1. Pictures, Pictures, Pictures. The more pictures you see, the more likely you are to get what you are looking at on the internet. You can always ask if there are more pictures available if you like a particular property. Definitely get as much visual information as possible. Sometimes you will see that a site has the same pictures for the different apartments they are renting. Be wary of those apartments and be sure to ask for more pictures of the specific apartment you are interested in.
2. See if there are reviews out there. A negative review here and there should not deter you. You are looking to get a good sense of what the majority of people have to say. TripAdvisor is a good source for that. Some sites offer their own testimonials as well.
3. Check out a lot of sites. I will discuss later some great sites that I have found, but the more you see, the more you will have an idea of what is available to you.
4. Pictures of the villa or apartment are often taken with wide-angle lenses. The effect is that the rooms in the apartment or villa will appear larger in the pictures than in person. If you want to be sure of what you are getting size-wise, ask for the square footage or measurements. This way you will have accurate information about the size of the place you are renting. I find this to be more crucial with apartment renting than with villas. If you are like me, and don’t necessarily have a great picture of what square foot measurements look like, measure your bedroom. You can go on line and use a square foot calculator. Then compare the measurements of the apartment to the measurements of your bedroom.
5. Ask if there are any charges not included in the published price. Things like heating & air conditioning may cost extra. Also some places require that you have cleaning during your stay and that you pay for it. That is not to say that you don’t want to rent that place, just make sure you know what all the costs are so there are no surprises.
6. If you are really interested in renting something but it is a little more than you want to pay, offer the price that you are willing to pay. There was a villa for 6 that I wanted and we dropped to 4 people. I asked if there was any way that they would drop the price so that the price remained the same per person. They agreed to that. This is especially true if it is getting within the 2-3 month out range. Often they would rather rent it than have it empty. It is always worth asking.
7. Ask to see if there are other people sharing the grounds with you. Sometimes bigger houses are broken up into different apartments so that they can be rented to a couple of smaller groups as well as one large group. You also might be sharing the grounds with the owner (who might live next door) and that may not be the experience that you want.
8. See if there is a map of the exact location or a description of how far away you are from the town. That could be a deciding factor, especially if you are not planning to rent a car.
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