of public intoxication and young adult misbehavior. Likewise, New Orleans during Mardi Gras is not the ideal environment that a family-friendly vacation is seeking. Conversely, these two locations have a great deal to offer in their non-peak seasons.

There are many choices for laid-back vacations in low crime areas, with just enough stimulation to keep everyone entertained. Within a 2-3 hour drive from Walt Disney World, the beaches of Volusia, Brevard, and Flagler Counties offer several choices for non-driving beaches. These include Cocoa Beach, New Smyrna Beach, Ormond-by-the-Sea (just north of Ormond Beach), and Flagler Beach. Parts of Flagler Beach are dog-friendly, which is rare on the east coast of Florida. From these central Florida beach locations, the Kennedy Space Center is a good place to visit, if families desire at least one day of structured educational or theme park activities. Nearby Port Canaveral offers a variety of day cruises and fishing trips, with and without the option for gambling on board, depending on your preference. The lighthouse at Ponce Inlet offers an interesting half-day sightseeing trip, easily accessible from any of the beaches in Central Florida.

Four other family-friendly locations for vacation rentals are Vero Beach, Sarasota, Jekyll Island, and Tybee Island. Vero Beach is urban without being as built-up as Daytona. Located about one hour south of Melbourne, Florida, the beaches of Vero offer Carribean-blue waters with a more upscale feeling than Central Florida. Vero is not as exclusive as its neighbor to the south (West Palm Beach), and not as wild as Miami. However, the balmy climate is definitely tropical, and always a few degrees warmer than Central Florida.

Sarasota, as well as the beaches near St. Armand’s Circle, offers many unique restaurant and shopping opportunities. A short culture-building trip can take in the circus history exhibit at the Ringling Museum. Jekyll Island, Georgia boasts beautiful biking trails but also has a water park with slides and rides. Moving northward to Tybee Island, located about 15 miles east of Savannah, a family can focus mainly on fishing, boating and outdoor activities, while taking short day trips to visit cultural sites in this wonderful jewel of southern architecture and history.

photo credit: rayhaneh

There are a lot of advantages of owning an international vacation home. Below are just a few reasons why you should consider an international vacation home. First of all, if you have family that lives in a different country, or are very fond of another country, and you travel at least once a year there than getting a vacation home there may be the right solution for you.

Also, if you own a vacation home at the place you travel to the most, than vacations just seem a lot less stressful. You could furnish the home and put all of your summer belongings there, therefore when you travel you do not have to take much. Now a days, when you travel you are limited the amount of luggage you could carry. Not having to worry about that extra luggage is great, especially if you are going on an international vacation for a long period of time.

Another great advantage is that you will always have a place to stay when you visit your relatives. This leaves out the question of whether or not you are over staying your welcome when traveling to another country. It also gives your family a place to just relax and call home during their international stay.

One more reason why you should consider an international vacation home is that while you are not using it you can rent it out. This can bring you extra income from all away across the globe. The money you make from the rent will pay for the vacation home itself.

Finally, if you own a vacation home abroad, you do not have to worry about booking hotels. You will have the convenience of a home during your vacation. Instead of eating out every day, worrying if the beds are comfortable, and so many other problems that come from vacation, your mind will be at ease if you own your own home.

These are just a few advantages one has when they own a vacation home in a different country. As you could see there are many reasons why you should consider one for you.

Managing your vacation rental property doesn’t need to be a difficult task, and if you can avoid having to pay an agency fees then obviously your investment will be even more worthwhile. Some useful tips for managing your vacation rental property successfully are:

• Arrange to take payments by credit card and bank transfer. Being able to use a credit card to pay can sometimes be the deciding factor for a guest considering several properties.
• Find several suitable places to advertise your vacation rental property. Don’t rely on just one website or one regular advertisement in a newspaper or magazine. Also make sure you are able to include several photographs in your advertising, because this can also make a difference to a potential guest’s decision.
• Make sure you have workable arrangements for cleaning and maintaining the property between guests. If the vacation rental property is near where you live, you may be able to do this yourself, but even then it is helpful to have a cleaner in mind who can help you out at short notice. Hire someone who you trust to let you know if there is anything damaged or not working at your vacation rental property so you can avoid any guest complaints.

photo credit:?Koshyk

If you are considering investing in a vacation rental property but you think your immediate home area is not a suitable destination for the kinds of prospective vacationers you want to attract, then there is a good way to go about looking for the right place: take a vacation yourself.

Do some research first into the most popular vacation rental property destinations that are within a couple of hours’ drive from your home – buying your investment property too far away can be problematic later on, if it’s too far to keep a good eye on it. Do take into consideration your own family’s preferences for what makes a good vacation destination, because if your family likes an area, chances are good that other families and holidaymakers will too, and you will have a high occupancy rate on your property.

Then book in to a couple of different properties in the destination you choose. For example, if you’re spending a week on vacation, try to stay in at least two different properties, perhaps in slightly different areas, or different styles of accommodation. Try them out for yourself and you’ll have a much better idea of the exact kind of property which should be most successful as an investment. Plus, the bonus is you get your own vacation as well!

photo credit:?the_tahoe_guy

If you are considering buying a property as an investment and income source as a vacation rental, you might be wondering where the best place is to buy one. In fact, there are areas across the entire United States which are suitable for vacation rental property purchases, so a few things to keep in mind when making your choice are:

• Double check that vacation rental is permitted in the area where you buy the property – some local regions don’t allow it.
• Consider buying a vacation rental property that is within easy driving distance of where you live – if there are problems that need to be sorted out, it is a whole lot easier (and often cheaper) if you are not too far away.
• Think about whether or not you, or people you know, would enjoy vacationing in the area. If you would like it, the chances are good that there are plenty of other people out there who would also like to vacation there.
• Think about the seasonal aspects of the destination – if it is a winter destination, for example near a ski resort, is it also popular in summer or might it be difficult to rent off-season? Even if it is, consider if the higher rental income during the peak season compensates for this.
• Check the visitor statistics at the local tourist bureau or chamber of commerce to be sure that plenty of tourists visit the area.

photo credit:?Let Ideas Compete